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
.JPG "Tulcea Down Town")
.JPG "Going to Sulina")
Have more info? Please Let us know!
Sulina History
.JPG "Church in Sulina")
