Balchik Palace

Balchik Palace, also known as the Quiet Nest Palace, is situated in the Bulgarian Black Sea town and resort of Balchik in Southern Dobruja.

The building was constructed for Queen Marie of Romania, between 1926 and 1937, during the Romanian control of the region. During her visit of Balchik in 1921, Marie of Edinburgh liked the location and ordered for the water mills, gardens and vineyards to be bought off the local citizens so that a palace can be built in their place.

The Italian architects who designed the palace used Balkan and Oriental motives during construction, while a florist from Switzerland arranged the botanical garden.

The Palace complex consists of residential villas, a wine cellar, a smoking hall, a power station, a monastery, a chapel, a holy spring and many other buildings. One of the notable features of the palace is the beautiful botanical garden.

Nowadays the former royal villas and buildings have been reorganized to accomodate tourists, while some of the old water mills have also been reconstructed as tourist villas or restaurants.

The Botanical Garden is second of its kind in Europe after the one in Monaco. It accomodates 2000 plant species on an area of 65, 000 square meters. Some of the notable species are the Metasequoia, the Ginkgo and the Pura rubber tree.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balchik_Palace