Post by George Roth

Because is the World Cup and weekend, a non business post ! Below you can see the tombstone of the man who brought the first soccer ball to Romania, in the town of Sulina, a City in the Danube Delta. His name was Benjamin Creber and he arrived from England with the ship HMS Cockatrice. HMS Cockatrice (1860), launched in 1860, was a Britomart-class wooden screw gunboat, renamed YC 10 in 1882 and finally sold in 1885. Benjamin Creber died in Sulina in 1880. Those times Sulina was called Europolis, and it was a very cool destination for Europe. In 1865, Benjamin Creber organized what is widely regarded as the first football (soccer) match played in Romania. Sulina Maritime Cemetery is a unique place in Europe. In a funerary complex divided into several areas, Christians of various denominations, Hebrew and Muslims, are buried together. Sulina was the last harbor for dozens of foreigners who now sleep their eternal sleep in a unique place in the world – the International Cemetery. In the past, Sulina was a large marina, a cosmopolitan city and hosted the European Danube Commission’s headquarters. In 1870 it became ‘Porto Franco’, meaning a free port, absolved from customs duty and having a special treatment. Many of the graves here are resting places for some English sailors or just for employees of the Danube Commission. Among them there are few graves of some Greek princes and even the tomb of Princess Catherine Moruzi, granddaughter of Prince of Moldavia, Ioan Sturdza. For more than 300 years, Sulina served as a hideout for feared Greek and Maltese pirates who plundered ships arriving from the West. One of these pirates, George Kontoguris, is buried here. The famous pirate symbol—the skull and crossbones—is engraved on his tombstone. His life and death are shrouded in mystery and legend. According to local stories, the pirate robbed hundreds of ships and amassed a great fortune, yet he died alone and impoverished. Another legend claims that he buried a treasure somewhere along the beach, and adventurers continue to search for it to this day. Others seek clues on his gravestone. A local tale says that, in order to properly read the inscription on the pirate’s tomb, the stone must be sprinkled with water early in the morning and then left to dry for a while, revealing hidden letters that gradually become visible. His grave is believed to be the only one in Europe officially recognized as belonging to a pirate. Thank You Traian Almasan for posting the story about the first Romanian soccer match !!!! Traian organizes back country tours in Romania, and he knows a lot of interesting info about the country ! A great animated short movie about Sulina was created by Bogdan Mureșan, is called The Magician: https://lnkd.in/gXe9Gm4B