Travel Guide Mamaia

3 kilometers north of Constanţa, Mamaia ("Grandmother", in Romanian) is nicknamed the "Pearl of the Black Sea". It is Romania's most important tourist city. Its exceptional location has a lot to do with it: the resort stretches out on a thin spit of land between the Black Sea and Lake Siutghiol. A fishing port until the First World War, its tourism beginnings date back to 1916-1919, when King Ferdinand set up his summer residence here. On the plus side: Mamaia beach, 8 km long, is renowned for the quality of its extremely fine sand. On the flip side: concrete. Dozens of hotels are crammed onto this spit of land! Legend also has it that the tomb of the poet Ovid is located on the island of the same name, on Lake Siutghiol.