There are people who love museums and people who love aquariums. Happily, there are also places that offer a 2in1 experience making sure to take care of both categories of tourists and today's post is about this kind of experience.

Still while being in Tulcea there is one more thing to check out before heading home, which even though I did see in 2019 as well, I knew it was worth it a new visit since some of the things you will see inside the museum will not look the same two visits in a row.
What I'm talking about are the temporary exhibitions that the museum shelters once in a while, which not only will delight your eyes but also teach you something new, with the mention that one of the activities held inside the building with the purpose of making people aware of how important it is to stop polluting the world in many forms, should already be known by everyone no matter the age. But we'll discuss more about it when the moment comes.

The day when we visited the museum represented actually our day back home, but since we had to do the check-out quite early and there were a few hours left before we had our train ride, we took advantage of this moment to explore the city a bit more and see what new memories we can create.

Unfortunately, the museum was under renovation when we explored it back in August 2022, so I'll have to recycle the picture used in the post with my first visit here so you can see how it looks on the outside.

I know museums look quite interesting in most cases and their architecture is not too boring no matter what's the theme the museum is focusing on, but if you've been to Romania perhaps you already noticed that over here museums are quite common looking and won't stir your curiosity unless you know what's on the inside.

But since museums are not for everyone and most likely not anyone crossing down the street is interested in what it has to offer, I think the way it looks on the outside is less important since the real treasure rests inside the building and will only be discovered by the passionates.

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After getting our tickets which I was pleasantly surprised to see that they didn't get a lot more expensive than what I paid in 2019 considering that there is an inflation going on and a pandemic affected most of the businesses, we decided to move forward with our journey that was only at the beginning.

Even though the museum is fairly small to what I've seen before, it's structured on 3 floors where each one has its own theme and things to offer to the visitors, but since it's always easier to come from top to the bottom, we decided to follow all the way up to the stairs and begin with a pretty interesting part of the building, especially if you are a fish/fishing lover.

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While some of the arranged 'rooms' looked pretty much the same as how I first discovered them in 2019, I was happy to see that they did add some new elements too and the staff didn't let the figures deteriorate over time, always making sure they are well-maintained.

Personally, neither I, nor my boyfriend enjoy eating fish, but rather go fishing as it's a pretty relaxing activity. But it was still captivating to see various techniques and methods of capturing the fish and that there is a lot of hard work behind any activity if it turns into a lifestyle and doesn't stick to the level of passion.

Also, from what I know, while the men are mascots made out of various materials, the fish hanging on the rope is dried fish, and that can also be confirmed by the subtle smell specific to fish which strengthens the whole experience.

The next floor we explored was the one dedicated to the temporary exhibitions, where we had two undergoing when we visited Danube Delta Museum.

The first part of it was dedicated to how much damage people can cause to waters and the whole world in general by polluting it in many forms without giving a damn that with the passage of time, they will unconsciously kill people and themselves through their actions.

The whole exhibition was actually put together by a group of kids who also got involved in the cleaning activities bringing in sealed bags all kinds of things found in The Black Sea and Romania's waters in general, from condoms to cigarette butts, bottles, and a lot more that honestly I wouldn't imagine someone would ever throw in the water.

Seeing this exhibition gave me mixed feelings since I thought there is way too little space dedicated to it being placed in a small corner of the floor, but at the same time, I got annoyed that we are in 2023 and such exhibitions are still needed to educate people while they should already be aware of a lot of things including how much you can harm everything and everyone by polluting the environment in all its forms.

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The 2nd exhibition held on the same floor was mostly focusing on stones and shells that only the lucky ones get to see with their own eyes in the underwater world.

While I did have the occasion to collect some decent shells no matter the beach I ended up exploring in the past, I've never seen such impressive sizes, and, nevertheless, the exhibition did a great job offering us new perspectives on everything and admire details of the shells that we wouldn't be able to notice on the regular ones we find resting on the beach.

There were also some interesting pots recovered from the bottom of the sea where things part of different ships that failed to reach the shore ended up and which are dating for centuries but still managed to be brought to the modern times for those passionate about history.

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Another interesting part of the museum is represented by the different environments reproduced pretty well with the original ones where both artificial and stuffed animals are represented in their natural size along with the environments they belong to.

While you will get to see pretty much every animal that can be noticed in Danube Delta and its surroundings, the whole experience is perfectly completed by the sounds played in hidden speakers which take you one step closer to nature and how is it like to stay so close to a place that is mostly frequented by birds for example, or the one where snakes, reptiles, hedgehogs, and rodents are at any step.

There were also added maps that I don't remember seeing in 2019 which show you the exact positions where you can find these environments in Romania, but also some informative panels that give you new perspectives of how blessed you are to have some species living in your country that are so rare in the rest of Europe.

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Last but not least, the moment to make it to the last floor came, which was also the main reason we visited the museum. As you perhaps have already figured out from both pictures and the title of the post, Centrul Muzeal Ecoturistic "Delta Dunării" doesn't represent just a museum but also an aquarium with tens, maybe hundreds of unique species where most of them can't be found anywhere in the waters of Romania.

Personally, I did see aquariums before, both in Romania and other foreign countries, but each of them had a unique energy. And considering that my boyfriend was always fascinated by fishes and dreams of the day when he will own an aquarium with plenty of different species, it was impossible to return home without stopping here and admiring all the animals that turned the building into a 2in1 experience for the visitors.

And even if the museum doesn't enjoy a lot of space for large aquariums for bigger species of fish, they did a great job arranging everything so they can bring some scary species too, like all kinds of sharks or predators.

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Ironically, fairly close to the aquariums dedicated to predators and sharks, can be seen the aquariums used for the fish that is usually captured for eating, but which sadly were just a few compared with the big numbers of catfish, carp, pike, and other species that I've seen in 2019.

Either way, these along with the interactive aquariums for kids where they can sneak in the middle of it to get surrounded by fishes, represents just a transition part before reaching the final part of the museum and aquarium.

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This final part is represented by the small aquariums and the fish species that you can usually get for building your very own aquarium at home, some of the most famous species that I never see missing in any of the aquariums visited so far being the clown fish and blue tang that everyone knows from Nemo and Dory.

Of course, there are a lot more species than these two, and it's very relaxing to sit on one of the benches available to simply admire the little creatures, along with their carefully arranged environment and the plants that are not artificial either.

However, just before exiting the building, you will get surprised one last time by the room where you can purchase a souvenir but which is shared with a bunch of turtles that I've always found very interesting and adorable.

The price we had to pay for the visiting ticket was 25 RON / 5.07 EUR per person, but there are discounts applied to students and retired persons. You can see the full list of prices on the official website.
Also, I tried to focus more on the experience we had visiting Centrul Muzeal Ecoturistic "Delta Dunării" which is also the official and complete name of the museum and aquarium that you will find on the map, rather than sharing informative details as I did last time, so in case you are more interested in that part, you can check out my main article for a complete understanding since I tried to avoid repeating myself in information.

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Centrul Muzeal Ecoturistic "Delta Dunării" is open for visiting any day of the week between 9 AM and 5 PM, except on Monday when it's closed, and it's located close to the seafront on the Str. 14 Noiembrie 1, Tulcea, 820009. You can reach the museum pretty easily from any part of the town by simply writing its complete name on the GPS and you'll see that this one is close to most of the hotels in town, so make sure not to miss it if you make it to this part of the globe one day.

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More articles from the same adventure:

• Tales of a 16 hours long train ride
• Tomis Harbor
• Mila 23
• Letea Forest and its wild horses
• Sulina and its leftovers
• Sulina Beach
• Tulcea and Ciuperca Beach
• Hotel Delta 4*
• Danube Delta Museum and Aquarium
• Medigidia - the city of cats

SEE YOU IN THE NEXT TRIP! 🗾

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