The Orthodox Church in Sulina seen from the Danube
On Tuesday, the 14th of September, we left Crisan (SM 12) with the buzz of anticipation, knowing that we would soon reach Sulina, the goal of our voyage, the end of the Danube and the beginning of the Black Sea beyond. Pure nature gave way over the course of that last bit of the Sulina Canal to cranes (not the bird but those tall metal structures that can lift great ships!) and other structures from Sea Mile 4 onwards until we reached the only town in the Delta, Sulina.
Sea Mile 0, where the Danube used to flow into the Black Sea
At the sign of SM 0, opposite the old lighthouse, we clapped a celebratory high five, Liz with tears in her eyes. WE DID IT!
That last bit of the trip wouldn't have been complete, however, without dipping Sulina's toes into the water of the Black Sea. 'What? Didn't that happen already when you reached Sea Mile 0?' You may well ask. Since the building of the old lighthouse in the 19th century and the placing of the SM 0 marker, the Danube has pushed millions of tons of sediment out into the sea, shifting the coast line steadily eastward. To prevent this from silting up the fairway, it is dredged regularly and substantial stone groynes either side were built out into the Black Sea for 9 1/2 kilometers. So we motored out along this way past the slender new lighthouse to the Black Sea. It was a very still day and the surface was calm with just a very gentle long swell from the north. But it felt immediately like a different world, a powerful, potentially dangerous beast, for the moment purring placidly. After half a kilometer we turned round and went back to Sulina, tying onto the quay wall in the heart of the town.
Sulina tied on in Sulina
Sulina is accessible only by water. The few paved roads in town therefore are frequented by just a few handfuls of cars and in the first of five parallel streets, the promenade along the quay wall, there is no evidence of them at all. The town thus has a bit of a Venetian ambience that is enhanced by the crumbling of former glory everywhere. And yet, it still has a very unique flair of an interface of two worlds, the world of the sea , that big, wide world from which enormous ships from Turkey, Russia and further afield bring goods and international trade, and the world of an almost 3000 km long river and the countries along it. In that sense it has retained some of its cosmopolitan nature of 150 years ago, when it not only housed the first Danube international shipping agency (Commission) but with 17000 inhabitants eight times those of today, a plethora of different nationalities with their diplomatic representations and separate schools. The old cemetery reflects this incredibly rich and varied melee.
The Old Cemetery
Sweet Sulina, we could happily have stayed much longer than 3 days. The town 'spoke to us' as Janine, a Swiss woman who cycled to Sulina 5 years ago and decided to give up her stressful life in Switzerland and settle here, said of herself.
The promenade in the evening
For us, it was not only the thrill of the throbbing engines of sea-going vessels with their hint of spices and the wide world, or the old representative buildings, some crumbling away, some well-restored, or even the Sulina Beach, where Liz swam in the warm and only slightly salty water and we sat on a half buried log and listened to the regular sound of little waves breaking on the sandy shore, a gentle zephyr breathing on us out of the north east, the sea like yesterday friendly and inviting. No, as always, it is the people you meet who make the place and for us, the most special one was Liviu.
The Promenade in olden times
Liviu is a photographer from Sulina. We met him on the first evening at his attractive atelier on the promenade where many beautiful postcards on fine photo paper are displayed on a gathering of old wooden chairs arranged round the room, or as larger prints, framed or unframed, on the walls. As the Sulina photograper, he is in a prime position to be the town archivist as well with his love for Sulina's history, his eye for artistic images and his enormous collection of pictures of Sulina, its buildings, ships and people. He understands English and speaks French and Rumanian, and before too long, he had introduced us to his partner Janine, who invited us to coffee the next morning at their home.
The next evening we were again in Liviu's studio where he showed us pictures and little videos of historic Sulina and today's shipping here, commenting on each one with relevant anecdotes and personal experiences from his youth. Finally he gave us the CD that contained all that material as a gift--thousands of images! Certainly, when we visit Sulina again, he will be one of the reasons why.
And we can imagine coming back here. Sulina turned out to be, for us, far more than we had dared to hope for.
The Promenade is lit up at night, red on the left bank and green on the right, like a ship
The 'free' kitten adopted by the Visitor's Centre staff; they built a house for her and 3 sisters
Sulina 2 and another rescue ship who brave any danger to help 'those in peril on the seas'
Two days of motoring brought us to Tulcea once more. We made a long list of tasks to ready our own Sulina for the winter and enjoyed a last meal on the Promenade, fresh mussels and grilled carp. Then the lifting out of the water took place, masterminded by Marion, the crane operator and boss of the crew. Heart in mouth, we watched as Sulina's 7 1/2 tons were lifted high out of the water supported by two wide slings and swung round and down to her resting place for the winter, all very professional and extremely dramatic! We finished the winterizing and said goodbye till next year.
End of the Danube,
End of our journey,
End of the blog.
'En noe...' ??