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The Mermaids In The Delta

I heard this story in Sulina one night, while waiting for a plate of golden herrings about to come out of the oven, as a boy about 10 years old was running towards us from the direction of the sea and shouting at the top of his lungs: “Rusalfa! Rusalfa! I’ve seen a rusalfa!”

The Boars Were Mild

Condrat stands, props the oar against the thick trunks of the oaks and pushes the boat through the wood. Bits of ice slam against the ribs of the boat-bits of ice mixed with broken boughs, clots of floating vegetation, old leaves, cormorant and heron feathers. The storm

A Fishery

From the hotel on the lake we proceeded to the fisheries. Leaden clouds began to lour in the sky, a sharp wind began to blow; and the willows on the banks writhed in every direction. Far off, in the lakes, as far as our eyes could see from the upper deck of the ship, the

Periprava

Periprava is a village located at the country's eastern border, in the Danube Delta. In order to get there from Tulcea, one needs to take a five-hour ship ride. The ship makes a round trip once every two days. Not long ago, the local media announced that once the winter

On Saint George's Day With The Hahols*

A white fur cap walks its way boldly above the fences, turns left all of a sudden and appears in front of me, before the gate of the church. The churchyard is full of people but the old man walks determined, bold, with his chest pushed out front, straight to the target:

Quote Cossacks

The village of Sfantu Gheorghe is inhabited by Cossacks, who live in 120 houses; these are poorly built and follow no rule, but their occupants are industrious, skillful craftsmen and sailors. They have their own churches and schools, and are engaged in active trading with

Ethnicity And Imagination In The Danube Delta

The Danube Delta is a land inhabited by Romanians coming from Transylvania, Moldavia and Oltenia (Little Walachia), as well as by people who came here from Russia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey. There seem to be two causes that led to this ethnic mosaic: a political one –

Nightfall On The Lake

He'd come with his head down, as if searching for something among the rocks on the road. What could he have possibly found new here, in a land surrounded by waters, on the shore laden with miasma? The narrowness of the bank? He knew all about it; the shiny grit? –

Spoonbills

At times, in vernal Romania, one may observe large birds migrating in triangular formation, high above towns, in a north-westerly direction. Their elongated necks remind one of our storks, still – the swift, fast propelling pinion flaps make one acknowledge a different

The Road Of The Pelicans

As it is quite rare in Romania, the pelican has been declared a monument of nature. There are two species, which are hard to differentiate: the white pelican (Pelecanus Onocrotalus) and the Dalmatian pelican (Pelecanus Crispus). The Dalmatian has red eyes and is slightly

The Letea Forest - The Original

After a bewildering trip by boat on the old branch of the Danube, to the left of the village Mila 23, at the end of the channel Madgearu you run into a strip of dry land, a stable island in an infinite kingdom of reed. It is the Letea grind (sand bank) that welcomes you

The Research On The Danube Delta In The Program Of The Grigore Antipa National Museum Of Natural History In Bucharest

The National Museum of Natural History has its origins in the National Museum of Natural History and Antiquities, founded through Act no. 143/3rd of November 1834, signed by Alexandru Dimitrie Ghica – the first ruler of Muntenia after the modernizing Organic Regulations,