Mahmudia

Mahmudia is the largest village of the Sfantu Gheorghe cannel. You can get there by boat, but also by car, following a 15 minutes ride from Tulcea.

[adsense]That’s why Mahmudia is another great place to start your journey in the Danube Delta. You can rent boats here, and there are also plenty of hotels and other accommodation options available.

There is a village legend which dates back a few centuries, when it was still under Turkish rule. It is said that a beautiful young Romanian girl fell in love with a Turkish boy called Mahmud, but because their parents opposed their love, they decided to go ahead and jump in the Danube to end their lives. The village was later named after that boy.

There is a four kilometer channel which connects the village with Murighiol which is a great place for fishing and birdwatching.

There are quite a few attractions that you’ll find here. Historically, the place has a vast inheritance that dates back to the Roman times.

Salsovia fortress

8 kilometers away from Mahmudia lies the fortress of Salsovia, which stood as a Roman military outpost starting from the first century BC.

[adsense]The stronghold was rebuilt by the roman emperor Licinius, who was born in this region. He ruled the empire from 308 to 324 AD and he was a co-author of the Edict of Milan that recognized Christianity as an equal rights religion.

His biggest rival was Constantine the Great who eventually had him hanged after defeating him in the Battle of Adrianople.

Salsovia was destroyed during the reign of Emperor Valens later in the fourth century, when the Goths invaded the Empire, but it was inhabited on an off up until the ninth century.

The two meters thick walls were affected by natural causes over the centuries, but the biggest damage was done by the First World War and by the locals who used the rocks to build other structures in the village.

Other attractions in Mahmudia

The Saratura Lakes which hold dark therapeutic mud. Saratura III lake, also known as the Salt Lake, was declared as a biological interest natural reserve.

The Murighiol Turistic Village is a fantastic place for sport fishing passionates, hunting and nautical sports, as well as a great place to taste the traditional food of the area.

The Uzlina and Saraturile refuges, which are both zoological natural reserves, are great places to see rare species of birds.

Mahmudia is also very close to a great hunting area. On the left bank of the danube, right across the village, lies a 1000 hectares forest which holds large numbers of Pheasants, rabbits, foxes, deer, wild boar, wild geese and ducks. Getting to the hunting ares can be done either with a boat which you can get from the hotel, or by car.