In the days when the gods lived together with men, an ancient Greek galley embarked on an extremely dangerous voyage. Her captain was 20-year-old Jason. Pellius, who fraudulently removed his father from the throne, sent him with the impossible for fulfillment of the order to return with the Golden Fleece, secretly hoping that the young man would meet his death in this voyage.
But Jason, having gathered a large group of heroes, among them Hercules and Orpheus, after countless travails reached Colchis (today’s Georgia) and with Medea’s help he obtained the Golden Fleece. Left in history as “argonauts”, after the name of their ship.
Is this just a legend or is there any grain of truth in it?
In 1973, engineer Sergey Kupriyanov, in the waters around Cape Kaliakra, found a metal ingot in the shape of a stretched ox hide. For archeologists, it was only a domonetic means of exchange, for historians – convincing proof of how far north along the Black Sea coast, in the second millennium BC, the Aegean seafarers reached. For dreamers and adventurers, it is also a testament to the legendary voyage of the Argonauts.
You must have noticed that most of the legends have a tragic plot. The romantic rocky promontory of Kaliakra with steep shores is no exception. It is known that in the first century of the new era, the Romans conquered the lands of the Thracians and gave Calliakra the name Acros Castellum. The landward approaches were protected by three rows of fortress walls. Creating their state, the Slavs and proto-Bulgarians included Kaliakra in it. At the end of the 14th century, after fierce battles, the fortress was captured by the Turks. Then was born the legend of the 40 Bulgarian girls who chose death over dishonor and jumped into the abyss with braided hair.
Cape Kaliakra has cut as far as 2 kilometers into the sea, and this is the reason for the existence of another legend. Saint Nicholas – the patron saint of sailors and fishermen, who fled from the Turks. The ground under his feet also tried to help by stretching, but in vain – he was captured and killed. Therefore, now at the very end of the cape there is a small chapel that bears the name of the saint. According to another interpretation of the name, it comes from the convenient bay and “Kaliakra” and means “nice and good shore”, which it undoubtedly is. Therefore it was used in antiquity, and there is also a legend that the still undiscovered treasure of Lysimachus is buried here somewhere.
No one can say with certainty how much truth there is in a legend, or whether it itself is not truer than any truth! A judgment at first glance paradoxical, but very often the only true one. The history of archeology is full of such examples. The brightest? Here it is: the young Schliemann, who believed in Homer’s “Iliad”, discovered the ruins of Troy. Which until then was only a legend.
But more important than all this remains the nature of the northern coast, whose bristly reddish rocks hide so many secrets. And which The Black Sea has been digging for centuries without being able to erase the traces left by our ancient ancestors. This is the meaning of the visit to Kaliakra: to realize that the real treasure is not the Golden Fleece, but the incredible charm of this shrouded og legends. a seemingly barren and harsh coast that captivates with its primal beauty
Work time:
Monday – Saturday (May – September): 9.00 – 13.00 and 14.00 – 18.00
Monday – Friday (October – April): 8.30 – 12.30 and 13.30 – 17.30
Saturday and Sunday – on request for groups
Entrance fees:
adults – BGN 3.00
children, schoolchildren, students – BGN 1.00
family ticket – BGN 4.00
Entrance fee within the tourist route:
adults – BGN 6.00
children, schoolchildren, students – BGN 2.00
family ticket – BGN 10.00
Entrance fee for participation in educational programs – BGN 2.
Lectures:
in Bulgarian – BGN 5.00,
in a foreign language – BGN 10.00.
Contacts:
Historical Museum – city of Kavarna
Tel: +359 570 821 50
