Zimnicea

Zimnicea is a town in Teleorman county, Romania (in the historic region of Wallachia), a port on the Danube on the other side of Bulgarian town of Svishtov.

Zimnicea is the southernmost point of Romania situated on the left bank of the Danube river. The distance between the Zimnicea and Bucharest is 122 kilometres and the distance to Alexandria (the main town in Teleorman County) is about 39 kilometres.

Zimnicea has been developed near a Geto-Dacian fortress (about 1,200 m west of downtown). Traditional agriculture, fishing, iron processing, carpentry, pottery, commerce were the occupations of the people throughout the town's existence.

The name of the town was first mentioned in 1385 in the journey logs of early Christian pilgrims on the way home from their trip to Jerusalem. The Byzantines called it Demnitzikos and later on Dzimnikes or Dzimnikos. The town flourished as a trade post on the trade routes that linked Central Europe to the Balkans.

In 1835, it had 531 households, being the twelfth largest market town in Wallachia. For a short time in 1837 - 1838, it was the capital of Teleorman county, but due to internal argues between the landowners and merchants, it was replaced by Alexandria.

In Zimnicea there are 5 kindergartens, 3 elementary schools with primary and secondary education and one high school. The high school has 15 classrooms, a gym and a school workshop. Zimnicea High School has a library with 20,578 volumes.

Cultural institutions operating in Zimnicea are: the cultural center and the town library.

Zimnicea Harbor

The harbor is placed on an ancient point of crossing border and commercial transactions. The stone quay of the port was built after 1918. After 2000, the port knows a spectacular revival, is now equipped with modern cargo handling facilities.

A tradition of the city is the holiday of wine and vine "Zărezan" which is organized every year on 1st of February and attended guests from Bulgaria. Other known town’s holiday is “Brumarel”, which is taking place Saturday and Sunday in the middle of October.

Other tourists atractions are: The station (1902) – architecture monument, leisure base and Cheson beach; the former camp for students located in a special natural scenery, the Beaches on the banks of the Danube River and places favorable for leisure’s fishing, the city’s park; religious establishments: “Sfinții Īmpărați Constantin and Elena”, „Sfinții Apostoli Petru and Pavel”, „Sfinții Mihail and Gavril„ churches; Monuments: Statue of the Unknown Soldier, Heroes Cemetery, archaeological site (protected area) "Castle Hill" Geto - Dacian (about 1,200 m west decentralized city) considered the oldest of Wallachia and having an area of 9.3 ha.

Culture centers are: House of Culture and the city library - Radu Miron Paraschivescu'' was established in 1952. Library totalizes more than 57,000 volumes, arranged in 11 rooms and one for reading.

Source: http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimnicea,

http://www.orasulzimnicea.ro/, www.tourismguide.ro, http://www.ecomunitate.ro/Zimnicea(18856).html