Pobiti Kamani – “the driven stones” – is a striking natural phenomenon on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. The stone columns are said to be over 50 million years old; they stand and lie scattered across white sand, hollow inside and filled with sand. With a little imagination you can make out camels, lions or thrones. A quiet, magical place – probably once a sacred site for rituals. According to legend, embracing the columns releases negative energy and recharges body and soul.
The legend of Pobiti Kamani
Long ago an inland sea lay here, its shores inhabited by titans – guardians of a god. An immortal young man fell in love with a girl promised to one of the titans. He asked for her release. In return, the titan demanded the name of the god they guarded – whose betrayal would have cost the young man his immortality.
So he devised a ruse: he asked all the titans to line up in a great square so he could reveal the name to them. As the first rays of sun struck them, he cried: “I have written the name of the god with your bodies.” The god was moved and turned the titans to stone. And so the cunning young man could take the girl as his wife – and as he embraced her happily, spring water bubbled up beneath their feet.
Legend told by Elisaveta Sovtova, Varna · Excerpt from “Schoppska” by Maria Kahl.
