Europe

[Visited: July 2020]

When I heard about Sulina, and realised that the only way to arrive was by boat, I was determined to go. Parking the car in Tulcea turns out to be a nightmare, but once I board the ship that will take me from this gateway to the Black Sea to Sulina, I am thrilled. What a change, after driving, hiking, and sometimes busing and training around the Balkans, to be on a river boat that will take me downstream, stopping along the way in settlements that are often on islands in the Danube delta. I install myself on the upper deck for better views, and enjoy the landscape floating by on our way east. At times, channels have been dug to main a waterway deep enough to accommodate even bigger cargo ships. After some four hours on the ship, we dock at the tree-lined quay of this port town going back to Byzantine times. Sulina was an important shipping town in the 19th century, with cargo ships carrying grain and other commodities passing through. Later, it had a big fish canning factory. All of that is gone now, Constanța has established itself as the main and better connected Romanian Black sea port, and I found Sulina to be laid back, apart from mostly domestic tourists.
While there are plenty of interesting sights in the town itself (it was an international port, and it is not difficult to find traces left behind by its history of various influences), I decided to focus on the natural wonders to be found here. There is plenty to discover, and I soon found out I would not have enough time to do it all. So I signed up for two guided boat tours, and left early the next morning on a small boat. We crossed the Danube arm, and were soon navigating the channels of the delta, with lots of waterlilies, trees, cows grazing the meadows, and the occasional farmhouse. At times, those channels are so narrow we could touch the vegetation on both sides of our boat. We see flocks of penguins flying when we arrive at a small landing: these are the biggest birds of Europe with a wingspan of over 3 metres. We watch their graceful formation flight, before we get on a safari-style truck. This will allow us to see the hinterland of the delta. We soon drive on a dirt track through plains that look like savannahs, see herds of wild horses, many more birds, and end up at the Letea forest where we enter on foot. After a short walk through this most nordic sub-tropical forest, where I see lianes wrapped around tall, old trees, before we reach an area of sand dunes. When driving back the dirt track, I have to remind myself that I am really in Europe - it feels wild, remote and exotic.
When we arrive back at our boat, we spot frogs on almost every leaf floating in the brook. We are on our way out of the small channels and brooks, arriving at Musura Bay. Here, we see pelicans close-up, many other birds on the floating leaves, and pass an old lighthouse on our way back to Salina. Oh, what a pity I do not speak Romanian, as our guide enthusiastically explains all we are seeing, but is not able to translate it to any language I speak. I walk to the Black Sea beach, a great spot to have lunch while seeing this big body of water, before I board another boat. Fortunately, the boatman speaks English, and wants me to be next to him - he tells me a lot about the history of Sulina and the Danube. We go all the way down the Sulina branch of the Danube, and end up on the Black Sea, passing a new lighthouse which is also a military installation. Around the corner, we sail around the wreck of the Turgut S, which ran aground in a storm in 2009. Our boat is followed by lots of seagulls and other birds. We see many more of them when we approach K Island, dubbed the newest island of Europe, and shared with Ukraine. We see colonies of pelicans and cormorants, and even some vegetation growing on it. My boatman predicts that, given the rate of growth of the island, it will one day close off Musura Bay from the Black Sea. The Danube itself is carrying so much deposits from upstream, it makes the lands advance towards the east. The boatman asks me to be on front of the boat, and I gladly do as I am told. We watch the sun going down over the Danube Delta, and I can only say I am very happy I came here, to see a part of Romania completely different from the rest of the country.

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Sulina Danube delta (Romania)

Sulina Danube delta > Romania > Europe

[Visited: July 2020]

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