As we had our breakfast in our room, we both received a public service alert on the phone for high winds and some rain. Yep, it was happening outside already and was expected to last till after 1000.
We waited for the weather to clear further before heading out around 1030. Today, we wanted to explore more of Constant’s Black Sea Riviera, specifically the area to the north called Mamaia.
We hopped on the bus heading north and had to make one change before getting to the end of the bus route. The road was lined with resorts and apartments on both sides.
We found a way to get to the beach where hotels and beach clubs have their allocated space. However, freeloaders like us can use the space between them and the waterline. And in rare cases, there are lots between their allocated areas that are unoccupied.
We noticed black clouds not too far away. Soon it was drizzling. We headed towards the covered area of a beach club called Biutiful (sic) by the Sea. We made it just in time before it poured.
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- Black clouds before it poured.
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- The same spot a few hours later.
The place was buzzing and it appeared to be patronised by the beautiful people. After a short wait, they managed to accommodate us at a bar rather than a table. Prices were very high for Romania but still OK compared to New Zealand.
We reluctantly decided on our lunch choices but as the weather looked safe enough, we moved on. The footpaths and streets were pooled with water and we zig-zagged ourselves back to near the bus stop where we found what looked like a more reasonable eatery.
Our lunch here was of poor quality for the price. We had a less-than-average burger and kebab, each of which was the price of the awesome pizza or salad that we had had last night. It’s a reflection of the touristy area that we are in.
As the weather was still iffy, we decided to return back to base and swim at our local beach later in the afternoon if the weather settled. We rode the bus to the transfer point where we spotted the cable car service that ran along part of the Mamaia area, over the roofs of various hotels and resorts.
The weather by now had cleared but the cable car operators said to wait another 20 mins before they take passengers. The ride gave us an awesome view of the whole area.
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- Water park as viewed from the cable car ride.
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- Water park as viewed from the cable car ride.
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- View of the sea from the cable car ride.
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- Lake Siutghol on the left side of our ride northbound whereas the sea was on the right.
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- View of the sea from the cable car ride.
By the time we got to the norther end of the line, we were confident enough of the weather to swim here. At this point, Kim realised he had lost my yellow dry bag which had our towels. He recalled putting them on the chair at our lunch spot so we had to backtrack by bus to get there. Fortunately, it was still there waiting for us.
It was around 1400 and we decided to use the beach here instead of anywhere else. We swam briefly and returned to the hotel by bus, with a mandatory transfer along the way. By the way, some of the buses here are very smooth electric ones displaying large BYD (the Chinese maker) logos.
Beach club set-up near our swim spot.
We took dinner at Schnell again. The pizza and salad were too good not to repeat but we tweaked the combination a little. The menu here is a little over-the-top with declarations which I’m not sure are part of the local regulatory requirements: