Day 20 & 21 Danube Delta .....one too many bottles of fizzy water

Day 20 & 21 Danube Delta .....a 2^nd bottle of fizzy water breaks the camel’s back

We have not been too sure about drinking the tap water in Romania so just before bed Susan toddled off to the hotel restaurant and bought a bottle of ‘flat’ water for the night;  she opened it and it fizzed....then she turned  to me and said ‘ I could just cry’....

The 5 hour ferry ride down the Danube has grabbed our number 1 boat trip spot, beating canoeing on the Dordogne in flood, Chicago bridges and even a 6 am canoe trip in the isle of Harris accompanied by loads of seals.....a few tourists were on the ‘slow boat’ but this ferry is the river bus...it is the lifeline for the last 40 miles of this massive river.

The ferry is scruffy but spot on , chairs on deck are the unfixed, padded  ‘non wipe clean’ threadbare classroom ones. Many on board plumb themselves into 2.5 litre bottles of ‘Bucegi’ beer from the off.....Charlie is obsessed with the chickens....

.We sit in the sun at the back and every 30 minutes descend into the heat and the stench of the lower deck bar to buy a chilled beer to share....the speed at which it warms up dictates that sharing one is the best option !

There are so many different characters to watch and enjoy and I could write lines and lines on what a long boat trip in eastern Romania can offer.....this ‘local’ be-whiskered lady sang for the whole 5+ hours,

choosing at times to sit right by us to serenade us with her weirdness.......I fear that Charlie may be scared

It is late afternoon when we arrive and it is the event of the day for the village...everyone who wants to make a buck is down at the water’s edge plying for trade – offers of rooms, trips into the Delta.......we walk through the throng and find our hotel  booked the day before by phone.

A room with a double bed is shown to us.....no way I am sharing a bed with boy as well so back to reception and in no time we are installed in a double with single at 20 quid a night.......game on...

Romania has dogs, dogs and more dogs......not sure if anyone actually owns one though....stray dogs are everywhere ...however their temperament is generally calm, very few Alsatians in fact lots of the small and furry type.

The Town, and I quote ( Susan J ) ......’’looks like it has been bombed’ ....every other building on the front is derelict. I know I am more sympathetic than Susan is to these situations....we are 40 miles from some form of real civilisation, and it clearly does take something to live out here (much as it does in the Outer Hebrides) and I do have a huge admiration for those who do or who choose to do so. Remoteness makes life harder by its very nature.... or perhaps for some, more interesting and challenging....schools, jobs, travel, food, partners etc. For 4 months a year it is inundated with tourists and  the season is just about to start

We chose a bar to eat at.... the bulk of the clientele are locals and drinking, they appear to smoke more than they drink ...... we have barely sat down and the stray dogs gravitate towards us at the table

Charlie under the table

We are both looking forward to some decent fish, however most of what is on the menu is not available... I think I have ordered a beer and a glass of dry white wine and a few minutes later we get a litre of fizzy water and  a full bottle of dry Riesling( German wine that is usually disgustingly sweet) ......I am numbed by what is unfolding before me and further so when she pours us a glass each of the wine topped up in equal measure with fizzy water........somewhere between my order and the glass of slightly fizzy diluted wine something went wrong

The catfish arrives and is grim – a big fish that has been hacked off in chunks and is riddled with bones it is properly full of bones , our ‘Charlie’ grilled chicken is likewise grim.......the strays have now encircled our table and it is clearly the norm round here as no-one makes any moves to move them along.....there are some territorial issues going on with a few of the dogs as the only time they seem to get excited is about one dog down the dusty promenade who is clearly on heat, belly pressed to the ground...... 

Bad food, crap drinks, drooling stray dogs, and to cap it all, a couple of leering Romanians who starred at Susan throughout the evening left this night as one to put down to ‘experience’.

And so it was...going right back to where I started...... that the straw to break the camel’s back of Susan’s capacity to cope with Sulina was the mistaken purchase of a 2^nd bottle of fizzy water.......she hates fizzy water with a passion........at which point she did she turn  to me and said ‘ I could just cry’....

Next morning and time has moved on .....there are a number of really decent cafes and the river activity is fascinating to watch, we do the final 2 km walk out of town and get our first view of the open Black Sea...Charlie is 4 and to him this is now a proper holiday and we spend the rest of the day on the beach and in the sea.....top top day.....

For the record..... Susan is not so high maintenance that she has a complete meltdown when she does not get the right waterJ