A day trip, start before 0800 hours, best done in the early season. Nature is then at its best. Photos can be enlarged by clicking on the photo.
1. POBOTI KAMANI
What did we see?
From afar we saw the columns on both sides of the road, sometimes single and slightly tilted,
then grouped back together and often broken off like trees by the heavy wind.
The same atmosphere came over us that you have when visiting archaeological sites,
with temples destroyed by earthquakes.
It was remarkably warm. The sandy soil with long grass here and there reflected the bright sunlight.
What is it?
The columns are not fossil remains of plants and trees like in Lesvos or Arizona.
Since the phenomenon is so unique in the world, it is very difficult to explain geologically.
Every theory about this is somewhat shaky, the last one about this:
50 million years ago, when the area was under the sea, 3 layers were formed, a layer of river sediment, a layer of sand and finally a layer of lime.
When the area was pushed above the sea, the rain carried the lime through the sand.
In the places where this went better, the columns were created that later came to rest due to the wind.
And:
There are poems but also legends about the columns such as:
During Turkish rule, a child is killed by a soldier because the mother does not want to be betrayed
where her husband is hidden. The mother cries out in sorrow and nature unleashes all her power in a storm,
the next morning all the trees are petrified. Q.E.D.
25,000-year-old primitive stone tools indicate human presence since prehistoric times.
As is often the case in Bulgaria in connection with valuable finds, many columns were, unfortunately, destroyed or used as building material.
Today the zone is protected as a nature reserve.
2. BALTCHIK
The palace of the Romanian Queen Marie. Beautiful flower gardens. Can be viewed in the spring.
3. KALIAKRA
The breathtaking cliff became the subject of the story that forty Bulgarian girls, with their hair tied back, jumped from the cliff to avoid falling into the hands of the Turkish troops.
There is an obelisk to commemorate this legend. It is mainly a place where many successive rulers such as the Traciers, Greeks, Romans, Bulgarians, Ottomans and Romanians built their forts.
One can easily imagine that in this place, where so many claimed the territory, many atrocities and wars took place and so many people lost their lives.
From Baltchik to Kaliakra: Try to follow the coastal road as much as possible. This quiet, very comfortable road takes you along the beautiful chalk-white cliffs.
Kaliakra:
This protruding point is one of the most beautiful places on the northern coast of Bulgaria, near the Romanian border. At the same time, it has a charged history due to its strategic location. Already inhabited by the Traciers before the Greeks landed here. The Traciers and the Greeks called it "beautiful headland". The cape forms a sharp point and is 70 meters above sea level. We visited the cape in the spring, several trees on the edge of the cliff were in lush bloom.
