Danube Delta

I've been waiting for more than a year to go to the Danube Delta. But this fall, my whish finally came true. Although I live in Romania, I have never had the chance up until now to go there.

The trip was planned for 4 days. The five of us (two girls and three guys), were to leave Bucharest on the 19th and return on the 22nd of September. As planned on the 19th, at 5 am, me and my girlfriend started "uploading" our luggage into the car. It was just the two of us, but the trunk was already more than half way full. On our way we picked up the other three people and we were ready to go, with a car-full of luggage and a lot of good mood. :)

We left Bucharest and entered the newly built Highway of the Sun (Autostrada Soarelui) connecting Bucharest with Constanta. Since I didn't want to stop for gas in Bucharest, the "empty" warning light on my fuel indicator was already lit. My hope was for us to find a gas station on the highway. But since this was a newly built highway, the only service areas you could find were 2 parking spaces. So eventually I decided it is time to exit the highway into the nearest town and look for a gas station. Luckily enough, we found one before we totally ran out of gas.

On our way again, we didn't enter the highway again, but instead used the old road through the villages. This proved again not to be a very good idea. Because of the considerable amount of luggage and people in the car and the car's age, at a railroad crossing, the exhaust hit the ground and the thing that was holding it attached to the car snapped. Now, the exhaust was hanging so close to the ground that even the smallest bump in the road made it hit the asphalt and forcing me to drive very slow. Luckily enough it was Monday and when we entered Slobozia (a bigger town on our way) we immediately found a repair shop where the problem was fixed at a reasonable price and in a timely manner (no more than half an hour).

So our journey continued towards Braila where the road crosses the Danube, not by bridge, but by ferry boat. It was an interesting experience for most of us, as some have never did this before. From Braila our journey continued all the way to Tulcea, where we stopped for some last-minute shopping... just stuff that we remembered we forgot to take with us when we left Bucharest. The interesting part was that we just kept on remembering, so that we spend at least two hours in Tulcea and did three or four shopping tours. :)

Finally we managed to leave Tulcea and find our way to Mahmudia, a village where we planned to stay. We crossed again the Danube with a ferry onto an island where we wanted to set up our tents. What was supposed to be a very simple operation (setting up the tent) proved to be quite a challenge. We followed the instructions, but what came out didn't look at all like a tent. It looked more like a contorsionist's exercise. After unsuccessfully trying to adjust it's position, we took a decision: disassemble and reassemble the whole tent. This time we got it right. This being said, we left the girls to unpack the food and directed our attention to the fishing rods. Unfortunately the current was so strong that it brought our bait right back to the shore, so this wasn't a very good fishing spot. The view wasn't so great either so we decided that the first thing in the morning we were going to lift camp and search for a better place. But, before we went to sleep, a card game was more than welcome... actually so welcome, that it lasted until 4 am.

As planned, the next morning we packed everything and left for Murighiol, another village, not very far away. Seeing the dark clouds and hearing that during the night it rained heavily and Bucharest was flooded, we decided not to camp in tents anymore, but to find some accommodation. After searching a little we found a nice little place that was to our liking. Since it was almost noon, he day was already compromised and there was nothing left but to wander through the village. We arranged for a boat to take us on a sightseeing/fishing trip in the area the next day. The rest of the day was filled again with card playing until late in the night (or early in the morning?).





After a short sleep, we woke up for the big event: a boating trip through the Delta. It was an enjoyable experience, even though beacause of the late fall, the fauna and flora wasn't that spectacular as it should. Anyway, we had a great time and at the end of the trip we also stopped to fish a little. The results of our fishing spree were eaten later that night grilled and with a lot of drinks. Again... card night.

The next day, me and Mihai went fishing. After about 4 hours of sleep, we could barely keep our eyes open. The guy that was supposed to take us fishing came to pick us up and off we went. It was 5:30 am and the sun dind't rise yet and we were able to enjoy a great view: the Danube Delta at night. It felt almost like in a horror movie. Everything was grey and you could just see some vegetation here and there, isolated trees rising out of the water, well just the perfect atmosphere for a big monster to emerge out of the river and take a bite out of your boat. :) Fishing wasn't as productive as planned. In fact we barely caught two fish, but one of them, cauht by Mihai made it worth the while. Back home after the fishing trip, we had a quick bite to eat and then... packing because it was time to get back to Bucharest.

Off we went... the same way back. Well, almost the same way. Because of the floods we had to take a detour. 40 km of country road, full of holes. This cost us aproximately an hour extra on the way. Finally we got back on the highway and next stop was Bucharest. One event is worth mentioning on our way back. It was allready dark outside and just after we took the detour we looked at our left and saw the ... Eiffel Tower. After so little sleep I thought I was dreaming. So I shook my head and looked again... the Eiffel tower was still there. So I stopped the car and we all got out, glazing at it in amazement. A replica of the Eiffel tower, standing there in front of us. I tried to get a picture of it, but being so dark outside and me not having a tripod made me give up.

All in all it was an exciting trip and I can hardly wait to get there again next year, maybe earlier in the summer when there's more to see.