‘Balchik-Kaliakra’ bus excursion in Bulgaria

- October 14, 2013

Balchik Botanical Garden

If everything in reality remained like in colourful booklets, life of a tourist would be more vivid.

Today I want to say a few words about an interesting according to the guide book excursion in Balchik (Botanical Garden) and Kaliakra Point in Bulgaria. Both places are beautiful, it goes without saying. However, the trip gives you a little time to watch and to enjoy but it ‘eats’ much time with pleasure by getting to the place. Certainly it depends on the hotel location and your ability to use gps to find out the destination and so on before choosing an excursion. But there is always a hotel guide who might help in his own way. He would say how wonderful the trip is, that it would give you unforgettable memories till the end of your life, that it would take you only 2 hours to get to the place, that you would pay for the excursion right away…

In practice, the trip takes more than 4 hours, it tortures you before you arrive, the same happens on your way back to the hotel. Mind that it is a one-day excursion.

Why is it so long? The answer is simple: the bus picks up the farthest tourists in the far away resorts before you start a real trip. Fortunately if the guide is a good-teller the bus trip would be quite sleepy and time would fly like a hunting eagle.

In Balchik Botanic Garden you can find so-called Maria’s Palace. The summer residence of a Rumanian queen. Such a high-flown word as “palace” describes a small villa at the beach. Besides, there is nothing breathtaking inside of it. Tourists are allowed to take pictures of four average-sized rooms, two of which represent bathrooms. Very intimate, indeed.

In Balchik Botanical Garden you can come across with Old Roman thermae and an Orthodox church. The nature is worth seeing. The Black Sea in Bulgaria is clean and clear. Mother Nature with the help of human architects created a very romantic atmosphere in the garden with its bridge of sighs and waterfalls. No wonder that in such surroundings Queen Maria could derive constonant inspiration and strength.

Old Roman Thermae

Kaliakra Point is a picturesque historical place connected with tragical events in the Bulgarian history. There are ruins of Old Roman thermae, a church and a fortress. There are more modern monuments in honour to Admiral F.F.Ushakov, a russian naval commander who freed Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire as a result of the Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774.

When you stand on this point, there is a feeling that you have found the edge of the world. The sea calls you from both sides. And at the horizon there are a couple of pirate ships...well, it depends on your imagination if there are

anything at all besides the endless sea. However, to take pictures of Kaliakra Point would be better from the bird's eye view.

The trip includes a lunch break in one of the local restraunts of Balchik. Many men, many minds. If you like spicy food, you are welcome. The view is quite peaceful: the sea, sun and lazy tourists lying on the beach.

If I had had a chance, I would have visited the same places by my own. Though being already in a cold homeland some retrospection about warm holidays helps me realize that no bus or long way can spoil the magic of the places you visit.