Каварна

The rock capital of Bulgaria, guardian of Cape Kaliakra and the Karvun despotism.

In the 5th century BC Greek settlers from Mesemvria (today's Nessebar) founded the Bizone colony on the site of today's Kavarna. The city quickly became the economic and cultural center of the northern Black Sea during Antiquity. In the Middle Ages, the settlement was known as Karvuna, and in the middle of the 14th century, together with the fortress on the nearby Kaliakra cape, it became the capital of the independent Karvuna (Dobrudzha) despotism of the rulers Balik, Dobrotitsa and his son Ivanko — one of the last Bulgarian state formations before the Ottoman conquest. According to legend, when the fortress was captured by the Ottomans, 40 Bulgarian maidens, led by a girl named Kaliakra, threw themselves from the cliffs into the sea, braiding their hair, to avoid captivity - a legend connected with the name of the cape. During the Ottoman period, Kavarna retained its role as a port village with fishing and agriculture, and a dervish monastery functioned on the promontory, which is believed to guard the relics of the revered Muslim saint Saru Saltak. Freed in 1878, Kavarna remained within the borders of Bulgaria, but like the whole of Southern Dobrudja, between 1913 and 1940 (with a break in 1916–1919) it fell under Romanian rule twice, while with the Craiova Agreement of 1940 it finally returned to Bulgaria. At the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century, Kavarna became an unexpected cultural phenomenon - from 2006 to 2016, the city hosted the rock festival "Kavarna Rock Fest" (until 2010 - "Kaliakra Rock Fest"), which earned it the nickname "rock capital of Bulgaria". Today, Kavarna combines its role as a seaside resort with the heritage of Cape Kaliakra, a natural and archaeological reserve and one of the Hundred National Tourist Sites of Bulgaria, attracting visitors with its rocky panoramas and the remains of a medieval fortress.