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Balchik
Area Description
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Botanical Garden with a Palace is the greatest showplace in Balchik. The beach is divided into two parts – the first part [the harbor part] is the largest one and the only one with a direct descent to the sea. The second part runs along the western part of the promenade. The beach is substituted with manmade plots with sand and umbrellas, and stairs to the sea. Numerous swimming pools are an alternative – some of them are located just at the sea.
A long promenade [about 2.5 km] is a nice place for strolling. It runs from the harbor to the Palace. There are restaurants, bars, discos, hotels and swimming pools along it.
Balchik has an interesting history. The first traces of human activity in the area of today’s Balchik date back to the Stone and Copper Age. At the beginning of the 6th century, Greek settlers founded a Krunoi settlement [‘sources’, ‘springs’ in Bulgarian]. In 3rd-1st centuries B.C. the settlement became a city and was called Dionysopolis [the city of the god Dionysus]. The heyday of the city came in the times of Roman rule in 2nd-4th centuries A.C.
After the liberation from Turkish yoke, the city becomes a large trade center. 2000 to 3000 carts full of cereal came to Balchik in the harvest time. The harbor became the 3rd largest harbor in Bulgaria within 20 years [1890 – 1912]. The first modern mill was built there. Farming machine parts, bricks and chalk was produced here.
The city is often called the White City thanks to its small houses built of white stone and white sand rocks. All sorts of tourist attractions are available here: fitness, sauna, tennis courts, and beach and water sports. You can see the Palace of Mary Queen with parks and botanical gardens, where you find old Christian gravestones, a huge stone cross, cacti gardens, waterfalls, streams and lakes. The trees, bushes and plants were brought from all over the world. A Turkish graveyard with headstones and ethnographical and historical museums are to be visited as well.
