Danube Delta bike and boat tour

Jurilovca

The village is placed on the embankment of the Golovita lake. The village’s connection with the lake is made by a 800m long canal. The parish of Jurilovca was founded by lippovans at the beginning of the XIXth century first document about it dating from 1826. Although at the beginning it was just a sshorel hamlet the village developed at the end of the XIXth century into an important fishing centre of the Delta. Lippovans are ethnically russians but in what concerns thier denomination they are Old Style Ortodox (starovers). This denomination is the result of the nikoniene reform in 1654 Nikon the Russian Ortodox Church’s Patriarch initiated a religious reform that sought the alignement of russian rite to the rest of the Ortodox world. The outcome was the division of russian society into nikoniens (the ones that accepted the reform) and Starovers ( of Old Faith, that rejected the reform). The last ones because of the persecution migrated outside russia some of them in romania (the north of Moldavia and Danube Delta). Nowadayas Jurilovca is the biggest fishermen community from Delta a center of collecting and processing of the fish as well as a turistical attraction Its population is 86% lippovan russians and only 14% romanians.

Orgame/Argamum

Orgame Stronghold/ Argamum situated at 6 km east from the Jurilovca village, in the place called “Dolojman” or “La Cetate” (“at the Stronghold”). Archeological researches that took place here between 1926 and 1932 and from 1965 continuously permitted the discovery of some important monuments and the drawing of the stronghold’s history for more than 12 centuries of existence. The stronghold, the first settlement on nowadays Romania’s territory mention in a antique writing ( Hecataios Periegesis) was founded in the middle of the VIIth century BC by the Greeks from Asia Minor with at least one generation before the Istros stronghold/Histria in an area with trace of inhabitance since the Bronze Era and the firs Iron Era. Inside the stronghold there were researched and partly restaurated a series of public and private buildings from the V-VII centuries: “the preatory”, the basilica with three vessels and a chapel (conventionally called the Number 3 basilica) basilica from the central sector (basilica 2) the biggest from the argamense basilicas, basilica with only one vessel (basilica 1) houses and parts of the streets’ system. A forth basilica, of short dimensions, with only one vessel was discovered at aprox 1.3 km from the West Gate

Dolosman Cape

The Dolosman Cape is a rocky promontory placed on the confluence of the Razim and golovita lakes. The limestone Shore is the only one of this kind from around the romania’s seaside area. It is 3 km long and has a hight of 29m. The abrupt continues till Dolosman hill at 63 m high. The watching turret place here affers a spectacukar view over the entire lagoon.

Grindul Lupilor (Wolf Sandbank)

Is a protected area, located in the south of the Danube Delta reserve.

Gura Portitei

Gura Portitei is a piece of sand that separates Golovita lake from the Black Sea. Its name comes from the fact that until 40 years ago there was a link between the lagoon and the sea. Nowadays in the area there is a turistical complex a canton of ARBDD a meteo station and a sea signaling lighthouse.

Salcioara

The village is placed on the south western part of the Razim lake in an area limited by the Iancina head In north and Dolosman head In south. The relief is a contact area between low hills (Ceardac, Dolosman Iancina) with 50-60m highs and the piece of plane that outsides the lake. In the village’s perimetre were identified traces of a roman fortress unexplored yet Ad Salices (at salcii) the village was inhabited in the XIXth century by bulgarians romanians and turks with a secnificant growth in population after 1840 when the cityhall and the church (1845) were built, the school being built later (1884). In the Lahovari dictionary there were mentioned 387 bulgarian families 3 jewish 2 romanian and one tatar-gipsy. At the village’s school where there was only one teacher there were registered 73 bulgarian pupils and only 3 romanian ones. Its old name Caramanchioi is surelly of turkish origins but translated differently by diffrerent authors. In principiu It would mean „the village of the black man” but M.D. Ionescu translated it as „the sunrise village” and Gr. Danescu thinks that it came from Caramanlau a city-port That dissapeared because of the colmatare Of the gulf between Iancina and Dolosman heads.

Heracleea Stronghold

Heracleea Stronghold placed on the hill that dominates the surroundings of Enisala village, at the crossroads of some important water and land roads. The stronghold was built by the Byzantine Imperial power and by the Genovian commercial one at the end of the XIIIth and the beginning of the XIVth century. During Mircea cel Batran’s ruling the stronghold was owned by Tara Romaneasca and at the end of his ruling when Dobrogea was conquered by the Turks, an ottoman military guard house established in the stronghold. As an architectural element the main gate’s bastion is imposing, with a double arcade followed by a blind one. In the 90’s the stronghold was the object of an ample restoration process.

Museum of Peasantry Household

The museum of Peasantry Household from Enisala represents a synthesis of traditional household from Northern Dobrogea, the area of Razim Lake, from the beginning of the XXth century. The architectural assembly contains the house with chiller and some annex typical for this area: the kitchen and the summer cooker, the anishores’ stable, the cote lean-tos the fountain. There can be seen: agricultural instruments, dobrogenian painted cart, fishing tools, cooperage tools and products, smithy, culture of bees, pottery, instruments for house making textiles’ industry. The inside of the house reveals the beauty and the wealth of the traditional fabrics being organized in its traditional variant.

Enisala

The village is placed in a outside region of Babadag highland With hills that end up abruptly into Babadag lake and that can reach 110m in Eracleea. The archeological traces state the existence of a traco-getic settlement fro the first Iron Age. In 1330 it is mentioned under the Fenikah name (probably derived from turkish Enikale) in the writting of an arab geograph and pilgrim Ibn Batutah. In the village’s surroundings there is a byzantine stronghold from the XIIIth century called Eracleea (Heracleea) probably built by the genovian merchandizers that controled the comerts on the Black Sea. The village most surelly developed in the same time with the stronghold the last being a refuge place in case of danger. About the village’s inhabitants the teacher I. Chircea shows that the villagers,exclusively romanians are coming partly from Transilvania the village of Sercaia others from Moldavia (after the Principates’ Union) others from Bessarabia and partly locals from Dobrogea.

Razim Lake

The Razim-Sinoe lagoon is to be found in the South of the Danube Delta representing 20% of its total surface. It is the geographical biological historical and ethnographical complexity what makes this zone unique. The views, the diversity of birds and fish species, the archeological traces and the ethno-cultural multitude make from the lagoon and its surroundings maybe the most spectacular turistic point from around the Romanian’s seacoast zone. Nevertheless, the area is not that popular, the majority of those who visit it being formed from the year by year faithful. From this reason, our main objective is to make these lagoon’s magnificent places notorious and help you know them better without spoiling them, keeping their wildness untouched.

Sarichioi

The village is placed in the north-west of the Razim lake on a plane that outsides the lake’s shore at the end of some low hills (Movila Zebil 93m) that lengthen in south the Pietros Hill and in thee ast Movila Mare. The name of the village is of turkish origins (sari=yellow, chioi=village) and it is due tot he village’s aspect during the turkish occupation when the houses were built out of ceamur And covered with reed Yellow color being predominant. The village was founded on the nowadays place in the XVIth century or maybe even earlier being mentioned in 1575 in a turkish document with its actual name. In the first phasesof its inhabitence it ius possible that the turks were majoritarian although other testimonies show that lippovan russians are the ones that founded the villlage. According to other information lippovans russians came here in the XVIII-XIXth centuries chased away from the Russian Empire by the religious persecution that they were put up with. They slavonized the name of the village that lasted until 1850 after which it came to its original name. At the 2002 census The village had a population of 3722 inhabitants. Beside the majority of lippovan russians there were also 370 romanians 8 maghiars 5 turks and 4 ukranians.

Sabangia

The village is placed on the north eastern shore of the Raze Lake on a low field (under 50m) on the road that comes from Tulsa passing through Abigail. On the meaning of its name there are numerous hypotheses all saying that it is of Turkish origins. One of them sustains that this name means “ploughmen” M.D. Ionescu’s hypothesis is also believable and says that the name means “wildness” or “wild place” the view from around the Razim lake being a strong enough argument in order to sustain such a hypothesis. Acknowledgeable is also the translation of the teacher Omer Memmune who believed that it must “a place for assembled straws”. It is believed that the Turks were the ones that founded the village in the XVIIIth century in order to leave it later after the 1829 war. Starting with 1850 it is repopulated with Romanians (firstly with shepherds) their number increasing after 1877 when the first buildings were built the church (1878) and the school (1891).

Agighiol

The village is placed on the northen part of the Razim lake. It was established in the XVIIIth centuryby the turks that gave it this mane (hagi=saint, ghiol=lake). Some opinions say that the name of the village comes from „bitter lake” (agi=bitter). The village of Agighiol is known all over the world as an important triassic fossilist point. The fossilist point from Agighiol placed on the Pietrosu Hill has a surface of 3 ha. On its terrytory has been discovered a graveyard that has a princiar tumb archeological dated from the IV-IInd centuris BC. In the west of the village there is a locust tree Forest that occupies about 200 ha.

Paleologic and geologic reservation

The paleologic and geologic reservation from Agighiol the only reservation of sea fossiles from europe is well-known for the reachness in fossile fauna especially amonits And for the fossile point with ichtiosauri recently discovered by proffesor Eugen Gradinaru.

Valea Nucarilor

The village is placed in the northe of the Razim lake on the both sides of Nucarilor Valley a sshorel spring that flows into the lake. It is dominated in north by Nucarilor hill (95m) and Tausan hill (113m) from the morphological unity of Tulcea’s hills. Opcapi, its initial name is of turkish origins and it can be translated through „eight gates”. How and why this nae was given to the village remains a mistery. The documents attest an older inhabitance than the XIXth century. Even during Ottoman occupation the population was predominantly romanian. After 1878 veterans from Tutova Tecuci and Mehedinti established here as well as many ardelens families whose number reached 139 in 1928. In 1887 the school was built and in 1860 and 1898 the churches. In 2002 there were registered only 8 turks the rest of the population being romanian.

Sarinasuf

The village is to be found in the north-eastern area of the Razim lake. Its name is of turkish origins but its tranlation is controversial. in one of the variants it means „yellow land” (in romanian „Galbenul”=”the Yellow one”) or „Yellow sand”. According to some authors around 1880 about 40 families of transhumant shepherds called „ungureni” joined the romanian families already living in this places. Their arrival was attributed to the droughts from their natal lands. According to others the village was founded in 1864 by romanians coming from Transilvania and Bessarabia but was inhabited by other ethnies too like turks but especially bulgarians the last ones coming from Beidaud. The sure thing is that the villagers of ardelenesc origins kept until recently their traditional clothing. The ethnical structure suffered serious changes repetedly firstly in 1878 and the after 1940. Nowadays all inhabitants are romanians.

Saraturi Lakes - natural reservation

Saratuta I,II,III lakes from the natural reservation of Murighiol have black terapeutic sapropelic mud. The water of Saratura I lake is terapeutic due to the mineralization with a averahe of 6.7% g/l. Saratura III lake is also known as Lacul Sarat (the Salty Lake) and it was declared a natural reservation of biological interest.

Murighiol

Antic city of Halmyris

The antic city of Halmyris, placed at 2.5 km east from the Murighiol village in the place knows as “Bataraia”, “Geneviz-Kaleh”, “The Stronghold” or “The Sshorel Stronghold” on the road that leads from Tulcea to Duvesseltul de Jos. The archeological researches that took place here starting with the year 1981 brought to light a roman settlement built in an area with inhabitance traces from the VI-Vth and IV/III-II/I centuries BC that knew mannier levels in its evolution: roman fortification from dry land (the last quarter of the Ist century) rock camp -Headquarter of the I Italica and XI Claudia Pia Fidelis Legions and station of Classis Flavia Moesica fleet-the beginning of the IInd century- the third quarter of the IIIrd century; late roman stronghold- the third quarter of the IIIrd century- the first quarter of the VIIth century. The Romano-Byzantine stronghold has a trapezoidal shape, with a surface of approximately 2 ha, with 15 towers, three gates and three protection waves.

Dunavatul de Jos

The village is placed in the eastern extremity of the old Duvesselt peninsula. Because of this the acces in the Danube Delta is easier through the Lipoveni and Duvesselt canals. It is said to be founded around 1700 by Russian and Romanian fishermen the last ones leaving and returning for several times. From the Austria Franz Mihalovici’s (1873) information we found out that “If it takes to the left the biggest of this branches Hiderlias Bogaz (Sf. Gheorghe n.n.) then the flow will continue another 3 hours on several very short crooks Until a Cossacks village will be met, Duvesselscz on the right shore, a high and bumpy Shore, village which because of the length and big distance between groups of houses seems to constitute 4 villages generally called Duvesselscz.” It is confirmed the foundation of Duvesselt village by the zaporojeni Cossacks. Later information the one from Gr. Danescu (1896) show that the whole population of the village (280 persons) was Russian. Russians founded the first school (1891) as well as two churches (1881 and 1890). Population: in 2002 there were 710 inhabitants out of which 53% Romanians 46.8% Ukrainians and the rest of 0.2% lippovan-russians

Sfantu Gheorghe

First mentioned in 1318, the fishing village of Sfantu Gheorghe is well-known for its traditional cooking, including the famous black caviar (icre negre). A 30-minute walk will take you to one of the longest strips of beach on the Romanian Black Sea coast.

Sulina

During the mid-Byzantine period Sulina was a small cove and in the 14th century a Genoese port inhabited by a handful of sailors, pirates and fishermen. In 18th century the Ottomans built a lighthouse there in order to accommodate communication between Constantinople (Istanbul) and the Danubian Principalities, the main breadbaskets for the Ottoman capital. Thanks to the signing of the Treaty of Adrianoupolis (Edirne), September 2, 1829, that unfettered the Danube grain trade, Sulina, by then under Russian control, became important. Great sailing boats could not sail fully loaded to Brăila and Galaţi, which were the main export centres of Wallachia and Moldavia, because of the shallow waters of the river; therefore, they had to tranship at least part of their cargoes to smaller riverboats (shleps). The owners and crew of these sleps were almost always Greek. Even greater development, however, would occur after the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1856), which ended the Crimean War. One of the treaty’s terms determined the establishment of a certain committee, the Danube European Committee(C.E.D.), which would conduct infrastructure works on the mouth of the river in order to make it floatable for larger ships as well. The technical works allowed entrance to the Danube for a great number of “foreign”, i.e. non-Greek ships, leading to a higher level of competition. River faring, however, largely remained in Greek hands. Moreover, the declaration by the Ottoman administration of Sulina as a free port in 1870 also boosted its development. The Russo-Ottoman war of 1877-1878 led to many changes as well. The city was initially put under Russian control and after the signing of the Berlin Treaty was annexed to Romania, as was the whole Dobrudja area.

Commissions of the Danube River headquarters

The Commissions of the Danube River were authorized by the Treaty of Paris (1856) after the close of the Crimean War. One of these international commissions, the most successful, was the European Commission of the Danube, or, in French, Commission Européenne du Danube, the CED, which had authority over the three mouths of the river — the Chilia in the north, the Sulina in the middle, and the St. George in the south and which was originally designed to last for only two years. Instead, it lasted eighty-two years.

Sulina Lighthouse of the European Commission of the Danube

The building of this lighthouse was decided on 2 November 1865 at Galati, after the establishment of the European Commission of the Danube. The plans and the building of this objective were realized by the English engineers Ch. Hartley and M. Engelhardt who also helped create the plans of the digging and maintenance of the Sulina branch of the Danube. The lighthouse was built in two stages and was finalized in 1870, being the property of the European Commission of the Danube. The only monument of this kind in Romania, The Big lighthouse from Sulina was transformed into a museum. Located in the central hall, the floor of the lighthouse has two large rooms, areas used for the exhibitions.

The Maritime Cemetery Of Sulina

In the 19th century, in Sulina free port, were living a few thousand people of almost 30 nationalities. While reading the inscriptions from the crosses or funerary stones in the Maritime Cemetery that mark their dwelling in the free port, one can better realize that Sulina was a welcoming home for all nations. The crosses and the funerary stones hide novel stories: the pirate and the princess, the two sisters that drowned together or the love-story between an English sailor and a cabaret dancer from Sulina, a love that ended tragically during a storm on the sea.

Letea Forest

Letea Forest is the oldest natural reservation in Romania. It was established in 1938, when the Romanian Council of Ministers passed Decision No. 645 declaring the forest a nature reserve. It is located between the Sulina and Chilia branches of Danube in the Danube Delta. It covers an area of approximately 2,825 ha (6,980 acres). This forest was the initial foundation of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, which has been declared a World Heritage Site. It was internationally recognized as a Biosphere Reserve under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme in 1992. It has a subtropical aspect, due to the presence of the tropical creeper named Periploca graeca. This is a Mediterranean plant which finds its most northern refuge in the Danube Delta. Along with this, types of liana and other climbing plants are woven on the branches of the trees, such as the wild vine, the hop plant and the ivy. Letea Forest is formed mainly from trees like white poplar, black poplar, elm tree, English oak, silver lime, narrow-leafed ash and common alder. Along with these ones above, it is completed by a rich scale of sub-shrub species. It is also home for a rich fauna like the red-footed falcon, the white-tailed eagle, the roller, the hoopoe, the Vipera ursinii and the Danube Delta horse. There are approximately 1600 insect species identified.

Letea

The village is mentioned on a French map of 1800 as Lete, indicating a dwelling older, population consisting then of Lippovan Russian. Even in 1896, all 334 people belonging to this ethnic group. They are those who have high church in 1865 and school in 1880.

C. A. Rosetti

Crisan

The village is located on the right Sulina branch, at the nautical mile number 13 of the spill (between 10-14 miles) on a narrow river grind, resulting in silt dug when it corrects the old route of the Danube. It is one of the youngest settlements in the county, arising from the merging of smaller fish villages, around 1900.

Gorgova

Gorgova is an old fishing settlement, founded around 1877 by ethnic Russians Lippovan. Populating was done gradually, with the russians arrived and romanian. Lippovan Russians were fugitives from Russia, who left their country because of religious persecution and military service too long they had to do.

Ceatal

The name of "Ceatal" is of Turkish origin and means "fork". It owes its existence to the formation of the two arms of the Danube, St. George and Sulina. The St. George arm is formed around the 8900-7200 BC and completes its shape VIII century a.d., and Sulina around 7200-7000 years BC, adjusting and during the tenth century a.d. Because these places savagery and frequent floods Ceatalul was not inhabited and there was an interest in migrating populations and frequent foreign rule in whose hand fell over time.

St. George Branch

Danube’s Sf. Gheorghe branch has a lenght of 109 km and it is the most meandered One of the river’s three branches. On the branche’s right shore there are many settlements like Nufarul, Bestepe, Mahmudia, Murighiol, Dunavatul de Sus. On the left shore in the actual Delta there are the villages Ilganii de Jos, Bălteni and Sf. Gherghe at 3 km away from the flowing of the branch in the Black Sea.

Sulina Branch

The Sulina Branch, shortest of the three branches, stretches 42 miles from Tulcea to Sulina. Although it carries only 18% of the Delta's total water flow, Sulina is the main navigation route for passenger and commercial traffic. A canal was dug between 1880 and 1902 to facilitate river traffic, shortening the natural course of the Sulina Branch and allowing for easier access to villages in the Delta.

Partizani

The village is located on the right fluvial sand bank of Sulina arm. The village was founded on 26 July 1899 by the family of shepherds from Valea Nucarilor, which partially changed their old occupation with fishing.

Proslavitza Stronghold

Archaeological research carried out on the arm of St. George, in the village Nufaru since 1978, revealed the existence of a major urban center X-XIV centuries, sheltered by high walls of a fortification fundamentis (from scratch) by Byzantines at the end of the tenth century.

Nufaru

The historical name of Nufaru village is Prislava; within the entire village central area and its surroundings vestiges of a flourishing X Century civilization can be observed: the Prislava Fortress. The most ancient traces demonstrate that the settlement does exists since before the year 1000 after Christ. The archeological researches revealed the existence of an important urban center during the X-XIV centuries. At the beginning of XX Century the existence of some important precincts walls and a rich archeological material, as traces of the Iron Age followed by vestiges of the Roman and Roman-Byzantian Age, were signaled.

Sacalin Lagoon

Sacalin Island is a newly formed island in the Black Sea, right off the coast of the Romanian Danube Delta, off the Sfântu Gheorghe branch. Initially Sacalin was made up of two smaller islands, Sacalinu Mare (Greater Sacalin) and Sacalinu Mic (Lesser Sacalin). In time, however, the two merged into one continuous landmass. The Romanian government has declared the area an ecological reserve and no settlement is permitted on the island. The island has a great variety of birds, mammals and reptiles. Here are the largest colonies of the Common Tern and Dalmatian Pelican, the island being the main area for nesting, feeding and wintering of the species. In the island has been reviewed a number of 229 species of birds. In the island's waters there are rare fish, sturgeon, and rare plants such as marsh sprouts large canary. There are two areas where the Danube Delta advances into the Black Sea. One starts from Sfântu Gheorghe towards Sahalin Island and in several years will probably close in and become a lake. Second one is at north of Sulina.