28 Delta - Shipping - Train tickets

Saturday, 1.9.2018

Route: Danube Bike Trail 5 (Tulcea)

Kilometers traveled: 0

Highlight of the day: the Delta

On this day we were in Tulcea. Unfortunately, Julius did not sleep well, I did. We slept in, meaning I woke up at 7 because my body was used to it. Around 9 we slowly got up and had breakfast. The buffet was extensive, there were many delicious things, including a lot of cake. But somehow we were almost the only ones. After that, we went back to the room and packed our stuff. My stomach was hurting. Despite the painkillers, it didn't get any better all day, so I wasn't in the best mood.

After that, we went to the lobby and waited because we were supposed to be there at 10 to 10 because the ship was supposed to leave at half past 10. We waited until 5 before half past, until someone came and took us aboard the ship. Besides us, there were two other couples on the ship and a group of retirees, probably an association. They were all Romanians.

Then the ship set sail towards the Delta. Initially on the Danube, about 20 minutes until we really got into the Delta. Unfortunately, we didn't reach the zero point, but we didn't know if you would have been able to see it anyway, because the Delta is so branching and huge with about 100 tributaries into the Black Sea. In any case, we sailed through larger channels, natural channels, later through narrower ones where the ship just barely fit through. Surprisingly, there was a lot of traffic everywhere, there were other tourist ships, motorboats, and a few rowing boats. Anglers were sitting everywhere, even in places where ships were passing by.

It was already beautiful in itself, but we were on the road for 6 hours and that gets a bit tiresome. Because you can't really get into the truly interesting small channels with a ship, and because of the nature reserve, you probably wouldn't be allowed to anyway. But the narrow alleys are really cool: the Delta looks like a city where the trees are houses and the canals are streets. We could also see many birds. The captain always announced when something special could be seen. Unfortunately, we didn't understand any of it because he only explained it in Romanian. But because everyone rushed there, we usually understood it anyway. We saw storks and pelicans and many different species. The Delta is self-contained and looks as if it belongs exclusively to the animals. We also saw cows a few times, which is quite funny because there is no room for cows between the small channels. But there were even small villages there and many campers. These bee trucks were also in the Delta!

At some point, we came across a very large branch where everything was very flat and there was even a bridge over it. There was also a policeman at a little house from the border police. We also received text messages indicating a change of country: that was the border to Ukraine. So we were there for a short time. Then we drove back and had something to eat on the ship. While everyone else got fish, we had soup with chicken and then vegetable ratatouille with chicken. After dessert and coffee downstairs, we went back to the deck after dinner.

All in all, it was beautiful but 6 hours was already very long and we were a little disappointed that we didn't see the Black Sea. But it probably would have taken forever and all the other excursion ships were following the same route as us. When we got back, we went to the room first. Then we went to the train station because we wanted to take the train to Constanta the next day. When we arrived, the train station along with the information and ticket counter was closed. The tourist info was also closed. But it was Saturday evening at 6. At the bus station, we saw that many buses go to Constanta and one of them looked like it was carrying bicycles. So we just asked a few bus drivers who were standing around. They told us that although buses were on their way, none of them would take bicycles. So we went back to the hotel and asked our receptionist. He did some Googling and said that it seemed like there was a train to Constanta on Sundays at 8:07 or 8:17 that would take bicycles. But he doubted whether they would actually fit in the train, they might work in the countryside, but in the city? But he said that if he heard anything else, he would call us in the room.

Afterwards, we strolled through the city along the Danube. There was another band playing there, they were very good. Their name was Mono Jacks. Then we went to eat in a restaurant next to the train station. The food there was okay, but not really awesome. We slowly walked back, past the band. And because we had shopped before, we sat back on our balcony with wine and sweets. I fell asleep on the balcony far too early until Julius woke me up and took me to bed.