Black Sea

Introduction

The Black Sea

© Rraven

The Black Sea is more like an enormous lake. Officially it is an inland sea though, connected eventually to the Atlantic Ocean. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean Sea region of the Mediterranean. The Black Sea also connects to the Sea of Azov, from which it is separated by Crimea in southern Ukraine.

Geography

The Black Sea covers around 436,000 square kilometres, roughly 10 times the size of for example the Netherlands. Its maximum lenght is around 1,175 kilometres (east to west) and the maximum dept is over 2,200 metres. Countries with a Black Sea coastline include Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania.

Cities

Varna seafront

© bob flinn

There are many cities and towns located along the Black Sea coast. Several of the best known are:

• Odessa, Ukraine
• Sevastopol, Ukraine
• Yalta, Ukraine
• Sochi, Russia
• Batumi, Georgia
• Trabzon, Turkey
• Burgas, Bulgaria
• Varna, Bulgaria
• Nessebar, Bulgaria
• Constanta, Romania

Weather

Although summers along the coastline of the Black Sea are generally warm and sunny, it's still not the Mediterranean and sometimes cooler periods with rain occur, even during summer. Winters can be cold, especially along the northern shores, though it's not as cold as continental Europe and Asia.

Getting There

By Plane

The main gateways to get to the Black Sea region are Odessa for the northern part and Istanbul for the southern part. Istanbul, although technically not located at the Black Sea, is just an hour or so away by car.
Other smaller cities and towns are mentioned above, some of which have many additional charter flights in summer. Especially Bulgaria is a very popular beach destination from May to September.

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