In the tulip kingdom (spring in the Botanical Garden in Balchik) - TOUR 28 / April 2013

A tulip – what do we know about this wonderful flower creature?

Its existence is mentioned in the old Persian literature in the 9-th century. It appeared on our continent (Europe) hardly in the 16-th century, transferred from Mala Asia.

The Bulgarian name ‘lale’ comes from Turkish and Persian, and the latin ‘tulipa’ – from the Turkish word ‘tyurban’.

The biggest natural location and variety are in the Pamir Mountains, The Hindu Kush and The Tian Shan Mountain. A few thousand sorts of tulips have been gained for over 400 years.

Many of us associate tulips with Netherlands as the flower is a symbol of this country, and it is the biggest producer of tulips.

It is considered that the beautiful flower appeared in Netherlands due to Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq, (1522-1592), a Flemish nobleman who lived in Istanbul from 1556 to 1562 as the Austrian emperor Ferdinand’s ambassador in the court of Suleiman II The Magnificent. His passion for herbs and plants made him send tulip bulbs from the Ottoman Empire to his friend Charles de l'Écluse in 1554. Charles de l'Écluse managed to grow and naturalise the plants in the Lowlands.

The tulip popularity spread and it was grown more seriously in the united provinces (nowadays Netherlands) in about 1593. Its history is stunning but I can’t help mentioning at least one curious fact such as ‘the pearl of spring’ attracted great interest in Netherlands that turned into a mania (tulipomaniа, tulpomanie, tulpenwoede, tulpengekte and bollengekte) that reached its peak in the spring of 1637. Then single tulip bulbs were sold at a price 10 times higher than a qualified master craftsman’s annual income......

So today we can observe patterns, different leaf shapes and a variety of colours.

According to Kazakh’s epos happiness is hidden in the tulip bud. No one could open the beautiful corolla for a long time. A little child saw it once. The child ran to the meadow joyfully and touched the flower with the tender small hands. The bud opened and great human happiness flew on earth.

There is a superstition in Uzbekistan that the sky blue tulip which grows and blossoms in the mountains brings luck

(http://legendite.blogspot.com/2009/09/blog-post_13.html)

Since last year I have been thinking of visiting the Botanical Garden in Balchik in spring. In the beginning of April I started checking when the right moment for achieving the goal would come. And ‘voilà’, after short hesitations at the end of the month we went together to the flowers paradise.

The weather was extremely pleasant for a walk.

We were some of the first visitors, not to say the first ones, a condition that was enough to ‘enjoy’ the smorgasbord, undisturbed. The various sorts and colours, ordered in groups and flower beds cast a spell on us. What variety, what palette?!

After a long, long, long rotation around every sort as it is seen in the quantity of photos we went to the other parts of the garden.

A little farther some merry pansies in many colours met us in the ‘Divine Garden’.

It was the fascicular daisies (Bellis) turn.

Flowers and blossomed trees fragrance was floating everywhere.

Spring was at its best.

I had visited the place before but that time I was dazed.

We couldn’t possibly miss the rest of the complex. And the history of the site was good. We went to the Palace area. The Palace complex and its garden (the botanical one) were created by the Romanian queen Marie of Edinburgh (Maria Alexandrina Victoria de Edinburg (1875 – 1938) who was an heir of two big aristocratic families by birth – the British king’s family and the Russian imperial family, and at the age of seventeen she married Ferdinand – the Romanian king Karol I’s nephew. A lovely spot that actually played the role of a summer residence of the royal family but it meant something more to its creator which she wrote about: ‘That was my return to the sea – my first love.’

At that moment ‘The quiet nest’ villa (the personal king’s residence) was rather bleak but still charming in the background of the garden and the sea.

The beautiful lilies in the lakes were missing but in a while we will come to glance at them and the roses.

The statue of Virgin Marie – the guiding star of the seas, a witness of many events and different fates, was looking at the horizon where the sea and the sky became one. 

We sat on the famous marble throne that had travelled thousands of miles from Florence and turned into Maria’s favourite place where she secluded herself, looked steadily at the sea expanse and enjoyed it.

We stopped at the ‘Sighs Bridge’ for a moment.

The water was falling down and making a beautiful and noisy waterfall.

The stone benches under the biggest Balkan magnolia tree attracted people under its shadow.

A group of photographers were taking photos of models who I avoided tactically 

and the alley after it led us to ‘Stella Maris’ chapel – ‘A Sea Star’, hidden under the branches of big trees.

The water from both springs was running through channels, falling down as waterfalls and pouring in cascades.

As if we came into a fairy kingdom of flowers and water.

The whole tour took us to another period, modernized by the abundance of species and an explosion of colours, especially the tulips.

Ah, those tulips!!! They were the top hit of that spring! I couldn’t take my eyes off them! I hardly left.

A breathtaking view that has remained on my mind forever!

You must visit the Botanical Garden in spring!

I hope I have succeeded in telling you what I saw and felt on that day!

 

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Shabla afternoon - TOUR 35/ 25.05.2013

I wasn’t thinking of writing about that day at all. I was just going to add a current photo but the afternoon was a unique experience. So it is worth sharing it.

On the early May afternoon we set out for the Northern Black Sea Coast and the final target Durankulak. We planned to return and on our way back to see whatever we could. We didn’t have a specific route; we just wanted to breathe some fresh air and to have a delightful afternoon in the open.

The road wasn’t busy and we travelled calmly despite the holidays. The only annoying thing was the chasing dark, stormy clouds. I wanted to take photos of the sunset and only to enjoy the walk.

So we reached Durankulak. We were off to the lake island where the ancient, well …the most ancient ruins were situated – an evidence of life in Europe. Unfortunately, that year the water level was too high and was flooding the narrow road.

Stormy clouds reached us again. The wind was getting stronger which wasn’t a good sign.

The sun was turning up and then hiding and its rays reflected the lake like searchlights.

A bird was flying from time to time and the noises of the lake resembled a symphony orchestra.

We didn’t stay there long. The weather was going bad and it was going to rain

We stopped  in Shabla. The sky looked in such a way as if it had already rained or the rain had simply skipped it. The afternoon sunshine was soft and one could enjoy looking at the landscape. 

Some fishermen had occupied the area and waved their fishing-rods in synchronization. Their movements resembled: ‘One, two, three, pull, pause, relax!!! One, two, three, pull, pause, relax!’

All of a sudden my attention was attracted by something deeper in the sea. Those were the dolphins. ‘It isn’t possible!!’ I saw free dolphins for the first time. ‘This is amazing!’ They dipped into the water with grace and came up to the surface. However, I wasn’t prepared to take photos of them. :)

Many times when Shabla is mentioned, Bay Pesho and his pub are mentioned as well. That time we decided to see what ‘At Bay Pesho’s’ actually was and why it had always been a symbol of Shabla. Following the sign boards we went to the shore itself.

A metal construction and steep stairs were leading to the door. It turned out that we were at the right place but we had entered through the back entrance. It was marked immediately that we were there for the first time. There was nothing else apart from fish and chips. However, it was supposed to be like that. The fish soup and caviar that had been homemade were praised. We tried them – and definitely they deserved the praise. And Bay Pesho’s homemade white wine was muscat – exquisite. Bay Pesho looked like a real seaman who came from a novel – the typical marine T-shirt, the curled up eyebrows, the beard and the tan. As if he would take his seaman’s hat from the hanger next to the door, get on the boat and go deep into the sea. He was more interested in finding a not so expensive, small, two doors jeep than going to the mountains on winter holidays ‘for a fur cap and a dress’, he meant his wife and him. 

The idea of going to the modest pub was quite appropriate in regards to the spot for taking photos.

Suddenly I happened to be on the other side of the lighthouse in a bay where the sea had thrown away a lot of seaweed and there were some ‘parked’ boats, the water, the waves, the stones and me.

I went out a few times to take photographs as dark clouds started coming up and at some point lightnings began flashing.

Well, there wasn’t a sunset or at least the one I was expecting. Even the whole orientation went wrong somehow. My vision was that sun had to be somewhere behind the lighthouse but Shabla was located at a definite curve of the coast, and the sun turned out to be behind my back. It was strange. The feeling was as if the sun was eastwards. We even took out the compass. At the last minute, the sunshine lit the clouds. It was very beautiful.

After a while the sky became almost black.

The lighthouse began giving lights and performing its role as a reference point for those who were deep at sea. The lightnings struck around it and soon after that thunders roared in the area.

It was time to go.

Bay Pesho and his wife were hospitable and funny. We had a great time there.

We were just about to leave and the first raindrops started falling down on the windscreen. Lightnings split up the area and exclamations such as ‘wooooow’, ‘ohhhh’ and ‘did you see that?’ were heard in our car. There was always someone who missed an interesting scene. There was vapour going up from the asphalt. The car lights were lighting it and we were like in a horror movie. Shortly afterwards the rain stopped and a huge full moon goggled at us. Lightnings kept on cutting the sky around it. The red lights of the wind generators sparkled in the dark. The whole picture was inspiring. We tried to take photos but the darkness said its word.

The usual afternoon turned into an extraordinary outing.

Sometimes it is nice when man flows naturally with the current. Who knows what man can come upon?!
Shabla and its area may fall into the favourite places category …

The theory was confirmed again that no matter how many times you visit a place, the spot itself and the experience are always different!

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