We got in Sfantu Gheorghe last Wednesday and chance had it that I got a little drunk on the boat, so I had to sleep a couple of hours to get back in shape. Naturally, most people were watching the movies, so I got a few beers, found some girls who were playing the guitar and partied till late in the morning.

The next day, going to the beach, I saw a couple of motorized hang gliders and three small planes on the field next to the beach. I thought their owners were just out there, enjoying their time, but my passion for flying kicked in and when I left the beach, I went there to get more info. I was interested in the hang gliders. Somebody told e the price and I said I will think about it and maybe come back sometime in the evening.

Of course, later that day, I borrowed 50 lei from somebody and went to the ‘air field’ to get flying. Unfortunately, all the hand gliders were in the air. I asked somebody about it and he immediately said I should better get a ride with the plane. I said that I already spoke about the hang gliders, but Mr. Mami told me I will like the plane more.

So I got in, put my seatbelt on and everything. Mr. Mami gets in and tells me: “Ok, you’re going to fly the plane now”. I promptly said I don’t know how, that I’ll probably crash the plane, but he just said “just follow me”.

He started the engine, got into speed over that rugged field, took a turn and immediately took off, flying about three meter above the heads of those coming back from the beach. He explained what’s with the pedals and everything and gave me full control of the plane. I’ve got to say, it felt awesome. The view was perfect! We crossed the Danube to the south and now I could actually see the geomethry of the place, with the canals and everything.

I continued south for a while, then I took a turn left and I followed the coastline back north. I lowered the plane to about 30 meters and the view and speed sensation were awesome. There were a few pelican colonies out there and a bunch of other birds I can’t name.

I flew over the beach which was full of people at that hour, then Mr. Mami took control, took a wide turn and landed the plane.  The landing itself was probably the most exciting phase of the the whole thing. Seeing the ground getting close at that speed was energizing, so to say.

It definitely was worth the money. I’ll do it again when I get a chance. I will buy a plane like that someday. Mr. Mami told me that a new one costs about 60.000 euros.

Sfantu Gheorghe has always been one of my favorite places in the Danube Delta. It is so quiet and wild and you can just relax and let everything go away for a few days. In the last few years it witnessed quite a few developments, and it’s become better known in the country and abroad. The great thing is that it still attracts only a certain type of people with whom you can have a great conversation and also have plenty of fun.

The main attraction these days is the Anonimul Film Festival, which actually started two days ago… Yes, I know I’m late, but I’m getting there. The festival lasts a whole week and the main highlights are the projections of various low budget, independent films from producers from all over Europe. There are two locations: one is the Delfinul camping, where the movies are projected on a huge screen out in the open and everybody in welcomed to enjoy them for free, and then there are private or paid cinemas, just across the streets.

To be honest, I only got to see a few movies the third year I went there. I was too busy on the beach or anywhere else. Some of them were ok, others sucked.. but it was all great. This year I don’t plan on seeing any film, but we’ll see how things work out. I’ll probably spend most of the time at the beach or fighting the mosquitoes… those aren’t normal mosquitoes, they aredragons! And unfortunately I couldn’t find any mosquito repellant crème at the pharmacy next door. If I don’t sort this out, tonight I’m toast!

But we’ll see how everyting turns out. I’ll post a follow-up when I’m back.

Transport by boat

First of all, there’s the national nautical transport company (Navrom) which has regular fares with two types of ships.

The classic ships are pretty big, with a capacity of about 300 passengers, and connect Tulcea to Sulina, Sulina, Chilia Veche and Periprava every two-three days at 1:30 pm. They’re not the most comfortable and definitely the slowest means of transport. A normal fare takes about four-five hours, depending on the destination. But they’re my favorite because you can just relax and have a great time. There’s plenty of space inside, on the deck or on the rooftop. With a couple of friends, it can be the most memorable trip you’ll ever take.

There’s also the catamaran or the speed ship that will get you to Sulina or Sfantu Gheorghe in about three hours. They’re cool, but a little crowded and you don’t have so much freedom as with the classic ship.

There are also quite a few private transporters. They have Russian built speedboats which look fantastic. Unfortunately, sometime in their past, they had their original engines changed to something a little less powerful, so now, instead of flying over the water like they used to, they just cruise along normally. They’ll still get you to Sulina and Sfantu Gheorghe in less than an hour and a half, so they’re a great choice. They’re very comfortable, but you can’t hang out outside and you won’t get to see much of the scenery. You’ll only see a burr

And of course, you can also hire a small boat and get anywhere you want, anytime you want. You’ll get plenty of offers simply walking along the Danube in Tulcea.

Transport by car

Well, to get to most places, you have to take a boat. But I wish that were the case everywhere. Nowadays, this once remote, isolated paradise is crossed left and right by quite a few cars. If you’re going to Chilia Veche for instance, you can take the classic ship and enjoy the scenery and the beautiful wildlife.

But you can also take the car, if you want to get there a little faster. You simply cross the Danube in Tulcea and then follow the dirt road and you’ll eventually get to your destination. There are even a few regular busses that follow this road a couple of time every day. They definitely don’t offer five star comforts, but will get you there.

But what if you’re stuck in Sulina your most burning desire is the get to the Anonimul Film Festival in Sfantu Gheorghe? No worries, there is a regular bus going from Sulina to Sfantu Gheorghe and you’ll get there just in time to catch the fireworks. It’s a dirt road, so the ride will be a little bumpy.

A friend of mine told me she once got stuck in the sand and they had a little fun trying to get out of there. But hey, what are the chances of that happening to you? The drivers are pros and know the road like the palm of their hand :d

But all in all, I will kindly ask you to avoid using the cars as much as possible. I was mentioning in an earlier post how you can no longer walk peacefully from Sulina to the beach because you have to make room to all the taxis… I find that unacceptable… you’re in the middle of nature where you expect to get some peace from all the commotion of the big cities.

So me and four other friends got together and decided to see what up. We arrived a little late and couldn’t get tickets for the classic ship, so we had to settle for the catamaran. Sure, it was modern, faster and more comfortable, but it’s usually our last resort when we want to get to some place and have a good time. Thank god we had plenty of beer. We got there after about three hours and I was relieved to see that really, not much has changed. The place is still wild and the atmosphere is great.

The first thing I noticed was that there are way too many cars… In the old days you could have walked relaxed to the beach, absolutely no concern. Nowadays, that’s no longer possible because you have to keep an eye open and make way for the taxis that connect the beach and the city. That’s unacceptable!

While the changes that I saw didn’t live up to my expectations, I must admit that the few things that did change were simply spectacular. The promenade, for instance, is simply beautiful. It’s exactly what you would expect to see in a small, laid back town, in the middle of the Danube Delta. With the numerous restaurants and traditional terraces and the neatly trimmed willow trees, it feels like paradise.

And on the beach, the two new decks that go like 30 meters into the Black Sea are exactly what was this place was lacking. At night, that’s where you’ll meet some really beautiful and friendly girls. That’s where you’ll also meet some of the awesome guitar players of Sulina. I found them practicing complicated notes and stuff, not exactly our stuff. So me and Andrei went and stole some wood, set up a fire and got everybody together to drink and play the good stuff. Sweet. Some really talented people there. I’ve got to mention Delia, Lala, Alex and Andrei. Keep it up! It’s awesome to hear a cover after a song sung by a talented girl

The next day was even better. At the beach, plenty of people and beautiful girls all over the place. In the evening, besides the billions of mosquitoes, there was another show were they played some folk and love songs. After that, there was a karaoke contest and Delia told me I should get in. I signed up with AD-DC’s “You shook me all night long”.

Karaoke in Sulina

Knowing I can’t really sing the damn thing, I put all my hopes in building an atmosphere and it actually worked. If you’ve seen Slipknot, you can get an idea of my show. I got myself quite a fan club actually and I was sure I would win, until the three French guys came up at the end with the Bee Gees and were just hilarious. Well, as it turned out, they actually gave the prize to someone who really deserved it. I can’t remember her name now, but she sung Laura Stoica’s “Un actor grabit”. Bravo! And she was such a good sport that she shared the bottle of JB that she won with the rest of us

After the show, we all got together: winners, losers and everybody else, set up a fire and spent the rest of the night playing great music and drinking beer and everything else. I’m just sorry we had to leave after only two days. I love those people in Sulina. I’m going back as soon as I get a chance. If you get to Sulina, make sure you meet them. They’re great!

These days, the whole place is completely different. They’ve renovated the lake and now they’re finishing the park around it. In other words, it’s going to be one of the nicest places of the city.

The thing that shocked me was the fact that there were so many people there. It was an incredibly hot Sunday, so everybody was looking for a way to cool off and what better way than going to the beach?

In the old days, everybody would flock to the other side of the Danube where a beach used to function. I remember vaguely because I was just a kid, but the Copacabana bar there is still a matter of legend. That place was abandoned and everybody had to go to Constanta to get a nice swim. That was until this year.

What I like most about the new beach is the warm water. The whole lake is only about 2.5 meters deep, so it heats up pretty fast. There are also no currents like those in the Danube, so everybody is safe.

A few things are missing though. For one, there’s no lifeguard. I know it’s a small beach and the lake isn’t very deep, but still, there are plenty of kids who don’t know how to swim.

The other thing that I didn’t like was that there’s absolutely no shade, no place to hide from the sun. I happened to go to the beach in one of the hottest days of the year and although I didn’t get burned very badly, I still wasn’t all right.

All in all, the place is great. No tourist is going to come specially to see bathe at this beach, but it’s a great place for the locals to cool off and have a great time. I’m going to be going there pretty much every day of this summer.

Who would have imagined two years ago that Lake Ciuperca would become once again one of the centers of fun in Tulcea?

Here’s a quick list with some of the most important of them:

Of all the 300 birds that enjoy their time in the Danube Delta, I think it’s only natural to put the pelican, both the common (Pelecanus onocrotalus) and Dalmatian (Pelecanus crispus) on top of the list. It’s the most spectacular of them all and when people think of the birds in this place, it is the first that pops to mind. Many of the people the visit these places come specifically to see this monument of nature. For a good reason then, the pelican is the symbol of the Danube Delta, the Tulcea county and the whole of Dobrogea.

Another important bird is the cormorant. We have here 61% of the whole pygmy cormorant (Phalacrocorax pygmaeus) population in Europe. They even spend the winter in here.

Chance had it that these weeks I’m back in Tulcea doing the practice stage for my university, so naturally, I was out with friends, celebrating, having a beer and catching up on what’s new around town. It was Saturday night, 8^th of may, the independence day, and after a great Vita de Vie concert in Piata Civica, I hear about the drag race the next day.

Still not expecting much, but with a huge journalistic curiosity, I convince the guys that the next day, that’s the place where we aught to go.

Sunday morning, circa 12 am, after a tasty coffee at Flacara Vie (The Live Flame), we  finally get the tickets to the airport… the prospects aren’t good… the rain clouds almost kill out spirit and force us to abandon the whole thing… After monumental fights against common sense, we realized that we already spent about 6 euros and it wouldn’t be that bad to actually find out if it’s any good.

Eventually, we get to the airport (after the bus driver completely forgot to stop and we had to walk back one kilometer). First impression is promising: a huge banner titled “Delta Drag Racing – The international stage”, with a white Dodge Challenger on the background. Nice tough. To my surprise, the one kilometer road to the airport was packed with cars on the left and right side, plus a few dirt roads on the side.

Delta Drag Racing

The track on the airport was packed with cars. Seriously, I didn’t expect anything like it.. I imagined there would only be 18 yo kids from Tulcea showing off. Well, there were hundreds of people and almost as many cars raging from Mustangs and Dodge Vipers to Porsche 911s and Mitsubishi Skylines.

My first impression was that of the orange Mustang drifting in circles on the track, leaving a huge pile of smoke.

The drag races were awesome.. it was great seeing a cute little Daewoo Cielo winning against a BMW M3, or a Mitsubishi Skyline loosing against an Audi A4…

Too bad the fun had to end a little too early, because the rain scared everybody off.

I’ll add a few pictures as soon as possible.

A Little Bit of History

The area that is now the city of Tulcea has been inhabited since the VIIth century BC, when the Dacian ruler Carpyus Aegyssus founded the city and named it after himself, Aegyssus. The city was mentioned in the documents of Diodorus of Sicily and Ovid referred to it in Ex Ponto. The city was an important center for wine production, drinking being one of the favorite past times of the dacians. After all, the God of whine was born around these places. Burebista had to take massive action to force his subjects to fight against invaders, so he ordered all vineyards to be destroyed. It seems to have worked, but after the danger was over, everybody went back to their old habits. Today, the vineyard at Niculitel is one of the top in Romania.

In 12-15 BC, the Romans came here, destroyed the place and put it back together the way they saw fit. You can see these ruins on the hill where the monument was built after the 1978 unification with Romania.

Throughout the years, the city and the region went through the hands of Byzantines, Bulgarians, Ottomans, Genoese and Romanians, every one of them leaving its mark.

Arts and Culture

Tulcea became an important refuge for artists who after 1940 had to retreat from the city of Balcic in south of Dobrogea which was given that year to the Bulgarians. Between the two World Wars, Balcic was the cultural center of the Dobrogea region. The events of 1940 however forced artists to abandon it and look for another location.

Tulcea provided the perfect environment for them because of its beautiful sights and the unique and cosmopolite population made of communities of Romanians, Russians, Lipovans, Turks, Greeks, Gypsies and many more, each with their specific customs.

Life in the Old Tulcea

In the Arts museum today, if you take the guided tour you will hear the whole story and you will get to see how these artists viewed and used this raw source of inspiration. Viewing many of these paintings, you’ll get a sense of how life used to be around here. It’s almost like a scene from a fairytale.

Besides painting, music is also an important part of the Tulcea culture. George Georgescu, one of the most prolific Romanian composers, was born in the surrounding region. Since 1992, there is a music festival that is held here every summer bringing together young folk groups from all over the country.

Today, Tulcea is the most important city of the Danube Delta. If you’re going to see the Delta, you have to go through Tulcea.

Places to see in Tulcea

The promenade on the side of the Danube. I believe this is the first place that everybody who visits the city sees. It a huge open space where everybody just hangs out, roller blades, skates, walks the dog and enjoys the beautiful days of summer and the boats docked in the port or the ships passing on the Danube. This is where all the tours through the Danube Delta start from. The train and bus stations are at west end of it and there are plenty of hotels, restaurants and bars along it.

The monument, which is built on the same cliff with the Aegyssus fortress, serves as a testimony for the independence war of 1878 during which Dobrogea (Dobrudja) was reunited with Romania. It consists of a tall obelisk and a huge vulture and soldier on its sides, both of which were forged in Milan.

The Danube Delta Museum, or the aquarium, which is now housed in a new building, used to be housed in a huge mansion the used to belong to a wealthy Greek ship owner. When the new museum was opened, about two years ago, the prince of Monaco attended the ceremony, his foundation having contributed a good portion of the money for the project. I’m not sure why but the media and everybody says that this aquarium is the best or the most extraordinary in Europe. Personally, I’ve seen bigger and more interesting aquariums in Lisbon and Crete alone, so I believe there is some propaganda somewhere in between. Anyway, it’s a great place and certainly worth visiting, because it presents many of the fish and bird varieties in the Danube Delta and not only, along with some of the traditional ways of living of the population in the area.

The Archeology Museum is a must visit spot in order to really understand the history of the area. You’ll see here traces left by every population that has gotten around these places through the last 27 centuries. It is located on the same hill as the monument and the Aegyssus ruins.

One reason is the small number of booked guests that signed up in advance. It all has to do with the crisis that’s left everybody with a little less money in the pocket, and also with the new rumors about some birds being infected with bird flu, pig flu, penguin flu or who knows what.

I’ve heard it all before. Like five years ago. Same story… three birds were found dead… after summary analysis, the killer was found: bird flu! Then a massive operation was mounted to dispose of a huge number of innocent little birds, only to discover a month later that it was all … how can I say it, bullshit. Those three birds died of natural causes. Sometimes I think that there’s somebody out there who’s interested in messing with the Delta, but I can’t just put my finger on it.

Delta Nature Resort

But back to Delta Nature Resort, the other reason it’ll stay closed this year is because they’re also building a major spa and heath center which they cannot do when there’s tourists around.

This will allow the resort attract a large new range of customers and continue to function off season.

The works were started last year in October and will continue throughout most of the 2010 summer and will open again for the public in 2011.

A number of cormorants, which usually hunt fish underwater, found the thick lair of ice impossible to break this year, so they moved their camp to Tulcea’s promenade, where they can easily find food in the debris that seamen throw out.

Although it’s a busy port with plenty of boats and people on the promenade, difficult times call for drastic measures, so they’ve leaned to live with that.

Normally, Cormorants live on the seashore or on lakes surrounded by thick vegetation. They eat huge quantities of fish and hunt only during the day. The fishermen hate them because, well, eat their prey and also break their fishing nets. They tend to live for 10 to 15 years, but there are a few species that go all the way through 30 years.

Here’s a picture o one of the cormorants who’ve found a welcoming new home for the winter of the deck of the boat-restaurant and museum “Republica”, anchored near the city’s center.

Cormorant in Tulcea