We drove to Iasi (pronounced Yash) dropped of the car and spent three nights there, and then spent a week in Constanta on the Black Sea.
Iasi
While at Iasi, we attended a picnic on a lake with the local branch of our Church, and had a nice walk in the downtown pedestrian area, leading from the Palace through the old town. We really have enjoyed the pedestrian zones in large cities and small towns. These are usually roadways that have been permanently blocked off and are now lined with shops and restaurants, where people can stroll and enjoy their day or evening. Iasi is no exception.
Generally the food has been good throughout Romania. Not a lot of variety, but well prepared meat and potatoes, good pizzas, great fruits and veggies. There is a giant mall in Iasi which includes a large food court much the same as food courts in US malls. We decided to split a meal and ordered based on the nice photo on their overhead menu. What we got was something less. Even the chips were limp. When avocado comes out of a pump dispenser, you know it’s quality…. So we don’t recommend the #SaladBox in the mall in Iasi.
Constanța
We took the train (actually three trains) for a total of about 8 hours to get from Iashi to Constanta, by way of Bucharest. Fortunately, the trains arrived within time to make both connections. Our t AirBnB was an 8th floor apartment overlooking the beach at the Black Sea! We were happy to be seeing water again and went out for a swim on the second day. The experience was, meh.
A sea of shaded stations for rent on most of the beach 
Romanian warships slowly cruising the cost. 
Communist-era housing 
We found some excellent French butter 
Sunrise from our apartment 
A long way from the last row to the water 
Artificial breakwater 
It looks better in this photo than it really was 
A walk on the beach 
Tiny apartment building elevator
Being an relatively isolated sea, there are often no waves and very little tidal action. The water isn’t as salty as an ocean, due to the drainage of several major rivers into the sea. There is some dispute about this, but it may also be fairly polluted due to agricultural waste carried in the rivers. Interestingly, the surface water doesn’t mix with deeper water. Below the depth of 200m the water is salty, stagnant, high in hydrogen sulfides and devoid of oxygen. So there is no sea life below the depth of 200m.
So yeah, one swim and that was enough for us. The rest of the week we just looked at the water from our apartment, and took a few walks on the beach. We have been spoiled by time spent in the ocean in many other locations. Still, it was good to be in one place for a week, since we had been traveling a lot in the previous weeks.
This wraps up our time in Romania. We were here extra long as we were promoting an excellent educational program from our Church. BYUPathway.org. provides academic courses online, and therefore available nearly everywhere in the world. We really enjoyed Romania, the people and the sights, but it’s time to see some more of Europe before we head home.
Next stop, Sofia Bulgaria, the birthplace of the Cyrillic alphabet!
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