Constanta is Romania’s largest seaport for traffic flowing on the Danube River and the Black Sea. The new cruise ship terminal is impressive. Then, you exit and find yourself in the middle of a huge industrial and military port. Unwilling to wait 20 minutes for the shuttle into downtown, we decided to walk the narrow path through the port into town.
We headed to the Plata Ovidiu, location of the National History & Archaeological museum, and supposedly a pick-up point for the Constanta City Tour – a Hop on-hop off style red tour bus. We found the sign and had a beer at the café beside it while we waited. Once the bus finally came, it failed to stop. We walked around the city trying to locate the other stops (the map was ambiguous at best), and finally gave up. (Back on board, we learned from other guests that we didn’t miss anything, as there was no commentary, just a drive-around.)
While walking around the city we saw numerous signs for Carrefour’s, the French hypermarket. We followed the signs with an arrow but kept finding more signs. Eventually we asked and learned Carrefour’s was not within walking distance. We took a cab to check it out, ending up in Constanta’s suburbs, as part of a huge new shopping mall. Everything was available to buy; but fairly expensive for Romania, so it appeared that few were buying.
People were friendly and helpful, and it was easy to catch a cab back to the port; however, our driver wasn’t allowed to go into the port. We would have to pay a different cab, with a different “license”. (The cabs appear exactly the same.) We decided to walk once again.
Constanta is obliviously growing with lots of building and new development, likely fueled by the recent admission into the EU. The beach is sandy and beautiful but surrounded by run-down buildings that appear to be only 20 to 30 years old, but are in disrepair Our tablemates enjoyed the ship’s 12-hour tour to Bucharest, despite the 3-hour drive each way.
Later in the evening, the Indonesian Crew Show was a big hit.