On the quays of Oltenița, people embark more often than they disembark. This Romanian town on the lower Danube, set near the confluence of the Argeș, serves as the starting point for several river cruises: motorcoaches drop off passengers coming from Bucharest, luggage rolls toward the cabins, crews bustle along the pontoons, and the river, wide and tranquil, awaits the signal to depart. The port call nonetheless deserves a look: for those who take the time, it tells of a discreet Romania, and of a past much older than it seems.

Bucharest an hour away by road

The Romanian capital lies about 65 kilometres to the north, and most programs devote the main excursion to it. Bucharest surprises with its contrasts: the Palace of the Parliament, a Ceaușescu-era colossus with three thousand rooms, stands alongside miniature Orthodox churches saved from demolition, and the Haussmann-style boulevards that once earned the city its nickname of "Little Paris" lead to the old Lipscani district, once again the heart of terraces and bookshops. The Romanian Athenaeum, a neoclassical rotunda with a painted dome, completes the picture for lovers of beautiful halls. The Village Museum, on the shores of Lake Herăstrău, brings together farms and wooden churches transported from every region of the country: an open-air lesson on Romania, ideal before heading down the river.

A six-thousand-year-old civilization

Oltenița itself holds a claim to fame few travellers suspect. The mounds in the area have yielded the remains of the Gumelnița culture, a Copper Age civilization that flourished on these banks more than six thousand years ago, well before the pyramids. The town's archaeological museum displays its painted ceramics and clay figurines in surprisingly expressive poses, which have become icons of European prehistory, reproduced in textbooks across the continent. The original mound still stands a few kilometres away. The room is modest, the collection is not: it is a reminder that the lower Danube was one of the cradles of ancient Europe.

Along the river

The waterside promenade offers the everyday spectacle of the great river corridor: barge convoys heading for the Black Sea, motionless fishermen, herons in the willows on the Bulgarian bank just opposite, and a low light that delights photographers at the end of the day. The town itself, laid out on a grid in the 19th century, features a centre with weathered neoclassical façades, a shady park and a market where produce from the nearby plains, tomatoes, watermelons and brined cheeses, gives a true idea of the Romanian table. Older residents remember the shipyard that was long the town's pride: generations of river boats, some of which still sail European waters, came out of its slipways. Nothing here is dressed up for visitors, and the curious who wander away from the quays are rewarded with surprised and friendly greetings.

Port call pointers

• Bucharest: about 1 h 15 by road; allow a full day with the Palace of the Parliament or the Village Museum.
• Oltenița Archaeological Museum: in the town centre, collections from the Gumelnița culture.
• Danube riverbanks: walk freely along the quays and through the park.
• Currency: the Romanian leu; bring a little local cash for the market.

Many will see nothing of Oltenița but a gangway and a motorcoach parking lot. That would be to forget that the Gumelnița figurines were already smiling on these banks when the rest of the continent was barely learning to shape clay. The Danube chooses its starting points well: beginning or ending a cruise here frames your journey between Europe's oldest face and its most patient river.