On Time and Times and New Year's Eve

It was very long time ago, I was a small kid, about 10 years old, sitting with my parents and some drunk and happy guests on the New Year's Eve, with everybody around dancing and chatting. And, suddenly, deep in my stomach, I realized the year is over, and tears came to my eyes. I had to hide in another room to cry my sadness over the past year, to reflect about how fast or how slow the time goes by, depending on the moments in life. I was too small for this revelation. From that night, nothing was the same. From that night, every single New Year's Eve I dropped a tear for the year which passed.

Years later, I was in high school, in December, with my favorite teacher, just before the Christmas holiday. We talked about dreams and plans for the next year and how we will spend the New Year's Eve. And he told us some surprising words for my (mostly boys) colleagues, but not at all surprising for me. "At midnight, think about time. Think about how it goes, how you will never be able to revive a moment once is gone away. In the moment you'll understand that, and you'll feel sad, really sad, only than you can say you became mature."

Tonight is the night my eldest daughter will spend her first New Year's Eve away from us. She will have fun with her high school colleagues. Sadness is inevitable. Time takes its revenge.

Happy New Year! 

May next year be good and gentle with you!

Sunday Quote

"Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can fly." - ANON

Gura Portitei

Gura Portitei is a little piece of land near the Danube's Delta entrance gate, between the Golovita Lake and the Black Sea. We went there by car to Jurilovca fishermen village and then by boat, driven by Anatolie, the (handsome) captain.

We though it might be something like Vadu, but with some more vegetation, but it turned out that Gura Portitei became a very touristic place, full of people, loud music and even a swimming pool on the beach.

Don't get fooled by the fact that in Bogdan's pictures are not too many people, the beach was very crowded, but the water was nice and warm, so we had a lot of fun swimming and playing with the waves.

Then, we called Anatolie to pick us up and take a boat tour around the lake, to catch the breeze in our hair and to see some of the wonderful surroundings. 

We promised ourselves to return in the autumn, when the people are gone and we can fully enjoy the silence and the beauty of nature.

Sorry for so many pictures, but I couldn't decide which one to keep and which one to loose, so be patient and have a look till the end! 

Thank you for reading and come back for more!

The Desert Beach of Vadu

Hello, hello!

I don't really know where those days are going by, yesterday was the 1st of August, today is already 5th! Can somebody explain it for me, please? Mr. Einstein, maybe...? Hello, are you there?!?

So, the same day we visited the ancient city of Histria, we went to the Vadu Beach, which was deserted one month ago, but it was full of campers and hippies last week. Well, not really full, as you can see from Bogdan's pictures, just a little bit full. 

Which, by the way, was veeeeery good for us, because the first thing we did on Vadu Beach was to get our car stuck in the sand. The more we accelerated, the more the tires sunk in the sand. Five brave men and half an hour later, Bogdan found himself and the car on solid ground. 

Where were we? Oh, me and the kids? In the refreshing water, of course!

We didn't do much, we just enjoyed ourselves in the full sun, then waited for the sunset to take some wonderful pictures...

And this is how to reach Vadu's Beach: you can go from Constanta to Histria on road DJ226, through Mamaia and then Navodari, and just when you go out of Corbu village, you take right on a small (and bad) road, DC83, until you arrive in Vadu village. There are some signs you can follow, and once you are on the dirt road, you can go any direction and you'll be on the beach. 

And please don't forget is a natural reserve and there are no facilities, bring your own water to drink and take all your garbage back home!

Ancient City of Histria

After a day in Greaca swimming pool and four hours drive, we arrived in Babadag very late in the night, we checked-in at the "Two Rabbits Inn". This place is situated on the road from Constanta to Tulcea, few kilometers before Babadag, in an old forest. Is a haven of flowers and animals, the restaurant is good and very affordable, the accommodation clean and spacious. The extra bed for Radu was broken, but a room, or should I say cottage, because were totally separated, costs only 18 euros, so we took three rooms instead of two, and Radu had his own room.

This was the flowers garden near Radu's cottage. And behind the cottages we had like a little zoo, with deers, few ostrichs and some black little pigs. And lots of birds, both domestic and wild.

 

In the morning, after a gargantuan breakfast, we took the road to the ancient city of Histria. 

Unfortunately, the heat was unbearable, and I mean it was that kind of heat that made the brains rotting in our heads.

We remembered the last time we visited Histria the weather was exactly the same, and we couldn't enjoy it properly, is full sun everywhere you look and there is no place to sit in the shadow.

Histria is located on the Western coast of the Black sea, near the mouths of the Danube (known as Ister in Ancient Greek), is very easy to reach from Constanta, as well from Tulcea.

The old city of Histria was a Greek colony, and is considered the oldest urban settlement on the Romanian territory. It was founded in year 630 B.C., and all archaeological evidence seems to confirm that all trade with the native Gets natives followed the foundation of Histria.

Around 30 AD, Histria came under Roman domination. During the Roman period from the 1st to 3rd centuries AD, temples were built for the Roman gods, besides a public bath and houses for the wealthy. Altogether, it was in continuous existence for some 14 centuries, starting with the Greek period up to the Roman-Byzantine period.

The invasion of the Avars and the Slavs

 in the 7th century AD almost entirely destroyed the fortress, and the Istrians dispersed; the name and the city disappeared.

There is also a nice museum at the entrance, but the lack of air conditioning drove us very fast outside, so I had to check Wikipedia for information to share with the kids.

Anyway, nobody was able to focus, everything we wanted was some ice-cream, the beach and the sea, so we drove for another 30 minutes and we finally arrived to the empty beach of Vadu. 

I hope you all have a great weekend and don't forget to come back to see the pictures from the beach(es)!