It is very hot. Summer is my favorite season, ever since childhood. I shouldn't complain about the heat if I like summer.

Thoughts and memories.

I find, sadly, that summer now no longer resembles when I was a child and spent my days, from morning to evening, in the fields, under the strong but seemingly more merciful sun.

Unfortunately, I am now facing two major changes. The global climate has changed, it has warmed, but I have also changed with age. What a child, a teenager, could bear, an old man can no longer bear...

Thoughts and memories.

I should go for a walk, the usual walk made necessary for health reasons. We need to get moving! If we stop moving we're lost. Excessive heat makes this walk harder to bear, forcing me to walk the same places through the park near my house. I've told this story so many times I don't want to repeat it.

I walk along the park paths and think of the sea. I think some memories of the sea would be better...

A few memories of the sea would be much more interesting than the usual walk in the neighborhood and would have another beneficial effect. It would also alleviate the constant longing for the sea.

When I say that I miss the sea, it doesn't mean that I only miss a huge expanse of salt water. The sea is a whole that encompasses the shore, the villages, and the people who live there. I like the sea very much but that doesn't mean I like to sit all day looking at the water. I can be on a walk on the shore, on the beaches, in the next town, or in a hotel. I may not see the sea but feel it, know it is near. If I open the window or go out on the balcony, to hear the sound of the waves hitting the shore.

To sit on the balcony and watch a boat... I think there are a lot of people who have this view every day in front of their eyes.

I don't know, I can't know which is better from a sea lover's point of view. To live by the sea, there to be home and life, or to enjoy the sea only a few times a year on holiday. I think there are two great possibilities...

To live by the sea but be so used to it that you almost never see it or to be just a visitor, a few times a year for a few days, and then enjoy the opportunity intensely. Of course, there can be other combinations.

In my case, I'm just a hurried traveler. Only in my youth did I manage to stay at sea so long that I got bored. In recent years, no holiday has been longer than a week and most have been only three days.

Balchik!

Unlike most sea tourists, for me, the main activity is walking. The current walk was to Balchik, my favorite place on the Black Sea.

Balchik is a small town in Bulgaria about 250 km from Bucharest, where I live. A relatively short distance but it takes about four hours to cover because most of the route there is no highway.

I love this city with its millenary history. It was founded by Greek settlers in the 5th century BC.

It was then occupied by the Dacians, the Romans, the Turks, and even the Romanians (1913-1940). During the Romanian occupation, Queen Maria of Romania chose this place for her summer residence, building a small castle here.

This led to a large part of the Romanian aristocracy and artists spending the summer here and led to the development and modernization of the town. Many important buildings were built during that period.

I don't know how the Bulgarians look at this, I don't know if they recognize these facts but I know that they are proud of Queen Mary's Castle and gardens which are the main tourist attraction for this city. Otherwise, there remain differences between historians and politicians, all interested only in their own truth.

I think that this mixed history between Romanians and Bulgarians, the fact that the most distinguished Queen of Romania loved this place, and the fact that the most important Romanian painters were attracted by this place make me love this city too. In fact, a painter recommended this city to me.

I love walking in Balchik. To walk and look around, to explore the place, and discover images, things, and facts that I find special. To photograph them. I have a lot of photographs. Whenever I look at them, I remember with great precision the context in which I was drawn to that image or event.

I like old things. Old, maybe older than me. Just as I remember what I was like when I was young, so I try to imagine what those objects looked like when they were new.
Like this boat, abandoned carelessly, intentionally neglected in the small space between the hotel where I live and the waterfront and the main walkway.

The staircase leads to the sea and back. The most traveled staircase is actually a shortcut.

And again the boat pointing us towards the sea...

That's what I like about Balchik. The alternation of old and new, the alternation of wild and seemingly unkempt nature with elegant and very touristy areas.

Already the landscape has changed. The old fishing boat is left behind, a reminder that people had to work to live, to work hard. There are still places where, at least the tourists, have forgotten about work and see only the beautiful side of life.

The beautiful part of life, the beautiful part of the vacation. What is hard and unpleasant has stayed at home, now everyone wants to enjoy what the sea has to offer. And it's not even 11 o'clock!

Holiday walks, summer by the sea. Nothing could be more enjoyable! The memory of these walks makes it easier for me to bear the heat in my city, which is 250 km from the sea.

You may wonder why I don't go immediately to the sea if I have free time (because I am retired) and it takes me less than four hours to be there? Well, it's all the heat. In Balchik, in these summer months, it is as hot or even hotter than in Bucharest! I'm looking forward to September...

I end with a photo that I like, because of the many unexpected reflections. I can say it is a self-portrait. Absolutely unintentionally taken, made by mistake.

As you can see, all the photos are taken with the smartphone. Sometimes it's much more convenient than with the camera, even if the quality is poorer.

This was supposed to be a post about a walk, in #wednesdaywalk by @tattoodjay. I think it's more about presenting a place, that's why I have to put it on the map, #pinmapple. It's not really a travel post, but it's part of an endless journey to the sea!