Pachelbel - Canon in D

Golful cu lebede, Eforie Sud

A flock of swans was housed in a bay of the Black Sea, Eforie Sud (Romania ). They quickly found admirers: locals who come to feed them and take pictures with them.

24 Ianuarie 1859 – Unirea Principatelor Române

Mihail Kogălniceanu şi Unirea din 1859

Astăzi, se vorbeşte mult de Unirea Basarabiei cu România. Când aud, unora li se înfierbântă frunţile şi leşină, alţii nu pot dormi ceasuri întregi după miezul nopţii.  

Unii se arată băţoşi că numai ei ţin la ideea Unirii, iar altora nu le pasă de biata Moldovioară. Unii se tem de Unire ca dracul de tămâie, iar pe alţii îi apucă sughiţul şi nu pot trăi fără ea. Şi unii, şi alţii nu au dreptate. Ideea Unirii, ideea de întregire a neamului nostru e veche, ea a fost grija de fiecare zi a strămoşilor noştri, căci altfel nu mai existam ca popor până în ziua de azi. Această idee a fost în atenţia fiecărui trăitor de pe acest pământ românesc, ea a fost idealul naţional al poporului. Azi ne-a împânzit pecinginea rusească şi Moldova e ameninţată de pieire. Pecinginea ne mănâncă pe dinăuntru şi pe dinafară. Deci, ea trebuie lecuită. Putem scăpa de „această râie”, vorba lui Alexandru Lăpuşneanul, numai prin unirea tuturor românilor.

24 January 1859 – The founding of the modern Romanian national state

It is well known that the 19th Century represents an epoch of strong affirming of nations, of national states, so it was named “the century of nationalities.” Over a relatively short time interval, of several decades, the Greeks, Serbians, Italians, Germans, Bulgarians founded national states that gradually became important actors on the international stage, some of them – such as Germany – even with hegemonic aspirations.
Romanians, too, were among the peoples that succeeded in founding the state in its modern form, although not all of them were included in it, because of objective conditions.
A neo-Latin people, continuator and heir to the ‘Oriental Roman world,’ Romanians – like other peoples of the Ponto-Baltic isthmus, had a contorted history that made them live separated, from a political point of view, for several centuries.

 

Winter in Romania

Berca Mud Volcanoes Reservation - Vulcanii Noroiosi (1)

In Romania, nearby Buzau, at Berca commune, the Muddy Volcanoes / Vulcanii Noroiosi are waiting to be seen. Located on the hills in the geological and botanical reservation Berca Mud Volcanoes, the mud volcanoes were created by the salty mud and natural gases eruptions at 3km deep towards the surface.

When traveling through Berca Mud Volcanoes Natural Reservation, unusual and strange feelings are a regular occurrence (I tried to capture how strange looks in my pictures). In  these mysterious and pretty amazing places where everything feels alien, the plants are missing and the whisper of wind and blurbs of the volcanoes are the only sounds you can hear.  

The best description was realized in 1875 by Alexandru Ioan Odobescu (1834 - 1895), Romanian author, archaeologist and politician. He has written about this area in his work Pseudo-Kynegeticos / Fals tratat de vanatoare:

" There the Devil has mounted his boilers with boiling tar; below ground the muddy clods are gurgling and boiling, colder than ice, darker than fog; then, through opened mouths all over the non-drained valley, the mud is bubbling upwards, bursting out either at a palm or a fathom height; around each hole's mouth has lasted mud mound, and the drooling tar spited by Devil out of caverns, are flowing along the greasy mounds, gathers in the mud, dries in the wind, breaks in the sun-rays and spread out throughout the valley a gray and wet clay in which does not grow any knot-weed or thirstle. '

Acolo si-a aşezat Necuratul cazanele cu catran si cu smoala clocotita; pe sub pamant galgaie si fierbe glodul noroios, mai rece decat gheata, mai negru decat ceata; apoi, pe guri cascate prin tot ocolul acelei vai fara de scursoare, tasneste tina in sus, cand de o schioapa, cand de o palma, cand de un stanjen si mai mult; la fiecare gura imprejur s-a durat musuroi, si balele catranite, pe care Uciga-l-toaca le scuipa din vagauni, se scurg naclaite d-a lungul movilitelor, se aduna in namol, se usuca de vant, se crapa de soare si astern tot fundul vaii cu o huma sura si jilava, pe care nu se prinde, Doamne fereste! nici troscot, nici ciulini."

sursa http://www.romaniamagicland.com/2011/02/berca-mud-volcanoes-reservation.html