Entries about sulina

I have a rude awakening from a nightmare this morning, but it’s time to get up anyway. We wander down to breakfast at the Vila Belvedere and are soon joined by Andrei.

From our guest-house in Galați, the drive takes about half an hour to the ferry port where we cross the Danube to Brătianu.

Disembarking at Brătianu

Tulcea

A further one hour drive takes us to the large ferry port of Tulcea. This is where the Danube ‘ends’ its journey as a river and empties into the legendary Danube Delta, the largest wetlands on earth.

Built on seven hills like Rome, Tulcea has been an important harbour since ancient times. We only really see the harbour-front part of the town, as we wait for our passenger ferry to take us along the Sulina Canal to the small settlement of Crișan.

Terasa Scorpion

While Andrei goes off to sort the paperwork for the next three days – special permits are required for us to visit the Delta – we take lunch in a pleasant-looking restaurant on the promenade.

The service is incredibly slow, so we have plenty of time to people-watch – unsurprisingly, the port area has an transient feel to it – passengers arriving, meeting and leaving. Plus the inevitable beggars that this sort of place attracts. We watch two young lads solicit diners with the hope of being bestowed with some leftover food. They can’t be more than around ten years old, and really should be in school. Andrei suggests they are probably Romani, who make up around 3.5% of the population in Romania.

Eventually our food arrives – we are sharing a mixed platter containing sausages, chicken fillets and shish kebabs plus a salad and cheesy chips. The food is quite pleasant, but probably not worth the wait.

If the food was late to arrive, the bill is even slower. Andrei comes back with our tickets and permits and goes in to give them a ‘gentle’ reminder in Romanian.

Navrom Delta Passenger Ferry

Having finally found some seats on the very cramped ferry, Andrei goes off to get something from the car. When he returns he informs us that there is another ferry also going to Crișan; a direct boat and it is almost empty, so we transfer across. We are advised to sit inside rather than on the small deck, as ‘everyone’ smokes outside.

Apart from it being VERY hot, the seats are quite comfortable, we are sitting right in front of the bar, and the barman has the most amazing Paul Newman eyes! A little bit of eye candy never hurts.

Crișan

The Sulina Canal was dug between 1880 and 1902, and is the main navigation route for passengers and commercial traffic. For many of the villages on the Danube Delta, a boat along this canal is their only means of access.

After about 1½ hours, we reach the small fishing village of Crișan, where we will be spending the next couple of nights.
It’s a small linear settlement, with a few houses spread along the bank of the Sulina, with canals and lakes of the Delta to the other side.

Image from Google Earth

Pensiunea Oprisan

A friendly, family-run guest house, the Oprisan is a 15-minute walk from the ferry port in Crișan.

The pensiunea has a handful of rooms; and a smallholding out the back with fruit trees, vegetables, pigs and chickens.

Dinner

We have some free time in the village before dinner. Being a fishing village, it is only natural that tonight’s food is fish.

Fish ball soup

Fried catfish

Pancakes filled with jam

We open one of our wine bottles from Et Cetera Winery, the pensiunea provides some single-distilled acacia-flower moonshine, and Andrei has brought along his double-distilled plum moonshine; so we have plenty of choice as far as alcohol goes tonight.

Looks like we may sleep well again tonight...

Thank you Undiscovered Destinations for organising this private tour of Moldova, Transdniestr and Romania.