We order a couple of dollops of white caviar and lightly fried palamud, a Black Sea whitefish that passes by from Romania and Ukraine in late summer.

BBC: The Black Sea by Moskvitch

Tonnes of cyanide residue poured from a Romanian gold mine into the Tisza river in Romania, and were then washed into the Danube and finally the Black Sea.

BBC: Minister takes the Danube plunge

Voters wanted a change, they blamed the socialists for Romania's corruption, and they saw the plain-spoken Mr Basescu, a former sea captain and mayor of Bucharest, as a rare honest man.

ECONOMIST: A promising start to a presidency