Cape Kaliakra is located in Bulgaria, in the south-east of the Dobrujan Plateau, 50 kilometres north-east of Varna and 12 kilometres east of Kavarna. Fortresses were built here from the IV century BC, then they were repeatedly rebuilt by the Romans and Byzantines. In the XIV century Bulgarian boyars built here a powerful fortress Klaserka, the ruins of which can still be seen today.
Kaliakra, which protrudes two kilometres into the sea, is traditionally a shelter from bad weather for sea vessels. The shore of the cape is a cliff (steep cliff) about seventy metres high. The name itself - Kaliakra - has a Greek nature and can be translated as "beautiful cape" or "good cape."
There are caves on Cape Kaliakra, one of them houses a historical and archaeological museum, which presents various exhibits from the III century BC to the XVII century AD.
In 1861 a lighthouse was built here, later, in 1901, was erected another ten-metre lighthouse cylindrical shape, still functioning today. There are also several windmills on the cape.
In 2006, a monument to the great Russian admiral Fyodor Ushakov was opened on Cape Kaliakra. In 2011, the architectural and memorial complex "Naval Glory of Russia" was opened, dedicated to the 220th anniversary of Admiral Fyodor Ushakov's victory over the fleet of the Ottoman Empire. Seven columns with 18 bells - the number of Russian warships killed in battles during the war with the Turks in the Black Sea - were installed next to the monument. The name of the warship is engraved on each bell.
Among Bulgarians there are several legends in which Kaliakra appears. One of them tells of forty girls who, in order to escape Ottoman slavery and execution, tied their braids and threw themselves from here into the Black Sea (in one of the small bays there is even an obelisk with the name "The Gate of the Forty Maidens" erected in honour of the dead girls). Another legend is connected with the name of Lysimachus - the successor of Alexander the Great, who, having taken possession of the treasury, tried to hide at the Cape, but sank with his fleet during a storm.
