{"id":2476,"date":"2019-10-19T21:40:09","date_gmt":"2019-10-19T21:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=2476"},"modified":"2019-10-20T19:40:06","modified_gmt":"2019-10-20T19:40:06","slug":"06-monday-at-constanta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=2476","title":{"rendered":"06. MONDAY AT CONSTANTA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now we are steaming back up-river AWAY from the Black Sea.\u00a0 Today we have a long coach trip BACK to the coast at Constanta.\u00a0 All coach trips are accompanied by a guide’s commentary.\u00a0 Today was no exception .\u00a0 We are hearing similar stories in each country we visit – each with a different personal perspective.\u00a0 Here is a summary of today’s view.<\/p>\n

Romania has a quoted population of 22 million of whom more than 10% live in Bucharest.\u00a0 But 10 million work overseas (or at least abroad).\u00a0 But for those that do work in-country things don’t seem to add up.\u00a0 We have heard several times that the average salary in this part of the world is \u20ac1000 – 1100 per month – and this is taxed at 35%. So take home pay would be about \u20ac600 – 700 per month.\u00a0 We are told virtually all Romanians own, or are buying, their own apartment with balcony (glazed-in or otherwise).\u00a0 Average monthly payments are about \u20ac500.\u00a0 VAT is levied at 25%.\u00a0 They ALL smoke continuously.\u00a0 They ALL have smart phones.\u00a0 Most own cars.\u00a0 There MUST be a huge black economy in the country!\u00a0 Either that or the Romanians working in the UK, Germany etc must be sending huge wadges of loot home to family\u00a0 and friends each month!<\/p>\n

Communism was introduced in 1945 after the end of WW2.\u00a0 The king moved swiftly to Switzerland but failed to get employment of a royal nature.\u00a0 In fact he worked as pilot and aviation mechanic for several years (for Monarch Airlines, obviously!).\u00a0 In 1965 Nicolae Ceau\u015fesco was elected as president of the ruling party.\u00a0 Apparently things started out OK.\u00a0 There was good employment.\u00a0 The high-rise apartments had good heating.\u00a0 \u00a0There was no significant inflation for 15 years.\u00a0 There was “good” health care for all.\u00a0 In 1968, Ceau\u015fescu was the only Soviet bloc leader who openly disapproved of the invasion of Czechoslovakia.\u00a0 President Nixon visited and even brought him a piece of moon rock!<\/p>\n

The country sits on a seismic zone and, as we had heard previously, on 4 March 1977 there was a bad earthquake.\u00a0 Ceau\u015fescu went to North Korea and was impressed by their immense buildings and their dynastic presidential system.\u00a0 \u00a0He fancied the same for himself.\u00a0 He used the excuse of the earthquake to flatten substantial areas of Bucharest and build his huge palace.<\/p>\n

He started cutting off links with western companies. In the 80’s the country had to export most of it’s food, gas and electricity to pay for the dictator’s grandiose life-style.\u00a0 People had very limited supplies of food and fuel at home.\u00a0 They had to queue in their cars for petrol for three or four DAYS.\u00a0 Food (if it was available at all) was severely rationed.\u00a0 People had an allowance of one kg of sugar and one kg oil per week per family.\u00a0 There was often no electricity.\u00a0 So there were no elevators.\u00a0 People had to climb to their pads on the 15th floor with their two kg of shopping each week.\u00a0 The apartments were all heated by “area heating” which usually didn’t function.\u00a0 Often there was no hotwater.\u00a0 Huge shortages.\u00a0 Not good.\u00a0 No wonder they all smoke!<\/p>\n

See how long this coach trip was?!\u00a0 … and we are only half way to our sea-side destination!\u00a0 I think I’ll skip the account of the fall and fall of the “empire”.<\/p>\n

Just to say that elections proper started in 1992.\u00a0 Nowadays the president is elected for 4 years.\u00a0 By chance, elections will be held this November.\u00a0 There are political posters everywhere.\u00a0 Parliamentarians are elected for a term of five years.\u00a0 There is absolutely NO SIGN of a Romanexit party!\u00a0 How refreshing!<\/p>\n

Anyway, at Cernavod\u00e3 we passed a nuclear power station.\u00a0 This was constructed on the basis of Canadian technology not Russian.\u00a0 The locals are especially pleased about this bearing in mind the disastrous accident at Chernobyl in 1986.\u00a0 It produces around 20% of the country’s electricity.\u00a0 However, they only managed to get two of the five reactors actually working.\u00a0 Best not to ask why!<\/p>\n

Life in Romania is now much better.\u00a0 Western companies are beginning to bring back foreign investment.\u00a0 Of course Tesco, Lidl and Aldi are everywhere!\u00a0 Renault had, in earlier times, cooperated in the national car marque, Dacia.\u00a0 They were kicked out by the regime but they are now back and have revived the partnership.<\/p>\n

For several kilometres we drove alongside two large diameter pipes.\u00a0 These followed the road but kinked in regular “left, right, right, left” bends every couple of hundred metres.\u00a0 Much speculation about their purpose was finally ended by the bus driver.\u00a0 He told us that the pipes transported hot water from the local power station for “area heating” in the nearby towns.\u00a0 It appears that the power station is fired by eco-fuel.\u00a0 I think that means it is wood-fired.\u00a0 The kinks might be to allow for expansion and contraction of the pipes.\u00a0 \u00a0Or just to use up excess pipe bends produced by the local factory during the communist era!<\/p>\n

Now, looking ahead, what are we expecting at our destination?\u00a0 Apparently, Constanta is the fourth biggest port in Europe. (REALLY???)\u00a0 It was named after Constantine the Great and his daughter Constantina. Ovid was exiled here.\u00a0 It has some wonderful buildings – the most notable of which is the casino.\u00a0 Sadly, this and many others are just falling to pieces.\u00a0 OK.\u00a0 So we’ve arrived in the city<\/p>\n

Lots of apartment blocks on the way in but then we came to the real stuff…<\/p>\n

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And the main square…<\/p>\n

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… with the statue of Ovid.<\/p>\n

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But there were lots of falling-down buildings.\u00a0 Either the owners are not known – or maybe they can’t afford the cost of repairs.<\/p>\n

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But the large orthodox church is definitely in good condition – and guarded by the priest…<\/p>\n

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The interior was typically lovely with it’s fabulously decorated iconostage…<\/p>\n

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… and the icons which get kissed by every visitor to the church.\u00a0 Actually, not every visitor – since we arrived!<\/p>\n

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Lots of Roman remains lurked in odd corners almost completely un-protected.\u00a0 Like the “buildings” behind the church…<\/p>\n

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And on to the port area and the much talked about casino which really does need a lot of money spending on it.\u00a0 Maybe Oliver Letwin might like to make a contribution via the EU!<\/p>\n

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Fabulous location – it could be magnificent.\u00a0 Maybe.\u00a0 Apparently this seaside promenade is seething with visitors in the Summer.\u00a0 Well, I can’t see it myself but we were in town on a Monday in mid October.\u00a0 The place was generally rather sad with a few highlights.\u00a0 The beach was deserted.\u00a0 The sand was a mucky red colour (worse even than the sands of Devon) and very coarse.\u00a0 The buildings all around ranged from falling down to fallen down.\u00a0 Not pretty!<\/p>\n

Now the port area.\u00a0 Lots of cranes but no ships.<\/p>\n

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Maybe it’s size in square kilometres is the fourth largest in Europe – or maybe the main area is further down the beach somewhere.<\/p>\n

We spent a happy hour in a port-side cafe<\/p>\n

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… and then left for our ship, happily with no further commentary.\u00a0 The captain (well, probably the second captain!) has a long drive tonight back to Rousse in Bulgaria.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To be continued.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now we are steaming back up-river AWAY from the Black Sea.\u00a0 Today we have a long coach trip BACK to the coast at Constanta.\u00a0 All coach trips are accompanied by a guide’s commentary.\u00a0 Today was no exception .\u00a0 We are… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-danube-2019"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2476"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2496,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2476\/revisions\/2496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}