Today was a big day. We left the hotel early, to get down to the little tourist pier, to catch a boat (or better: two boats, as the group was split up into two boats) for our tour into the delta.

We were first heading out into the main channel at high speed, to eventually take a turn into one of the smaller side arms – with good opportunities, to see the local wildlife (i.e. mainly birds).

We had a stop on one of the many island in the delta, to visit a fisherman living here and using the island as a base for his fishing efforts. From here we continued to the settlement of Mila 23 (located at one of the old main Danube arms 23 nautical miles from the sea). We had a walk around the village, to see its church, its high street (incl. shops, post office and even a coffee shop) and also the school – as such we got a glimpse of life in this community.

From here it was back to the boats and on to Letea, where we ended up having a massive lunch. Lunch started with a fish soup with massive, meaty chunks of fresh (partially quiet muddy) carp meat. The main dish was more carp – this time fried with a spicy sauce and served with country-style potatoes and accompanied by a tasty garlic dip. For dessert we had the local versions of donuts. So – overall a very filling meal – and accompanied by some good locally produced moonshine 😉

After lunch we changed to some sort of safari vehicle, to have a drive around the island. During the drive we got to see some of the terrestrial animals (most notably the semi-wild horses roaming the area), there was also a stop at the sand dunes.

We were already well into the afternoon when we got back to Letea. Another two hours on the boats were ahead of us, to cover the way back to Tulcea. We eventually made it back into town 19:00 – right in time for sun-downing gin & tonic.