Calarasi County
Danube plain county where 6,000-year-old Gumelnita culture meets modern steel works and agricultural production
When archaeologists excavated Gumelnita hill near Oltenita, they uncovered a Neolithic settlement from the 4th millennium BCE—evidence that the Danube's Borcea arm has attracted human habitation for six millennia. Today Calarasi County occupies the Baragan Plain's southeastern corner, producing 3% of Romania's agricultural output from humus-rich soil while the Calarasi steel works represents heavy industry. The county touches Bulgaria across the Danube, with ferries from the capital to Silistra, but tourism infrastructure remains minimal—just 3 hotels serve the entire county. Gas and oil extraction at Ileana commune adds extractive wealth to agricultural foundations, while the Borcea branch splits the Danube into island-dotted channels now drained but still defining the landscape.