Did you know that…
Ovidiu Island is the only tourist attraction in our country that is located on a natural island. The island is a unique place that attracts them year after yearge for tourists who want to escape from the agglomeration of Mamaia in a quiet, secluded place, even for a few hours. Ovidu Island is an island of calcareous origin; this is the legendary place where the poet Publius Ovidius Naso (lived between 43 BC - 17 AD) was exiled in 8 AD. by the emperor Augustus. During his stay on the island, Publius Ovidius wrote the works "Tristele" and "Ponticele".
ABOUT OVIDIU'S ISLAND
The island was created thousands of years after nature; over time, people left their mark on it and created a point of attraction for tourists from all over the country, but also a series of legends. The island is located 500 m from the shore of the town of Ovidiu and 5000 m from the Mamaia Resort. The name of the island is given by the poet with the same name exiled here, Publius Ovidius Naso. The surface of the island is approximately 26,000 square meters; about half of the surface is arranged for tourist purposes. According to the research done on the island, the oldest human settlements in the area date back to the time of the Tracho-Getae and the Geto-Dacians; also, there are human traces on the island dating back to the Paleolithic. Over time, Daco-Getic-Scythian populations and Greek colonies also lived in the area.
THE LEGENDS OF OVIDIUS ISLAND
The origin of the island is based on a beautiful legend that links the island to Lake Siutghiol and the statue of Ovid, which is today in Constanta; it is said that in the place where the lake and the island are today, in the past there was a large expanse of land inhabited by wicked and stingy people. Around here, in one of the old days, God walked with Saint Peter, asking the locals for a place to rest for the night; no one took pity on them, so the two climbed a hill where a lonely house could be seen. There they came across a poor old woman whose wealth was a barren cow; the only one who visited the old woman was Ovidiu, who used to come all the way from Rome to ask about her health from time to time. The old woman agreed to host the two for one night, saying right from the start that she had nothing to feed them before food and drink. Hearing this, God tells the old woman to go and milk the cow; the poor woman apologizes and tells God that the cow is barren and that it would not be able to give her milk, to which God insists and sends the woman to try, saying that one does not know and that miracles happen. The legend says that the cow gave so much milk that the old woman managed to fill all the dishes in the house. At the urging of the two guests, the old woman put a handful of flour in the embers and suddenly the room was filled with the smell of warm bread. The miracle was even greater because as the guests and the old woman broke a piece of bread, it grew back in place.
With the insertion, the old woman and the two guests went to bed, but early in the morning when the woman woke up, the guests were already gone. Leaving this house, he saw that at the foot of the hill there was no more land, but a lake with sweet water and white as milk. When she saw one like this, the old woman called Ovidu who had also spent the night in an old room in this house; amazingly, it turned into a stone shed.
The legend says that the lake with sweet water and white as milk is Lake Siutghiol and the hill on which the old woman's house and the fence are located is Ovidiu Island.
