The Tulcea Tourist Destination Management Organization (OMDT) resumed this weekend its free guided tours through the city, open to anyone interested in Tulcea's history. The first tour of the year explored the Greek neighborhood, highlighting both heritage buildings and newer homes linked to local personalities.

Free tours were launched in 2024 with five events; their number doubled last year, and OMDT Tulcea plans at least 15 tours in 2026.

'We want Tulcea to be a tourist city, and it cannot be so if it doesn't know its past. Residents must understand they live in a place with rich history and diverse culture. This is the basis of tourism development,' OMDT manager Alexandru Filip told AGERPRES. 'April 11 and 12 were the first free tours of the season, and this year we want to organize at least 15.'

The tour began in the courtyard of the Avramide House, where guide Adrian Dan spoke to the nearly 30 participants about the Ottoman-era slums, the coexistence of 14 ethnic groups, and the story of Alexa Avramide, owner of one of Tulcea's most beautiful buildings.

'It's no coincidence that we are standing in the yard of a former fellow resident - Alexandris Avramidis, or Alexe Avramidis, or Alexandru Avramide, depending on the international context,' Dan said. 'When he came to Tulcea, he was Greek. When the Greeks were looking for soldiers, he claimed to be Albanian - Alexe Avramidis. When the Albanians were looking to recruit for the military, he passed as Romanian - Alexandru Avramide.'

On Progresului Street, formerly Saint Nicholas Street, the guide pointed out the old limestone sidewalks: 'If we follow the traces of the former city, these sidewalks are among the clearest. Tulcea doesn't have just one historic center, but more like five, and in most of them you'll find these pavements.'

The route through the Greek neighborhood continued past restored and deteriorating heritage buildings, including the Lichiardopol House, damaged by a nearby block built in the 2010s. Dan recalled how, during communist systematization, architects sometimes invented stories to save historic houses: 'The same trick was used here.'

Participants also visited the Annunciation Church, built by the Greek community between 1848 and 1854 and now under rehabilitation, as well as the former 'Popular' cinema theater. Parish priest Daniel Petre guided this part of the tour.

'I also used to pay for a ticket when films were shown here,' he said. 'Yet others my age told me they climbed the church fence to watch for free. During communism, the hall was confiscated from the city's Greek Community and turned into a cinema; after the Revolution it was returned to the Greeks.' The former 'Popular' cinema theater consists of a covered hall, which during the rehabilitation works was divided and even includes an altar, but also of a garden where films were screened outdoors. Smiling, Father Daniel Petre adds: 'We may be among the few places in Europe where, while churches elsewhere become cinemas, here a cinema has become a church.'

The tour winds through unpaved streets and past decaying houses - some rebuilt, others abandoned. Pointing to one such building still bearing the Rodipet logo, guide Adrian Dan noted: 'A developer bought the land nearby and wants to build a block, but he can't because this building has no owner.'

Other houses were demolished during communism, including the home of mathematician Grigore Moisil's family.

'Grigore Mosil's father, Constantin Moisil, was a Romanian historian, archaeologist and numismatist who asked to be assigned to Tulcea, because he knew what the area could offer. He fell in love with a local teacher of Greek origin, and this is where the Moisil family was founded. When Grigore was four, the family had to move to Vaslui. In the 1980s the house was demolished - the land was valuable - and in the early 2000s this modernist building was erected, now the headquarters of the Lipovan Russian Community in Romania,' said Adrian Dan.

He closed the tour with a reflection on Tulcea's many transformations - wars, shifting borders and waves of emigration that reshaped the city's ethnic fabric. 'After the First World War, the Greeks began to leave; in 1930, during the Great Economic Crisis, another wave left; in 1940 the Bulgarians started to leave, followed by the Germans in 1950; and in 1960 the Jews left as well,' he said, noting that all these departures changed the face of the city.

'I learned so many new things about buildings I pass every day,' said participant Razvan Ignat. 'I've joined three other tours, and each time I discover something new. It matters a lot - this area's identity is unique in Romania, and we are among the last generations who can carry on its story.' AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Luisiana Bigea; EN - writing by: Simona Klodnischi)