Day 4: Avid about Ovid

Black Sea Navigation: BULGARIA: [Nesebar] [Varna] ROMANIA: [Constanţa]
TURKEY: [Sinop] [Bodrum] [Istanbul: Basilica Cistern] [Istanbul: Topkapi] [Istanbul: Haigha Sophia]
GREECE: [Limnos] [Meteora] [Thira] [Athens: Acropolis and Plaka] [Acropolis Museum Highlights]

We had a day in Constanţa, Romania, which just so happens to be the location of Ovid's exile for the last nine years of his life.  It is also apparently the largest port on the Black Sea.  

The on-board lecturer told us Constanţa was the fourth largest port in all of Europe, but there was so little sign of activity on a Tuesday that we thought perhaps he was talking about capacity rather than actual business.  (For what it's worth, I've found the same claim repeated on Romanian tourism websites, whereas wikipedia claims it is the 18th largest port in Europe.)  Whatever its current relative status, however, the port has undoubtedly benefitted from a nearby canal that has linked the Danube to the Black Sea since 1984.

A serene scene at the port

Once we passed through security, we somehow resisted the allure of this particular advertisement (shown here to the right of the text) and made our way out and up toward the Mosaic Museum as originally planned: 

A helpful tourist points out a direction perpendicular
to that which we must travel to exit the secured port area.

A few ruins on the road to the museum.

As usual, it was quite warm and sunny on our long, thirsty walk.  

Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul

Lovely painted details

Both museums we wanted to go to were right off Ovid's Square, where we found our fearless hero!

Ovid made quite an impression on the gang!

We started with the Mosaic Museum, where the ticket-taker seemed pleased that I spoke to her in French rather than English.  The museum is set up as a big rectangular pit with mosaics in situ on the floor, and a few amphora and miscellaneous architectural bits grouped on one side.  You get to circumnavigate the mosaics on the upper level, and then descend to look at them a bit closer from ground level (windows behind you, as you are facing into the back wall of the former warehouse).   The colors of the mosaics were considerably duller than I'd expected.  I almost wished they'd put a glossy coating on them to bring out the colors and patterns more vibrantly, but I have a funny feeling that perhaps it's not an approved mosaic preservation technique among reputable archaeologists.

Sculptural details on display.

 Amphora!!!

A nearby building, seen from the museum. 

After the Mosaic Museum, the girls were ready to throw in the towel - especially if they could go swimming!!  The grownups wanted to at least take a quick look at the Archaeological Museum, however.  So we came up with a compromise: We would all go to the museum, and one of us would take the girls back to the ship as soon as they found Three Really Cool Things.  

I think the main agitator actually surprised herself by finding three Really Cool Things on display, including a tiny gold coin that had intricate details visible only by magnifying glass.  Her sister, I think, may even have liked the exhibits enough that she might have been willing to stay a bit longer, but a promise is a promise -- so I took them back while more responsible adults continued to peruse the museum.

Really Cool Thing #1 - a grave excavation display set into the floor,
containing "bones of a 2nd-century woman"

I also was interested to see the three-form statues of Hecate, which reminded me of the statues described in Jim Butcher's Skin Game.  (I hadn't realized this was a traditional depiction!  Though of course Butcher's two Hecate statues feature the current queens of summer and winter, respectively.  There is a certain tension in the scene because Michael Carpenter does not know his daughter has become the Winter Lady when he spots the statue of Mother Winter, Queen Mab, and Molly Carpenter.  Harry Dresden quickly lies about this, and luckily a few distractions come up before Michael can pursue this line of questioning.  But I digress.)      

My own favorite item at the Archaeological Museum:
a "sculpture of the snake god Glykon, which is carved from a single block of marble"

The girls and I retraced our steps back to the ship.

The shipyard cranes really reminded me of horses, for some reason.

Black Sea Navigation: BULGARIA: [Nesebar] [Varna] ROMANIA: [Constanţa]
TURKEY: [Sinop] [Bodrum] [Istanbul: Basilica Cistern] [Istanbul: Topkapi] [Istanbul: Haigha Sophia]
GREECE: [Limnos] [Meteora] [Thira] [Athens: Acropolis and Plaka] [Acropolis Museum Highlights]