Mangalia, Major Summer Destination
Mangalia is an important holiday destination
Daniel Onea, 13.06.2024, 13:09
Located at the south-eastern tip of Romania, on the shores of the Black Sea, Mangalia is an important holiday destination. Here you will find a wide range of hotels, some with all inclusive status, you will be able to take yacht trips from the Mangalia tourist port and, last but not least, you will enjoy a generous beach. Today we discover the only seaside resort in Romania, which has mineral, sulphurous and mesothermal springs.
Mangalia is an old city with a lot of history, says our guest Dumitru Filip, manager of the Mangalia Destination Management Organization.
“We didn’t invent it, we didn’t invent it yesterday. It was a Greco-Roman city, it has a whole history. In fact, this whole southern area, including Dobrogea, is a destination full of history. The city, at the moment, is a chic, beautifully developed, and clean city. It has been in contemporary history the city of painters, the city of writers, the city identified with the royal crown. King Carol brought the Arabian horse stud to Mangalia. He also made the Comorov forest, which is natural wealth, an absolutely spectacular resource in the great combination, Mangalia, plateau and forest. Queen Marie looked for a place to build a castle and put it two steps further, and made Balchik a destination also on the Black Sea. Also in Mangalia we find the Museum of History, the Callatis Museum, with elements of the fortress visible, highlighted. It is very interesting. Not to mention the only Romanian papyrus was found in Mangalia, in Callatis, not elsewhere. So there are very interesting things to see from that point of view.”
Another landmark of the Mangalia destination is the Esmahan Sultan mosque. Located near the tourist port, in the old part of the city, the mosque and its cemetery cover an area of approximately 5,000 square meters. Specialists are of the opinion that it is one of the most beautiful architectural monuments, due to the combination of Greek and Turkish styles, with slight Moorish influences added to them. The porch, pillars and wooden balustrades give a special air to the building, included in the year 2004 in the list of historical monuments. Moreover, stone taken from the walls of the Callatis fortress was used in the construction of the mosque. But the list of attractions continues, as we learn from Dumitru Filip, manager of the Mangalia Destination Management Organization.
“We have the Turkish mosque from 1540, so it is full of history. It is used by our Turkish and Tatar compatriots every day. We also have very diverse culinary offers: Turkish, Tatar, Lipovan. The city is very colorful from this point of view, with terraces, with cafes, with a you will find collectible buildings, with mosaics, for example. The city also has a contemporary structure of five-star, four-star, three-star hotels that offer various services. We have the largest and most beautiful civil port in Romania. The Mangalia tourist port is very well equipped, with berths, from where you can take sea cruises, fishing trips, and strolls of all kinds. A must see. Whoever arrives at the seaside and does not pay a visit to the Mangalia tourist port, has definitely lost something: an image, an evening, an activity, an action. They lost something on this vacation.”
The resort of Mangalia has changed a lot over time and is constantly changing thanks to the many projects that are being carried out.
“We put into use a semi-Olympic swimming pool in Mangalia. We have activities like contests, boxing championships, cycling, the Romanian Formula B Rally happens in Mangalia once a year. From the position of Destination Management Organization, we consult, suggest, propose, support various projects. For example, a project that is on the table and is being implemented is “Comorova Forest, thematic public leisure park”. We make a theme park out of an entire forest, respecting all environmental, organizational, intervention, and biodiversity criteria. It is a European project. We have another big and beautiful project, an aqua park that is under design and approval, with funding secured, which will probably be the biggest in Europe, with about 2000 or so places to stay. It itself will be a destination in the landscape of the South Riviera area, Mangalia and its resorts. The coastal zone protection project is being completed, with the implicit extension of the beach areas. We have beach areas, starting this season, three, four times larger than they were before.”
The sculptor Constantin Brâncusi, the one who renewed the art language and vision in contemporary sculpture, was born in Romania, in Gorj county, but Dumitru Filip, manager of the Mangalia Destination Management Organization, tells us that this year we find him in Mangalia, by the sea .
“We try to be open to what is happening around us, and we found a team of people who are very involved, and with a love for Romania’s history. Brâncusi Center made a very smart European project. We have Brâncusi in hologram. It answers 80% of the possible questions you can ask about his life, his work, the artist’s experience in Paris, his works, how he made them, what happened, who they were dedicated to. It’s an absolutely amazing experience, which has a cultural, educational, inspirational, novelty, and summer character. We have this project all this season, namely 60 days every day in the “Riviera Sud” area, from Mangalia to Olimp.”
For all those who want to plan their vacation on the Romanian Black Sea coast, the Mangalia Destination Management Organization has recently created a very helpful portal for all tourists: visitmangalia.ro.
“We bring the information to the tourist. If they want to come to Romania this year, they choose their resort and search there. They may want a hotel closer to the sea, further away, be it three stars, be it five stars. After choosing it, they can click on it and see it. Reception, hotel, room, conditions, other facilities it has, etc. So it’s an online application that’s accessible from any kind of device, anytime. You can choose your holiday from bed as you wish. Everything is absolutely up-to-date, the information is correct, coherent, with contacts, of course, for each individual place.”
The “Riviera Sud” tourist destination is made up of seven resorts: Mangalia, Saturn, Venus, Cap Aurora, Jupiter, Neptun, and Olimp. The accommodation capacity is 42,000 places, in hotels from two to five stars.
