Last week while I was travelling in Europe, I got the chance to revisit Romania's most Eastern city, Sulina, a small gem located in the Danube's Delta, a wonderful destination for all nature lovers!
The image above was taken during this trip, while I was on the water on the Musura Bay, a lagoon area between the Black Sea and two of the Danube's branches, Chilia and Sulina. It was a sultry summer evening with a beautiful sunset over Ukraine.
This sunset over water it was gorgeous and heartbreaking. It has also stirred up a lot of emotions! It felt like I was simultaneously being in two different locations.
At a first glance everything seemed magical, a perfect sunset just like in a fairy tale. Though the magic shortly dissipated as I heard the roaring sound of a missile hitting its target. It lasted only of a few seconds but was loud enough to make me skip a heart beat and ask myself if I was in danger or not.
Being less than 10 km away from the Ukrainian border, it was natural to question my safety. As the boat driver and guide reassured us that "it was normal to hear the bombing" and that the Russian war ships were not targeting the Romanian soil but the Zmiinyi Island (also known as the Snake Island) which is located on the Black Sea, in close proximity to the Danube's Delta, I realized how lucky we were.
We all felt for Ukraine and a moment of silence swept away the laughter and giggling from our boat. As the silence grew deeper over our spirits, I was thinking that we were so privileged to be able to go around freely and enjoy the nature's beauty without having to worry about anything while others were fighting for their lives.
It's true that you never understand what war is until it's coming knocking on your door. We have seen plenty of images of Ukrainian refugees or scenes where their cities were bombed and we all felt and cried for them. Though it was only this evening, while cruising on the Musura Bay that we really got a short glimpse of the reality.
While talking with the boat driver I asking if he was worried about his family's safety, if he had contemplated the idea of leaving his city and moving somewhere else, further away from the border. He responded promptly that no matter what happens, life goes on. A short stroll on the streets of Sulina city confirmed his words.
Life continued in spite of the war next door. The locals carried on with their daily activities, the hotels continued to receive tourists, the later enjoyed their staying, savouring all that the Danube Delta had to offer, from fishing trips, nature explorations, water activities to delicious meals (local recipes of fish that will make you lick your fingers) and beautiful beach to enjoy!
The recent pandemic had a huge impact on the local businesses, as the tourism is one of the main streams of income for them. During COVID times the tourism industry suffered a lot and they were hoping for a better year. Needless to add that the war didn't help. Neither the bad publicity or the fake news spread by the main media saying that the city of Sulina was targeted or bombed.
I was shocked when I saw on the news that Sulina has been targeted. That never happened. When they showed this on the news, I was there. Nothing happened there!!! The journalists were hungry for sensationalist content and they simply created fake news.
Yes, it is true that you can hear once in a few days the sound of missile exploding, a sort of thunder roaring on the distance, but from that to saying the city was bombed was a huge mistake (a huge lie) , which no one bothered to correct. You can imagine that this type of fake news has a negative impact on the local economy, as it plunges the hospitality industry straight to zero! It gets everyone scared and leads to a chain of cancellations.
Due to these fake sensational headlines, the local hoteliers and entrepreneurs become the collateral damage. They suffer the consequences of the misleading and emotionally charged information, presented as news. Separating truth from fiction ain't easy when the main aim is to keep the ratings high, even if that means to deceive its own audience. Unfortunately we live in an era where the media is projecting a distorted version of the events that occur, changing the story in the favour of the highest bidder!
