A daring naval gambit off Cape Kaliakra and the opening of a beloved seaside attraction nearly two centuries apart make August 11 a date where Bulgaria’s history meets the Black Sea from two very different angles.
August 11, 1791 — The Battle of Cape Kaliakra
Off the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, a Russian fleet under Admiral Fyodor Ushakov engaged an Ottoman-Algerian fleet nearly twice its size near Cape Kaliakra, in what became the last naval battle of the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1792. Ushakov’s daring manoeuvre, sailing his ships between the enemy fleet and the cape’s shore batteries, caught the Ottomans off guard and forced them to retreat toward Constantinople.
Neither side lost a ship, but the tactical victory was decisive enough to earn Ushakov Russia’s Order of St. Alexander Nevsky. A monument to him still stands on the cape today.
August 11, 1984 — The Varna Dolphinarium Opens
Bulgaria’s only dolphinarium opened its doors in Varna’s Sea Garden, the realisation of a decade-long campaign by zoologist Nikolai Boev to bring marine mammal research and public exhibitions to the Black Sea coast. Its first dolphins, bottlenose dolphins named Kimbo, Dolly, and Mika, arrived from the waters of Guatemala and Cuba.
With 1,200 seats and a pool fed by specially treated seawater, it quickly became one of the most recognisable attractions on the Bulgarian coast.
The series continues the next day with what happened on August 12. For more, browse our Bulgaria From Above aerial series or our guides to the best of Bulgaria.
