TAKING A STROLL IN BRAILA

Teacher: Mirela Iordache

Students: Alina Oana Barbu, Balaş Maria Gabriela
Liceul Pedagogic “D.P. Perpessicius”, Brăila, ROMÂNIA

On a hill along the banks of the Danube, there rises the city of Braila, with its wide
streets and boulevards , with beautiful green parks and majestic buildings, creating the image of
an Occidental capital.
Braila follows a rigorous city plan: circular and straight streets, fanning out from the center,
with semi-circular streets intersecting them. It is only the straight boulevards which lead out of
the city, while the others are born and die within. Some, starting at the Danube, form a semi-
circle and come to an end on the other side of town, embracing the city like a lover embracing
his girlfriend, while to the east, the Danube’s waters reflect Braila’s church towers, factory
chimneys and ship masts.
There is a Braila of the center, a Braila of the suburbs, a Braila of the old factories, a Braila
of modern architecture. And, finally, there is a Braila of the new districts, of the large city
complexes.
The wide, green curve bordering the city to the south-east is the Danube, on which float
various mobile toys- the ships. For the residents of Braila, the Danube is a liquid universe,
steadily and ceaselessly flowing by, not in a hurry and brooking no obstacles. The river, called
Dunar, Dunaris in years past and then, Danube, by the Dacian shepherds and fishermen, gives
life to the city and its citizens as well.
The Danube gives Braila’s residents the feeling of ubiquity. Whether they stay at home or
move abroad, to a certain extent its residents feel like home as long as they are on the Danube or
can visit the river, now and again, all the way up to Vienna. That is why it is enough for its
residents to just hear the name “Danube” and it conjures up an entire world with that single
word.
It is the port which makes Braila different from other cities, which may seem like monasteries
enclosed within their walls. Braila is open, it gives and is given, offers and receives, it is like a
mediating sea, it is like a beach of life. Sitting on the cliff, the traveler’s look dives down onto
the wide quays of the port and on the liquid avenue of the Danube, full of tugboats and barges.
Then, there is Balta Brailei, that unique realm, crossed by streams and lakes, a realm where
water meets land, where reed meets the woods, a real empire of fish and game. The sun rises
behind the Macinului hills. The secular willow woods darken the banks. We are entering a
straight canal. On both shores, the trees, reflected in the water, seem upside down. The starlings
hover over the water like a gray dust. Gradually, the trees recede and make room for one of the
most interesting landscapes: the stone mountains of Dobrudgea.
Everything in Braila has a wide horizon, everything is magnificent and well organized,
and all bears a seal of absolute order.