Tulcea is where the land runs out. The town climbs a set of low hills above the southern arm of the Danube, and from the waterfront you look east toward the delta, a world of reeds, channels and lakes that stretches for some seventy kilometres to the Black Sea and has no road through it at all. From here, everything moves by boat: ferries to Sulina and Sfântu Gheorghe, fishermen's skiffs, and the small cruisers that take visitors out to see the pelicans. Riders, for once, are the ones who have to stop and look.
The town itself is a crossroads of peoples. Romanians, Lipovan Russians, Turks, Tatars, Ukrainians and Greeks have all lived in northern Dobrogea, which was Ottoman for more than four centuries before it passed to Romania in 1878, and the Azizie mosque with its slim minaret still stands near the centre. On the hill above the port is a monument to that transfer of power. The delta museum and aquarium on the waterfront is a good introduction to the wildlife, including the sturgeon that once made the river famous for caviar.
The riding around Tulcea is more interesting than many people expect. To the west rise the Măcin Mountains, worn granite hills among the oldest in Europe, now a national park, with a scrubby, almost Mediterranean feel and roads that curve between steppe, vineyards and rock outcrops. South toward Babadag the main road runs through rolling, open country with long views and few trees, and the wind off the Black Sea and the steppe can be strong. In summer the heat is fierce and the light hard; spring, when the steppe is green and the birds are arriving, and September are much kinder.
Tulcea has every service you could want, from fuel stations on the approach roads to supermarkets, banks and a long promenade of cafes and restaurants where fish soup, grilled carp and saramură, fish cooked in brine with garlic and peppers, are on every menu. It is the obvious place to stop for the night before or after a boat trip into the delta. Mosquitoes are a serious nuisance near the water in summer evenings, so pack repellent along with the rain gear. If you want to explore the delta itself, leave the bike in a secure guarded spot and give it at least a day.