Cape Kaliakra - nature reserve travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises spa and resorts

Situated in the heart of the Balkans, Bulgaria has everything going for it as a resort destination: warm climates, beautiful scenery, a rich and ancient culture and, of course, its beautiful Black Sea coast. One of the most amazing and strangest places along the Bulgarian North Seaside is definitely Cape Kaliakra. In Kaliakra cape you can see fortress walls , ruins from Rome centuries, monument of legendary 40 girls, cave – museum and marvelous sightseeing. A seaside resort is situated on a small bay on the Black Sea, 31 km North of Varna and 500 km East from Sofia.

The cape stretches 2km deep into the sea and consists of 60-70m-high limestone rocks, the inaccessibility of which has been the main reason for the construction of an ancient fortress named Tirisis there. The fortress was used by Tracians, Romans, Byzantines and Bulgarians. The fortified settlement was founded as early as the 5th century BC while the name has been changed several times -Tetrasiada, Akre and then Kaliakra. It means beautiful cape, due to the abundant pink.

The Legend of Kaliakra is a tragic memory of Bulgarian defence in the Ottoman period - according to one well-known legend forty girls, the sole survivors of a Turkish attack, tied their plaits of hair and jumped to their deaths so that the Turks could not convert them to Islam. At the very tip of the cape is a small chapel, restored in 1993, to mark his symbolic grave.

The Kaliakra cape was declared a protected area in 1941. The protected area has since been expanded already three times and currently reaches some 50 ha. It is one of the few places where the rare species of seal-monks, found only in the northern part of the Bulgarian coast, were to be seen not long ago. It is a peaceful nature reserve, where hooded cormorants nest, seals and dolphins cavort in the sea, and pink starlings and rock blackbirds frequent the cliffs and caves. One of the main birds’ migration paths is situated in Kaliakra too.

Traditionally each year on July, 1st many people meet together to celebrate Bulgaria’s July Morning in Kaliakra. Exotically dressed people come together to meet the sun- rise. Girls with hairs braided in flowers and boys with guitars, all covered with finery and tattoos meet to spend some unforgettable time at the unforgettable Cape Kaliakra.