Continuing the series of posts about the small town of Balchik in Bulgaria, a Black Sea resort and a favorite destination. A favorite destination of my family but also of a few friends and acquaintances, enough that I'm not afraid I'm wrong when I love this place so much.
My most recent trip, taken last week, has filled my photo archive and this is what prompted me to change the usual travel blog into several presentations that I called a series, that is to say, to be part of a series.
I have reached the fourth episode and I would like to present another attraction that may interest those who want to visit or those who just want to learn about a beautiful place on this earth.
Balchik is located in the eastern part of Bulgaria, on the Black Sea, halfway between the Romanian border and Varna, which I believe is the second largest city in Bulgaria.
Balchik is a small town that had a big chance. Of course, not by accident. Beautiful landscape, mild climate, and special light, given by the white hills that protect it. Its historic chance was that a queen.
A queen as in a fairy tale, saw the place and immediately decided she wanted to build a summer residence for the royal house of Romania.
The queen, Romania's most beloved queen, was called Maria and she built a small castle she called The Quiet Nook Palace which she surrounded with beautiful gardens. This happened in the 1930s...
Following the example of the queen, most of the nobility and the wealthy in Romania built holiday homes and lived in Balchik in the summer, which I believe contributed to the development and modernization of the city. Bulgarian historians may not agree with what I believe, I don't know that, but my logic tells me so.
Even if I am wrong, the fact that now the castle and its gardens are the main attraction of the city and attract over a quarter of a million visitors a year seems to prove me right.
Here's what it says A well-known travel website in Bulgaria which is also the source for what I put below:
The main attraction of the Balchik Palace is the wonderful Botanical Garden. Its ten hectares surround the impressive summer palace of the Romanian Queen Marie. (The area was part of Romania between 1913 and 1940).
The Quiet Nook Palace and its park are placed on an area of 35 hectares.
The wonderful Botanical Garden is the main attraction! Well, if it's the main attraction, then that's what I have to show you now!
The botanical garden is made up of several parts if I understand correctly what I visited. A large part is dedicated to roses, another part to trees, and another part to decorative flowers that are grown in large areas, where different geometric shapes are drawn, and variously colored.
Over three thousand species of plants grow in this garden!
Then follows the famous cactus and succulent garden and greenhouse.
The Garden of Cactus
This garden is unique in this part of Europe where the climate should not allow the growth of these plants, but here there is something magical. An almost Mediterranean climate that even allows an outdoor cactus garden to survive the winter.
The Garden of Cactus here is the second largest in Europe, after the one in Monaco. It is truly special and unusual for those living in this northeastern part of Europe and this explains a large number of visitors. When I'm on holiday in a foreign place, I like to look at what the place has to offer but I also like to look at the other visitors. Below you will see why I chose the title "People and Cacti"!
I love watching people so much... With my eyes after them, I also got to the more sensitive cacti, which can't survive the climate and then need a warm house in winter.
I have to say that I am not a cactus specialist, I don't know them by name or where they live. I like to look at them, I like their shape, their flowers so ephemeral and I don't think I will become a connoisseur. In the following, I will show how I saw these cacti on my visit from the greenhouse, without making many comments where I am not knowledgeable.
The big ones...
... and the little ones!
The crossing of the greenhouse leads to the sea. Because we must not forget that we are at the sea!
Because it is the sea that called us here.
Balchik is a place endowed with many beauties. In this fourth series, I wanted to show a more exotic part of nature here, even if it is a nature specially arranged and cared for to survive.
A short recap, for those who want to know more about Balchik.
