Dobruja

I reached this region with my Fiat Tipo, crossing the Danube on a barge that runs between the Wallachian city of Braila and the other bank of the river. The road crosses a semi-desert area with few rural villages. Despite the desolation, even this area of stony hills and fields has a certain charm. Having reached Tulcea, I visit its river port on the Danube, where numerous ships bound for Sulina are moored — Sulina being a town in the delta not reachable by land. I'd like to go to Sulina but I can't find a ship leaving, so I opt for one of the few branches of the delta reachable by land. By a secondary road I reach Murighiol, a fishing village. Here a local takes me in his little boat into some secondary branches of the Danube, discovering characteristic corners of nature.

On the riverbanks you glimpse some fishermen's camps but also stately villas that clash with the beauty of the place. The banks are bordered by luxuriant vegetation, including some plants that, like tropical mangroves, draw water from the river with their long exposed roots. Towards evening, from Murighiol I move south, spending the night in a fine hotel in Ovidiu. The next morning I realise I'm on the shores of a lake separated from the sea by a narrow coastal strip on which the seaside resort of Mamaia, the most famous in Romania, is located. I go around the lake as far as Mamaia, where I stroll on the great beach, very similar to those of the Adriatic or the Versilia. The long strip of sand is completely at my disposal, but I imagine that in summer it's crowded.

Near the beach the town offers modern hotels and restaurants, some of them set in surroundings that reproduce the architectural features of the various regions of Romania. Bypassing Constanta I take the coastal road which, having crossed a bridge over a canal, passes the seaside resorts of Eforie, Costinesti, Neptun and reaches Mangalia. I'm a few kilometres from Bulgaria and the Islamic influence is felt, underlined by the presence of mosques and minarets. I go back up to Constanta to observe Romania's main port and the historic centre where Orthodox churches and Islamic mosques coexist side by side. At Cernavoda I cross the bridge over the canal that links the Danube and the Black Sea and re-enter Wallachia. Dobruja didn't attract me like other Romanian regions, perhaps because I expected more from the Danube delta, or perhaps because its beaches should be seen in summer.