Urdoviza

Worth a detour

The rocky peninsula that divides Kiten's two bays carries the remains of a fortress that has been excavated since 2012: a gate, two watchtowers, a stepped approach and a hearth. It is listed heritage, it is free, it is unfenced, and it takes half an hour. Come in the evening, when the light is on the stone and the beaches below have emptied.

Story

Background

Urdoviza is the old name of the place and of the headland. The fortification was listed as a monument of local significance in 1965 and systematic excavation began in 2012, uncovering twelve steps leading up to the entrance, two watchtowers and a gate, with a hearth inside. Publication has been limited and there is no interpretation on the site itself.

The peninsula matters more than the ruin. Kiten's modern history begins on it: Thracian refugee families from the village of Fazanovo settled the western side from 1932 and gave the place its present form. Before that it was a landing rather than a settlement.

What the headland gives you now is the geography in one look. Atliman bay is to the north, shallow and enclosed; the south beach and the mouth of the Kitenska river are on the other side; Primorsko is visible up the coast and the first ridges of Strandzha behind. It is a five-minute walk from either beach. The usual cautions for an unmanaged coastal site in Bulgaria apply: the edges are undercut, nothing is railed, the stone is slippery when wet, and there is no shade at all between eleven and five.