The easternmost point of the Stara Planina ridge in Bulgaria is marked by Cape Emine. Locals are used to considering it a conditional border that separates the northern and South coast The Black Sea.
If you go south from Varna, then after 79 km you can stumble upon this amazing and enchanting place. Tourists who have come to Bulgaria for ecological tourism should know that this place can also be reached through the town of Obzor. 
The cape is located to the south of it, as well as through Burgas, then you will have to go to the north for about 54 km. It would be great to combine comfortable hotels Sunny Beach 5 stars http://www.tourister.ru/world/europe/bulgaria/city/solnechnyjj-bereg/hotels and excursion to Cape Emine.
Only in 1976, the cape was declared a natural landmark in Bulgaria, which is noted in the order No. 1187 dated April 19, 1976. This attraction covers land plot size of 50 hectares, and its creation was the decision of the government to preserve the unique geological and botanical objects. 
If you look at Cape Emine, it looks like almost vertical 60 meters high rocks, which are also scattered in the sea at a distance of 250 m and, resembling a palisade, stick out of the water. Sailors consider this coast to be dangerous for navigation, always bypassing it. To avoid a shipwreck, a lighthouse is installed on the cape, which helps sailors navigate in the dark and bad weather. In this area you can contemplate the ruins of a medieval monastery, near which there is the Emona fortress, which gave the village of the same name.
It is on this cape that route E-3 ends, 
which originates from the top of Mount Kom in the Bulgarian territory and stretches to Cape Emine to the very east. If you go north from the cape, you can get to the Irakli area, which is protected by the state. There is a beach here, which is the pearl of the Black Sea, and it is also a favorite vacation spot for nudists.
Bulgarian village (with a population of 25), located on the easternmost cape Emine, where the Stara Planina mountains (Balkan mountains) cut into the sea. These mountains divide Bulgaria into north and south. Balkans or Stara Planina - the longest Mountain chain on the peninsula for which it is named. This chain 
belongs to the system of the Alps and Carpathians. It stretches from the Serbian border, located near the Timok River, which flows into the Danube, to Cape Emine. The area is remarkable for its virgin nature, clean air and magnificent panoramic sea views. Just 3-4 km. from Emon there is the purest virgin beach of Irakli. There is a NATO military facility nearby and a lighthouse with a weather station is located two kilometers away, as well as the remains of a monastery nearby. 
History
The name of the village comes from the ancient name of the ridge - Aemon, later called Hemus. They say that the king of the Thracians Res (English Rez, in Greek Resos, in the Latin transmission Resus) was born here, 
who died in the Trojan confrontation from Odysseus. There was a fortress and a monastery here, the fortress bore the Greek name Paleokastro meaning Old Fortress. Only the remains of the monastery remained from antiquity.
Climate
Excursion trips in Bulgaria can be made from May to October, and sunbathing and swimming are best in July-September. The sea water remains warm enough until 
end of September.
Transport
You can only get here by car, bike or on foot. The village of Emona is located 8 km from the main road Burgas-Varna. The road is winding, rocky and almost devoid of asphalt, but in dry weather it is surmountable in a car.
Attractions of Emon:
Cape Emine, rising 60 meters above sea level, a lighthouse on it with 
a weather station, the remains of a monastery and a beautiful panoramic view of the sea.
Cape Emine on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria is the easternmost point of the Balkan Mountains, one of the most picturesque natural attractions.
The straight line of the coast bends at right angles and continues to the west. Emine represents an almost vertical 60-meter wall. Seen from the sea, the geological profile of the cape is clearly visible - alternating strips of whitish limestone, red sandstone and bluish marl, which proves that Cape Emine (in Bulgarian - Nose Emine) is the remnant of the crest of the Emin anticlinal fold.
The sea around the bow is shallow, with thousands of rocks submerged and protruding from under the water, generously scattered for 250 meters around. This is why the coast is dangerous here and sailors prefer to stay away. The rocks are especially frightening in a storm. Powerful waves, 4-5 m high, with monstrous force, emitting an ominous roar, rush to redeem the vertical wall and the rocks surrounding it. But in a clear sunny weather, the cape is amazingly beautiful and majestic. 
From the top you can see the entire coastline, outlines of bays and rocky headlands, and in the north - Cape Galata. On Cape Emine there is a meteorological station and a lighthouse built on the foundations of the medieval fortress of Emona, because of which this area was later named Paleokastro (Old Fortress).
On the north-western part of the nose, there is a small village of Emona, near which there are the ruins of an ancient Thracian sanctuary. The Kom-Emine pedestrian route in Bulgaria ends the E-3 section Euro-route.
A beautiful legend is being told about Emin today. How can it be without her. In any country where there are steep cliffs or, at least, a high tower, there is a similar legend. Only it is not clear why the legend is called beautiful. So listen.
Once an old sailor, a lighthouse keeper, lived here with his only daughter, naturally incredibly beautiful. She grew up at ease - the sea, boating, fishing. The ferocious sea made her strong and courageous. It could not be otherwise. 
Once, in a terrible storm, she rescued a shipwrecked sailor. The young man fell in love with the girl. And what else was there for him, since she is beautiful and bold. Parting he promised to return, but forgot the promise. It happens to sailors.
Although not a fact. Maybe he just crashed again. And it happens to them.
From morning to night, standing on the bow, the young lady was waiting for her lover. Finally, mad with despair, she threw herself into the sea. This abyss swallowed her in an instant, and the waves turned dark purple. And today, at sunrise, the sea waters around the nose are colored red and remind of the girl's betrayed love.
Cape Emine is the easternmost point of the Stara Planina ridge, and is also conventionally considered the border between the north and south of the Black Sea coast. The cape is located 79 km south of Varna, 54 km north of Burgas.
Cape Emine was officially recognized as a natural landmark by order in April 1976. It occupies 50 hectares of land, was created in order to preserve the unique objects of geology and botany.
The cape itself is almost sheer cliffs of 60 meters in height. In the sea around the cape, at a distance of 250 m, many rocks rise above the water surface. Therefore, the coast is considered very dangerous for navigation, and sailors are used to bypassing it. There is a lighthouse on the headland, which helps ships to better navigate.
Not far from Cape Emine are the ruins of the monastery and the fortress of Emona dating back to the Middle Ages, and nearby is the village of Emona.
This cape is the final point of the European walking route number E-Z, which runs from peak Kom in Bulgaria to Cape Emine on the eastern side. To the north of Emine lies a protected area called Irakli. The beach, located between the recreation center in this area and Cape Emine itself, is truly considered one of the most beautiful places the Black Sea coast and a favorite place among nature lovers and nudists.
October 26th, 2018, 03:00 pm
I have already crossed more than half of the country, approaching where, as if separate from the rest of Bulgaria, the capital Sofia was. The area left behind was famous for its cultural heritage, old towns, nice and cozy. Ahead was the western part of the country, rich in natural attractions, and not just mountains and woods, but first-class caves, crystal-clear mountain lakes and alpine meadows, surrounded by snows that did not melt by mid-July.
My short story about Bulgaria will be in the "photo with a caption" format without deep immersion in history and the essence of the places that I will show. I only post one out of every twelve selected (!), So it's easy to imagine how much beauty is left outside the scope of this material.
Patchwork landscapes on the road from Veliko Tarnovo to the Devetashki cave. Extremely simple, but picturesque.
Endless sunflower fields are one of the symbols of Bulgaria for me. Taking pictures of them is not easy, since the "heads" are constantly turned away from the sun.
Devetashka cave.
The Devetashka Cave is one of the "places of power". And for me personally - the strongest impression from Bulgaria. Surprisingly, there is very little information about her. The cave was not even mentioned in the Orange Guide ... I accidentally saw a small snapshot of the cave in the printout of the excursions offered in the foyer of my hotel in Golden Sands. From a distance, the entrance to Devetashka looks modest, a kind dog guards it, lying in its booth, made of an old metal barrel.
Abandoned cashier house.
Devetashka has a huge hall. In three places, the giant vault collapsed. The soil that covered it from above, along with all the vegetation, collapsed downward, creating three green islands inside the cave. Light breaks through the holes into the cave, illuminating its gigantic dimensions.
Only part of the cave is reserved for inspection, but you can also penetrate into its dark depths - there is no one to forbid.
The cave has become home to a colony of bats, and other creatures have found a place. But I met surprisingly few people. Even the fact that the second part of "The Expendables" was filmed here with Stallone, Schwarzenegger and others on the list did not add visitors.
Not far from Devetashki, near the village of Krushuna, you can see a small but pretty waterfall.
From Devetashki to Sofia 170 km. Somewhere in the middle of this section, I turned along the signs towards the Syeva Dupka cave. It seems to be also a cave, but it hides a completely different meaning, a different story and other impressions. It is a squat, wet "dungeon" composed of stalactites and stalagmites. A pretty place, but no different from hundreds of similar caves around the world (including the Prometheus and Sataplia caves in Georgia). You can call in if time permits.
Sofia.
I drove into Sofia with the last rays of the sun. My hotel is located near a small but busy market. Perhaps that is why all the parking spaces on the surrounding streets were occupied. The capital met with dirt unusual for the main city, incomprehensible personalities clinging to the corners, a very filthy number and some kind of inhospitable atmosphere poured in the air.
I don’t presume to judge my own exaggerations, maybe I was just unlucky with the area or after the amazing Devetashki I was not ready for something so mundane. In the morning, when sellers reappeared at the counters and began to lay out the imported goods, the market did not seem so gloomy.
I managed to allocate only a few hours for a walk around Sofia. I cannot say that they did not give me pleasure, rather the opposite.
Fragment of urban sculpture.
The city center is small, but all the capital's baubles - palaces with guards, squares and cathedrals - are present. In the photo is the Independence Square. All three buildings are called the Largo architectural ensemble. The ensemble includes the former Party House (former headquarters of the now defunct Bulgarian Communist Party), now used as the administrative building of the People's Assembly of Bulgaria, in the center, and two buildings on the sides: one now houses the Central Department Store and the Council of Ministers of Bulgaria, and the other is occupied the residence of the President, the hotel "Balkans" and the Ministry of Education.
The Ministerial Council is one of the buildings of the Largo Ensemble.
Among the jumble of monumental buildings and passages is the tiny church of Paraskeva Serbskaya. I don’t know for what reason, but there was pitch darkness inside her. Having made my way to the second floor, I found myself in a small hall, most which the shop occupied.
The Banya Bashi Mosque is one of the oldest in Europe.
Perspective.
Cathedral of Holy Week - Cathedral Sophia Metropolitanate.
Changing of the guard at the Presidential Palace.
The most recognizable building in Bulgaria, the symbol of Sofia, is the Temple-Monument of St. Alexander Nevsky. Accommodates 5000 people. The author of the project is Russian architect Alexander Pomerantsev. The temple was founded exactly one hundred years before my birth. Very cool place.
Not far from the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The maximum concentration of compatriots in Sofia is observed here.
Nearby for National Gallery a park has been set up, where sculptures of varying degrees of artistic value are placed among the centuries-old oak trees.
The most unusual of them is the Trabant car monument.
In Bulgaria in general and in Sofia in particular, there are many places associated with Russian-Bulgarian relations. Starting from the monument to Tsar-Liberator Alexander II (1903), at which Bulgaria was liberated from Ottoman rule in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878.
And ending with the monument to the Soviet Army (1954).
The monument was made very carefully, it is worth noting. However, the question of dismantling it often flares up in Bulgarian society.
Boyana Church.
A few kilometers from Sofia in the village of Boyana there is medieval church, in 1979 included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The church was founded in the X century, frescoes of the XI-XIII centuries have been preserved.
Rila Monastery.
Having finished with Sophia, I headed strictly south. My ultimate goal was the Bulgarian-Greek border, or rather the small town of Petrich, where the house of the famous fortuneteller Vanga is located. The plans had to be changed along the way, since Sofia did not leave time for a long trip for ill-considered impressions. The Rila Monastery, on the other hand, deserved much more than a cursory inspection. That only are hundreds of square meters of first-class frescoes.
The Rila Monastery is the largest stavropegic monastery of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Founded at the end of the 10th century. In 1983 it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
In the tower there is a toilet made according to the medieval model - a hole in the floor of the protruding annex on the top floor. Monks in the distant past were no strangers to the mundane ...
View from the tower.
Stunning murals.
A few kilometers from the Rila Monastery is the Church of the Assumption of St. John of Rila, built over the cave in which the saint was tied up, and also over the place where his grave was originally believed to have been. If you crawl through a narrow hole into a cave, and this is not difficult to accomplish, then, they say, your wish will come true. People climb.
Rila hangs over the church - mountain range, with an area of 2629 km². On the other side of the mountains are the famous lakes. Initially, I intended to leave the car at the monastery and go to hiking trip to the lakes, but only on the spot it turned out that this one way trip takes a whole day. With proper planning, it would have been an unforgettable hike, but had to be abandoned. I spent the night in the village of Rila, in funny hotel at a ridiculous price. The village shop only had beer and chips for dinner.
Seven Rila Lakes.
I had to make a circle and drive up to the Rila mountain range from the opposite side. On a hot day off, in addition to numerous tourists, they reached out to the mountains and locals... After standing in line, I sat down in a chair lift and rushed up.
An unexpected meeting upstairs.
Upper station cable car seemed to be on a completely different edge of the planet. A completely different look, a different grass, a different color of the sky. And snow! In the middle of July.
But the view from the chair of the cable car does not end with the visit to the lakes. You have to make a long hike up the hill, the reward for which are stunning views of crystal-clear mountain lakes.
The Seven Rila Lakes are a group of lakes of glacial origin. Located at an altitude of 2,100 to 2,500 meters above sea level. Each of the seven lakes has its own name associated with its most characteristic feature.
Bachkovo monastery.
At the foot of the Rhodope Mountains (readers who have found Soviet times will probably remember the Rodopi cigarettes, named after mountain system), not far from the city of Plovdiv, there is the Bachkovo Monastery - the second after the Rila Monastery in importance, size and number of tourists. It is famous for its amazing combination of traditions of Byzantine, Georgian and Bulgarian cultures. Its founders were the Georgians - brothers Grigory and Abaziy Bakuriani (buried in the monastery crypt). Grigory Bakuriani personally wrote the typikon of the monastery, noting his Georgian origin, signing it at the end in Georgian letters. For many years the monastery was inhabited only by Iberian (Georgian) monks, which was noted in the charter. The service was conducted in the Georgian language. It seems logical that the nearby city of Plovdiv is twinned with Kutaisi, the second most populous city in Georgia.
Fragment of painting.
Plovdiv.
Plovdiv is the second most populous city in Bulgaria. Initially, I was going to drop into it with the sole purpose of looking at the famous Alyosha. Then it turned out that the city has preserved a network of old streets that must be visited. On the spot, it turned out that Plovdiv was littered with sights like a table with delicacies on Easter day.
It is believed that Plovdiv is one of the oldest cities in Europe. The first settlements within the boundaries of modern Plovdiv date back to the Neolithic era and date back to about 6 thousand years BC. In 45 A.D. NS. the city became part of the Roman Empire and became an important stronghold of the Romans: this is evidenced by the numerous ruins of Roman buildings that have survived to this day: a hippodrome, thermal baths and an amphitheater.
More than 200 buildings are now declared historical monuments and taken under protection.
Perspective of modern Plovdiv and the Rhodope Mountains.
The famous monument "Alyosha" is erected on the hill of the Liberators. The road to it is closed for traffic, but by that time I was already in such a hurry that I neglected the rules. A few more cars turned up at the top ... The monument (erected in 1954, opened on November 5, 1957) is an 11.5-meter-high reinforced concrete sculpture of a Soviet soldier looking east. It can be seen from almost anywhere in the city.
Another thing is surprising. A stele to the liberator of Bulgaria, Emperor Alexander II, was erected next to Alyosha. And around the stele there are fir trees planted by Soviet cosmonauts Gagarin, Titov, Tereshkova and others. An unthinkable neighborhood, but for Bulgaria all these are pages of their history. The photo is a view from the hill.
Cape Kaliakra.
From Varna I returned to Golden Sands. Before a hasty and premature departure to Batumi, I managed to visit only Cape Kaliakra.
Cape Kaliakra juts out into the sea for about two kilometers and is a natural and archaeological reserve, included in the list of the 100 largest tourist attractions in Bulgaria. The bay, protected by the headland from the harsh winter winds, is a traditional refuge from the weather. sea vessels... The height of the cliffs reaches 70 meters.
The wall of the medieval fortress on Kaliakra.
Monument to Fyodor Ushakov On July 31 (August 11), 1791, during the Russian-Turkish war, a battle took place near the cape, in which the Russian fleet under the command of Rear Admiral Fyodor Ushakov defeated Turkish and Algerian ships. The Turkish squadron was stationed here under the protection of coastal batteries. Ushakov entered the battle on the move, in marching formation, and not lining up in battle formation for shelling, as prescribed marine science that time. His squadron appeared from behind Cape Kaliakra so suddenly that the Turks did not have time to raise the anchors and cut the ropes to get under the sails. The turmoil resulted in the ships colliding with each other and breaking their masts. In Bulgaria, Ushakov is revered as an Orthodox saint and naval commander who dispelled the myth of the invincibility of the Turkish armada. It is believed that it was with the Battle of Kaliakra that the movement of the Balkans to liberation from the Turkish yoke began. (Wiki)
Cape Kaliakra is steeped in legends due to its strategic position on the Black Sea and rocky shores. The most famous legend about this cape is about 40 Bulgarian girls who chose to tie their braids and throw themselves into the Black Sea from Cape Kaliakra, instead of being captured by the Ottomans. In honor of this legend, an obelisk was erected at the entrance to one of the small bays called "Gate of 40 Maidens". (Wiki)
