Romania - the first time

Umbraresti village

We crossed from Moldova into Romania at Leuşeni, a short distance from the Moldovan capital, Chişinău. 

With no hassles at the border, we headed south through green Romanian country side.

The drive was lovely and took us through many small villages.

Barlad village

While each village was a little different, we did notice that all the roads were lined with shade trees; each house had a bench seat out the front under a tree; and on each seat there was a family or knot of people chatting.

Galati church

We also saw many wells, cattle munching the grass in front yards, horses grazing alongside the footpath, and lots of wooden carts parked at the side of the road, all sporting Romanian registration plates.

The whole route displayed such scenes, and we were delighted with our first sights of Romania.

Heading south, we arrived at Galati.

There were no campsites but we found a large car park at a sports complex. 

Vacareni village folk

It was relatively quiet to start with but unfortunately, sometime after midnight, a roaming pack of dogs decided that it was time to play and their prolonged growling, howling and barking made for a sleepless night!

Luckily it was a public holiday the next day so we didn’t have to get up too early to avoid the local commuter parkers.

Tulcea ferry-Marg & Vanni

After a quick look around Galati, we drove through more small villages and communes, seeing people lots of local people walking and more horse and carts.

We then moved on to Braila which was an attractive old town.

From Braila, we caught the ferry that would take us across the river to Tulcea (sounds like toolcha).

Tulcea waterfront-Marg

Feeling like Goldilocks – we found the first ferry was too small to take Vanni; the second ferry was very big and not running; but the third ferry was just right!

A very short ride and we were driving on toward Tulcea.

In Tulcea, the skies suddenly opened in a really vicious downpour. 

Murighiol village well-Marg

We found a parking spot and when the rain eased, went for a wander around.

Founded in the 7th century as a trading port, it is now a fishing and ferry port. 

It looked a bit sad under grey skies - possibly better in the sun.

Danube Delta water lilies

After a bit, we drove on to Murighiol, our destination for the night. 

Murighiol, is a very small traditional fishing village founded in the 6th century BC. 

Situated on the Danube Delta (Delta Dunarii) it is a key starting point for trips through the Delta.

Danube Delta waterway

The Danube Delta, forms over 4000 km of wetlands, reed islands and sandbars and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

After the Great Barrier Reef and the Galapagos Archipelago, the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve has the third largest biodiversity in the world.

For us it was a must see!

Danube Delta Pelicans

Arriving in Murighiol, we found our first-choice campsite booked out so a local boy directed us to another, which was very small.

However, the camp owners welcomed us and we ended up parked on their front yard – their back yard also had a van. After a hearty welcome of schnapps, the owners caught and prepared a fish for us for dinner (carp) – fantastic!

Murighiol camp

The following day, after several meetings with the owner where we consumed copious amounts of local wine, we finally agreed an acceptable price (he started at €200 each!) for a boat trip into the Delta.

The trip was in a tiny motorised boat which took us through a myriad of waterways lined with willow trees growing in the water, one of the world’s largest reed beds, and huge, huge areas of lily pads in flower.

Murghiol fishing boats

We saw a range of bird life including a large flock of pelicans. We got quite close to them, before they all started to fly away; such an amazing sight to see these huge birds lifting themselves into the air with their three metre wing span. Apparently, the area is one of their resting places as they fly their seasonal route to and from Africa.

Muhmedia-Sfantu Gheorghe ferry

We arrived back at camp a few hours later, slightly wet, but so much richer from the experience.

We wanted to stop for a good break in Murighiol but regardless of the lovely welcome by the owners of our camp, we didn’t want to stay in their front yard with poor facilities. 

Sfantu Gheorghe ferry taxis

So we went to our first choice camp, now empty, as it had better shelter, more space, privacy and clean facilities.

The weather was very hot and humid which made for not doing much. It gave us a good chance to relax….

……..apart from the exercise of swiping mozzies. They came down in swarms in the evening, very attracted to Marg but not Leigh!

Sfantu Gheorghe main street-Marg

We were there on Friday the 13th with a full moon – not a good omen in the Transylvania area. 

However, no vampires were spotted (not that we would have seen anyway because of the impressive thunder storm that day).

One of the reasons we chose this route is because Leigh really wanted to see where the mighty Danube flows into the Black Sea. 

Black Sea-Danube Delta

The Danube, after passing through 10 countries and sucking up numerous small waterways, spills into the Black Sea at three places within the Danube Delta.

One of those places is at Sfantu Gheorghe, a small village just up the channel from Murighiol.

To get there, we drove a short distance to the village of Mahmudia, left Vanni in a secure park, and caught an old ferry with the locals and their ducklings etc, down the channel to Sfantu Gheorghe.

The village, which has survived on fishing since the 14th century, occupies a small triangle of land bound by the Delta reserve, the Danube River and the Black Sea.

 It is only accessible by boat.

Coming off the boat we were greeted with a range of ‘local taxis’ which consisted of horse pulled carts, tractors, and one car.

When we walked out of the ferry area we could see why these were the local mode of transport as the roads were unsealed and sandy as well as being quite narrow. 

It really was a small fishing village on the edge of nowhere.

We managed to find ourselves accommodation for the night and set out for a walk through the village along rough unsealed roads down to the long sandy beach on the Black Sea. 

We found our way to the river mouth and watched the Danube water flow into the sea.

After a long walk back, we had a meal of locally caught fish accompanied by a local, slightly sweet white wine – all very enjoyable after a long day.

Catching the return ferry at 7 am the next morning, we chugged our way back to Vanni to discover our leisure battery had completely died. 

Not good, as it powers the fridge/freezer, the pump, lights etc.

To get it fixed, we thought it best to head inland to Bucharest, the capital of Romania, instead of going further south to smaller places as originally planned.

Little did we know that, while driving inland on a minor road to Bucharest, our GPS (yes, the one we have complained about since 2011), would also call it quits - her on/off switch died.

Eventually, we arrived in Bucharest and found our way to Rom Caravans, where we met Nico, Danielle and their son Andrei who run their family caravan/camper business. 

What lovely friendly welcoming people who, despite the lateness of the day, replaced our leisure battery, and fixed a couple of other bits and pieces before leading us to our camp ground so we wouldn’t get lost.

Then the weather turned bad with heavy rain and thunder storms so we were pleased that we were safely in our camping ground….. 

Bucharest campsite

.......or so we thought!

At about 1.30 pm, there was a huge bang. 

We and other campers rushed out of our vans to discover that a branch had blown off a nearby tree and broken our skylight window! Disaster!! 

First the battery, then GPS and now this - things really do happen in 3’s (and hopefully not 4’s)!

The window was double glazed but water was pooling alarmingly. 

A quick phone call to Nico and we made a fast trip back to the Rom Caravan workshop to be under shelter. 

Nico’s team was very clever and made a temporary window cover out of Perspex.

The glue needed to cure overnight, so Nico drove us back to the campsite where we spent the night in a cabin – lumpy beds, but safe and dry with Vanni well looked after.

Vanni’s broken window

The wonderful Nico also picked us up in the morning and drove us to get Vanni. 

We then went straight back to the same campsite – but to a different spot further from the trees! 

We will revisit Nico’s to have a new window fixed once it arrives from Italy.

Bucharest building - Marg

We enjoyed exploring the city of Bucharest. 

It was a Sunday with lots of people just strolling around enjoying the day. 

It seemed a city of faded grandeur with lots of impressive buildings alongside communist era type apartment in varying degrees of care or lack of! 

Constanta Casino-Leigh

There were lots of little side pedestrian-only streets with cobblestones and lots of restaurants; it was very buzzy and vibrant.

After a long and interesting walk around we managed to find our way to the correct street to catch our bus back to camp.

Constanta Archeologically Museum-Leigh

When we felt ready to move on we headed to Constanta on the Black Sea coast. 

We had chosen a camp about 10 km north of the city. 

It sounded good on paper but didn’t quite reach expectations in reality as looked very run down and had grotty facilities.

Again, we rejoiced that we have our own shower and toilet so we don’t have to rely on camp ones. 

Despite all that, the camp was interesting because it mainly had Romanian families in their tents enjoying a beach holiday.

We caught the local small bus into Constanta which is a huge port city, and walked for ages exploring mainly the old city.

We thought it very tired and dirty because there were so many old buildings in a totally decrepit state and un-used. 

The whole centre of the old area was being rebuilt with new paving stones, lighting, etc which when finished will look great.

At the moment it is just a building site with dust and rubbish everywhere.

Dervent Monastery-Marg

It would be interesting seeing this city in another 5-10 years after the centre is developed and tourists pour in.

Leaving the coast, we drove inland again, heading towards the Romanian/Bulgarian border. 

On the way, we stopped to see the Dervent Monastery where Christians come in pilgrimage. 

There was a lovely peaceful garden and some most amazing frescoes in its chapel.

The border crossing at Ostrov was simple and after buying a vignette to travel on their roads we headed on into Bulgaria.

We have enjoyed meeting Romanian people and they have all been very friendly and welcoming. 

The ones we met all know of New Zealand and are very interested that we have come so far to visit their country. 

We will be back in Romania in a few months but in the meantime we have other places to see.