Opal Constanta

... town.  

On my way to Bulgaria I cursed a bear of a man called, unfittingly, Mimi.  Mimi had convinced me that the coastal road to Bulgaria was quiet.  How wrong he was!  He was, however, right about a bag being full of live ducks.

I took the first opportunity to leave this road of doom, cruised south westerly and entered Bulgaria untwarted at a quiet border-crossing town which translates into English as Black Water. 

12th June

Golden Sands (Bulgaria) to Constanta (Romania)

Sunny periods 29 degrees

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 ...

Ally and I had a very busy day yesterday and fortunately it ended at the Black Sea, so today we have a day of relaxing.

We started off yesterday seeing the sights in Brasov we couldn't see on Monday because of the holiday. First was the Black Church, so named because the exterior walls are black from a fire. The interior has lots of collections of church artifacts, mainly rugs, tapestries, and pew boxes.

After the Black Church we were ready ...

Finally got to the bus station, got onto a sleek looking mini bus and off we went. Unfortunately the windows were mostly fogged up, still being early so didnt get a lot of pics on the way. About 2.5 hours later we arrived at Constanta, the seaport of Romania. I had planned to stay here a night, but i didn't like the look fo the people ...

Woke early Saturday to catch an early train to the Black Sea resorts in Constanta. You have to catch an early train this time of year coz the trains are 40 years old and have no AC, so in the afternoon they are brutal. Met up with some friends and went out on the town. Notthing too exciting to report...good food and a good time, but I was too tired and heated to really ...

... got a place to set our tents thank to Zajac, that had found Ms Emilia, a woman she`d randomly met a year before. She gave us a pretty big lawn area for use, behind a locked gate, right next to a beach. It was a horribly windy night and it seemed like it was going to rain, so we set our tents properly. We left our pasture after 8 am and took a bus to Constanza. We were allowed to leave our luggage at museum, after paying 2 lei per ticket. Everything here costs 2 lei ...

After a few days we managed to get to Internet and bring you all up to date what we've been up to (well most of it anyway :-) ). It was unbelievably hard to get an Internet cafe with CD ROMs in this city. Roxy's home town was heaps good - it's like we are on a different planet here. From Sunday lunch time we have been on the seaside here in Romania (Black Sea). The weather has been very warm (even hot). I don't want to rub it in to all those in ...

... 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 ...

Visited Romania on two occasions, both times while working in Budapest. I visited Constanta with my buddy Martin (with whom I also went to India). We stayed at the holiday apartment of some friends met through AIESEC. I remember washing my hair with ice water as the shower had no hot water.