About Galați

Galaţi is the residence and also the biggest city of Galaţi County. It is one of the largest economic centers in Romania.

Being placed on the Danube River, the main European river commercial artery, the city has seen a remarkable growth due to the Naval Shipyard, Port River, Arcelor Mittal Integrated Steelworks and Ore Port.

Galați is located in southeastern Romania, in the southern part of the Moldavian Plateau. Its coordinates are latitude 45°27' north and longitude 28°02' east.

Being placed on the left (west) bank of the Danube river at the junction of the Siret River (west) and the Prut River (east), near Lake Brateș, 80 kilometers (50 mi) from the Black Sea, the city has an area of 246.4 square kilometers (95.1 sq mi).

The nearest town is Brăila, 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) to the south.

In Galaţi are two major landforms of the country: Romanian Plain and Moldavian Plateau, offering a landscape with different heights ranging from about 310 meters in the north and 5 meters in the south.

The area corresponds to the meeting point of the Eastern, Southern and Central European physico-geographical regions. The most important unit is the Danube Meadow, which intersects with the Prut Meadow and the Siret Meadow.

The climate is temperate-continental, Galați being under the influence of eastern continental air masses and less southern, almost totally lacking the influence of the western air which is stopped by the Carpathian Mountains.

The average annual temperature, calculated over a period of 70 years, is 10 degrees C. The average summer temperature is 21.3 degrees C.

In winter, over the Galaţi county come from north and northeast cold air masses that produce temperature drops that fluctuate between 0.2 degrees C -3 degrees C.

Galaţi position is peninsular because it is surrounded by water on 3 sides.

The Danube, Europe’s second largest river, produces a great impression on travelers, especially the ones who see it for the first time. The presence of the Danube is certainly the attraction of Galaţi.

Siret River, which flows from Wooded Carpathians of Ukraine, is the largest interior river which crosses the country from North to South Moldova.

Prut, the other river near Galaţi has an average flow rate of 85.5 cm/s flowing through asymmetrical sides. Prut has small tributaries, the most important being Horincea, with its tributaries - Liscov and Oarba.

Cătușa Lake is in the western part of the city, in the valley between the city and the Steel Works.

Brateş Lake is located in the northeastern part of Galați.

Vegetation is the result of the interference of East-European, Southern and Atlantic influence areas. Forest-steppe vegetation predominates, but in the meadow there is a rich hydrophilic flora (rush, reed, sedge) plus a rich aquatic vegetation.

On the surface of the ponds appear floating plants, such as the thistle, which has the fixed root, but also the duckweed, which has no roots fixed. At the edge of the lakes, we find white water lilies, yellow water lilies, water arrow, yellow iris.

The woody vegetation of the meadows contains several soft essences. We meet poplar, osier, willow, alder.

The fauna belongs to the steppe and forest-steppe that characterize the south of Moldova, as well as the biotopes of the ponds and meadows. Across the county we encounter boars, deer, bustards, gophers, hamsters, hedgehogs, mole rats, partridges, quail, skylark, storks, ducks, bald coots, herons, foxes, wolves, rabbits, gulls, sparrows, swallows (only in summer), cuckoos, nightingales, thrushes, wrens, pigeons.

Regarding to the fishes, in the waters of Siret and Prut there are predominantly carp, pike-perch and less sheatfish. In the Barlad, Gerului, Chineja rivers we meet the perch and the dace. In the Danube, near Galaţi, there are large, migratory fish such as sturgeon, sterlet, sevruga, but also the semi-migrators, such as sheatfish, carp, flatfish, plain surmulet, pike-perch, crucian. In the spring there is also the mackerel of the Danube River.

https://ro.wikipedia.org/
https://www.facebook.com/Galaţi-273603099461635/ - Foto: Tanasă Florin, Ion Iacob