Day 16 – Monday 7 July 2025 – Constanta
We’d thought long and hard about it and decided to go on the long coach trip to Constanta, primarily because on the boat the Programme Director said it would include the winery visit. It didn’t. A post trip reading of the description of the Constanta excursion and the winery visit that would have been available if the boat was moored in Constanta, shows that – presumably because of time limitations – we got something different.
During the coach journey everyone's mobile phones all played a load noise and showed a heat alert warning us – among other things – not to travel. This happened several time during the day. The alert was in English.
We started with a walking tour of the old town when we arrived in Constanta that ended with a walk along the waterfront promenade.
We were then given 10 minutes ‘free time’ increased to 15 minutes, and people dashed for a coffee. I was disappointed not to go to the sandy beach and paddle in the Black Sea, but there was not enough ‘free time’ .
The coaches then drove for 30 minutes to Murfatlar Winery, https://www.murfatlarwines.com/ which we saw in the distance, but we drove past the winery, through vineyards to a purpose built function dining hall.
Musicians greeted us, and as we entered we had a traditional welcome of bread and salt. The building was round and table seating 8 or 10 placed like spokes against the outer walls. The musicians followed inside and set up in the middle and kept playing.
The tables were set with platters of cheese, nuts and dates. Each person had 5 wine glasses, and we were poured a measure of:
- ‘Zestrea’ Muscat Ottonel - sweet white wine
- ‘3 Hectare’ Chardonnay 2024 – very oaky white wine
- ‘Aerosoli’ 2024 – pink blend of Feteasca Neagra & Pinot Noir
- Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 – bland red wine
- ‘3 Hectare’ Feteasca Neagra 2023 – a Romanian speciality and the only interesting wine.
The restaurant manager told us what the wines were and which cheeses they matched with, but otherwise his wine talk couldn’t be trusted.
Lunch was poor, starting with a water clear soup with a few microscopic bits of vegetable and two grey meatballs. Main course wasn’t hot, some lumps of chicken in a thin pink sauce and a big lump of lukewarm mashed potatoes. Dessert was a pastry with sweet cheese inside. But the toilet was fine, and I managed to get another bottle of Feteasca Neagra from the manager.
I was unsatisfied with the touted Winery Tour and said so to the Viking representative at the hotel. But post cruise reading the online description I realise this wasn’t the normal advertised winery tour.
The journey back took three and a quarter hours, depositing us back at the Marriott at twenty minute before dinner at 19:00
Dinner that evening was on Viking, served in Champions Sports Bar which was closed to the public. A couple of youths circulated with wine glasses and a bottle of white and a bottle of red wine, but they seemed loath to pour. The meal was served as a buffet and I was dismayed by the way some guests piled up mountains of food on their plates. I found it unpleasant and so I went next door to the steak house, paid for the meal and wine and didn’t regret it.
A delicious USDA Fillet steak, crispy potato wedges and a couple of glasses of Feteasca Neagra in peace and calm with an attentive waiter. I wasn’t the only Viking guest who’d decided to leave the melee to eat in the steakhouse.
https://www.jwsteakhousebucharest.com/
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