Today has been a contrast to yesterday. We spent 6 hours meandering through the mangroves in the Danube Delta. It is amazing how large the area is and we have only covered a small section of the area. There was a group of German tourists with their Germain- speaking guide and the others were Romanian and captain of the boat only spoke in Romanian to explain the different features on our trip. At some point, music was played over the intercom – I must say it is both hilarious and rather disconcerting hear the theme song of “Titanic” whilst travelling on a boat!
We passed some “boat hotels” with the guests sunbathing on the recliners on the roof of the boat. I think these boats will drive through the mangrove during the day and moor at different parts of the enormous delta during the night.
We sat with a group of Romanian passengers at the front of our boat. They got terribly excited every time a heron or some other birds could be spotted and took numerous pictures and videos. At various points they also burst into songs and have a jolly sing-a-long. According to Alex, this is pretty common amongst the traditional groups in Romania.
I must admit after 3 hours the novelty of the boat, the mangrove trees, the various birds, the odd sighting of a group of wild pigs and the sound of the birds singing soon wore off. As expected, internet connections were patchy and the boys were bored. Next time, I would have hired a speed boat for us all to zoom through the area in 2 hours and that would have been just perfect.
This evening we had a lovely meal with Alex’s relatives at a restaurant located at the artificial lake in Tulcea. We ended the meal with an interesting dessert which is a typical Romanian dessert. It is similar to a donut, but is smothered with chocolate sauce and yoghurt. Mmmm…. there goes my good healthy eating.
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