Friday 4 October

 This morning we have an early excursion at 8.30 am. Up early nice breakfast and off on the bus. It is a beautiful sunny morning, the breeze a bit fresh. By 10 am it is starting to get warm. Our tour is to look at the town of Constanta, a large port town on the Black Sea coast. It has a population of 95,000 people. We have a walk around the town with our guide Nick who is very funny and full of interesting information. One is the Black Sea has very little tidal movement, no more than 15 centimetres. He also has no respect for the politicians calling them all thieves. Corruption is rife throughout Romania and the politicians have their hands in the trough as well.

We go inside an Orthodox Church and there is singing going on it is amazing, just like a Gregorian chant. It is being sung by monks. The priests must be married and have children to reflect those they tend/preach to, if you are not married you become a monk.

We then go onto to view the resort town of Mamaia which has a lake on one side and the Black Sea on the other. There are a myriad of high rise apartments along the shore that leas surface paradise for dead.

We return to the Opal around 12.15 for lunch and then set sail at 1 pm. We have to go into the Black Sea before entering the Black Sea Canal to meet up with the Danube. It is a little windy but over 25 degrees. The Opal powers along and we are surprised she does not roll around much in the choppy water. We soon reach the canal and with smooth waters the captain reduces speed. It is not long before we hit the first lock. It is a very long lock. While passing through we have a safety drill where everyone has to report up on the sun deck and don our lifejackets. After lunch we continue sailing up the canal. It is quite busy with cargo barges continually passing us going downstream. It is a lazy sunny afternoon as we sail on towards Bulgaria where we will cross the border around 1 am. Managed to get the following photos uploaded from our time in Constanta.