Before the castle what can it be? Just a smaller castle. Balchik Castle, the summer residence of Queen Mary of Romania, is the main attraction in the small town on the Black Sea, Balchik, Bulgaria.
This is a new episode of the Balchik Series!
When you say castle you think of something grand. This is not the case here. The queen's castle is just a villa the size of a holiday home. The Queen chose to have a smaller house but a grand garden. In the garden, there are six smaller villas, one for each of the queen's children.
So the answer to the above question is... Before the castle, there are five smaller castles, the holiday homes of the queen's children. One of the most beautiful of these buildings is Villa Blue Arrow, the Prince Nikolay villa!
Every Wednesday we tell the story of a walk, as part of #WednesdayWalk, 
A short trip I made to Balchik with two lady friends, one of them a wife, was the occasion for several extremely pleasant walks.
Because Villa Blue Arrow is so visible from the seaside promenade, the two ladies wanted to get closer. The opportunity for another walk!
Walking through this part of the garden is not easy. Both the garden and the villas were built on a hill that slopes down to the sea. Just ups and downs, quite tiring. Lots of terraces and stairs!
The ladies, my companions, rested more than they walked but I liked that.
It gave me the freedom to look around and photograph and now to show you what I saw.
The rich nature and the sea of green of the garden...
Then the real sea, the blue sea, now seen from the top of the hill, near Prince Nicholay's villa.
People and animals
Beyond the villa, at the top of the hill, actually on a plateau, is the passage from the Queen's Gardens to the botanical garden and the cactus reserve.
Succulents and cacti are the masters of these places.
The climate with strong Mediterranean influences has allowed the cacti to accommodate the lower winter temperatures.
Thus the largest botanical garden specializing in cacti in this part of Europe was created.
It is a very popular place for tourists, especially since cacti are not plants that grow spontaneously in these places.
Beyond the tourists excited by the sight, agitated and noisy, in the background, we can see the villa of Prince Nikolay, long gone from us, as well as his mother, Queen Mary of Romania, thanks to whom we have today what to visit and where to walk!
End of the 10th episode.
Balchik Series
Below are all the episodes:
Feeling The Sea
My Friend, The Cat
Sea, Sun, Cats, and Souvenirs
People and Cacti, Botanical Garden in Balchik
Summer
Feeling The Sea (Two) - Balchik (Episode Six)
Balchik Lavender
Wild Nature In Balchik
We eat, drink and have a good time
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