Today we leave the outskirts of Constanta driving north towards the Danube Delta. However we have lots of stops planned and the first one is the old city of Histria. It is one of the three major cities on the Romania seaside from antiquity and we really would like to visit it. When we get there we are impressed by the large museum and parking lot, however why is the parking lot empty except one small guard dog?
We understand soon what is happening, the whole complex is closed even though according to our information it should have been open. So now we are stuck to wander outside for a short while before deciding to move on.
We explore as best as we can over the protective fence, it is quite annoying that we are not able to visit one of the best preserved Greek city ruins in Romania. Maybe another time if we can catch it open.
We then drive to the nearby Istria village, a community inhabited by Bulgarians settled here in the second half of the 18th century. At that point they took the initiative of building an Orthodox church however according to the rules on the territory of the Ottoman Empire, the church couldn’t be higher than a mosque so it was built without towers and with a roof approximately 1 meter below soil level. And this is the church we want to see, the buried “Holy Trinity” church. But first we have to find parking with some difficulty and then we enter through the beautiful gate in the church courtyard. In the churchyard there are 25 crosses of villagers killed during the Second World War.
As it was close to the old ruins of Histria a few objects found in the ruins were incorporated into the building. For example the craftsmen embedded in the walls 52 Greek amphorae, discovered in the ancient port of Histria. The church’s ceiling also is supported by six oak trunks with the ends being supported on the crowns of some Greek columns from Histria fortress. We explore the church for a short while and then it is time to move on we still have a few more stops planned.
