Carmen Constanta

... and a great bike shop. He arranges mountain bike tours amongst other things : zsolt@rockmachıne.ro     Having had a fair few scary moments with dogs which absolutely detest bicyclesÂ İ thought it a wise investment to purchase a high-powered, high-pitched anti-dog gizmo.  Indeed the dazzer seems to have some deterrent effect on some dogs.  Unfortunately the truly vicious ones seem little bothered, that or they spent their ...

12th June<br><br>Golden Sands (Bulgaria) to Constanta (Romania)<br><br>Sunny periods 29 degrees<br><br>We left Golden Sands and travelled north to Constanta. The drive was fairly easy as we passed huge fields of barley, corn and sunflower (must be stunning when flowering). We also passed some new wind farms. We crossed the border with a little difficulty as they scrutinised our car paperwork but finally let us continue. We arrived in Constanta without a ...

... on one side of us and a shitload of hotels lost in the 70s on the other side.<br><br>We couldn't resist the bright coloured buildings with their neon lighting and bad curtains. We pulled over at a 3 star and found out it was only about $80/night so we took it. We threw our bags in our room decorated with gold fabrics and walked around, quickly discovering the Black Sea was directly outside our hotel door! How fabulous. We walked down to the nearest ...

... went by and we boarded the bus. I was the only 'foreign' one on board, the rest were either turks or gypsies. Once the bus took off everybody lit up their cigarettes and started smoking. I couldn't wait for this trip to be over with. Had our passports checked at my first Passport Control and then we were over the border into Bulgaria.

... the Brits are starting to discover the place and are everywhere. I didn't get my feet into the Black Sea this time, but they have been there before. I rarely swim in California coz I don't like not being able to see what is beneath me, but since there are no harmful fish in the Black...and no tides, I like swimming there. The water temp was just 19 tho, too cold.

POLSKI: Do Constanzy przybylismy po 16tej, ale ostatnie osoby - Zajac i Szeryf, dojechali dopiero po 19tej. Siedzielismy w ruinach i gadalismy, czekajac na nich. Gdy wreszcie dotarli, pojechalismy do Mamai (miejscowosci na obrzezach Constanzy) na nocleg. W autobusie miejskim kieszonkowcy probowali okrasc Zete, ale dzieki Arkowi, ktory zauwazyl, jak juz wkladali reke do torby, nie udalo im sie. Byli na tyle cwani, ze gdy podnieslismy alarm, probowali z nas zrobic ...

... especially Canberra). :-) We are both tanned after only a couple of days here (and yes we have been using sun protection). The beaches are sandy and really packed. I took some photos early in the morning and there were already a lot of people. Around lunch time you cannot find a spot to sit on the beach. It was good to have Roxy as she knew all these tricks. On Sunday night we went to one of the resort areas called "Neptune" where they have ...

... told later by the port authorities that in Constanta there are no "plainclothes policemen" and they are always in marked police cars. We also heard 5 other pickpocket stories that day. So I'm afraid Constanta will always be a place I remember for the wrong reasons. If you travel there please be aware of the possibilitea and be street smart. PS we were able to claim $200 on our Travel Insurance so there was a happy ending.

... know that everyone has experiences like this, and while not everyone may try and articulate them, I know threy're out. Such was my experience on the coast. Beautiful scenery, beautiful weather, a sexy breeze in the air...and a tingly feeling in the depths of my soul. Nights were pretty chill. My mate just got married to another Romanian, and he's an absolute blast. Generous, hilarious, and always willing to spare a cigarrette. Finally, he's someone who drinks nearly ...

Well, there isn't much to say about Romania. There also wasn't much for us to do. So what we did end up doing is just headed to the beach on the Black Sea, and snap a photo or two. Constanta was kinda odd, it seemed like it was trying to fit into the rest of Europe, but wasn't doing too good of a job at it.