A fortress was built on the high, narrow and easily defensible Kaliakra Cape, 13 km southeast of Kavarna, as early as the first half of the 3rd Century BC. Life didn't cease under the Romans, who enlarged the fortress and strengthened its perimeter. In the 4th Century AD the settlement already had an inner and outer cities and a strong citadel at the tip of the cape. Kaliakra needed it – in the following two centuries it became one of the vital military points against the influx of the so-called Barbarians. After the 7th Century it experienced a long period of decline, before becoming, in the 14th Century, the capital of an influential autonomous Bulgarian principality.
In today's Kaliakra, ancient and medieval ruins mingle indiscriminately on the terrain, forming an intriguing patchwork of history.
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