Discovering Queen Marie's Gardens at Balchik

Who knew that we once had a queen, who had a big contribution to our country's wellfare? I surely didn't!
There was a time when kings and queens ruled in Romania too, like in fairy tales! They were all foreigners and most of them didn't care much for our country. I remember learning about kings and queens, who ruled our country in the past, before the communists came, but they taught us that they were bad and "sucked our people's blood" - that was the communists' favorite expression. But they forgot to tell us about the good things those kings and queens did. Maybe not all of them, but some did.

Queen Marie came to Romania a few years after she married King Ferdinand, in 1892. She was Queen Victoria of Great Britain's granddaughter. She was a good queen and did a lot for our country, which she loved like her own. Her ruling was the most flourishing time for Romania.

Thanks to this wonderful queen and to her efforts in diplomacy, our country regained some lands which were taken from us, hundreds of years ago. After the WWI, she managed to convince the most powerful rulers of those times to accept the formation of the 'Greater Romania', by regaining Transylvania to the West (conquered by the Hungarians, years ago), Bukovina and Bessarabia, to the East (occupied by the Russians). The Union Treaty has been signed at Alba-Iulia in 1918, on December 1st. 

After the Revolution in 1989, this date, December 1st, became Romania's National Day. This year we are celebrating 100 years from that amazing and wonderful event, which was possible through Queen Marie's efforts.
Unfortunately, after the WWII, Romania has lost Basserabia and Bukovina again, to the Russians. Another land was lost too, to the Bulgarians, and that was the Quadrilater, a beautiful southern region, along the Black Sea Coast. This time, we didn't have a queen to take our side, but only a young king, Mihai I, who was forced to abdicate and was sent into exile, by the communists. Since Russia was also a communist country, that was the price which Romania had to pay, for having Russia's support and protection. 

But no more about bad things! Let's get back to nicer times, when Queen Marie was ruling, because she is the one I want to recall today.
That region we lost after the WWII, the Quadrilater, was still part of Romania during Queen Marie's reign. She found there a magnificent place, on the shore, in the small village of Balchik, which was to become the famous Queen Marie's Gardens. She planned to make it her special place - a nice, quiet and simple summer residence. So she hired two famous Italian architects to build a small palace and a Swiss horticulturist for arranging the gardens. Her palace was built in an Oriental style, with a tower called minaret. 

 
A miniatural statue representing the queen was built on the front wall. 

 
Soon after Queen Mary's palace and gardens were built, Balchik became the most visited resort for the European tourists, especially men of culture, such as painters, artists, writers and poets of her time, who came there especially for the peace and quiet they could find. Besides of being an excellent politician and a very brave woman, Queen Marie loved arts and she always gave shelter to some of her artist friends, at her residence in Balchik.

I had the opportunity to visit Balchik and Queen Marie's domain, when me, my husband and our friends were on vacation in a nearby resort, Golden Sands - in Bulgaria. Although it is managed by the Bulgarians, we knew it was a Romanian place and we couldn't miss that chance. The town is quiet, with a few inhabitants, but  with lots of new villas built on the coast, near the sea. The white coast shines like bright silver in the sun, that's why the place was called The Silver Coast. There was no sun on that day though!

 

The way to Queen Mary's Gardens and Palace goes down, to the shore. Both are built on the cliff shore, inside a small gulf, on the beach - a very quiet and private place, which gave the palace the name of  “The Quiet Nest”.

 

Queen Mary's Gardens are amazing, like a dreamland!  The whole place has terraces all over, stairways going up and down, lots of springs, statues, even a mill, a cascade and a few bridges over the waters.

When I first entered the domains's gate, a luxuriant vegetation came to my sight from all parts. Huge trees, at least a century old , The Rock Garden on the right and lots of tulips, pansies and forget me not on the left terraces. It seemed like I was in paradise!

 

 

 

All the terraces and lanes were made of rocks, same as all the buildings' exterior walls.

 

Many statues - some religious, some representing mythological heroes, especially those at the springs.

 

A river crosses over the garden and goes down into the sea, in a 20 meters waterfall. 

 
A beautiful bridge, copy of the “Bridge of sighs” in Venice, crosses over the cascade.

 

The sight from the cliff was amazing , the Black Sea in front of us, as far as we could see and The English Garden, down the stairs, with geometrical bed flowers and conical evergreens.

 

My friends were in a hurry and we couldn't go down to see it. So we hurried straight forward to the Palace. The small minaret, Turkish style, makes it look like a castle, but it really is a small villa, a perfect “quiet nest” for Queen Marie's vacations. 

 
Not far from the entrance is the Queen's throne and a table where she used to sit and watch the sea.

 

The Lane of the Centuries was the Queen's favorite for her walks.We visited the Gardens in April and the plants were just starting to grow, but I could recognize the wisteria coming up on these trellis, the lilies, irises and azaleas.

 

 

We visited the Palace inside, which was modest, no shiny or golden things in there - or, at least this is what we could see. Many pictures of the Queen, icons and some furniture. 

 

 

 
We went back and climbed up on the six terraces - build for each of her six children -
to the amazing garden called The Cretan Maze, copy of the famous Cretan Labyrinth in ancient Greece which is known to have been round.

 

All conifers and bushes were trimmed in nice forms, while the wisteria vine had a different form than I've seen before, it was trimmed like a pendula  tree, to fit with the conifers and acacias pendula. 

 
The tunnel of evergreens was fascinating!

Different species of tulips, pansies and buttons were decorating this garden too.

 

The Garden of Allah with giant cactuses has 250 species, some of them being 80 years old. Thanks to these, Queen Mary's Gardens are considered to be second in Europe after The Monaco Botanical Gardens. One of the rare species is the Agave tequilana which dies after blooming and from which is made the tequila.The most spectacular seemed to me this Agave murpheyi.

 

The Garden of Gethsemene, with its dwarf trees, gives the place a mystical aura .

The Garden of Roses has 80 species of hybrid roses and inside The Nook Magnolia Garden, near the Garden of Allah, grows an evergreen Magnolia grandiflora with huge white flowers.

Unfortunately, we didn't visit any of those 2 gardens, but I hope I can go back there and visit all the domain.

 

Queen Mary's Gardens have now become Botanical Gardens thanks to the almost 3,000 genus of plants growing here , some of them being very rare like the Metasequoia glyptostroboides and Ginkgo biloba.

 

 

If you'll ever visit Bulgaria, you must go to Balchik and visit Queen Marie's Gardens and the Palace. It's such a beautiful place on the Black Sea coast!