29 Continue - Pool - Pizza

Sunday, 9/2/2018

Route: Danube Cycle Path 5 (Tulcea - Baia)

distance traveled: 79 km

Highlight of the day: the pool at the accommodation, making good progress

Our day began in Tulcea. Because our train was supposed to leave at 8:07 or 8:17, we got up early and had breakfast (again at the amazing buffet!), checked out, and rode along the waterfront to the train station. The ticket counter was open and we presented our request for two train tickets plus bicycle tickets. The lady behind the counter – she didn't even stop talking on the phone while we were speaking – said there was a connection via Medgidia, we had to transfer trains, and the train would leave at 13:15 and arrive in Constanta at 8:30 pm. We briefly considered it and then decided to ride our bikes after all.

At first, I felt a little guilty because Julius had originally wanted to take the train, but he said he didn't feel like waiting so long and arriving so late. So we set off, leaving Tulcea behind. And it was completely different from when we arrived. Tulcea had a different face then.

While we arrived in modern industrial areas, we now rode over a hill with cobblestones and small houses, just like the rest of Romania. There were also mini-markets, people on the street, as well as dogs and horse carts. It immediately felt more comfortable. So we headed out of the city, before encountering some small inclines. The next towns weren't as original, but they weren't really modern either. They were relatively large. Everything was going well, we were making good progress.

To our left, there were always lakes, following us until Baja. This section actually no longer belongs to the Delta, but these lakes gave the impression, reinforced by numerous streams and reeds, that it was difficult to tell whether it was a lake or solid ground. It was impossible to capture this landscape in a photo, but from some hills, we had a good view of it. And except for these small, elongated elevations, the land here was very flat. There was one stretch where there was a lot of reeds in front of us and the only "mountain" in the area rose above it, with an old fortress on top. It must have been quite dilapidated, but it looked great from a distance.

By now, I had gotten used to the constant honking: I had heard that Romanians honk not for you, but to alert each other to potential hazards, such as cyclists. So the honking was bearable. We were making good progress and after about 50 km, we took our first break and wanted to eat something. Since we had hardly brought anything with us, we bought a few apples and bread in a pretty run-down mini-market. Most of the "fresh fruit" was already rotten, but 2 apples were still good. A few hundred meters further, we stopped at a group of trees, sat down in their shade, and ate and chatted. Julius didn't really need a break yet, but I did.

When we wanted to continue riding, we looked at the map again and realized that we only had about 10 km left to the hotel. We really didn't need to take this break. We arrived in Baja at around 1:30 pm. It's an unremarkable place, but our pretty impressive hotel with a pool was supposed to be there. We searched and searched. We relied on Google Maps and found ourselves in some neighborhood. Finally, we searched with my Google Maps and it turned out that we just drove off the main road 1.5 km too early. So we went back and continued to an industrial area. And right in the middle was the hotel.

It was really cool. There was already a bridal car outside. When we went in, someone was immediately at the reception and saw that we had arrived by bike. She showed us the room (very nice), let us lock our bikes in the shed, and pointed out the pool to us. We first cooled off in the room a bit and then headed towards the pool. The woman at the reception saw us and immediately showed us the way. We thought there wouldn't be much going on there, but we were wrong, almost all of the sun loungers were occupied by people between 15 and 35. There were also a few very young children. We suspected that this must be the wedding party. We found two free sun loungers, relaxed, and read a bit. In between, we went in the water and ate cookies. It was like a real day at the beach/pool. We stayed there from about 3:30 pm to 6 pm. After showering, we went back downstairs and the staff apparently immediately noticed that we were hungry, because they led us to a table where there was finally something other than meat. First, there was salad, then pizza, very delicious. After that, we went to bed soon.