Why do we still go to seaside resorts?

Reasons A-Z

Possible. Possible reasons. However much fury and indignation, absolutely understandably, builds up in anyone who decides to give another chance a stay or sojourn, sejurel, at any of the resorts that saw their heyday in the 60s and 70s, it's not as if there's any undo now or any ffwd until 30 years from now. All things considered, we still have the sea. Black. Let's start here.

A - Antik, Aron Solari, self-service, Atena, Acapulco

Good morning and enjoy your lunch on the Romanian coast! Between morning and noon, have a nice, relaxed and relaxed beach! Unfortunately for tourists who don't have lunch included in the price of their beautiful summer trip, but even for those who do, the solutions and prospects are not exactly the nicest. Let's face it, here at the seaside, we eat between bad and very bad! That's during the season, out of season they don't eat at all, because capitalism doesn't happen, so everything is closed. But to remain, nevertheless, some recommendations from our resorts, we can imagine a polarization of the miam-miam offer as follows. At one end are the self-service restaurants, present everywhere in the Black Sea resorts in Romania, smaller or bigger, such as Dalia and others in Eforie Nord, where people are crowded, the food on offer is impressive in terms of volume, as is the sound volume, in fact, we can call it vacarm. There are places where you can eat, sit nicely at the table, but without the pretense of being able to hear each other, eat and shut up, and watch the sea. Self-service restaurants are not cheap, you don't get the best food and they are full of people who have no choice. On the other side, the Antik restaurant in Neptun is still considered the top of the resorts, despite the comical reviews on the net: some people tell how they got sick the night after eating, others compare the prices at Antik with the Dubai restaurants they've been to. Already, when Dubai comes up, it's time to run away, but let's stick to Antik, because it's not really like that. I had no bad experiences there, everything I ate was good. But yes, expensive, beyond Dubai and back to the neighboring area of Mangalaya, at Antik it's spend. It's also beautiful, the terrace is a semi botanical garden and you can admire the brise soleil facade of the Decebal Hotel, a place of micro-pilgrimage for all the enthusiasts of the Romanian 70ist coastline. Worth mentioning here, under "A", but also in connection with all these impressive developments to which nostalgia and inspiration are linked, Olimp A, Neptun II, Olimp D, Saturn II were all under the direction of cult architect Aron Solari Grimberg. Curious also what the Amphitheater-Panoramic-Belvedere complex in Olimp will look like this year and what Solari would have thought of the complex's Phoenician transition. Part of the 70ist sites mentioned is also the Atena hotel in Saturn, one of the most affordable accommodations on the Romanian coast in recent years, heavily renovated and ready for transformation in 2024. For other off-season talks, a pizza and an ice cream neither the most ok nor the worst, fair all year round, there's still Acapulco in Eforie Nord, the playground of interwar royal amusements, where you can sip a cappuccino à la sachet and dream, on the open sea, of being master of yachts.

Uh-huh, yeah!

Uh-oh, I've been touched by a jellyfish!

B- hey

The 2023-2024 offseason, from what I saw and how many walks I took around the seaside from October through June, large stretches of beach presented themselves as a general construction site. It all started, in fact, two years ago, when work began on enlarging the beach at Eforie Sud and the exit from Eforie Sud to Eforie Nord, the area known locally as "between the waters", where the most turquoise water on the Romanian coastline is found, so anyone looking for the Indian Ocean from home should go between North and South and see the wonder. In the meantime, the construction sites have moved on, breakwaters have been built and other beaches have been widened, new outriggers have been brought in, with a different design, inspired by some war fantasy, to replace the old ones that had longer segments and were a bit more graceful. We'll see what has come out, we'll see, the impatience is great, the work has been intense: Olympus, Neptune, Jupiter, Cape Aurora, Venus, let's see what will be, but the fact is that the baths in the seaside resorts will be different from this year. This is not the case for the cold baths, everything is the same there, unchanged at Eforie Sud. At Eforie Nord, at the cold baths complex under the national road, George Copos has put in some money, he has changed some things, but the best is to go where it's free, at Techirghiol, at the end of the resort, or at the exit of Eforie Nord, a place with free beach and mud at the railroad barrier, locally called "Șincai".

C - California, Cap Aurora

California is the new name for the Opal Hotel in Cap Aurora, the first hotel as you enter from Jupiter. Built on a rocky and more elevated portion with the rest of the gem-named hotels in '73, the Opal is succeeded by the Hotel Cristal, then Topaz, with an interior courtyard with pine trees and children's swings left over from the original landscaping and a gorgeous swimming pool, undoubtedly the favorite of all the resort pools, which offers a sweeping view south along the coastline to the high rise hotels of Saturn and the entrance to Mangalia. Unfortunately, with the conversion of the Opal Hotel in California, the pool is no longer accessible to the general public and has remained for Californians only. There you have it.

D - Dolfin

In recent years I've been seeing dolphin more and more often, just like in the 80s and 90s. In the 80's I used to go about a month - a month and a half at least a year just to the Black Sea resorts. Those were contented, unambitious times, when people came to the seaside to find some slow time to spend at the beach or at treatments during the day and at summer terraces, theaters and cinemas in the evening. Then came the '90s, the years of a temporariness that has remained permanently in many memories, the years that many waited so long for them to pass that they never got over them. "Communist hotels", "communist resorts" were the classifications of the times, the long, slow and eternal days of the 1980s turned into hours of provisionality in the first years of Romanian post-communism, in which everything seemed momentary. Everything was supposed to pass quickly, and in a way it did, but in a different way than we imagined then. At the beginning of the 90s, people thought that a radical transformation was coming and nobody imagined exactly how it would happen. In 1991 and 1992 I was in some camps in Eforie Nord, and on the terrace of the Delfin Hotel, the first of the Delfin-Meduza-Steaua de Mare complex from Eforie Nord to Agigea, overlooking the whole resort, a disco had opened, the name of which has been forgotten. There, on the terrace of the 14th floor of the Delfin Hotel, we were the closest to the transformation we were waiting for at the time, without realizing that we were living it. Instead, 33 years later, a certain consensus has taken hold that before 1989 Romania had a coastline with mostly OK resorts, which today can be described as a succession of not very clearly delimited and systematized spaces with an exit to the Black Sea, built over and between the buildings of the 1960s and 1970s and the old organization.

E - Eforie

Before the 70's seaside, it was the 60's seaside, before Aron Solari Grimberg, it was Cezar Lăzărescu and before Neptun it was Eforie Nord. At the beginning of the 1960s, Eforie Nord was considered the most modern and sought-after resort on the Romanian coast. I went to Eforie Nord as a child and grew up with family photos from 1959-1961 from Eforie Nord, when the cliffs and protocol villas and more were new and everything in its infancy, and although the 70ist coastline is more spectacular and closer, the most beautiful sea views from us seem to be from Eforie Nord in the early 60s. It's true, however, that before Eforie Nord there was Eforie Sud, and here people split up and come together in a social meme with two screens, Eforie Sud on one side and Eforie Nord on the other. In the world in which I live there are many people who sit in the Eforie Sud screen, including part of the Eforie Nord family. I'll sit in the North, so there will be someone there too.

F - Ghosts

Hunting ghosts in life or past is a sport that can be resemanticized by the younger generation, who with curiosity, superficiality or study, leave Bulgaria and Vama Veche and go treasure hunting in the resorts of socialist Romania. So, suggestions of seven ghosts: the ghost of the comedian Doru Octavian Dumitru who still haunts the summer theaters of seaside resorts. The quality of his shows is unimportant. The comedian doesn't give interviews and doesn't accept media at his appearances. A ghost with presence. The ghost of the Gambrinus restaurant in Venus which is reopening after years of total abandonment this year. The ghost of the Neon complex in Eforie Nord, a major venue when the ghost was alive. In the meantime, a coat of washable paint has been put all over the place. Let's not be terrified of what's to come. The ghost of Ceausescu at Neptun. Romania's number one ghost. Once, in the mid-70s, my dad swam out to Neptun and from there he wanted to swim across the water to see the beach from the no-go zone. He didn't get too close before two divers came out in front of him and said, "Get back!". The ghost of Aurelian Andreescu at the Rotiseria in Eforie Nord. Where the artist was last seen alive. Back then, the place was a summer garden. The ghost of the summer movie theater in Venus. Harder to find, but well-preserved for a derelict. Not to be missed, recommended for admiring the details and more unserious conversations over a beer out of a backpack. The ghost of Constantin Duțu on the Romanian coast. Constantin Duțu was the greatest and probably the only Romanian ballet mogul. He studied ballet in Moscow and was a master choreographer, director and producer of performances, both at the Opera and on various tours in the country and abroad. In between seasons, the Constantin Duțu ballet troupe gave cabaret performances on the seaside. In 1981 he was arrested after four ballerinas from the Romanian Opera denounced him for forcing them to prostitute themselves in Italy and to take part in orgies with impresarios, on the promise that he would help them not to return to their homeland. He was a member of the Greater Romania Party and a member of the CNA. On the internet you can still find such a headline about Constantin Duțu: "CNA member, a professional ballerina, pulled a gun in Parliament".

G - Gobies

It takes patience, but they are good. Little gobies.

H - Hotel Hora

The Hora is a hotel in Saturn, one of the resort's high-rise hotels, which I enjoyed to the maximum as a child when my parents found available tickets. They usually got them at 4-story hotels, and when they found them at high-rise hotels, it was great luck to have a room on the 6th or 7th floor. When we weren't at the beach or out at night entertaining around the resort, we stayed on the balcony. I can still see the balconies with the rocking chairs and small tables of the seaside hotels, and hear my parents telling stories. I fall asleep without realizing it. Good night!

I - Winter

In winter, children in our seaside resort towns, in Eforie Nord or Sud, in Neptun and even Olimp enjoyed the snow, waiting for a pile to rise near the cliff and to jump off the cliff into the snow. The Belona cliff was a good place for that. In the meantime, the snow is gone, winters are milder, only the strong wind is left in the cold season. But there's still something to do, a few hotels with overpriced treatments and swimming pools are open: the Steaua de Mare, the Mirage, and perhaps the Europa in Eforie Nord, perhaps the most important single work on the coast by Cezar Lăzărescu, which has since become Ana Hotels Europa Eforie Nord.

Q - Between Waters

Between the waters, we've already told you about the area between the exit from Eforie Nord and the entrance to Eforie Sud, between the sea, Lake Belona and Lake Techirghiol: the ruins of the Roman bar Vraja Mării, Azur beach with its nude beach, the former Rompetrol cottages and the new feel of the Euforia retreat and spa, owned by a well-known family from Constanța.

J - Jupiter

Every time I pass by the Scoica Hotel in Jupiter, I think how I'd love to stay there for a night or at least go to the hotel pool. It hasn't happened so far. Same when I pass the campground. The El Mexico restaurant in Jupiter has popped up in the last few years, which looks amazing in every way, yellowish like this, it's pffff. And there's a pretty tiny aquapark, but it's fff fun, highly recommend.

K - Kobete and Kalakay

These are two typical pies from the Turkish-Turkish communities here by the Black Sea. They start a lot of discussions between the members of the communities - who makes them better, who makes them more I don't know how. The rest of us, however, get blown away, no matter the small details.

L - Lăzărescu

Cezar.

M - Minigolf, Modern Talking, Ovidiu Iuliu Moldovan

Those long summer days spent on the beach, with parents, among waves that every generation remembers as being bigger than they are now on the Black Sea, which is probably not true, we were only very young, ended with a walk along the resort's promenade, after the evening meal. As now, there were a lot of irritable people frowning and determined, eager to consume whatever they found interesting, popcorn made over charcoal in a metal cage, boiled corn from a bucket or whatever. From the terraces and children's entertainment places the music of the times could be heard, but very much Modern Talking. Very much, that's how it was. Then, as it was getting dark, the bright hats would come on at the miniature golf places and there was something that immediately drew me, I don't know what, I don't know now, to those tracks and every night I would play with my dad. One summer in the late '80s, maybe '87 or '88, when my grandparents and I went for three weeks to the Traian Hotel in Eforie Nord, where we usually went and where one of the best treatment centers at the time was, with a mud collection system directly from Techirghiol, we happened to have a TV in the room. Which was quite unusual in those days to have a TV in the room in a mid-range hotel, well, it was an old TV anyway, an Opera, I think. In those days I discovered the actor Ovidiu Iuliu Moldovan, there were several movies on TV in which he had a leading role, "Justice in Chains", "The Meeting", "Horea".

N - Neptun, Sergiu Nicolaescu

Neptun remains, however, a good place to chase the ghosts of the Carpathian Trust of the 70s. Of course, there has been and is still being built here, but the resort-city still makes urban sense, as it was originally conceived. That's despite the fact that it has a town hall, with soccer fields and socialist-era playgrounds still existing between the 4-storey blocks. It's the only resort where you can still "read" the intentions and the not at all simplistic layers it covers, from the edge of the forest with the blocks, to the protocol mansions and the Writers' House. And Cape Aurora, but there it's all on a much smaller scale and a different relief. Obviously, there are many objects left to admire in Neptun, on a nice intellectual or curious stroll or whatever: Hotel Sibiu, Hotel Traian, Hotel Decebal, the former bowling alley, the protocol mansions, the roses, the last minigolf, etc. Going back a bit, the great master of the Romanian Opera, the director and producer of cabaret and television programs, the former ballet dancer under investigation for exploitation and pimping, former member of the CNA and one of the ghosts of the Romanian seaside, Constantin Duțu allegedly came with a pistol to Parliament to threaten a much more famous colleague, his esteemed colleague, the great Sergiu Nicolaescu: "I brought the pistol to show it to Mr. Sergiu Nicolaescu", said the ballet dancer Constantin Duțu at the time. "It looks exactly like the ones they use in the movies, except that in the movies they also shoot. The pistol is not stapled", Sergiu Nicolaescu harmoniously added, like a professional of props, weapons and ammunition, and especially of Romanian cinema.

O - Sheep

The sheep is also an animal of the sea, though not as visible as fish, birds or various molluscs. As you drive along the DN 39 from Constanța towards Vama Veche, there are sheep on the right and all the other animals on the left: "We've always had sheep in Techirghiol", people say, although Techirghiol is not a resort built from scratch in 3 years, like those in the south, but a small town in its own right.

P - Peninsula

From the DN 39, passing through Eforie Sud, on the way out of town towards Tuzla, if you turn right, you enter the peninsula where the radio and TV tower is. It's a peninsula on which there's not been any intervention yet, just two rather makeshift constructions, but where there are plots for sale at quite low prices, we don't think about what's coming next, we just observe. The peninsula has a narrow, paved road that connects the national highway to the tower. A walk on the peninsula and picnic, with friends in the mood for daytime fun, is an absolute recommendation. You can stay all day, in the morning the light shines towards Techirghiol, towards sunset towards the sea and Eforii. It's a place where you can still look out into the distance and think of the diverse. And, if you stay a day on the peninsula, you're sure to come across some sheep. If you don't stop at the Techirghiol peninsula and move on to the southern resorts, look for a place with poplars or pines, the Romanian coastline was built with these trees too.

Q - Hotel Q

Hotel Q is the former Hotel Albert in Neptun, somewhere near the train station, towards Olimp. Probably before it was Hotel Albert it was called something else, but regardless of all that, there had to be something to the letter "Q".

R - Rustic

What do the 50's, the 60's, the 70's, Romania before 1989 and Romania after, early and late capitalism and in general, where everyone and everything has shaken hands? At a small table on a rustic terrace. At Zamfirei's Wedding in Eforie Nord, at Doina in Neptun, at Cătunul in Cap Aurora or going back to the late Berbec in Eforie Nord and, in general, in every seaside resort or town there was and still is some rusticuts. Ok.

S - Saturn

Saturn is a former seaside resort on the Black Sea coast of Romania, although it is still listed as a resort. Today it's a natural extension of North Mangalia and a continuous beach all the way to Venus, given the way the spaces have been built up and filled in over the last 30 years. It's also a no-go area, too, in fact many places and spaces in the Black Sea resorts have been closed along the lines of the Turkish all inclusive model and everything is "reserved for our customers". At Saturn, for example, it's not possible to go to the swimming pool at the Hotel Balada, which is talked about in the area as an aquapark, but it's not an aquapark, it's a more extended pool, like this, i.e. it's more for adults.

Ș - Șuberek

At Antik, in Neptun, it's 22-25 lei and it's good with cheese and meat, at the praised tree, in Mangalia, in the square, right opposite the Trușcă restaurant, it's around 10 lei and it's not that good. And there are several places in Constanța. But it's best to make friends in Eforie-Techirghiol and solve the shuberek problem in a house where it's been made for generations.

T - TV tower Techirghiol - Tuzla, toboggan

The Techirghiol - Tuzla radio-TV tower is a subject I've been following closely over the last few years, visiting family in Eforie and traveling to the seaside. It's resulted in an all-ages fiction book set during the construction site, which I hope to have published this year. Most of the people a generation before me who live in the area don't remember when the tower came about, nor does it have any notoriety, nor is there accessible documentation about it. People who were born and grew up in the Techirghiol-Eforie-Tuzla area and who are now in their 40s and 50s remember weaving all sorts of myths and stories in their childhood about this impressive construction which stimulated their imagination and their anxieties. It was indeed quite a construction site, the work was carried out by the Central Railway Construction Plant and was inaugurated in 1977: "You should see him waddle when the wind blows hard," say the doormen at the tower, who, apart from a few dogs in the yard, have little else to worry about. The wind on the peninsula is blowing hard all the time, I don't know how hard it has to blow to move the tower, which is 190-195 meters high with its metal structure. When I was 4-5-6 years old, my father used to take me to the construction sites where he was working and we used to climb to the highest places: the tower of Hotel Lebăda, the tower blocks in the Pantelimon neighborhood, the blocks on Victoria Socialism Boulevard or on Văcărești. Later, when I started to go alone to the swimming pool and to the pools with water slides, there was only one model of water slide, with two arms and rarely both arms worked, usually only one, I discovered the pleasure of exploring the landscape from the top of the slide. There was something familiar about looking far away, identifying places, taking such a moment before the slide, looking at the neighborhood, the blocks, where I lived, where my neighbors lived and so on. I still do that, I go with the kids to the aquapark, we get on the slide, they go down, I stay up there, I stay up there, I look after a few more. The slide at the aquapark in Jupiter is very good, you can see very beautifully to the north, towards Neptune and Olympus.

Ț - cymbal

You'll find the țambal in the streets and on the cliffs here by the sea. With sticks with cotton wool at the top, beautiful, țangalangațangalanga, it's like a general evening soundtrack, alternating with some radio hits.

U - umbrellas

An umbrella stake costs 15 lei. You go to the beach, stick your umbrella in it and that's it. Actually it's not quite like that, last year we bought a special one for tying the dog up to protect him from the sun and off he went with the pole in his mouth, digging holes and walking on the beach in the hottest temperatures. Thankfully it hasn't affected him, or we don't know, yet. Anyway, the most beautiful umbrellas you can admire on the public beaches of Techirghiol or at Șincai, here there are even precious umbrellas with American Cola, Pepsi 80s, Frutti Fresh, Fanta etc.

V - Venus, VIP

Venus would have been the nicest of the new resorts in the early '70s. By 1989 you were worth if you could get into: Bar International (Olimp), Calypso (Venus), Paradis (Jupiter) or Melody (Mamaia).

W - White

You open a browser page or an app or whatever, type in 'white seaside' and see developments coming in at the answers.

X - X

The shape of the new stabilopods we will see in 2024 after the new developments. They look eerie.

Y - Y

It's a classic shape of a Romanian breakwater on the Black Sea. Perhaps it was preserved in this year's reconfigurations.

Z - ZZZZZZZ

Regardless of all the above, one sleeps well at the seaside, by day on the beach or in the shade, at night on the rocks or in the rooms of a hotel, host, tent, caravan or whatever. Have a good night's rest.