Constanta’s old town

Elusive bus tickets

We woke to strong morning sun around 0630.  The ground appeared wet from rain earlier.  I headed around 0715 to a supermarket to get some fruit, milk and yoghurt for breakfast.

By the time I had showered, shaved and did some planning, it was around 1000 despite my early start.

The information I had found suggested that to ride on the buses in Constanta, one needed to have a transport card or app, a mobile e-wallet or buy tickets from a kiosk.

With the e-wallet only accepting local phone numbers for registration, we had to go out in search of a kiosk to buy tickets or a card.  The hotel reception confirmed this and a kiosk wasn’t far away at a “station”.  I realised that people here and Google Maps refer to bus stops as “stations”.

With the nearby kiosk closed, we ended up walking all the way to the city’s old town.  Kiosks along the way that were open didn’t sell any tickets and couldn’t offer any advice.

It wasn’t until after our sightseeing that we found one shop in the city centre that sold bus tickets.  My understanding is that with many people using transport cards and the app, there isn’t much of a need for ticket vendors.

And it wasn’t until on a ride next day that the bus contactless scanners also accept Visa and Mastercard (even though processing and acknowledgement is a little slow)!

I guess many locals don’t get to realise this as they would use transport cards.  We did, however, see many older people still using paper tickets.

Sightseeing

Once in old town, we were hot and sweaty, and in need of a cold drink.  The place opposite the Museum of National History and Archeology was a pricey place, more expensive than anywhere else in town, as we would later realise.

Entering the museum, we were pleasantly surprised to see that Kim was eligible for a senior citizen rate.  We had a good look around inside before looking for the old Roman mosaics outside.

Sadly, the mosaics seemed to be in a fenced-off area undergoing restoration.  The side of the museum building seemed in need of some major works with plaster falling off the wall from on high!

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Next, we visited the Great Mosque and climbed up its minaret for a view of the city and its beaches.  The mosque was built by King Carol for the Muslim community in 1910.

A short walk away was the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul with its stunning interior.

Walking down to the waterfront, we were disappointed to see Constanta’s iconic disused casino being covered in scaffolding.  We couldn’t admire its beauty for now but at least it’s being restored rather than left to deteriorate.  Hopefully it will be put to good use in the near future.

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As it was after 1200, we were ready for lunch.  We walked back towards what appeared to be the commercial area on the map.  Before we got there, we found a place similar to a Turkish lokantasi which had a really enticing selection of food.

We continued our search for the elusive bus ticket.  Despite assistance from various people, we had no luck until we struck it lucky at a small shop in a mall where I spotted the “bilet” sign.  We stocked up with more tickets than we needed as they were quite cheap.

In the mall, was an H&M store.  Strangely, they had no menswear.  The presentation was a little “off” and amateurish.  It led us to question if it was a fake store!

Our walk from the casino to the commercial area had taken us half-way back to the hotel.  Despite that, we were keen to be able to take a bus home.

Around 1515, I walked down from the hotel towards the nearby beach, while Kim recovered from the day’s exploration in the heat.  There were paths in between the various apartments, then stairs, to get down to the pale brown sandy flat.

While the water was chilly at first, it was refreshing and I really didn’t want to get back out into the heat of the day.

Back to the hotel after 1700, Kim and I investigated options for dinner.  We were drawn towards a place called “Schnell” in the road opposite the hotel.  They turned out to have possibly the best pizza we’ve had!  Thin crust, just the way we like them!  The salad was very generous with lots of sweet tomatoes.

We finished the day with a walk on the paths overlooking the beach as Kim hadn’t seen our nearby beach yet.