Urdoviza

Between the northern and southern beach of the Black sea resort town of Kiten, there is a small peninsula bearing the mythical name of Urdoviza. Until Bulgaria’s liberation from the Turkish yoke (1878), the walls of a fortress, praised in many folk legends and songs from these places, were rising. The fortress’ history is related to the establishment of the region of Hasekia, which enjoyed special privileges in the times when the Ottomans ruled our lands. A legend tells the story of a young girl named Stana Urdovizka, who was so beautiful that even the Turkish sultan was captivated by her beauty and proposed her to marry him. She agreed, but had one condition – she would marry the sultan only if he agreed to free from all taxes the land she managed to travel over in one day riding a horse. The sultan agreed immediately and Urdovizka set about riding her “flying” horse. She rode all day, and in the evening her horse was so tired it collapsed on the ground and died in the middle of the small bay, which was later called Atliman (in Turksih Atliman means “stallion”). The beautiful girl also died. The sultan issued a special decree, exempting the locals from all taxes. The region was called Hasekia or Asekia (which in translation means "land, exempted from all taxes").