Hey you guys! I am quite behind with my blog posts, I guess life has been a bit too straight forward even for my taste and I just didn’t find enough time to write about my travels between actually traveling, working and happening of life itself. Hectic is what I like though! So I’ll stop complaining here and now :))
Anyways… today I am going to present you the city of Constanta which is historically known as Tomis. Also, this is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Romania. It was founded around 600 BC. The city is located in the Dobrogea region, on the Black Sea coast. It is the capital of Constanta County and the largest city in the region.
So hey! Romania is not all about the beautiful mountains, we also have our precious Black Sea. I love the wilderness of the Black Sea, it actually cannot be compared with other European seas. It’s true… it’s not that crystal clear and also can become really agitated every once in a while… but this is exactly what makes it special. Being different! I cannot even remember how many sunrises I have watched by the Black Sea… so many memories, so many people, so many different emotions every time.
Therefore, Romania has it all: Carpathian Mountains, Black Sea, Danube Delta. Speaking about the Danube river, it crosses 10 countries before emptying into the Black Sea via the Danube Delta. Just before reaching the sea it forms the second largest and best preserved of Europe’s deltas: 2,200 square miles of rivers, canals, marshes, tree-fringed lakes and reed islands. The Danube Delta is a wildlife enthusiast’s paradise. However, I have never visited the Danube Delta. SHAME ON ME! I guess I’ve always been too afraid of the giant mosquitoes hahaha. Hopefully will do it this summer!
So, a very good friend of mine was visiting our place, and while we were talking, he mentioned that he needed to reach Constanta with business. Once I’ve heard that… I immediately told husband that we should go too! Never been to the seaside during the winter season so it was supposed to be a first. By the way, when was the last time you did something for the first time? I so love this feeling.
These being said, we just agreed to go there on the following weekend, found an accommodation and off we went! We stayed into an apartment named Apartment Central (rated as “Fabulous 8.8” on Booking) and yeah, we surely liked it. The apartment was big, two bedrooms, one kitchen, one bathroom. We only paid 27 Euros for 1 night, 3 persons. A bargain!
DAY 1. What we first did once we made the check-in was to go outside for a walk until the Tomis Port. There you can find lots of restaurants and yeah, the truth is that we were quite hungry. But first, we admired the sea…
Always imagined myself living by the sea. Hopefully one day I will. I love the sea because it’s always there for you. Whenever you’re feeling happy, lost, sad, peaceful, angry, scared, excited or even careless. It’s just letting you be and it’s never judgemental either! What a perfect relationship, right? Haha
The restaurant in this last picture is a very well-known one, named “On Plonge”. It looks super beautiful and has actually been there for a long time, therefore it’s quite famous. So we found a table, sat there for a while but guess what? Nobody served us. I mean come on… If you know you have a lot of people eating at your restaurant, then hire more people to serve on the tables, right? After we stayed there for almost 30 minutes, we just changed our minds and went to another restaurant. And it was a very good decision!
We stopped at the “Suada” restaurant and the food was absolutely delicious! It was a bit pricey though but it was totally worth it. The service was very prompt and we enjoyed every minute spent there. I remember we had a plateau with bruschetti, fish eggs, salmon and cheese along with a white dry wine! I am so recommending this place!
After we ate, we went for a quick stroll through the city. But then, being so tired all of us, we decided to go back to the apartment to have some sleep. We actually didn’t get out of the apartment that night anymore because we were super lazy. We just drank some more wine, talked for a while, listened to the music and then went back to sleep.
DAY 2. The plan for the very next morning was to wake up early and photograph the sunrise. I’ve asked husband to set the alarm so that we don’t miss the whole thing, but guess what??? He set the alarm wrong. And by wrong I mean late! However, I naturally woke up at the dawn of the day and yelled at husband “HEYYYYY! WE ARE MISSING THE SUNRISE!!!” Oooops
In no longer than 5 minutes we were in the car driving to the seaside, hoping that I won’t miss it! And yeah, I was lucky! The timing was absolutely perfect.
What I also wanted to photograph besides the sunrise, was the Casino of Constanta! This is actually a landmark of the city and people are still being impressed by this building. But of course they are. Just look at it!
This building has a very strong emotional impact on me! Why? Oh well, because since I was little, I remember I always came and walked this seafront in Constanta and always admired the grandeur of this architectural marvel. In the good old times it used to be a Casino, symbol of the city, built in Art Nouveau style. Absolutely gorgeous in my opinion! Unfortunately, the building has been abandoned and became a ruin. Last major repairs took place in 1986-1988! It is so sad that people can be so careless.
Here is a video filmed by SONY if you are curious about the interior of the building: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gYdwWxSXBM.
Anyways… SUNRISE + the Casino -> checked!!! Now let’s go back to sleep coz it was too morning even for a morning person. And that morning person ain’t definitely me!
After few more hours of sleep, we then went to visit the Grand Mosque – originally known as the Carol I Mosque. Located in the Ovidiu Square area, it is the main religious Muslim edifice. The building started in 1910 at the initiative of King Carol I (which is why the building is named so) and was completed in 1913. The inauguration took place on 31st of May in the presence of the royal family and Muslim representatives of Romania.
However, to be honest… I wasn’t attracted by the mosque itself, but by the fact that you can climb in its tower and see the city from above! The entry price was somewhere around 1 Euro per person as far as I recall, so yeah… super cheap.
Afterwards, we just wandered a bit through the old part of the city. We were looking for a place to eat but we somehow agreed on choosing again the “Suada” restaurant because the food was too good to not eat there again! :)) But first, let me show you some photos with the old town.
On our way to the restaurant, we also stopped by the beach. The weather was more than perfect. I mean there were 16°C in the beginning of January!!! This is very unusual for Romania. The average temperature in Constanta at that time of the year is 0.5 °C. So yeah, the difference was huge. ^^
After this walk, we finally stopped and had our lunch. By the way, at the “Suada” restaurant I ate the best pasta carbonara. Yes, you read it well! I’ve visited Italy so many times until now, but still, here I found the best pasta! #omnomnom
And our last stop for the day was in the “Tăbăcărie Park” which is situated by the lake with the same name and also right next to the City Park Mall.
These being said, we then went straight back to Bucharest, because the weekend was literally over. Hope you enjoyed Constanta through my pictures and you will also visit the Black Sea once you are in Romania!
Until next time,
Andreea.
- Our stay in Constanta: 06.01.2018 – 07.01.2018
- Bucharest –> Constanta: 224 km by car
- Accommodation: Apartment Central
- Total: 50 Euros as a couple (gasoline + accommodation)
PS: If you are using booking.com to find the best accommodations like I do, then you should use the following link to receive 10% of your money back on your next travel! It’s a win-win situation… so why not?
https://www.booking.com/s/34_6/e222dd81
Thank you!
TravelMoreWorryLess 