Sulina Beach
No doubt, one of the primary attractions of Sulina is its beautiful sunny beach. People come here because it’s one of the few places in the country where you can actually see a wild beach. The reason it is so wild is because it keeps on growing, year after year.
[adsense]The beach that you see today is much further out in the sea than it used to.
I was looking at an old map from the mid nineteenth century and the line of the beach was starting close to the ECD lighthouse and was passing just a few meters from the Maritime Cemetery.
Actually, during powerful storms, the sea would rush into the cemetery itself and dig up some of the graves.
By the time that Jean Bart was writing his books, and especially Europolis, the beach was already hundreds of meters further out than it was in the previous paragraph. By this time, there were already massive projects in place to straighten and make the Sulina channel more suitable to navigation which innevitably pushed the shore line a few kilometers further out.
In his book, he often mentions that the beach started right at the foot of the south dike lighthouse. I’ve seen a picture from 1928 that proves just that.
Sulina’s officials finally organized the beach the way we see it today in 1939 to be a touristic spot.
So, how to get to the beach?
That’s easy. Just go East 😀
[adsense]I’m not kidding. There are just so many roads in the city and they all pretty much lead into two directions.
I personally like going by foot, but if you feel lazy, you can take one of the frequent busses or even a taxi… I actually hate the idea of having so many vehicles in Sulina, but what can I do? Times do change.
About half way there, you can visit the Maritime museum. It’s a great place. They have pirates too 🙂
What will you find on the beach?
Only the softest sand you’ve ever seen. Really. I’ve seen many beaches throughout the world, but none has had sand so soft. It probably has something to do with its origins. While most beaches’ sand is made from eroded rock, the sand here comes from the silt brought by the Danube.
If you feel like taking a walk, you have plenty of room to do that going to the north. To the south, if can get across a canal, you have thirty kilometers of completely wild beach, all the way to Sfântu Gheorghe. That’s the road me and my friends took when we went to the Anonimul Film Festival this year.
It is also a great place to see the famous wild horses of the Danube Delta.
Now, although I said that the beach was organized in 1939, it doesn’t mean that they’ve done more than that. Besides a few terraces and, more recently, two wooden piers, the place has been left for nature to shape the way it best saw fit.
How about a place to stay?
Well, there isn’t any yet. I’ve seen that they’ve build a couple of wooden huts which will house tourists some time in the future, but for now there’s nothing.
If you feel like tenting, you can set it right there on the beach. Unfortunately, there aren’t many sources of water for drinking or showers, but you’ll do just fine with a couple of beers at Tip Top.
