Day 36: Sat 2 Jul - Tulcea to Murighiol (Floating Hotel Danube Delta)

Ride: 41km

Weather: cloudy with sunny periods, late rain

Although we cracked the 2,000 km for the tour yesterday, it doesn’t feel like it. Today we had a rather short ride East to Murighiol, one of the few towns in the Danube Delta you can travel to by road. 1.1km of rough cobblestones coming out of Tulcea was not pleasant however the remainder of the ride was on an excellent smooth road. For the next 3 days 2 nights we are staying on a stationary floating motel, Anastasia (two houseboats joined together) run by a guy called Christen. It took about half an hour by fast boat from the wharf to the motel. There are 18 double/twin rooms in total within the two boats.    We were able to leave some excess gear at the motel in Tulcea and our bikes were stored in a wharf office in Murighiol. Storage fee A$5 per bike; nothing for nothing in Romania.  

The rooms on the houseboat are clean, neat and surprisingly roomy. Each room is equipped with its own ensuite. The cabins are at water level while the dining / bar / sitting area is above and a sun-deck tops off one of the boats. Upon arrival we were greeted with a shot glass of  Pilenka (traditional Bulgarian spirit adopted by the Romanians) followed by a great veggie & polenta dumpling soup. The main dish was fish & polenta or veggies & polenta. There was also a sauce made of crushed garlic & mayonnaise or similar. The cook / waitress is a Russian lady, Nuta, who speaks no English, but we all managed to make ourselves understood somehow.   

1630h we were taken on a small open dingy (20HP six seater) tour of the lakes, waterways and marches around the houseboat. What a massive body of fresh water. In the few hours we were out we covered about 50 sq km of a few thousand sq km of the delta. Saw 100s of birds, some familiar from Oz or Africa but we often didn't know their proper name, just that they were heron,  gull, kingfisher, bee-eater, water hen, pelican, swan, etc. It was good to see the European Roller bird, which is familiar from our African travels. Some of the water birds (particularly ducks and water-hens) were very frightened as we approached in the boat and flew off at first sight, indicating that they have been extensively hunted, which is a shame as it is hard to get a good look at them and eco tourism must be worth more than a few shooters.  

The variety of waterways were amazing; from large channels you could drive an oil tanker down to small creeks you could barely thread the small boat through. Other areas of open water were covered in water lilies with a narrow boat path through. A fascinating few hours. 

Back to the hotel about 2030h and after a quick shower it was dinner time. We were just getting over lunch! Entrée was a pickled fish and onions followed by carp baked with potatoes and tomato purée.   The Romanian carp is nothing like the Chinese carp that has invaded our rivers and dams. I must agree there's no way I could have faced Chinese carp it's pretty awful apparently. But this carp was very tasty and no little bones. They also have the Chinese carp here and don't eat it either.  

It was straight to bed after dinner as we were all fairly tired.

We saw quite a few live snakes. This one looks nasty so thank fully it was dead. Near Tulcea

Wild flowers between Tulcea and Murighiol

Our floating hotel

Top deck

Sunset