Romania Series: Ruins and Ferries

The day following our delicious grata,r we went to Halmyris, ancient ruins located just outside of Murighiol. Halmyris was built in the 6th century B.C. as a Greek fortress, but had many occupations throughout history. It is believed to have been occupied from between 6th century B.C. to 7th century A.D. In 2001 a crypt was found under the ruins of the basilica. The crypt contained the remains of two martyrs, Epictetus and Astion. The remains are now kept at the monastery located a short drive from the ruins. We actually visited the monastery before we explored the ruins. The ruins were interesting to see, our guide gave the tour in Romanian, Relu translated for us, but I wish I could have understood the guide--she talked fast and didn't really give Relu much time to translate. So, I think I missed a lot of what was explained to us.

The gate to Halmyris

In the entranceway, there used to be a well, where the hole is now

Where the was a tower

Under the reed structure is the crypt where they found the two martyrs.

The monastery where the remains of the martyrs are now kept

After we explored the ruins it was time for us all to go our separate ways. All of Erin's friends were headed back to their respective towns and Erin and I decided to head to the small village of Sfantu Gheorghe located where the Sfantu Gheorghe arm of the Danube River meets the Black Sea. The only way to get to Sfantu Gheorghe is by ferry. The ferry leaves from Tulcea, but also makes a stop at Mahmudia, a town a short distance from Murighiol. So we caught the ferry in Mahmudia instead of driving all the way back to Tulcea. There is a fast ferry and a slow ferry. We debated for awhile about which ferry we should take. In the end we decided on the slow ferry, which turned out to be a mistake. It took about three hours for us to get to Sfantu Gheorghe. Luckely we got there just before sunset, so we booked it to the Black Sea to check it out while we still had some light. At this point we thought we were only going to stay one night in Sf. Gheorghe. However, we learned that the ferry left at 7:00 in the morning, we both wanted to see a bit more of the village than we had, so we discussed it and decided it would be worth it to stay two nights instead of just one.

The fast ferry we should have taken, but didn't

The Black Sea just before sunset

Erin and me at the Black Sea, you can see the soccer goals behind us

Yay, I'm at the Black Sea!

Sunset at the Black Sea

After we returned from the black sea, Erin and I had a great dinner of chicken soup with a side of sausage, cheese and tomatoes that our host at the pinsiune had made. Oh, Suzie had been here the week before and really liked the pinsiune she stayed at so she gave us the name and number and we were able to stay there too. This pinsiune was much nicer than the one in Murighiol and the woman was great--very friendly.