Lacul Siutghiol

Lacul Siutghiol — known in local folklore as "Ghiolul Mare" and in tourism parlance as "lacul Mamaia" — is a freshwater maritime lagoon located on the Romanian Black Sea coast, in Constanța County, near the localities of Mamaia, Năvodari, and the town of Ovidiu. It covers an area of approximately 1,900 hectares, stretching roughly 7.5 km in length and up to 2.5 km in width, with a maximum depth of approximately 17–18 metres. Its name derives from Turkish — "Süt göl", meaning "milk lake" — a name linked, according to tradition, to a folk legend about waters as white as milk, to which the origin story of Insula Ovidiu is also connected. From a geological standpoint, the lake is a former bay of the Black Sea, gradually cut off from open water by a coastal sandbar — the very strip of land on which the Mamaia resort developed. Although it was once part of the sea, Siutghiol is today a freshwater lake, fed by powerful underground springs found along its bed and western shore; underwater research has revealed, beneath the layer of silt, traces of the ancient seabed, rich in shells. The lake is connected, via channels, to other lakes in the area and, through lacul Tăbăcărie, to the Black Sea. In the centre of the lake lies Insula Ovidiu, a limestone island of approximately 2 hectares — the only tourist attraction in Romania situated on an island — which hosts a restaurant and which, according to research, preserves traces of ancient human settlement dating back to the Palaeolithic; the island's name and legends are associated with the Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso, who was exiled at Tomis. The lake supports a varied fish population — carp, perch, pike-perch, and crucian carp — making it a popular destination for anglers, while its shores provide nesting grounds for numerous species of water birds. Today, Siutghiol is also an important centre for water sports — yachting, water skiing, and boat trips — combining its natural value with the tourist appeal of the coastline.