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)!