Beautiful Gardens and Pink Cake

This post is actually from Saturday, May 31st.

Today a bunch of us took the opportunity to bus up to Balchik which is a small seaside town in Northern Bulgaria which combines the romance of its steep streets with the beauty of the sea. For a long time it has been known as the White Town for the mainly white colour of its lime rocks. We probably will all remember it for its botanical gardens. We got off the bus and walked down the tiny little streets lined with the vendors getting ready for the day until we reached the gates. There we stopped and listened to the history of the Gardens.

The ancient settlement used to bear the name of the Greek god of wine and revelry, Dionysus until after the end of WWI. Then Balchik was handed over to Romania and it was not until 1940 that Bulgaria reclaimed it after the skillful diplomatic intervention of the then Bulgarian monarch Boris I. While Balchik was under Romanian domination the Romanian Queen Maria fell in love with it and built the palace, which was later converted into a botanical garden. One can see both Christian and Muslim holy buildings hosted by the palace - a church and a mosque. Romanian Queen Maria professed the Baha’i religion, according to which perfect harmony was what mattered most. Little by little the palace became the queen’s best preferred place for relaxation, she often used to write poetry and paint pictures in her leisure time. The Queen’s palace has mysteriously landed on the sea coast – it is a building not that grand in scale, but combining elements of Mediterranean culture and the architecture typical of the Bulgarian national revival period of the early and mid-19th century. Rumour has it that the Romanian Queen was desperately in love with a handsome Turkish pasha, while the then Bulgarian prince Kiril was passionately in love with her. The palace owes its pride to its botanical garden, which is really unique, and whose construction the highly reputed Swiss botany expert Jules Jany began in 1926. At that time the garden was named the Garden of Allah. Today, it is found particularly attractive for its rich collection of cacti and exotic plants. The Romanian Queen would often indulge herself in long walks along the meandering paths, tasting the magnificent atmosphere of the palace she had built.

We wandered through the Gardens were we were able to view the beautiful rows of flowers, the ivy covered walls, stone crosses that decorated special areas, tasted some Bulgarian wine, wandered through buildings, and even stopped for a picture on the what used to be the Queen's private massage table. Her private church was really neat. The icons that covered the walls were beautiful. The best part though were the roses. Bulgaria really is the Land of Roses. They were every shape, size, color, and scent. The coolest ones that I saw were a deep purple and had one of the sweetest scents. One I will always remember.

After the gardens we had some time to wander through the streets. I don't think I will ever forget one of the stores. They had preserved puffer fish in their puffed out position. They hung from strings and you could buy them in mobiles or just as figurines. What a person does with them, not really sure... Probably collectors items or something...

Lunch was amazing! We sat down at our tables which were located on a patio that overlooked the harbor of Balchik. We watched sailboats race through a course while we enjoyed our first course of a salad sample. We had three different salads which were all good, but my favorite was and always will be the shopska salad. The others were flavored heavily with dill as is a lot of their food... it takes some getting used to. The main dish was either stuffed chicken or shark. Shocking, yes. The stuffed chicken was excellent, but the shark was somewhat bland, was what I heard. (I'm not a big fish fan so I chickened out on trying it...) The best part was the dessert. It was a strawberry ice cream cake and was the best thing I have ever eaten. It was couple layers of strawberry ice cream stuck between a spongy white cake and was like eating heaven. It made me feel like a little girl again at a birthday party where we are all wearing tiaras.

Rehearsal was an interesting experience tonight. The orchestra is absolutely incredible to listen to. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in listening to them that I forget my entrance... sorry Dr. Hart... Then listening to us come in over the top of the orchestra and find that perfect balance is one that takes some effort, but when there is that perfect balance, you could listen all day. The conductors have chosen their movements and now we are working on their specific details that they want to incorporate into the pieces which is complicated by the time everything gets translated, but in the end it all comes together and is a reminder of why we are here. To make this beautiful music with these wonderful people and become the musicians we know that we can be--what a beautiful thing.

Christa