A stream cascades through the terraced botanical gardens at Balcik dropping down to the sea. Commissioned by the eccentric queen Mary of Romania (who died in 1938), they illustrate rather well her taste for English-style gardens. They contain almost 1 000 species of Mediterranean, exotic and sometimes rare plants and are dotted with pavilions (the holiday residences of the Romanian nobility), watermills and a charming, small, Venitian-style bridge.