The header image might have been the same, the “Coming Soon!” page for a forum that never came, the broken links. It was all frozen in time, like a forgotten channel in the Delta itself, slowly silting up.

Well, grab a chair. I just dredged the channel.

My name is Eugen, and Wild-Danube-Delta.com is my first love. And in 2026, I’m finally, properly, bringing it back to life. This is the story of why it died, why it matters, and why I’m pouring my heart back into it now. It’s a bit personal, a lot nostalgic, and hopefully the start of something real again.

The Seed: A Kid from Tulcea with a Dial-Up Connection

I started this site around 2007. I was in high school in Tulcea—the “Gate to the Delta.” While my friends were deep into Counter-Strike or football, I had two obsessions: the maze of channels, forests, and sky right on my doorstep, and the strange, new magic of building websites.

I taught myself HTML from cracked tutorials, messed with Photoshop to blur the edges of terrible photos, and discovered this thing called “SEO” that felt like a secret code. While I built other little sites—trying to make a buck reviewing tech gadgets or whatever—this one was different. This wasn’t for money. This was because I’d come back from a weekend trip with my uncle, his fishing boat puttering past pelicans, and I’d need to write about it. I needed to tell someone, anyone, that the light on the water at 5 AM in the Sontea channel looks like liquid gold, or that the sound of a thousand cormorants taking off from a willow colony is louder than a stadium.

That was the voice of this site. A teenage kid, buzzing with passion, translating the smell of wet reeds and diesel engines into clumsy, heartfelt blog posts. I kept at it through college. The site grew. I got emails from a German biologist planning a trip, a Dutch photographer asking about lenses for birding, a family from Italy thanking me for the bus schedule from Tulcea to Sulina. That felt insane. The world was finding my little corner of the internet, all about my little corner of the world.

The Long Silence: When “Real Life” Takes the Wheel

Then, as it does, “real life” showed up with a briefcase.

Around 2012-2014, I graduated and stepped into a suit-and-tie world: European Funds Consulting. It was serious, important work—helping projects get funding, writing proposals, navigating Brussels bureaucracy. My brain switched modes. The creative, whimsical side of building websites got packed away. The affiliate sites? They were always a side hustle; I let them expire without a second thought. But this site… Wild Danube Delta… I couldn’t bring myself to shut it down. It felt like deleting a part of my soul. So I just… stopped. Stopped updating, stopped writing. I paid for the hosting year after year, a small digital tax on my nostalgia, letting it sit there like an old photo album in a drawer.

After a couple of years in consulting, I pivoted into web development. I was building things again, but for clients. For deadlines. For specifications. It was creative, but it wasn’t my creation. And my own sites, including this one, remained in their deep freeze. Google eventually shrugged and dropped them from search results. The traffic trickled to nothing. The site was technically online, but it was dead.

The Spark That Lit the Fire (Again)

So why now? Why 2026?

The truth is, the web developer life gave me the skills, but it left a creative itch unscratched. Recently, I felt the old pull—the fun of building something for myself, of trying to crack the SEO code not for a client’s e-commerce site, but for a topic I love. I got the bug to dive back into affiliate website building as a passionate hobby. And as I was brainstorming ideas for new projects, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

I already had the perfect project. I already had the domain, the history, and most importantly, the unbeatable expertise.

Reviving Wild Danube Delta wasn’t just a business idea; it was the only idea that made sense. It was my past and my present skills colliding into the perfect project.

Flipping Through the Digital Scrapbook

Before I started writing new stuff, I logged into the old admin panel. It was a time capsule. The interface was ancient. I clicked on a post from 2009: “First Time in Letea Forest? Don’t Wear Shorts!”

I burst out laughing. The writing was so eager, so full of exclamation marks!!! The photos were tiny, grainy JPEGs. I remembered taking them with my first digital camera, the excitement of seeing wild horses for the first time, and the subsequent horror of the mosquito clouds in the forest. The advice was solid, but the voice was a kid’s.

Another post: “How to Get from Tulcea to Sulina by Slow Boat (The Right Way).” I’d meticulously detailed the schedule, the price (a laughable sum now), and the advice to buy covrigi (pretzels) from the vendor on the dock before boarding. I could almost smell the diesel and fresh bread.

There was no nostalgia like this. It wasn’t just about the site; it was a direct line to who I was at 17, 20, 22—wide-eyed, in love with my homeland, and thrilled to connect with a few strangers across the globe about it. That passion wasn’t gone; it was just buried under a decade of adulthood. Reading those old posts, I felt it spark right back up.

What “Brought Back to Life” Really Means

So, bringing it back to life isn’t just about slapping a new WordPress theme on it (though I did—this one’s clean and fast, thank you very much). It’s about honoring that original passion but arming it with everything I’ve learned since.

• It means depth, not just diary entries. Instead of just saying “Sfântu Gheorghe is pretty,” I’ll build you the definitive guide: how to get there, the history of the lighthouse, the best homestays, the story of the last lighthouse keeper, the walk to the wild beach where the Danube meets the sea.
• It means practical truth. I’ll tell you the honest cost of a boat tour in 2026. I’ll explain the complicated border rules if you want to kayak to the Ukrainian part. I’ll warn you about the months when the mosquitoes are a biblical plague.
• It means connecting the dots. I’ll use my knowledge of the place and my skills as a developer to maybe, one day soon, build an interactive map of bird colonies, or a real-time ferry tracker. This is just the beginning.

The Danube and Danube Delta hasn’t stood still either. Climate change is shifting water levels. New, sustainable lodges are opening; old, family-run pensions are holding on. The story is ongoing, and I want this site to be the place that tells it.

An Invitation Back to the Reeds

If you’re new here, welcome. You’ve found a site built by someone who has this place in their bones. I’m not a tour company. I’m not a government agency. I’m a guy who left, built a career in the digital world, and is now using every tool in that box to celebrate and explain the unique, fragile, breathtaking wilderness where he was born.

If you’re one of those old visitors from 2010, welcome back. Seriously. The coffee’s fresh. The channels are still here, whispering. The pelicans are still doing their graceful, goofy flights. And I’m finally back at the keyboard, ready to explore it all with you again, this time with a better camera, a faster website, and the same heart that started it all.

The Wild Danube Delta is back. And honestly? It feels like coming home.

P.S. The forum is still probably a pipe dream. But let’s start with the articles. I’ve got about 65 new topics outlined. See you on the water.
— Eugen

The post Wild Danube Delta Brought Back to Life in 2026! appeared first on Wild Danube Delta.

[adsense]This whole site was built as an attempt to answer to this ample question, but I’ll try to do a summary on this page, leaving you to discover the rest.

Let’s start with what Danube Delta is not and does not have:

1. Overcrowded – You’re in the middle of the nature. The permanent population is not very numerous and tourism, although is starting to become more and more important, is still not that widespread to disturb your peaceful holiday.
2. Crime – Wherever you are in the Danube Delta, you’re safe. People here are hardworking and mind their own business.

That doesn’t mean you should push it. You’re just as safe here as anywhere else in Europe.

It’s funny, there is a well documented case here about an entire ship mysteriously vanishing one night about 15 years ago from the Sulina harbor, and eventually entering the local tradition as the “Ghost Ship”. But, unless you planning to visit the Delta with a personal cargo ship, there’s no need to worry.

1. McDonald’s and other food chains – Nope, nothing even close to that. You’ll be serving only local traditional dish here. This place has its genuine cooking customs that you won’t find anywhere else.

Oh, did I mention that the food is delicious? It really is!

1. Shopping – Well, maybe the only drawback is that in the vast spread of swamps, lakes and canals you won’t find many really nice shops.

You will find a few boutiques though where you can purchase various artisan items in Tulcea, Sulina and other small villages.

1. Car Traffic – Besides the local customs Jeeps, there are very little chances you’ll see any automobile for days. In Sulina, the second biggest town in the Danube Delta, with a population of 5000, there are only about 10 cars.

That’s because people here use boats as the main means of transport.

The post Why Visit Danube Delta? appeared first on Wild Danube Delta.

[adsense]All of these photos were taken across Europe in a water rich environments.

The first photograph that captured my attention was that of a pack of Dalmatian pelicans being mobbed by a flock of gulls. You wouldn’t expect  a couple of tinny little birds like that to go head-on against the giant pelicans, but obviously somebody’s overstepped his territory and now has to pay!  Who’s the though guy now?

Another interesting picture is the one taken with two pelicans, were the younger one begs for some food from his parents. That’s so touching.

There are a number of shots taken elsewhere. Take a look at these five pelicans yawning at Lake Kerkini in Greece. Looks like somebody’s full and ready for a good afternoon nap:)

To see the rest of the pictures, go take a look at the Daily Mail article. You’ll love the scenes depicted there.

You can also read this article in Romanian: Poze Rare cu Pelicani în Delta Dunării și Grecia

The post Beautiful Shots of Pelicans in Danube Delta and Greece appeared first on Wild Danube Delta.

[adsense]But sometimes, you simply want to relax and enjoy your time. You get a few days free from work or school and all you want is to sit back and relish in the beautiful scenery that parades in front of you.

If your idea of a relaxing holiday involves a quiet adventure through Europe’s largest wetlands, then booking a Danube Delta cruise might be your best choice. The many tour operators here offer complete services, leaving you free to completely immerse yourself in this fabulous ambiance.

What about kids?

Booking a cruise for your family, you’ll probably need to forget all about that ‘quiet’ and ‘peaceful’ stuff I was talking about above. Having your kids running around, while you’re catching fish or bird watching is definitely not going to be a low-pitched experience

It will be unforgettable on the other hand. Your kids don’t get to play in a place like this every day.

So, where can you sign up for a Danube Delta cruise?

There are quite a few operators who would be happy to take you and your friends or family for a  ride. Below you’ll find some of them, in no particular order. Note that I’m not affiliated with them in any way and  the content of their websites is their responsibility.

Here they are:

Isrom Delta

Phone: +40  723 194264
Mobile Phone: +40 720 047337
Website: www.isromdelta.ro
Email: isromdelta@yahoo.com

Sincron SRL Tulcea
Phone: +40 722 281125, Phone/Fax: +40 240 517173
Website: www.sincrondelta.ro
Email: sincrondelta@yahoo.com

Absolute Carpathian Brasov
Website: www.absolute-nature.ro
Phone: +40 368 413524; mobile: +40 788 578796; Fax: +40 368 413524
Email: book@absolute-nature.ro
Contact person: Simona Munteanu

Calypso SRL
Mobile: +40 (0)374 003.520
Phone: +40 (0)240 506.180
Phone: +40 (0)240 506.181
Phone: +40 (0)240 506.182
Fax: +40 (0)240 506.183
Website: www.calypsosrl.ro
Email: office@calypsosrl.ro

Dasler SRL
Phone: +40 745 776776
Website: www.daslerdanubedelta.ro
Email: dasler_danubedelta@yahoo.com
Email: sfantul.andrei@yahoo.com

Europolis SA Tulcea
Phone: +40 240 512443, Fax: +40 240 516649
Website: www.europolis.ro
Email: office@europolis.ro

Ibis SRL. Tulcea
Phone: +40 240 512787
Mobile: +40 722 381 398
Website: www.ibis-tours.ro
Email: You can use their contact page

[adsense]Liscom SRL
Phone: +40 745 832995, +40 742 137885, +40 240 536726
Website: www.indanubedelta.ro
Email: office@indanubedelta.ro

Macsim Delta SNC Tulcea
Phone: +40 744 200314
Website: www.pelicantours.ro
Email: macsimro@yahoo.com

ACR Tulcea
phone: +40 240 515151
Website: www.acr.ro –
Email: acr_tl@acr.ro

AMATOUR SRL Tulcea
phone: +40/240/518894, Fax: +40/240/518953
Website: www.amatour.ro
Email: contact@amatour.ro
Facebook page
Contact persons:
Anamaria Cristea (+40.726.218.170)
Ioan Cristea (+40.744.320.394)

Dunărea Sălbatică SA
Phone: +40/722.680402
Website: www.wilddanube.ro
Email: office@wilddanube.ro

Finesse SRL București
phone: +40 213 167428, Fax +40 21 316.74.18
Mobile Phone: +40 745 051171
Website: www.finesse.ro
e-mail: finesse@b.astral.ro

Gggociman
Phone/Fax:+40 0240 532010
Website: www.hotelgggociman.ro
Email: office.edentravel@gmail.com
Contact person: Andreea David (+40 0729 882491)

Serano
Phone: 0241 624 141; Fax: 0241 624040
Mobile Phone: +40 0720 300314, +40 0751 088088
Website: www.hotelplutitorserano.ro
Email: hotelserano@gmail.com
Facebook Page

Egreta 1
Phone:  0731 260 722
Website: www.hotelplutitor-deltadunarii.ro
Email: office@hotelplutitor-deltadunarii.ro

Delta Explorer
Contact Person: Eugen Dinu (eugen.dynu@gmail.com, + 40 730 017 037)
Contact Person: Sorin Mirica (sorin.mirica@yahoo.com, + 40 721 082 805)
Website: www.deltaexplorer.ro

As you can see, there are quite a few options that you can choose from to set up a realy nice cruise in the Danube Delta. You need to check each of these websites and find the offer that best suits your needs.

Some of these are full cruise organizers, while some of them are simply floating hotels.

Go ahead and take a pick! And sure enough, drop me a comment below with the company that you chose.

To your awesome holiday!

The post Danube Delta Cruises appeared first on Wild Danube Delta.

[adsense]The basic idea is to have an open discussion among researchers and others intimately interested in this field in order to come up with sustainable solutions to humanity’s ever more intense use of water resources.

As mentioned, the conference is an international one, where participants can share ideas from all over the world. Hotel Delta will host it. This event will take place between 14^th and 16^th of September in Tulcea, the gateway to the Danube Delta, one of Europe’s largest wetlands.

The agenda includes not only indoor activities, but also a series of outdoor workshops where participants will have the chance to visit the Danube Delta in order to witness and assess the impact of various pollutants on the deltaic environment and coastal waters.

Ok, I might have come a little late with this, as the deadline for registration and abstract submission was on April 30^th, but it’s still worth digging into it if that’s the sort of thing that you’re interested in.

To find out more about the conference, visit its official page on Romanian Limnogeographical Association’s website (I already hate that word )

The post Water Resources and Wetlands 2012 appeared first on Wild Danube Delta.

[adsense]Probably the most important of these protected areas is the Roșca-Buhaiova reserve, located somewhere in the north of the delta, between the Chilia and the Sulina channels, just a few kilometers from the Chilia Veche village. What this place is known for is the mind-blowing number of pelicans that settle here every spring.

There are over 2500 pairs of Great White Pelicans (Pelecanus onocrotalus) living in the Danube Delta and about 100 pairs of Dalmatian Pelicans (Pelecanus Crispus). Of these, you’ll find that their highest concentration is in the Roșca-Buhaiova reserve, a 9.625 ha area that’s been protected from human intervention since the 1940s.

Roșca-Buhaiova is located just north of the Matița-Merhei basin and is consists of a number of lakes, canals and other swamps. The precise area of the reserve is separated from the rest of the delta by the Cernovca canal to the north, the Sulimanca canal to the east, the Roșca canal and the Merhei and Merheiul Mic complexes to the south, and the Rădăcinoasele canal to the west.

At the center of the area lie the Roșca and Buhaiova lakes which appear as an endless sea of reed and water lillies. All the ways into the reserve, such as the Lopatna canal which I used the last time I was there, are completely covered with beautiful water lillies.

Every year, a swarm o pelicans, cormorants and many many other species call this place their home.

From listening the stories of people who are actively studying the birds, it looks like the pelicans here have a rather interesting strategy when catching fish. Unlike their North American cousins who prefer to hunt individually, the pelicans in the delta totally love hunting in packs.

[adsense]What they do is to make so much noise that they scare the fish into swimming close to the shore of the lake where, in the big congestion created, all that the pelicans have to do is dip their heads in the water and get a mouthful of fish.

Opportunistic, the cormorants hunt the fish that lay somewhat deeper, just a bit out of the reach of the pelicans. This way the two species avoid any clashes and live together in harmony.

A pelican’s nest and younglings

For a bird this beautiful, you’d expect it to have some really spectacular skills at building its nest. A majestic bird, the symbol of the delta, definitely has something interesting to show, right?

Not really… You’ll be surprised to find out the a pelican’s nest in nothing more than a small pile of dirt that offers just enough shelter for the egg so that it doesn’t roll over accidentally. But when the egg hatches, that little bird looks like a reptile or a little dinosaur. It’s beautiful!

When they grow a little, all the chicks pack together in ‘nurseries’, waiting for their parents to return from fishing. This way they are much easier to supervise by the adults that stayed home for the day.

It’s cool watching the younglings of the two pelican species because they are so different. The chicks of the Dalmatian pelican have some sort of a grey-white color and they look pretty much like their parents. The chicks of the Great White pelican, on the other hand, are unbelievable. They are so black that you’d think somebody actually spray painted them. Incredible!

Other species

I only spoke about the pelicans in the Roșca-Buhaiova reserve because that is what this place is known for. But there are a bunch of other interesting species that you’ll find here.

[adsense]Some of these are the otter (Lutra lutra), the mink (Mustela lutreola), the ermine (Mustela Erminia), the muskrat (Ondathra zibethica), the raccoon dog, the fox, or the wild boar.

The same diversity is present in the vegetable world. Besides the white and yellow water lillies, you’ll find crows feet, Hydrocharis morsus wound Limnanthemum, Trapa natans, Stratiotes aloides. The low nitrate waters in offer a great place to live for a series of carnivorous plants.

Hope you loved finding out about the Roșca-Buhaiova reserve and that you’ll consider visiting it in your next Danube Delta trip.

P.S. If you like this article and you’d like to discover more interesting information about the Danube Delta, sign up for my newsletter using the form below. I’ll send you a short email every time I add a new article to this site.

The post The Roșca-Buhaiova Reserve appeared first on Wild Danube Delta.

[adsense]Since I have this passion of just roaming around the countryside to visit places, I decided to head to the woods following an old dirtroad. I did have an idea of the geography of the area , but I didn’t know exactly where that particular road was leading.

So I kept on going deeper and deeper. The road was vaguely following the small river which you could barely hear flowing downstream. Somewhere along the way, I run into some villagers in a carriage and asked them where exactly the road was leading. They told me that it was going to Fântâna Mare and that there were only 2-3 kilometers left.

I wanted to go there since I was a kid, but I never got the chance. This was my lucky day! I kept going, only that the two kilometers turned out to be more like ten. But it was interesting. I even had dogs follow me. What was interesting was that some of the sights were reminding me of  Tuscany.

I finally reached the village, which wasn’t big by any standards. A couple hundred of souls at most.

It’s old name is Bașpunar, which in Turkish means “The fountain at the top of the hill”. People in Slava Rusă and Slava Cercheză (where my grandparent from my mother’s side come from) still refer to Fântâna Mare using its old name.

Coming out of the woods, when you first spot the village, you notice the white church which is by far the tallest structure of the place. When I got there, people were just leaving the church after the Sunday morning mass.

When I got closer, It struck me! The church looks strikingly similar to the Sfântu Nicolae Cathedral in Tulcea. I thought that maybe the same architect designed them. Funny enough, after this, I started paying more attention to churches and realized that there are actually quite a few throughout the country that share the same basic architecture.

[adsense]Inside the yard, you’ll find the tombs of a number of soldiers that fought in the Second World War.

Truth be told, there isn’t much else to see in Fântâna Mare. The location is great however. Located in between the hills, it is a really nice place to relax and have a barbecue.

When I was growing up, I envisioned this place somewhat differently. Not that I’m dissapointed, but I though I’d find something different.

How can you get to Fântâna Mare?

You could try my route, through the woods from Uspenia monastery, but that would shake you a little.

The easiest way it to follow the DN22A till Ciucurova, then turn to DN22D for a couple of kilometers then going deep in the woods following the DJ223A.

The post Fântâna Mare (Bașpunar) appeared first on Wild Danube Delta.

[adsense]A group of monks that left the Celic-Dere monastery after it became specialized in nuns founded the Saon chapel in 1846. They first built the Cilicul de Jos hermitage not far from the Cilic valley, before finally settling on this beautiful site on the banks of the Saon lake.

They chose this place because it was close to Celic and also because it was just 11 kilometers from the village of Niculițel, one of the most important places in the history of Christianity in Dobrogea. In the village, you’ll find the oldest basilica in Romania while just outside, in the woods, you’ll find another monastery, Cocoș.

In its early years, Saon functioned as a chapel under the control of priest at Celic. After Dobruja was reunited with Romania in 1978, all the remaining monks at Celicul de Jos were moved to Saon which became independent.

The Old and the New Churches

[adsense]That very same year, the monks built the first church on the site. Although they used simple materials like mud and wood, it still stands today, known as “The Old Church” or “Biserica Veche”. They use it mostly to hold the service in the winter.

At the start of the twentieth century, a big fire destroyed most of the site. The church survived unharmed, but the following years were difficult financially and Saon was put under the administration of the Cocoș monastery. It regained its independence in 1916, and in 1930, it became a monastery for nuns.

In 1909, under the rule of bishop Nifon, they started building a new and much bigger church, with three towers.

The First World War slowed the pace of the building, however, especially that the Danube became a front line. Later, the church sustained gread damage during the earthquake of 1940, when the towers collapsed. They were finally rebuilt between 1956-59 and they started service here.

Unfortunately, that year this holly site was dissolved and all its posessions were taken by the Lower Danube Episcopate.

Saon reopened its gates in 1972 and it finally became a monastery in 1990.

The Windmill, the Peacocks and the Ostriches

What I like about Saon is that they still preserve one of the many windmills that once covered the whole of Dobruja. The structure of the one here resembles that of the mill in Celic Dere monastery, only that instead of six paddles, this one only has four.

One other thing that I particularly enjoyed was the ostriches that the nuns raised here. It was the first time when I saw ostriches in real life and I was surprised how big they were. I fed them some grass I tried to see if they would bite me. Turns out that it doesn’t hurt as bad as you’d think

They also have quite a few peacocks. Unfortunately, it’s quite obvious that the climate here is not really appropriate for them and they don’t really display those huge colorful feathers.

How to get here?

Fairly simple. If you’re in Tulcea, head west on DN22 for about 23 kilometers. About here, you’ll find a road on the right DJ229D. Follow it for another two kilometers and turn left on the DJ229E and in just a little over a kilometer you’re there.

On the other hand, if you’re coming from Galați or Brăila, all you have to do is to follow the DN22E or DN22 respectively and after you pass Isaccea and Niculițel, turn left when you see the sign to Saon and Parcheș.

If you’re coming from Bucharest following the DN22A, you can take a shortcut by turning left on the DJ229A in the village of Cataloi.

The post Saon Monastery appeared first on Wild Danube Delta.

[adsense]Lipovans left Russia a few hundred years ago because of the religious persecution. They settled in Dobruja and the neighboring area and over the years they’ve been here, they’ve built a series of monasteries throughout the region.

The center of the old-rite Christianity is the Uspenia Monastery, located about three kilometers outside the village of Slava Rusa (Staroslava). The Lipovans settled here between 1680 and 1769.

Every year, on 28-29 August, Lipovans believers from all over the country and abroad gather here to celebrate the Holy Mary holiday.

It is believed that the monastery was founded around the year 1769 when a wooden church was built here, together with the hermitage for the monks, by the priest Evfrosin. He died shortly after, and for many years, the Lipovans didn’t have a priest. They finally elected Ambrosie as head of the church in 1846.

In 1883, they built a brick church in place of the old one. It was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Although big enough for it’s use throughout the year, in these two days of holiday you can barely move inside.

There is also a smaller church, built in 1860, currently used mainly in the winter.

Here’s an old painting of the monastery, dating from the early 20th century. These days, is looks somewhat different.

As a kid, I loved going there because every time, there were plenty of small shops selling toys and other fun things at the entrance.

[adsense]Also, they had a nice old water mill powered by the small stream going through the center of the monastery. As a kid, I loved going inside to find out how it worked.  Unfortunately, it has not been used for many years and they finally demolished it a few years ago.

From what I understand, there were only two water mills in northern Dobruja, and this was one of them. Wind mills were much more popular (they were in the hundreds). You can still see one at the Celic Dere Monastery.

Inside the monastery, there is a cemetery for the clergy. A few years ago, I went there with my mother and we set our tent right there amongst the graves. Waking up in the morning was indeed a very nice sight.

According to my mother, one of my great grandfathers was a priest or a monk there.

This year, I didn’t really feel like attending the mass, so I decided to head out to the woods. I didn’t really know where I was heading so I followed the road. After I found out that it was leading to Fântâna Mare, I knew I had to get there, because I wanted to do that since I was a kid. It took me about three hours round trip, but I enjoyed the road. There were plenty of great sights.

If you’re on a religious tour in the northern Dobruja, make sure to visit this place. It’s really worth it.

The post Uspenia Monastery appeared first on Wild Danube Delta.

[adsense]One of the most important monasteries, widely considered the center of Christianity around here, is the Celic Dere Monastery. It is located just half an hour away from Tulcea, between the village of Telița and Frecăței.

The site is beautifuly situated in the middle of the woods, in a beautiful clearing on the Cilic valley.

The first church was built here in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century by a group of monks from Transylvania and Bucovina. They lived on the Athos Mountain in Greece for a while and they decided to settle here, near a village built by Transylvanian sheepherders.

Unfortunately, that first church burned down. Nowadays, archeologists uncovered an old cemetery there. Also, they found a necropolis from the sixth century just a few kilometers from here.

The Cilic Dere monastery was founded here in 1841, with Athanasie Lisavenco behind the project.  He had the written approval of the Ottoman sultan at the time, Abdul Medgid, as well as the Greek Church.

It was initially a mixed monastery, but in 1846, all monks had to move to a different site called Cilicul de Jos, leaving Celic Dere to the nuns. Later on, they would build the Saon Monastery.

In 1946, they opened the first church. The building of the curet church started in 1901 and was completed in 1916, with the paintings taking another 16 years for completion. The architect was Toma Dobrescu, while the painting was done by Ion Dinea.

As you enter the monastery, you’ll be delighted to find an old wooden wind mill. Back in the nineteenth century, these mills used to everywhere throughout the northern Dobrogea. I have an old photo with no less than five of them on a small site near Tulcea.

Back then, visitors going down the Sulina channel could see tens of them lined up on the side of the Danube, near the village of Crișan. Too bad they were taken down… We could have had a netherlands thing going.

The post Celic Dere Monastery appeared first on Wild Danube Delta.