Constanța

Constanța is Romania's oldest city and its gateway to the Black Sea, founded around 2,600 years ago as the Greek colony of Tomis.

For most of its long history, almost everyone here arrived by water - Greeks and Romans, Ottoman Turks and Tatars, Armenian and Jewish refugees, Greek and Bulgarian merchants, German and Italian craftsmen. Nearly none were born here, yet each community left its mark, and the result is one of the most diverse old towns on the Black Sea coast.

Here, churches, mosques and synagogues stand shoulder to shoulder, and grand seaside landmarks like the recently restored Casino look out over the same water that carried everyone in.

The best way to discover this layered city is on foot: a self-guided audio walk leads you through 11 stops, from the seafront Casino to the Confessional Octagon - a remarkable cluster of churches, mosques and synagogues where five faiths sit within a few hundred steps of one another.