Day 27- Saturday June 4, 2011 - Constanta, Romania

Picture: The beautiful and intriquely carved "Casino" in Constanta, Romania

We arrived in Constanta early and were docked by 7:30 am. I went up for my morning coffee at 7 and sat on the deck while we docked. Got ready and I was one of the first ones off of the ship. Today is independent exploring day. I wanted to go to Bucharest, Romania but it is a 3 hour bus ride each way and we are only in port for 9 hours – so I’d only have 3 hours there. Bucharest is on my list of places to go back to as they call it “The Paris of Eastern Europe”.

The cruise provided a shuttle to Ovid Square in the middle of Constanta. Ovid is considered to be Romania’s first poet. He had angered Caesar Augustus and was exiled in 8 AD to Constanta. There is a statue of him in the middle of Ovid Square and he is revered by the Romanians.

From Ovid Square I took off on foot on my own. The cruise had warned about pick-pockets but quite frankly there weren’t many people around – only the 4 young people who had bottles of liquor and were sitting in the middle of a busy street. They had probably been drinking all night.

Walked up to Parcul Primariel – a huge park in Constanta – not very well maintained. It has the ruins of an old fortification wall and other ancient relics laying around. Plus a few homeless people sleeping! Lots of scrawny dogs walking around too! There is a huge government building in the park. It seems that the government buildings are the only ones that are half way maintained. Everything else looks dreary and decaying. I think this is what I was somewhat expecting in eastern Europe, though.

From the park, I walked back to the Ethnographical Museum – not much to talk about. The Archeological Museum is on Ovid Square. Next to it is The Roman Mosaic Museum. The old mosaic was discovered in 1962. There are much better mosaics in Rome or other places.

I walked to the Great Mahmudiye Mosque that was built in 1910 by Romanian King Carol I. Very small in comparison to the great mosques of Turkey! Then I walked to the waterfront and there was a large strolling walkway all around the harbor. Pretty. There I saw the Genoese Lighthouse constructed in 1860 and the Casino – an intriquely carved building built in 1900.

I saved the best for last – the St. Peter and Paul Orthodox Cathedral – built in the late 1800’s. Stunning inside. They had some sort of service going on and it was interesting to watch. I believe this is Greek Orthodox and they had a table of food laid out and the priest (?) was chanting and they were rocking back and forth. Enjoyed watching this.

I headed back to Ovid Square feeling that I had seen the important things in Constanta. A couple from Los Angeles that I met got on the bus with me. She was very disappointed in the 2 stops we have had so far, but I told her the cities somewhat met my expectations. Unfortunately, what I have generally seen so far of Bulgaria and Romania is not very well maintained and somewhat dirty. But the people have generally been friendly and welcoming.