Founded around 600 B.C. as a Greek trading colony called Tomis, Constanta is Romania's oldest living city. Ovid immortalized Tomis in his poetry after being exiled here by the Roman emperor Augustus in 8 A.D. The city was renamed Constantiana in 950 A.D. in honor of Constantia, the half-sister of Constantine the Great. It is located on the Black Sea Coast and has a population of about 300,000; its climate is mild and somewhat Mediterranean.
Constanta's sights include Ovid's Square, the Genoese Lighthouse, the Eastern Orthodox St. Peter & Paul Cathedral, the Carol I Mosque, and the beautiful Art Nouveau casino on the Black Sea coast.