UP THE DANUBE RIVER – GAUGE
Traveling by ship from Tulcza to Gałacz, you need to be aware, that in this section the Danube is the border between Romania and Ukraine. You can admire Reni from the deck – this is probably the best view of Ukraine from this side of the border. Reni is the second most important Ukrainian port on the Danube (the first is Izmail).
A gala
Located between the mouth of the Seret and the mouth of the Prut Gałacz (Galata) is a large industrial city, counting 326 000 residents. There are metallurgical plants and old shipyards along the river bank. The city center and the surrounding hills were occupied by housing construction.
Few monuments of Gałacz survived from the conflagration of war; the city had to be reborn twice: at the beginning of the nineteenth century., after several devastating wars with the Turks, and after World War II. Galaţi remained under the direct sovereignty of Turkey for a long time (at that time it was called Galata; it was in Galata that he was cruelly tortured. – as he claimed – our novel Onufry Zagłoba). But even after Turkish rule, there are no historical traces left here.. Right on the Danube, on the edge of the escarpment, there is a lonely 17th-century church of St.. George (Sf. Gheorghe). Tradition proclaims, that the famous Cossack Hetman Mazepa was buried here. However, the Turks desecrated the tombs in the temple in search of treasures, and the body of the hetman they threw into the river. Today, the only souvenir of Mazepa is the street bearing his name.
It is difficult to find inexpensive accommodation in Gałacz, so better use one of the four train connections to Birald (109 km,- 2,5 time.), and there change to a train to Jass. If the departure times do not match the time capacity, 13 daily trains depart from here to Tecuci (85 km, 2 time.), from where it is easy to get to Jass or Suceava. In addition to the overnight passenger train, four expressways run daily from Galach to Bucharest (230 km; 3,5 time.). There are many buses between Gałacz and Tulcza (2 time., 1 $).
With nearby Braiła (Braille) Gałacz railway line connects, the highway and of course the Danube. In Braille itself, industrial and port city, there is not much to explore: An 18th-century cathedral of the Greek rite and several Art Nouveau tenement houses with visible oriental influences.