Where's the pristine nature? Remoteness? Θάλασσα?

In May 2011 I had the exam session in front of me, so I told mom I would switch off the phone to study  and I went to the Delta. Chilia carries 60% of the water and is lazy. On the NAVROM boat from Tulcea to Periprava I got into Shrek mood (''are we there yet?''). Ukraine is across the water, phone on plane mode. The plan was ''wait and see''. We found the Lipovan priest of the village, asked where we could sleep (we were 3) and he said we could do it at his place. Periprava has 200 inhabitants and if you look on google maps, the roads are ways in the sand. Now they have one place to sleep on booking.com. Back then there was a dog who barked at us for 2 days because we weren't locals. The shower was, like in the fancy Bali photos, outdoors, with the luxury replaced by ''come now, there's warm water in the plastic barrel''. That's remote, however it's outside of the perimeter. The houses have thatched roofs and are painted in white and blue.

After we chased the sunset (a highlight of the trip), we returned to the house where the wife was waiting for us with fish (another highlight, more on that later). The next day early morning we were woken up by the rower to show us the channels and Letea sandbank, which has the northernmost subtropical forest in Europe. That's where the semi-feral horses roam freely and if you're lucky like us, European pond turtles (pristine nature, they won't live among plastic bottles). Most of Letea is restricted area, but with a bit of walking there is a route validated by ARBDD (which the guide should know). About the birds, later. 

The next evening we reached Cardon (14 inhabitants) and the next morning, the pearl of the crown: Sulina Beach (also not inside the perimeter, it's untamed and a best kept secret for a reason). From Sulina it was an hour and a half ride on speedboat, back to adult world where people pass exams. 

When to go: April - May. The birds will have arrived by the end of March, but they're busy hatching. Long lenses and a tripod would be useful (outside of my budget back then). The 3 main symbols of the Delta are the pelicans (the former Minister of Agriculture was complaining they were so many that they were ''swimming in the pools'' of the people that had them), the water lilies and the mosquitoes. I found the yellow and white water lillies blooming in mid-May. Some will tell you to go in July - August (because the birds are done hatching), but you need to take into consideration that the vegetation is taller, it can be hot and may the mosquitoes have mercy on your skin if you go for an evening walk. Oh, and people are on holiday, so even Sulina will be crowded.

How long to stay: You will get a decent impression of OUV on a day trip from Tulcea. I am fast, but even l gave it a few days.

What to eat: the locals have cooked fish for all their life and they're experts at it. If by any chance you don't great local food (not enough time, people thinking you're naive tourists), you have Ivan Pescar in Tulcea and Bucharest. And it's this guy, so you're getting a slice of sports history with your food. My tried-and-tested, to swear by, are plachie de crap (carp in the oven, with a lot of tomatoes) and scrumbie la grătar (grilled Pontic shad), but you need to take into consideration that spring will have various moments of prohibition and you'll probably get what they caught. Just like Marseille has bouilabaisse, the Delta comes with storceag, a sturgeon soup (read caviar, full-year prohibition, hence aquaculture). The fish in that soup are cegă, morun, nisetru, păstrugă (starlet, beluga sturgeon, Danube sturgeon, starry sturgeon). These grow to big fish, the soup (invented by the Ukraineans in Sfântu Gheorghe) is made from the tiny ones. Other than that, plenty of caras, somn, șalău, știucă (Prussian carp, wels, zander and pike). Saramură (the generic term for brine, actually grilled fish that will then get a concoction of water with veggies) is good (wels is fatty, btw), but not exactly instagrammable. Borș de pește has non-descriptive fish. 

Murighiol is part of the Danube limes. If by any chance you go to Gura Portiței (a secret that people know now), you'll pass Enisala, with its Genoan fortress (not part of the TWHS, but worth mentioning).