Page update: 01 January 2000

Kaliakra

North of Balchik the coast is virtually untouched by tourism, the road passes through Kavarna, a port from where much of Dobrudja's grain is exported. A minor road leads to Cape Kaliakra, with its prominent red cliffs rising 60 metres above the sea. According to local tradition forty girls, the sole survivors of a Turkish attack, tied their long plaits of hair together and jumped to their deaths, rather than be raped by the victors. Today 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.