I have traveled again to where I feel at home, even though it is in a different country than the one I live in. Those few who have read my blogs before surely know what place I am talking about, because I have written hundreds of times about this place which is also one of the main subjects of my stories...
Balchik, of course!
I live in Bucharest, in the southern part of Romania and Balchik is a resort on the Black Sea, in the northern part of Bulgaria, about 300 km away. I say approximately because there are four routes to choose from.
This region belonged to the Kingdom of Romania for several decades in the last century. The beauty of the place prompted Queen Mary of Romania to buy a large area of land by the sea and build a castle, the summer residence of the royal family, and a beautiful garden. The white tower in the photo is part of this castle, which is just a small villa.
The castle and gardens are the main tourist attraction of the place. In addition, there are a few other attractions: the landscape, the special light given by the limestone hills surrounding the town, the sea, the people, the food, and the walks. There is a seaside promenade a few kilometers long that I always look forward to walking along.
The promenade is flanked on one side by hotels, restaurants, and terraces and on the other side by the sea...
... but there's something between the sea and the promenade, a pier made of white limestone quarried from the nearby hills.
Some white stones!
These white stones are the main building materials.
They were used in the past and are still used today. They are the local specificity.
They are the local specificity.
Walking on this promenade, close to the sea and the pier made of stones, has always been a discovery and a search.
There is something special about these stones, some of them.
As I said, these stones are made of limestone, so a soft material, easy to shape.
Someone noticed that, a visual artist, a sculptor probably.
There is a unity of style that leads to the conclusion that it is one man who made these carvings and engravings in stone.
The walk becomes a hunt and search for new carvings on the stones that make up the dike, a real race to discover something new.
Cave drawings made by prehistoric humans inspire many of these drawings carved in stone.
I also saw a rock that definitely fell into the sea and stayed there for a while because "it aged" more than the others... Or maybe it is much older and was the model for the other sculptures.
I wondered how less educated people did not destroy these rather fragile sculptures. I found the answer on the same walk when I met the keepers of this open-air museum...
In Balchik, there can be countless reasons to take a walk. I hope I managed to show that, with this walk along the beautifully carved stones of the pier.
An equally enjoyable and interesting walk can be taken to see the nature and flowers of this promenade.
I hope I have succeeded with this blog to show why I come several times a year to this city and also that it is worth trying to get here, to Balchik in Bulgaria!
This whole story might not interest anyone but I hope you find something interesting in the photos. Because, after all, photos are what it's all about.
Make a point of looking around and up and see what you can find to get shots of that otherwise you may miss.
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