Years pass like seconds and everything changes at the speed of light. Looking at my life from the end of it, this is the feeling I have that is not the most desirable part. Life is a linear, one-way flow, and like a line, it is contained between two points. A beginning and an end. The point I'm looking for is the one at the end, and obviously, I don't know how close I am to that end, but I know it's pretty close.
After reviewing photos from one of my dozens of visits to Queen Maria of Romania's Castle in Balchik, a small town on the Black Sea in Bulgaria, this cheap philosophy about life came to me.
I come back with the explanation of this paradox, that is to say, the presence of a castle of a queen from one country in another country than the one where she reigned. The explanation is simple. When she built the castle the region called Dobrogea in Bulgaria belonged to the kingdom of Romania. It was a possession of about 40 years, a result of the changes due to the Balkan war at the beginning of the 20th century.
What you can see above is not the so well-known castle, the main tourist attraction in Balchik and the second one in Bulgaria. Just like a much-loved song that I have listened to hundreds of times, the image of this castle has been so overused that I feel the need to ignore it for a while. What you can see is the villa of one of Queen Mary's sons. She had five children and built a villa for each of them on this estate.
What interests me most is the superb garden designed by a famous Swiss architect at the Queen's suggestion and wish. It is an elevated garden on the face of a hill overlooking the sea. The plateau of the hill is very extensive and there are many springs, this aspect made the Queen buy this place.
I meant to say at the beginning when I talked about the speed of time that a hundred years ago I would have had no chance to walk around this place reserved only for royalty and royal families. I, an ordinary man, couldn't have had access.
Here's how the passage of time has changed that, kings and queens have long slept the sleep of eternity and we, the people of today, have the privilege to see the forbidden places.
The garden is lovely, full of greenery and colors and color pictures would have rendered the gorgeous reality of the place much better. I, however, want to pay tribute to the one who made this place exist in this form, Queen Mary, who lived in a time when any images copied from true nature were only in black and white.
This is what photographs of Queen Mary looked like in her time. Here she is, obviously, in the garden in Balchik. The photo, of course, is not mine. It's from a souvenir postcard I bought there.
I aimed to pay homage and respect by capturing the atmosphere of the place as it was during the Queen's time, using only black and white photos.
Here are some pictures of the garden from a walk I took with my wife and a good friend.
The garden here is not only trees and flowers, there are many buildings, now transformed into souvenir shops or restaurants, in the past they were annexes of the castle.
A place to rest after long walks, probably a bench where the queen rested also, you can see some royal regalia in its decoration.
The gardens are huge and you need to set aside a day to quietly enjoy all you can see.
Many springs were captured and collected in a river and a waterfall. To cross the river, you must walk over a bridge, and a legend that will be shared another time.
But there is a true story that needs to be told now. The Stela Maris is called the Orthodox chapel built by the queen in a corner of the garden.
Queen Mary loved this place so much that she prayed that after death her heart would be brought here. She died in 1938 and her wish was granted. The heart was placed in a silver box and kept in the Stela Maris Chapel in Balchik.
In 1940 South Dobrogea region, together with Balchik, was retroceded to Bulgaria, and Queen Maria's heart was taken to Romania and kept in Pelisor Castle in the Carpathian Mountains.
This is my entry for the #monomad challenge.
