Zimnicea

Zimnicea is a town in Teleorman County in the historic region of Muntenia in southern Romania, and a port on the left bank of the Danube opposite the Bulgarian city of Svishtov. It is the southernmost place in Romania and lies about 122 kilometres from Bucharest and about 39 kilometres from the county seat, Alexandria. A roll-on roll-off ferry between Zimnicea and Svishtov runs around the clock and shortens the road route between Turkey and central and western Europe. The settlement grew near a Geto-Dacian fortress, and ruins of several ancient fortifications stand nearby. Its name is first recorded in 1385 in the accounts of Christian pilgrims returning from Jerusalem, and it was briefly capital of Teleorman County in 1837 and 1838 before Alexandria replaced it. Russian troops were headquartered here in the war of 1877 and 1878, and German troops crossed the Danube here in the First World War. Much of the town was rebuilt on a new plan after the 1977 Vrancea earthquake, and at the 2021 census it had 12,589 inhabitants.