Blog of Romania

I’ve been meaning to go to Histria for a few months now; still, I only managed to get there last Sunday. I had visited the ancient ruins about 12 years ago and, since the only vivid memories of that trip were of my father chasing a lizard, I thought it might be time to create fresh new ones. Luckily, the weather was not as windy as predicted, nor was it cloudy (at least, not all the time), so I was able to shoot decent photos, which can be admired at the end of the article (do not scroll down yet, interesting information following!).

Moreover, my classmate’s brother, who currently studies History at the “Ovidius” University in Constanta provided me with some ‘expert’ information regarding the construction of the fortress. One thing he told me concerns the color of Roman bricks, which used to be bright orange, brighter than nowadays actually, which explains why they still look so jolly, despite being about two thousand years old. Also, it seems that the Greeks were very smart fellows, as they would build the citadel walls to resist earthquakes – first came a layer of stone, then 3-5 layers of brick, followed by another layer of stone and so on. Apparently, this system had first been used on the walls of Constantinople, because a wall completely made of stone would have been too sensitive to such extreme phenomena.

Unfortunately, dogs aren’t allowed into the museum, so I had to skip that part, but that didn’t make the trip one bit less enjoyable. So, if you ever get the chance, visit Histria!

Original post: here (RO).
Ela is 18 and very talkative. In fact, she is so talkative many people have told her to shut up. So she started blogging. Now she can ban those who tell her to shut up.