In this Guide: This County Tulcea Guide
covers major towns and attractions in the county, including
things to do, major sights to see, as well as
lodging and tour agents.
County Tulcea has the fewest people per square kilometre of any
county in Romania, largely due to the majestic seemingly endless expanse
of the Danube Delta, Europe's newest land.
County Tulcea features the main city of Tulcea on the Danube, along
with four smaller towns: Babadag,
Isaccea,
Măcin and Sulina, along with 46 communes
and almost countless villages in communes in the Danube Delta, the Delta
Margins, and the Dobrogean Highlands.
Romania's Most Varied County
One of the first things you realise once travelling around County
Tulcea is that it's very hard to categorise.
Whilst the Danube Delta is an easily identifiable aspect, the inner
Dobrogean Highlands and the "other" river country along the Danube inland
cannot be ignored. You can even get a taste of the mountains
in the big-enough Măcin hills region not far
from the city of Tulcea.
The End of Europe and the last town on the Danube, Sulina offers
a bit of civilisation in the middle of the Danube Delta lands.
Whilst we recommend that you pick up supplies in Tulcea first (see our
Danube Delta Guide
for more info), there are some stores at Sulina and in the larger towns
like Murighiol, Sfântu Gheorghe and others.
Crişan on the
Sulina Arm of the Delta is a curious little town with an Ecology
centre, several hotels and a single main road which extends south
from the main river port area towards the forested
haşmac island at Caraorman.
Whilst the Chilia and Periprava areas on
the northern Chilia Arm do get some tourist traffic, mostly for the
Letea forest island areas and the rich
biodiversity of the region.
And to south along the St. George (Sfântu Gheorghe) Arm of the Danube River,
you pass the resort of Uzlina across from Murighiol (half-way down
the delta and yet still served by road), and then out to the
community of St. George on the Black Sea, gateway to deserted beaches, Lippovan culture and plenty of back-canals with
stunning wildlife, birds and inspirational sunrises!
Tulcea really does enjoy it's own distinct look and flavour, lazily
draped along a wide bend in the Tulcea arm of the Danube River, the
first southern split of the River as it fans out to form it's famous
delta.
If you can afford to spend a morning or afternoon in Tulcea, or
even a few nights, Tulcea has enough great little streets, plazas and
interesting museums and displays to keep your interest. With most
of the major attractions within two blocks of each other, it's not a
problem to run through the most popular ones in an easy morning or afternoon.
Walking Around Downtown
From the Plaza of the Republic (Piaţa Republicii) you are within
blocks of the various museums, galleries and river and delta-related
attractions that give Tulcea it's riparian zeal.
From the Saint Nicholas Cathedral to the Azizia Mosque and up to
the Independence Monument, the long and rich history of Tulcea can be
viewed at the Tulcea History and Archaeology Museum, again near the
main Republican Plaza.
Art in the River City
the Tulcea Museum of Art is sited in a beautiful spot on the cliffs
overlooking the Danube with fine collections of art and is worth a visit
just to view the river if not the great art inside!
Full of engravings and contemporary sculpture, you'll also find
an exceptional (and surprising given this is, after all, just Tulcea)
collection of interbellum avant garde, Surrealist, Expressionist and
Impressionist artwork, including pieces by Romanians Gheorghe Petrascu,
Nicolae Toniţa, Theodor Pallady, Nicolae Grigorescu, Frederic Storck,
Ion Jalea, Oscar Han, and Victor Brauner, arguably one of the most important
collections in the country in it's number of top artists.
Also worth a visit are the Folk Art Museum of Northern Dobrogea,
with an ethnographic collection which displays over 6,400 pieces of
local interest including traditional farm implements for rearing animals,
for fishing, brass objects and the like.
If there is one type of ethnographic display which is generally
well done in Romania, it is the village museum, displaying and preserving
traditional peasant ways, wares and handicraft.
The Dobrogean Village Museum of Enisala (a community about 45 minutes
south of Tulcea past the airport) features peasant households conserved
as they were found, highlighting the traditions and daily ways of life
of the Northern Dobrogean people of the land, including pens for the
animals, traditional sheds, a peasant kitchen with the traditional summer
oven, granary and water well.
#4, 9 Mai Street next to the Raiffeisen Bank. +40
(204) 516 204, Open daily except Mondays from 8am to 4pm
The European Commission of the Danube
in Salina built the lighthouse and improved dock facilities
and river navigability to make the free port of Salina a
truly cosmopolitan outpost of European culture. See
more in Sulina below
One of the floating beauties in the Delta
Biosphere Reserve
Europe's Riparian Riches
The Delta hosts over 1,200 varieties of plants, 300 species of birds
as well as 45 freshwater fish species in its numerous lakes and marshes.
The Danube Delta has been entered onto the UNESCO list of World
Heritage Sites (1991) and Biosphere reserves. Around 2,733 km˛ of it
are strictly protected areas.
This is the place where millions of birds from different places
of Earth (European, Asian, African, Mediterranean) come to rest and
eat during the migration seasons. Many others hatch here.
The Wildlife Paradise of the Delta
The Danube Delta, "one of the last sanctuaries of nature" is often
called the wild paradise. In an area with a surface of 4,200 sq. km,
the presence of 3,400 species of the aquatic fauna has been recorded
so far, amounting to 98 percent of the European species.
Out of the 280 bird species recorded in the Danube Delta, 177 nest
here, some which protected by law: White Pelican, Dalmatian Pelican,
Great White Egret, Little Egret, Mute Swan, Red Breasted Goose, Ferruginous
Duck, Avocet and many other species.
Among the mammals of delta’s ecosystem feature otter, mink, little
ermine, wild boar, wild cat, the black-bellied fox, hare, the
raccoon dog,
nutria, muskrats, and rarely, the grey wolf.
The little plauri, the floating islands of the Delta shelter
rich fauna. As a result of efforts by Jacques Cousteau among others,
and with UNESCO support, the importance of the Danube Delta as a "wild
area" has been recognized in its consecration as a Biosphere Reservation.
The commune of Chilia Veche is draped along the southern bank of
the 109km long Chilia Arm of the Danube Delta, which forms the border
between Ukraine and Romania.
The branch of the Danube running through Chilia is actually
the strongest, with 60% of the river flow running through the Chilia
Arm. Several major secondary arms branch out from the Chilia Arm,
including the Tătaru
Stambulul Vechi
and Musura
Bordered to the north by the river, the 2,800 residents of Chilia
Veche are bordered by the communes of Pardin, Crişan
and Maliuc, and C.A. Rosetti to the west, south and east respectively.
Other villages in the region include Tatanir, Cişliţa and Ostrovu
Tataru. Chilia Veche does benefit from the only road which makes
it that far into the Delta (66km). All other communities
are served only by water.
The Greek colony of Achilea was founded here on the river ait in
334 BC, giving Chilia it's modern-day name, after Achilles, hero of
the Trojan wars. The outpost was fortified by Alexander the Great
soon afterwards, and was rediscovered by the Byzantine Empire, , it
was given its name after the word for "granaries" recorded earliest
in 1241 in the works of Persian chronicler Rashid al-Din.
New Chilia is on the other side of the river, complete with castle
built by the Genovese in league with the Byzantine empire.
It was taken by the Moldovans under Radu III in 1465, and later occupied
by the Moldovan prince Stephen the Great in 1476. His bid
to counteract the Ottoman Empire didn't really do much, as rule from
Istanbul remained in Dobrogea until the Romanians and Russians allied
to invade the province one last time in 1878.
Chilia once held a strategic value to the umpteen invading forces
sweeping back and forth through Dobrogea, being only four kilometres
from the coast when Mircea the Old came through in the early 1400s.
Now however, the rich waters of the Danube have extended the delta another
making Chilia not particularly useful for sea coast access.
If you can manage to
convince a local to
help you out with a
tour or transport,
you'll find great
value and a fun
day on the canals
of the Delta!
Passenger tours run at fixed times (which change according to season)
through the Chilia Veche area of the Danube Delta include the #8 route
from Tulcea through Mila 36, Şireasa, Sontea, Razoiniţa,
Ştipoc, and Pardina to get to Chilia Veche
Once you have arrived in Chilia, you can also enjoy the Chilia loop
tour (#9) going along the river arm out to the
Cernovca secondary arm, down along the Sulimanca canal, to the Merhei
lakes, along lakes Matiţa and Babina, back up the Rădăcinoaşele and
Pardina canals to end up back in Chilia Veche. You can also take
the main service down river to Periprava.
Both the Chilia arm, and the southern Saint Gheorghe arm is marked
using kilometres, where as the international waterway of the central
Sulina arm is marked in nautical miles (1.85 km or 1.15 miles).
Delta Vistas
Do NOT forget the camera for
your Danube Delta vacation!
The numbering system for both measuring systems starts with zero
on the sea coast, and end when converging with another main branch,
or in the case of the Sulina arm, the system extends inland all the
way to Brăila south of Galaţi.
With the highest flow of water of all of the arms, cruising ships
make the up-river trip in about 6 and half hours, and about an hour
shorter going down-river, depending on craft type, load and time of
year.
The little village of Periprava almost seems like it has more people
than the 320 inhabitants on record, mostly due to it's compactness.
Not having much of a tourist structure, Periprava's main claim to fame
is being the end of the line for the boat services, stopping here just
20km from the coast.
For birdwatchers, just getting to Periprava is half the fun, with
one of the richest areas for birding between Chilia and Periprava thanks
to superb protected nesting habitat for pygmy cormorant, storks, geese
and egrets at Lake Roşca. Night fishing
is great around here and you can hear the giant carp greedily swallowing
frogs and even cormorant chicks.
Just south of Periprava is the forested haşmac
island of Letea, a remnant steppic forest supporting
the largest mammals found in the delta, from boar to foxes, otters,
the bizam, racoon dogs and more.
Having once provided a rather important service,
the lighthouse still has it's crystal in the dome and some super
views of the surrounding marshes and mudflats.
Romania's first Free Port (no customs were paid) at the mouth of
the Sulina branch of the Danube, the town is the easternmost point of
Romania. Its name is probably derived from Slavic word for
"salt", sol with suffix -ina.
Once a prosperous port and important shipyard, from 1856 to 1937
the seat of the Danube Commission, Sulina has become a peaceful and
remote location.
The population at Sulina has been surprisingly static, with 5,600
in 1900 and about 5,200 in 2000. It has a high population
of Lipovani people, who are ethnically more closely related to their
relatives to the north in the Ukraine.
Making up 11% of the Sulina township, the Lipoveni influence the
6% rate of Russian as a first language in the town, and the 5% rate
of "Old Believer" religion there. The Old Believers, adherents
to a pre-schism form of Russian Orthodoxy, had fled Russia to Tulcea
to escape persecution. Today, they continue the liturgical
practices of the Russian Orthodox Church common prior to reforms in
the 1660s introduced by Patriarch Nikon.
The Danube European Commission Lighthouse
The Danube European Commission Lighthouse was built in 1869 -1870.
The building, 17,34m height, in the shape of a truncated cone, is made
of bricks, the binding material is lime mortar and it is plastered up
outside and inside.
The access to the top is ensured by a winding metallic staircase
anchored into the masonry. The ground floor has a central hall and two
big rooms which are exhibitions' spaces. One of them is hosting the
work chamber of Eugeniu P. Botez which pen name is Jean Bart. He was
commissary of Sulina harbor and in the First World War he was also military
commander. The other room is dedicated to the Danube European Commission.
The Maritime Cemetery
Another witness of the old times is The maritime cemetery, founded
in 1864. It is the place where, especially the foreign citizens found
their eternal rest.
Most of them were employees of the Danube's European Commission,
but also sailors with the most diverse nationalities were buried here.
Depending on the main religious faiths of those buried, the cemetery
is delimitated in many compartments: the Christian cemetery (the cemetery
of the Occidental European churches, the orthodox cemetery, and the
old rite orthodox cemetery), the Moslem cemetery, the Jewish cemetery.
By 950, Sulina was mentioned in Russian naval annals, remarking
that "After going through the seven Nipper's cataracts, they can pass
in the Danube Delta through Salinas."
Fun in the Sun at Sulina
Our intrepid Rest Romania staff and friends
sail to Sulina from Tulcea for a summer holiday!
Italian maps in the 1300s showed the town as Selinas or
Solina, and the town was fortified by the Turks after their occupation
of Chillia in the late 1400s.
Sulina was chosen as the natural headquarters for the local governor
and military outpost to guard against the marauding Cossacks. The Turko-Russian
wars did not bode well for Sulina and the constant skirmishing made
the region unstable and the incidence of piracy in the region increased.
By the mid 1800s, many of the 4000 or so inhabitants lived in reed huts
and lean-tos from the carved trunks of trees, a motley mix from all
over the Black Sea and Mediterranean.
The British Burn Sulina
The Pirates of the Danube Delta were a fierce lot, forever focused
with controlling the river trade and the bounties they took from it.
In the mid 1850s, they shot the son of Admiral Parker of the Royal
Navy during his visit on the way to the Crimean battlefront. The
English responded by bombing Sulina to ashes.
The Danube European Commission
After the Crimean War in 1856, the Paris Peace Congress of
created the European Commission of the Danube to protect Danube River
trade, and to tax activities as well.
The Danube's European Commission activated in Sulina between 1856
and 1937 and determined the locality's transformation into an important
town with a flourishing economy, based on commerce and navigation. Despite
the fact that the Sulina arm of the river suffered more from silt build-up,
it was nonetheless the shortest route.
Engineer Charles Hartley planned out the Sulina channel with dredging
and dykes assuring river traffic could proceed between the sea and the
deeper river channels inland. As a free port, cargo transiting
Sulina paid no duties, and the warehousing trade boomed instantly.
The Cosmopolitan Port Town
Electricity and telegraph service followed in the 1920s, and the
town became a cultural and international hub with representatives in
contact with each other from most European nations.
Social life was improved by the opening of a 300 seat theatre and
a casino with ballroom and meeting halls for the diplomats (and others)
to ply their trades.
Two Romanian schools, two Greek, one Jewish and a French academy
for young ladies kept the youth current with European educations standards,
and two greek churches, three Lipovan churches, two German churches
(one protestant and one Catholic), an Anglican one, a Jewish temple
and two mosques were functioning.
The Great War and the Depression were unkind to Sulina, and Romania
moved in to take control of Sulina in 1937 when the Danube European
Commission ceased. International representatives left, and the
town's pulse slowed considerably.
The second World War saw Sulina bombed and normal life was unsustainable
with thousands fleeing the town which was now effectively on the front
between Soviet, Nazi and Allied forces. The Soviets won, and Sulina's
previous hey-days as a free port and cosmopolitan centre were crushed
forever.
Sulina Today
In Romania's new republic, the Lower Danube River Administration
takes the place of the old European Commission of the Danube, and trade
still booms in this sleepy port town.
The beaches and the natural extravagance of the surrounding Danube
Delta marshes, reed beds, tributaries and little towns are the bread
and butter of the town now. About 3 out of 5 residents in Sulina
work regularly, the rest preferring to fish and enjoy the lazy rhythm,
blessed with birdlife and a milder climate than the rest of Romania
in their own little corner of the world where the sun rises on the European
Union.
Accessible either by going back up the Sulina Arm towards
Crişan, or by coastal boat up to the little village
of Cardon (from where tracks lead to the villages), these unique Danube
Delta communities congregate just south of the amazing forest island
of Letea between the remnant steppe forests and the sea.
C.A. Rosetti features the Delta's last windmill, and is home to,
of all things, a fair few heads of cattle tended by transplants from
Wallachian families mostly.
Of Lippovans and Letea
Letea itself is a sweet little village and some of the villagers
will take in tourists -- the eco-tourist can indeed be found here in
their native habitat, complete with binoculars, notepads, digital
cameras and a slightly overloaded backpack. If you're not
feeling particularly adventurous, do make reservations ahead of time
with the Delta Danube Biosphere Reserve office in Tulcea before you
head out inot the delta.
The local Lippovan families love, love and fish as they have for
centuries here, their blue eyes matching the delta skies rather beautifully.
Check out the ranger station and the birdwatching platform
for some super views. Unfortunately, the Letea forest
is pretty much off-limits. Yes, you can possibly pay a fisherman
for a forbidden foray into this area, but we recommend that you just
be smart and get over to the Lippovan village of Sfistovca, where the
forest is just as fun and wonderful, and can truly make some fabulous
photos amongst the liana vines and towering oaks.
is accessed by water along the central-western part of the
Danube Delta on the Sulina Arm of the river.
The port is
and important departure point for sports fishing and hunting tours in
particular into the Danube Delta. With a population of over 10,000
townsfolk, it's larger than most delta communities and offers touring
destinations for both nature lovers and fisherman to the beautiful surrounding lakes of Fortuna,
Gorgova, Gârla Păpădia, Gârla Şontea, as well
as the Litcov Canal.
It was a fairly big deal with Romania's first King, Carol I inaugurated
the newly straightened canal in 1894, after years of dredging, installation
of groins and construction delays. The King unveiled the monument,
still viewable today, celebrating the opening of an important waterway
for Europe.
Today this straightened section of the Sulina Arm of the Danube
Delta still sees up to 7500 tonne vessels plying it's waters, as well
as the daily hydrofoil services making Sulina now just under two hours
from Tulcea.
Charming Crişan Guesthouse
Packed with style and perfectly located,
the B&Bs and Pensions in Crişan keep
you in touch with the culture and beauty of the Danube Delta!
Photo: webshots
How the Other Half Lives
In fairly stark contrast, the comfortable new tourist accommodation
at Crişan over looks a traditional back
yard
As you can see from our Lodging Listings below
that Crişan has a big appeal to travellers to
the Danube Delta, due to the high number of guesthouses, B&Bs and even
hotels in the main town. A narrow north-south road serves the
area south of the port on the Sulina Arm of the river, transferring
tourists and their luggage from ferry services.
You can still hold on to a few touches of modern life at
Crişan, the community supporting a few small
stores, a bakery, campsite, several hotels and as many major pensions
(see listings below). If you're pressed
to time in and out of the delta, Crişan will
suffice in giving you a reasonable delta experience, although not quite
as wild as points south and north.
One of the best reasons for stopping at Crişan
is to take in the Danube Delta Information Centre, a well-done proposition
showing off the natural wonders of the Delta across a series of displays.
Birdwatchers too will enjoy this area muchly, and an overnight stay
at any of the villager's houses (most of which have a path on one side
and pure nature on the other) is well worth the experience, if nothing
else, just to sample some fish properly prepared in the local fashion.
Mila 23 is where the old 23rd mile marker is coming in from the
sea along the old twisty route. Which really makes very little
sense measuring from the seafront, especially since the Danube manages
to deposit another half mile each decade.
The little village now offers a couple of pensions and if you're
not basing your central delta foray in Crişan,
Mila 23 makes a great base for bird watching and getting to know true
Danube Delta culture and customs. If you have a translator-guide
with you, it's a great spot to soak up what it means to be a villager
surrounded by so much teeming riches in air and water.
Whilst it's not strictly necessary to stay in Crişan,
it does make a convenient spot to take side trips down to places like
Caraorman, with it's protected forested island preserve.
Caraorman also has a few pensions, slightly more up-market than at Mila
23.
NavRom offers ferry services both north to Mila 23, and south to
Caraorman from Crişan, offering convenient service
for you and your luggage on the way. See the
Transportation section below for more
info on ferries and boats
This is the most twisty and winding of all the routes to get out
to the Black Sea, but as with all of the Danube Delta canals, getting
to the sea is hardly the goal!
You'll pass some of the most prime birding areas on the way to the
Danube Delta community of Sf. Gheorghe, and if you can take a side trip
or two off to the many lakes along the way, you'll find yourself in
nature's paradise!
The Annual
Film Festival in mid-late August each year brings hordes from all
over Romania, Europe, and afficionados from Paris, London, New York
and Hollywood to catch some Balkan moods on the shores of the Black
Sea. It's not a quite a Sundance, but for Romania, it's a coup
of culture and international caché.
Delta Village Life
Sfântu-Gheorge, with barely 1000 inhabitants,
is not quite large enough to call a town, and certainly bears the village
life feel more than anything. The brightly painted Lippovan houses
are made from the traditional mud and daub method, with reed thatched
roofs, surprisingly sturdy and certainly comfortable for it's residents
throughout the decades.
Sfântu Gheorghe does have a few stores, the requisite bar
and restaurant, complete with very-Romanian style terasa, as well as
a village hall.
Sfântu-Gheorghe is a great place to rest,
relax and dine in style after your daily trips into the rich delta reed
beds, the endless golden beaches, or the long forested strips of land
which have built up over the eons.
Three main "trails" make their way into the delta and up and down
the coastline from Sf. Gheorge, part of the approved network of tourist
routes which criss-cross the Delta.
The Sfântu-Gheorghe Loop Trail
The first trail (#1) is a loop trail which explores the area and
canals immediately to the south and west of
Sfântu-Gheorghe, across the Zăton,
Buhaz, Palade, and Crâsnicul canals, returning on the main
Sfântu-Gheorghe canal and the
Sfântu-Gheorghe Village. It makes for a fun primer of how
the more coastal areas of the delta look.
Two routes lead up to the much larger Sulina town on the main navigable
arm of the delta there. Trail 2 leads on a more direct route
along the Tataru canal through
and Buşurca to Sulina. Trail 3 uses the
Sfântu-Gheorghe canal, then heading up through
Lake Erenciuc, into the Mocansca canal, across Lake Puiu to the
Roşu Tourist Camp. Then the trail crosses
the little and big Roşu lakes to reach Imputiţa, continuing
up the Roşu and Busurca waterways to arrive in Sulina town.
Tulcea considers itself the gateway to the Danube Delta, but the
Delta Margin towns of Bălteni de Jos, Mahmudia,
Murighiol and Uzlina offer proximity and cheaper access to boat and
guide services.
The Delta Margin towns make competitive choices for travellers interested
in experiencing the Danube Delta's riches whilst avoiding the more crowded
scene at the city of Tulcea.
Check out rental cars in Tulcea
here, or you can catch one of the eight or so maxi-taxis making
the trip along the road going south-east from Tulcea.
Docking at Tulcea
Awaiting passengers
for the journey downriver to Murighiol and Sfântu Gheorghe
(St. George)
On the road south from Tulcea, you'll stop through
Nufărul which features archaeological finds from
the Genovese period (12th -13th centuries).
The community of Enisala further south nearer
Babadag also has one of these rather impressive Genovese castles too.
Nufărul can give you a true taste of life along the Delta Margin, and
has a pension and a few locals taking in guests. The main road
continues south-east past Bălteni de Jos, which
is also the first ferry stop if you're coming from Tulcea by one of
the daily ferries to Sfântu-Gheorghe.
Approaching Mahmudia from one of the ferry boats, it will be almost
a surprise if you've been in the Danube Delta for any length of time,
because Mahmudia is draped around the base of a rather large hill!
But as soon as the slopes of Beştepe Hill
ends, the marshy land begins, soon yielding to full-fledged reed beds
and open channels of water. Mahmudia is indeed the transition
zone between terra firm and the great expanse of the delta.
The daily boats to and from Saint Gheorghe stop here, and you can also
drive to Mahmudia from Tulcea (about
on 2-lane largely paved road).
Mahmudia and South
The section along the Sfântu-Gheorghe arm
of the Danube is nicely built up at the Hotel Teo complex, with good
paving and smooth concrete contours making for quite modern little riverfront
area.
Going towards Murighiol, Lake Dranov and the series of briny Sărătura lakes provide late autumn and early winter habitats
for geese and pelicans, being the among the last in the area to freeze
over.
Black sapropropel muds here burp their gloppy siren
calls to the faithful believing them to have therapeutic powers for
a variety of gyneacological and joint complaints. The third
Sărătura lake, also known as Lake
Sărat is part of the protected biosphere reserve,
where nesting pairs of stilts and spoonbills feature.
The "City of the Sun" is what Salsovia means in the limba franca
of the day, common latin. Today's sleepy Mahmudia had it's
civilised beginnings here, with a walled fortress surrounding the nascent
community on high ground with a commanding view over anyone approaching
through the delta or inland. Most of the town was overrun
by the Visigoths and rebuilt under the Byzantine empire, lasting through
the ninth century until the trade routes and ports in the area shifted.
The Mahmudia Mon Jardin Hotel
Complete with it's own jetty and great river
views.
Further south towards Murighiol,
Halmyris was a Roman legionary base and naval port for 600 years, located
at what was then one of the mouths the Danube. Just
east from Murighiol and
south from the present day St. Gheorghe Arm,
amazingly, the old city's location was actually right on the shore of
a gulf of the Black Sea called the Halmyris gulf.
Halmyris was named Salmorus/Thalamonium in the Roman period, the
Latin for Halmyris - salt water.
The region was inhabited during the Second Iron Age;
nearby two Getic incineration necropolis were discovered, dating from
4th-2nd centuries BC. In the Roman period, on a 3rd-2nd century BC Getic
settlement, the first stone castrum was built during the reign of the
emperor Traian. The fortification was destroyed several times and had
four phases of reconstruction, although with Istra to the south, it's
importance waned as the sea migrated further east, and the Roman Empire
melded into the Byzantine Empire.
The Late Roman fortification had a trapezoid shape, two
gates, 15 towers and a defensive system fo three vallae and ditches.
Inside the fortifications, the requisit baths, a large basilica in the
early Byzantine era in 324, administrative buildings and dwelling places
were discovered.
Halmyris functioned as a provisioning centre for the garrisons posted
there, as well as to supply ships as they arrived.
It was considered a "mariner's village" -
vicus classicorum,
and for the Late Roman period two units of the military fleet - Classis
in Plateypegiis and Musculi Schytici (which had little ships, suited
for the Danube Delta) might have been hosted by this city.
The original fort was made of timber and turf, but as
the fort gained importance and a regular garrison was established along
the Danube, the fort was rebuilt in stone. Early in the fort's
history, the Goths and Huns from the North crossed the Danube and conquered
the fort.
The port city was later re-captured by the Romans and continued
on into Byzantine times, with coins found bearing the visage of Constantine
the Great.
On today's site, you can observe excavations happening
under the auspices of Dr. Mihăil Zahariade and Dr. Myrna K. Phelps,
with current areas of excavation including the barracks, towers on the
north-western side of the fortifications, as well as and harbour installations.
The
Halmyris Excavations, 2km south-east of Murighiol
on the left going towards Dunavăţul de Jos
Ongoing digs during the summer months
with operations in winter in under-cover only. The LMI code is
TL I s A 05844+40
(240) 513 231, FAX: +40
(240) 513 231
Murighiol is the Moş Eisley of Romania, having
successfully collected a rich and varied community of Turk, Tatar, Lippovan,
Ukrainian, Russian, and even a few Wallachians and Moldovans!
Nestled into the Tulcean Hills to the east, Murighiol is comfortably
sited between the eastern shores of Lake Razim and the right banks of
the Sfântu Gheorghe arm of the Danube river, served by the Lippovan
and Dunavăţ canals.
First known as Salmorus, Murighiol was the outer-most trading town in the Byzantine
province of Scythia Minor. The word meaning "Violet Lake" in the native
Turkish language of the area (they moved here first around 1270, taking
control in 1419), this happy little town of 3,800 on the margins of
the Danube Delta operates as a regional centre.
Delta Frontier Town
In many ways, Murighiol is the type of town Ernest Hemingway would
have enjoyed, with sport fishing, hunting, bird watching and great big
fish dinners available to travellers with an appreciation for nature
or at the very least, nature's bounty on the supper table.
Today the local customs and cultures mingle together, with families
having relatives out in the delta, as well as in nearby Jurilovca, Babadag,
Sarighiol de Deal, Sarichioi, Slava Rusa, and Cercheza amongst others.
As far as good eats goes, the appropriately named Halmiris Restaurant
in Murighiol, +40 (740) 489 380, offers local fare and reasonable prices,
catering to tour groups, so enquire ahead if they're booked out or not.
Pork is a big industry in Murighiol, with a major processing
plant in the town, and you can count on the pig being supreme on
most menus too. Vegetarians can similarly delight in the
tomatoes of the region each summer.
With 230 campsites at the tourist village part of Murighiol, the
town is a good bet if you're winging it, except in the very high season
in the last week of July and through early-mid August.
Uzlina is a sleepy fishing village between Murighiol and the vast
expanse of the Danube Delta. Home to world-class scientific research
facilities funded by the Cousteau foundation and an Ecological Information
Centre for tourists in what was once yet another of the dumb dictator
Ceausescu's lodges.
The Cormoran Hotel at Uzlina runs boats between there and Murighiol
for
(or
for a fast launch, 2 person minimum), with frequent services.
It's an additional 6E to enter the reserve zones, which are home to
the largest nesting colonies of Ardeide anywhere in the delta.
Routes Into the Delta
Uzlina and nearby Murighiol benefit from having one of the official
tourist routes starting here, the Trail 13, which departs from Uzlina
along the Uzlina canal and then traverses the namesake Lake Uzlina and
then through Lake Isac.
The Isac 3 canal then opens onto Perivolovca Brook and into the wide Saint Gheorghe
arm of the Danube River, the southernmost of the main arms.
Alternately, by following a series of canals, from Isac 2 to Litcov
to Ceamurlia and Crişan,
you get into the Sulina arm and the other Ecological Information centre
at the delta town of Crişan.
On the Water
The Cormoran people also operate some good floating hotels, the
Anastasias which offer a different way to enjoy the Danube Delta scenery.
If you'd like to fish, motor boats are for hire everywhere, with or
without a boatman guide. Check out their trips page for more info.
Head out to Lake Uzlina and Isac for pike fishing, as well as anywhere
between Pojarnia, Onofrei, Chiril and Militarova, as well as Cuibeda
Taranova, Dubcova and Perişor. For
zander, catfish and carp, anwhere upstream or downstream from Uzlina
along the main channels usually sees respectable catches.
Babadag, meaning "Mountain of the Father" in Turkish, is a great
little cultural centre which spans centuries as well as making a nice
little stopping off point in the forested highlands between
Constanţa and Tulcea.
The town of 10,000 is happily sited on a little lake made by the
Taiţa river, with Lake Babadag to the east only
separated from Lake Razim and the Black Sea by a thin strip of land.
The area was predominantly Turkish and Tatar for about 700 years
from about 1220 until the 1920s, when a mass emigration saw numbers
plummet to today's 13%. See more in the
History of Dobrogea here.
Romania's Oldest Mosque
The splendour and majesty of the Ottoman Empire, which ruled this
region for over 450 years can be felt in this fine old grand mosque
at Babadag.
The Gazi-Ali-Paşa was a regional "grand mosque" (in Romanian, a
"Geamia"), complete with it's own Imam and larger than the smaller satellite
mosques in the communities surrounding Babadag.
Built by the Turks two centuries before Mircea the Elder finally
lost to the Ottomans, the grand mosque at Babadag served the Turks,
Tatars, and others in the area for about 650 years. Luckily, the
Turks came back to the table for major restoration works recently, cooperating
with local officials to fund work on the stone funerary building where
the namesake paşa was buried.
In the courtyard is the decorative Kalaigi Fountain and on
Măcinstreet, the tomb of
the 13th century dervish leader Baba-Sarı Saltuk Dede, who settled his
Turcoman compatriots in the region. Ibn Battuta mentioned this
area as under the name Baba Saltuk, then a northern outpost for the
Turks.
The Tomb and Mosque
The oldest "geamie" grand mosque in Romania
at Babadag
At 87 Republicii Street in Babadag
The Oriental Art Exposition
If you want to understand the Turks and Tatars who lived in Ottoman
Dobrogea for over 450 years, the Oriental Art Exposition at Panaghia
House in Babadag is the place to peruse local history's finest, from
embroidered Turkish robes to stunning traditional copperware.
The museum holds a wide selection of Oriental art, copper artefacts,
clothes, and decorative fabrics. Near the Ali-Gazi-Paşa
grand mosque, the Panaghia house is a fine example of the Babadag Ottoman
outpost architecture, combining local craftsman traditions with regimental
style.
Most importantly, the Oriental Art Museum at Babadag features authentic
traditional folk art of the Turks and Tartars in from
the Dobrogea Region,
including hand-made and later industrial pieces. If you have a
nice morning or afternoon in Babadag, you'll delight in the many fabrics,
embroideries, costumes, and ornaments in the museum, which do a great
job in preserving the Turkish and Tatar customs and art forms of the
area.
It should be noted that the ethnographic value of the Oriental Art
Museum lies in the m`any pieces displayed which show precisely how Turkish
and eastern motifs became melded, adopted and integrated into more Wallachian,
Moldovan and Russian influences.
You can trace how the more eastern motifs of the carnation, eastern
fruits like the pomegranate, and trees like the cypress are pulled into
more traditional regional patterns done with silver and gold embroidery.
The effect is truly stunning
-- and you'll leave with some extra great photographs, and a much better
idea about what Turkish Dobrogea
was all about!
Where the town is today, there was once a settlement from Roman
days, then called Vicus Novus. Finds revealed in the centre of
Babadag have revealed that Vicus was once a fairly urbanised town, according
to the advanced ceramics and masonry uncovered.
By medieval times, the Byzantine and Dobrotician rule ceded to the
consolidating Ottoman Empire, and the modern name of Babadag was given
to the regional centre by 1393 when Sultan Bayezid I swept through the
region on his campaign to the banks of the Danube. Babadag even
had it's own Ottoman fortress to bolster it's role as a garrison town
during the reign of Murad IV.
Babadag, Capital of Dobrogea
The grand mosque was upgraded for the arrival of the regional governor
(the paşa) and his considerable court which moved
up from Silistra in Southern Dobrogea (ceded to Bulgaria under Nazi
rule). In this way, the importance of Babadag was greatly enhanced
as capital of the Lower Danube province of the Ottoman Empire. The Grand
Vizier wintered at Babadag during his many campaigns against the Russians
(who finally pushed back the Turks in 1879)
There were recorded several communications between the
regional governorsat Babadag with the Wallachian and Moldovan rulers of the day,
then also paying tribute to the Turks, although not really under direct
rule. Babadag was the most developed town in all of Dobrogea.
On the road to Babadag from
Tulcea, a little wayside mini-chapel called a
Troiţa, this one with some
local sunflower honey for sale on the honour system.
At Babadag, the Romanian Army operate a military training facility.
With a total surface area of 270 km˛, this is one of the biggest and
most modern training firing ranges in Europe.
It was announced on December 6, 2006 that 1,500 U.S. troops stationed
at Mihail Kogălniceanu will be using Babadag as a training base.
The locations of the Americans in County Tulcea and County
Constanţa make up a triangle from the
Smârdan woods on the Danube,
to the staging area and instruction facilities at Babadag,
and down to the "MK Air Base" near
Constanţa. Read more in our
Military section
Thracian Ruins
About 5km north towards Tulcea, are the
ruins of a Roman fortress stronghold from around 450BC. In Babadag,
traces of Tracian – Hallstattian’s culture were also identified (XI-VII
centuries B.C.).
Does anyone know about these? We
can't really find much out about them.
Let us Know please.
Just in from tending his sheep along the
hills of Enisala overlooking the Danube Delta
The little village of Enisala is an strikingly appropriate setting
for a veritable monument to the rich peasant traditions and culture:
An actual peasant house preserved, complete with all the accoutrements
of folk life.
The Peasant Hospitality House features interesting implements, wall
hangings, furniture and daily living items collected from peasant households
of the region. Outside you can find painted carts, fishing gear
and other essentials of village life in Northern Dobrogea.
The name Enisala is a simple contraction of Yeni Sala, meaning "new
village" in Turkish.
Just north of Enisala, on the little circuit
road about 8km from Babadag, the citadel of Heracleia (locally, Hercleea)
is perched solidly on a rock-strewn hill (see banner
above).
Enisala can be seen from the grounds, one of a series of Genovesean
castles in the region (this one probably named Bambola or Stravrichi).
It was built towards the end of the 13th Century and was occupied by
successive generations of Genovesans (Genovezi
in Romanian) through the first half of the 14th century.
You may find it a bit strange to find people from near the French
border in northern Italy. The city-state republic of Genoa allied
with the Byantine Empire, opening business opportunities for the Genovese
merchants.
The Byzantine - Genoan alliance allowed the Genovese to build protective
forts all up and down the Black Sea coast of Dobrogea, with the castle
at Enisala being rules by their local overload, Prince Demetrius.
Some of the Genovesan forts extended as far north and east as the Crimea,
where the merchants managed picked up the Black Death (the Plague, carried
by fleas), and imported it to Europe, conceivably through Dobrogea on
the way.
Genoa's independence waned after a series of wars with Venice and
was in turn ruled by the French and Milanese, thus allowing the Ottoman
Empire to gain control of the Genoese territories and colonies
in the Black Sea theatre.
It was probably the main base for the local prince, Demetrius, and
after a brief 20-year occupation by Wallachian forces, was captured
and held by the Ottomans under Mehmet I in 1417, who renamed the castle
Yeni Sale. The Ottomans then held the castle and all of
Dobrogea for the next 461 years. Really, the castle gradually
lost it's importance over the years of the 15th century, and was later
abandoned as Babadag to the south became ascendant as a regional trade
centre.
Jurilovca is a great little town of about 5,000 villagers featuring
an interesting ethnographical museum and old Russian church.
Including the villages of Vişina and Sălcioara, Jurilovca is the
gateway to some great bird watching, and serves as a fairly major port
on on Goloviţa Lake, with boats crossing the mini-resort of Gura Portiţei.
The old rite Russian Orthodox Pocrova Church was built in 1871,
and features inscriptions in Cyrillic, not particularly common in other
parts of Romania.
Lippovans and Fish!
Jurilovca was settled by lippovans at the beginning of the 19th
century and continues to this day as a major fishing centre with the
biggest community of fishermen in Romania. Jurilovca has one of
the most modern fish processing facility in the Balkans (outside of
Greece).
The community was of prime importance to the latter Communist
era economy, with almost all of the factories built under the regimes
exporting product to earn hard currency.
Rather perversely, Jurilovca during this period was re-named "Unirea",
in a silly attempt to Romanianise this community which could hardly
be called Wallachian in any notable way, with most established families
sharing Lippovan, Turkish or Tatar heritage.
Jurilovca today has a steady pulse and is one of those little sunny
coastal villages seemingly in a world of it's own. Even if you're
just passing through on your way to the Delta or out to the beaches,
spend a few hours in the sunshine, check out the little port, and see
the older part of town up on the hill. It's a great spot.
A UNIQUE
EXPERIENCE WITH PRISTINE BEACHES, THE DELTA BIOSPHERE RESERVE,
BIRD LIFE AND GOOD ACCOMMODATION MAKE GURA PORTIŢEI ONE OF OUR
TOP PICK DESTINATIONS
Gura Portiţei (Portsmouth)
This sweet little resort is improbably perched on a lick of land
between the Black Sea, the massive inland Lake Razim-Sinoe, and the
adjoining Lake Goloviţa. The 15km boat
journey across Lake Goloviţa
is the only access to the mini-resort of Gura
Portiţei.
Roughly meaning "Portsmouth", Gura Portiţei
is a fabulous spot primarily for anyone who enjoys steeping yourself
in the authentic and inspiring nature of this heavenly piece of the
European Union. The natural long sand split will probably
not be there in 200 years, but for now, it offers an amazingly ideal
platform for great views, and forays into the Delta proper to the north
and west.
The beaches are indeed far less crowded than even those up at Sulina,
and certainly far more pristine than the throbbing beats of the youth
camps set up at Mamaia to the south.
Fishing at Gura Portiţei is a minor joy, and
it's vicinity to the beaches and canals of the adjacent Danube Delta
Biosphere Reserve give it a natural advantage.
A little "Eden" resort has been meticulously built on the sand spit
with the obligatory Danube Delta pension, a mini-hotel, as well as a
few boats moored at the jetty which offer accommodation.
A camp site and bungalows round out the lodging options at
Gura Portiţei, making
the little vacation station a good option for almost anyone not bent
on absolute luxury.
Right on the main "highway", this twin-unit
vila offers on the Jurilovca side of the lake offers air conditioning
and plenty of room to sit out and catch the sunrise.
Check in at the Piscicola Jurilovca office at the port building
in Jurilovca to park your car (crime is not big here, just lock it and
take valuables out) get your
boat tickets for the one hour boat trip out to Gura
Portiţei. The town is on holiday time, so don't expect
departures much earlier than 10am, and the last ones go out maybe as
late as 8pm in summer months.
You can also get a fast boat, a "salupa rapidă",
on demand through most of the peak season, although this will set you
back about
at least.
If you have a Romanian
guide-translator with you, you can alternatively do a bit of local
bargaining for a motor boat to take you across, although having a firm
price and a determined gaze is generally essential for getting a good
deal for this option.
A Very Suitable Resort
Everything around the little resort run by the Piscicola Jurilova
society is quite clean, with the 80 or so little wooden cabins, four
villa-style guesthouses, the main restaurant, day bars, a disco bar,
Italian restaurant and pizzeria and a handful of outdoor terrace cafes,
all recently constructed or renovated. Call "La
Nisip" bar on +40 (240) 561 429 if you have any
questions about food, partying or entertainment.
A typical ciorba comes
at a thrifty
with a good local fish dinner running
depending on the size of the local catch! All look out onto the fine
golden sands a few hundred metres from where Lake Goloviţa
melds into the deep Black Sea.
For Romanians, Gura Portiţei is sadly a bit
too pricey, compared with the bargain holiday offerings of elsewhere
on the Romanian Black
Sea coast.
However, for the stunning views, the delicious isolation coupled
with good facilities, and prices not terrible for an American, this
makes Portiţei the perfect little Martha's Vineyard
of Romania!
Cabins, Beach Huts and Villas
You can find a great little cabin which sleeps two for around
and English-speakers should be rather pleased with the beach-hut level
of amenities. A more up-market option in one of the villas will
set you back
or so, but for the three star service in such a great place, it's not
a big ask.
As with most Romanian beach resorts, there is a little area for
camping at either end of the main built-up areas of the beach, although
getting your tent stakes down is daunting in the least.
There's a shower and toilet block in the dunes which rather remarkably
even have hot water and are free for campers.
Trips to the north and south are often done in people-carrier wagons
pulled by little 4WD quad bikes or tractors and make for alot of
fun!
The Real Reason to Stay
Beyond the odd tent or two come the beaches without end.
To north you have the Delta Danube Biosphere Reserve and the beach going
up to Saint Gheorghe. Then to the south, after a little canal
between the sea and the lake, towards Năvodari the
scenery is absolutely enchanting, with wonderfully wild vistas untouched
by the hand of man.
After a day out enjoying the remarkable seascapes, birding, floating
on the inland lakes or just enjoying the sunset, you'll find yourself
at one of the terrace cafes wishing you had more time at
Gura Portiţei!
For those who enjoy a good romp around the ruins, south a half hour
from Jurilovca are the more substantial ruins of Histria (near Istria,
also on a wide inland lake).
A good part of the walls and other edifices have been reconstituted,
and an archaeological museum, run out of the main national history museum
in Constanţa shows off the world-class treasures
from the Greek and Roman layers.
See more here about the
old Roman city of Histria
Proving
that County Tulcea indeed has it all, Romania's most arid mountains
offer unique habitat for steppe wildlife where Mediterranean,
Balkan and Asiatic
biological zones converge
The Niculiţel
Basilica
Ancient Tombs and an airy glowing feel to
this chamber make for an ethereal experience!
Almost everyone is surprised to hear how the western Tulcean landscape
is so different when compared with the wet and green lands of the Danube
Delta!
Indeed, the most arid and oldest mountains in Romania loom high
on the horizon, home to a unique blend of animals and plants, looking
more like somewhere in Utah than the better known parts of Romania.
The most northern major centre in Western Tulcea is
Isaccea, home to the Roman castle of Noviodunum, is located at
an ideal spot to cross the Danube River, long defended and attacked
throughout it's wild border town history.
As a tourist, Western County Tulcea can be a deeply rewarding region
to explore, precisely because it is seldom travelled by those from outside
Romania, despite being so close to the mega-destination of the Danube
Delta.
The most amusing part about this area is that it holds no particular
snob-appeal to Romanians, and hence is off their holiday maps for the
most part as well.
But you will be deeply rewarded by the stunning views from the
Măcin mountain crests, the unique and rare wildflowers,
and the cultural riches of old mosques mixed with inspirational monasteries.
Indeed where you have open plains, a Mediterranean climate and colourful
monasteries left and right, why not a few grape vines to make the day
perfect?
The clever vintner of County Tulcea realised the soil was great in 1954 and stuck some vines in
the ground, now producing white wines for the booming export market
such as Aligoté, Italian style Riesling, and White Fetească.
Forming a triangle on the map which some consider to be religiously
significant, the Monasteries of northern Dobrogea are great examples
of the early 19th century building techniques.
The Ottoman Empire tolerated the Orthodox faith in it's northern-most
province of Dobrogea, although this came with a height restriction to
ensure the Christian churches did not reach parity with the grand mosques
throughout the region.
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With an area of 8,499 km˛, the most spectacular part of County Tulcea
is the Danube Delta,
which occupies about a third of the entire surface to the north and
east of the county. It has three main branches - the Sulina branch
(the only one navigable by large ships) in the middle, the Chilia branch
in the North (the border with Ukraine) and the Sfântu Gheorghe (Saint
George) branch in the South.
In the South-East of the county there are the lagoons of Razelm-Sinoe,
home to Dalmatian Pelican colonies.
In the Danube Delta and in the South, in the area between the Sfântu
Gheorghe Channel and the Razelm Lake there are countless channels and
small lakes the entire area being included in the UNESCO list of World
Heritage Sites and Biosphere reserves.
The Danube flows around the county in the West and North side.
In the West there is the Măcin Branch which flows on the East side of
the Great Brăila Island.
From Smârdan (on the opposite side from Brăila) until Pătlăgeanca
(close to Tulcea) the Danube has only one big flow of water, around
which there are an immense number of lakes and small channels.
On the centre of the county there is the Casincea Plateau and the
Măcin Mountains - the remains of a prehistoric mountain range (having
more than 400 million years) with the greatest height at about 400 m.
Agriculture and fishing are the main occupations - about 48% of
the population.
Industry is concentrated in the large towns only. As such,
the predominant industries in the county include the food and textiles,
ship-building, metallurgy (aluminium), chemicals and construction materials.
Ship-building on a smaller scale than upstream at Galaţi and Brăila also takes place.
Most of the food processing centred on the local fish of course,
with some meats, milk, wine, vegetable and fruit processing plants,
mostly in the city of Tulcea area, but also in location where good
water supply and labour forces coincide. Murighiol, for
example, has a large pork processing industry.
Demographics
In 2000, County Tulcea had a population of 265,349, with a population
density of 31/km˛, the lowest of any of the counties of Romania.
With a majority ethnic Romanian population (90%), there are also
important communities of Russians and Lippovans in the Danube Delta
region (about 7% of the county's population).
In the south of the county there are still vestigial populations
of the Turks and Tartars which once dominated the Dobrogea region, now
making up just 2% of the county's population. Otherwise, Rromas
make up almost 1% of the reported inhabitants.
The Turks
The oldest house of worship in Dobrogea is not even Christian, but
actually Muslim, the old 1263 mosque at Babadag. For over
450 years, County Tulcea and all of the Dobrogea Region were ruled from
the south, as part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. But, when
the Romanians and Russians invaded the Tulcea area in
1878, the Turks were beaten back and the collapse
of the Ottoman Empire was swift.
The Lippovans
Out in the Delta, the density of Russian and Lipovani
people increases dramatically, up to half of the population generally
in the small communities. The Lippovans which are descendants
of the Old Rite Followers who left Russia in 1772 to avoid religious
persecutions.
The Lippovans were originally Russian by nationality and by faith,
called "Old Believers", but basically Orthodox. In 1652, Nikon, the
Patriarch of Russian Orthodox Church, initiated doctrinal reforms which
divided Russian society. The Nikonians accepted the reforms, bu
the Old Believers were persecuted and emigrated from Russia into
the Moldova region
and into northern Dobrogea,
mostly around the Danube Delta area.
The main center of Lippovan community in the Ukrainian part of Danube
Delta is Vilkovo. Most of the Lippovan men are expert fishermen, sons
of three generations of exiles now, who continue to practice their own
conservative flavour of Orthodox Christianity. Their communities
have few roads and daily transportation is only by boat.
County Tulcea features the main city of Tulcea on the Danube, along
with four smaller towns: Babadag,
Isaccea, Măcin and Sulina, along with 46 communes.
A Commune is a larger village which usually acts as a regional centre, with a
mayor, postal and police services, and sometimes larger stores. Other
villages may belong to the commune, and the over 2500 communes in Romania vary
widely in size.
Hydrofoils run up and down the main Sulina Arm of the Danube Delta
daily, making the run between Tulcea and Sulina just under two hours
on a good day.
Due to the relatively large number of users on the Saint Gheorghe
arm of the Danube Delta, fast boat services on Mondays and Thursdays
are served by classic boats with hourly departures, but the rest of
the program remains unchanged. In the late summer and early
autumn months, passenger and goods services on the Danube Delta have
days alternating between the fast boats and the classic vessels.
You'll need to plan fairly carefully for your arrival date and time
if you want to catch a boat downriver. Saturdays is the "off"
day for the boats, with only a lone hydrofoil running between Tulcea
and Sulina.
The NAVROM Delta company runs the major routes from Tulcea to Sulina,
Tulcea to Mahmudia and St. Gheorge, and the northern Chilia Veche and
Periprava route from Tulcea. Their two fast boats hold 200
passengers and limited cargo, with the half dozen slower boats holding
more cargo and between 130 and 300 people depending on the loads and
model.
If you know the name of the boat
running, you'll know how big it is. Boats named Banat,
Mehedinţi, Moldova and Vrâncea all hold up to 300 passengers, the Maramureş and
Mirceşti 150 each, and the wee Cotnari just 64.
NavRom also runs small boats and pontoons in Tulcea and in major centres
in the delta, along with their flagship catamaran style Delta Expres
I & II craft.
The boat schedules vary by season, and you should always
contact NavRom (details above) prior to travel.
Fast boats from Tulcea along the northern arm to Chilia,
or the central arm to Sulina are
with a discount for pensioners and disabled. It's a bit more,
going out the longer
southern arm to Sfântu-Gheorghe and a bit cheaper
if you start out from Mahmudia, just
and
subsidised.
Get your Romanian friend or guide to make sure about
weight limits if you're on a fast boat or hydrofoil in particular and
are travelling with a fair amount of luggage -- usually
is allowable, but the per-kg fee for subsequent kilograms is pretty
light.
Departing
Time
DAY
Arriving At
TIME
MON
TUE
WED
THU
FRI
SAT
SUN
SLOW/FAST
Tulcea >
2:00 PM
HYDRO
HYDRO
HYDRO
HYDRO
HYDRO
HYDRO
HYDRO
> Sulina
4pm
1:30 PM
SLOW
FAST
SLOW
FAST
FAST
--
FAST
6pm
6pm
FAST*
--
SLOW
FAST*
SLOW
--
--
> St. Gheorghe
5:30
3:30pm
FAST
SLOW
FAST
--
SLOW
--
--
> Periprava
7pm
7pm
Sulina >
7:00 AM
HYDRO
HYDRO
HYDRO
HYDRO
HYDRO
HYDRO
HYDRO
> Tulcea
9am
6:00 AM
FAST
SLOW
FAST
SLOW
FAST
--
SLOW
11am
11am
St. Gheorghe >
7:00 AM
--
FAST
--
SLOW
FAST
--
SLOW
11:30
9:30am
Periprava >
5:00 AM
--
FAST
SLOW
FAST
--
--
SLOW
11am
11am
*The Saint Gheorghe line in particular tends to be a bit crowded
in the mid-summer months from June onwards, and whenever loads increase
to a certain level, NavRom will substitute one of the larger, slower
vessels on the route.
Going out to the Saint Gheorghe community, the main stops are at
Mahmudia and Murighiol, at
and
by road from Tulcea. You may wish to drive or even overnight in
one of these interesting communities and then set out for the two hour
slow boat ferry ride from there to Sfântu Gheorghe.
All of the phone numbers in Tulcea
start with (267) or (367), depending on whether the service is
through the old state-run operator RomTelecom, or from one of the newer
entrants into the market in Romania.
Dialling into anywhere in County Tulcea,
you must remove any leading zero from the county code portion
of the phone number, so that (0267) becomes (267). Dialling
a mobile number (Vodaphone, Zapp, Orange, Cosmote, etc), you do the
same, dropping the zero from the (07XX) part of the number, to make
it (7XX). Both landlines and mobiles have 6 digits following
the initial county code.
For a supposedly sleepy Danube Delta lands, where life should flow
as slowly as the water, Tulcea has a rather surprising
list of HotSpots in the capital city!
Deep
2, 40 Portului Street
in Tulcea
On the road
down to the port. +40
(745) 075 813
Old
Times Pub, 118 Pogoriilor Street
in Tulcea
A Romanian
take on a classic English pub +40
(743) 035 285
Pizzeria
Datino, 34 Pogoriilor Street
in Tulcea
In the ground floor area,
down the road from the Old Times Pub
Hotel
Delta, 2 Isaccei Street
in Tulcea
A rock-solid
favourite hotel with good wi-fi. +40 (240) 514 720
Hotel
Rex, 1 Toamnei Street
in Tulcea
A modern megalith with equally
big amenities in the central financial district, with wireless too!+40
(240) 511 354
This website is a
general tourist guide, designed to help English-speaking tourists
understand Romania, and as such, provides historical
information for the interest of our traveller readers. History
can be a contentious issue, and we welcome input where readers think
clarification or correction is advisable. Please
e-mail us here
if you have questions or comments about anything in this history
section.
Turkish Provinces, 1726
Extending as far north as Moldova, County
Tulcea was well within the Ottoman sphere
Russia moved troops into Romania and
declared war
on the Ottoman Empire, winning after a year. Here, the
famous
Nicolae
Grigorescu painting depicts a battle at Smârdan, near
Măcin
in County Tulcea.
Image: Gov't of Romania
Ottoman County Tulcea
By the 1860s, Dobrogea had 196 functioning mosques in towns, villages
and markets, with a dozen seminary schools, 8 gymnasiums, a health system
and 56 primary schools.
In County Tulcea, a new railroad was being built from the northern-most
Turkish city of Tulcea through to the town of Măcin,
which sat on a bluff across from the Kingdom of Romania at
Brăila on the other side of the Danube River.
The Ottoman Empire out of Istanbul made sure that their Dobrogean
province was well connected, with the Tulcea area connected with the
rest of the Turkish world and beyond by telegraph, as were seven other
Dobrogean cities.
Turkish Arrivals, 9th - 11th Centuries
After centuries of migrations through what is now the County Tulcea
region of Northern Dobrogea, the 9th Century saw settlement in the area
of Pechenegs, Cumans, Tatars and Turks, followed by Ottoman Turks.
The Cumans, who had passed through in important numbers around the
11th Century in Moldova, Muntenia, Oltenia and Transilvania, mostly
settled in the lower Danube region, known widely as "those at the side
of the ocean".
Part of the Cuman population in Dobrogea had entered after the Ottoman
had arrived from the lower Balkan region. The establishment of
quite a few Turks in 1263 at Babadag had constituted the prelude for
the settlement of Osman Turks, coming to Dobrogea from Anatolia and
the Balkans.
Dobrogea is Ottomanised
Islam began to have a profound influence on the Turkish tribes settled
in Dobrogea in the 10th Century, and by the 13th Century, the vast majority
of Turks in Dobrogea were Mohammedans.
The colonisation of the Balkans, begun by Murad I (1360-1389) was
extended through County Tulcea and into the Danube Delta. Understanding
the strategic and military importance of his Dobrogean province, the
Ottoman Sultans fortified and strengthened the castles at Yeni-Sala
(see Enisala above), and the castle of
Isaccea.
Turkish troops who had occupied Dobrogea were later followed by
rural elements. The Sultans accorded vast tracts of good pastureland
to local rulers and those willing to resettle up to the Balkans in a
quest to stabilise the province. So, keeping with the Ottoman
customs, between the years 1543 and 1667, the Turks belonging to the Kogeagik tribe were relocated across 64 villages in Dobrogea.
Commerce blossomed in Dobrogea along the caravan routes which criss-crossed
the empire, although the wars with the Russians to the north had a negative
effect on the Dobrogean population.
Towns were ruined in the wars which started in 1711, flared dramatically
in the 1770s, and was rekindled in the late 1820s, with the populations
wildly fluctuating with the fortunes of the wars between 40,000 and
100,000 in 1834. Turks were expelled from the Black Sea
area of Russia in the 1860s, with 10,000 moving south to settle in Dobrogea.
Romania Awarded Dobrogea
In the wake of the decisions of the Berlin Congress in
1878, Romania was granted Dobrogea and the Danube Delta.
As soon as the new Romanian administration was installed, the economic
and social landscape of the province became grim. A multitude
of Turkish and Tatar families, now refugees having had to leave their
homes during the wars, waited for weeks for the Romanians to get a functioning
government going.
The people wanted only to reunite in their home villages and get
back to their friends, family and jobs, many of whom had been working
on the railroads before the Romanians invaded. But things slowly
improved, and the Dobrogean families who had fled the war had up to
three years to go back and claim their family homes.
The Kingdom's New Culture
The Romanian authorities respected the Dobrogean traditions, and
even in the Romanian army, the local Dobrogean units, largely Islamic,
were fully integrated and formed into their own companies and squadrons,
complete with fez and turbans intact.
It made sense this way, and the new Romanian administration under
King Carol I was remarkably sensitive to the culture of their new province,
as the dietary, ceremonial and religious requirements of these companies
was clearly different from their Moldovan and Wallachian counterparts.
Similarly, the Romanians set up courts and judges sensitive to the
traditions of each community, and the positions of Mufti in both Tulcea
and Constanţa had continuing significant in the
lives of their Dobrogean flocks.
Law guaranteed the freedom to teach in the local Turkish language,
and at Babadag, a new Madrasa was founded which taught courses in Romanian.
Within 10 years of Dobrogea being melded with the Kingdom of Romania,
the majority of schools taught in both languages, and the "Dobruca Gazetesi"
(the Dobrogean Gazette) newspaper was printing it's headlines in Turkish,
with back sections in Romanian.
Despite these freedoms and a real attempt to integrate and
support the Turkish culture, a part of the Mohammadan population in
Dobrogea moved further south, back into the Ottoman empire.
Turks and Tatars Leave
Whilst the system set up was generally good and generous by Western
standards, there was also fairly endemic corruption, and many of the
new laws and ways of structuring government and public services were
simply foreign to the native Dobrogeans.
Turkish and Tatar populations plumetted through the early 1900s
and further still in the 1920s when the new Republic of Turkey under
Ataturk launched a targeted campaign to bring back to Turkey the Turkish
populations throughout Dobrogea.
Turco-Tatar Dobrogea Today
Today, the Dobrogean Turkish language and culture is supported by
such recent events at the Turkish Language Olympiad at Medgidia's Kemal
Ataturk national College.
In April 2007, the 40 or so Turkish schoolkids representing
their communities from all over Dobrogea cried out their motto:
"On this day, across all the land, we will speak nothing but
our language!".
In previous years, the Turkish
Language Day ceremonies were held at Eforie Sud and
Constanţa. The events are supported by Romania's
political party representing the Turk and Tatar communities still remnant
in Dobrogea, the Democratic Union of Turco-Tatar Muslims in Romania,
as well as the local mufti and the Turkish consul in
Constanţa.
The Tatars community today in Romania, decendants from Crimean
Tartars, live more towards central and southern Dobrogea around
Biulbiul, Topraisar, Azaplar, Murfatlar, Castelu, Osmancea,
Bairamdede. Their Nogai Tatar brethren live mainly in the town of
Mihail Kogălniceanu (Karamurat); and villages of Lumina (Kocali),
the ironically names Valea Dacilor ("Valley of the Dacians", or
Hendekkarakuyusu to the locals) and Cobadin (Kubadin). The
"home" communities remain in Russia north of Grozny and the River
Terek.
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PLEASE NOTE: We have divided lodging
in County Tulcea into two zones: The Danube Delta hotels and pensions, and then
the rest in County
Tulcea. To go to a specific location or town,
use the Ctrl+F feature of your browser to find the town name.
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.JPG "Tulcea Down Town")
.JPG "Going to Sulina")
Have more info? Please Let us know!
Sulina History
.JPG "Church in Sulina")
Transportation
If you know the name of the boat
running, you'll know how big it is. Boats named Banat,
Mehedinţi, Moldova and Vrâncea all hold up to 300 passengers, the Maramureş and
Mirceşti 150 each, and the wee Cotnari just 64.
NavRom also runs small boats and pontoons in Tulcea and in major centres
in the delta, along with their flagship catamaran style Delta Expres
I & II craft. 
Get your hotel or accommodation seen to the world with a premium accommodation listing with Rest Romania.
.JPG "Near Sulina on Danube River")
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