Călărași

Călăraşi, the capital of Călăraşi County and Sud-Muntenia Region in the Wallachia region, is situated in south-east Romania, on the bank of Danube's Borcea branch, at about 12 kilometers from the Bulgarian border and 125 kilometers from Bucharest.

The city is an industrial center for lumber and paper, food processing, glass manufacturing, textiles, medical equipment production and heavy industry. The city is known colloquially as "Capşa provinciei" (the Capşa from the provinces).

Population
The 1900 census indicated 11,024 inhabitants.

In 2002, Călăraşi had a population of 70,039, with 95.86% of them declaring themselves as being Romanians and 3.45% Roma. Călăraşi, along with Silistra are making a conurbation that counts almost 170,000 inhabitants. The surrounding Romanian area of Călăraşi (Modelu; Ostrov; Roseti; Grădiştea; Cuza-Voda; Lipniţa and Ştefan-Vodă) is reaching a population of almost 110,000 inhabitants.

History
The site of a prehistoric village, Călăraşi was created by Wallachian princes as a station on the route to Istanbul, operated by horseback riders (the călăraşi). It expanded into a small town, and in 1834 became the surrounding country's capital.

Transportation
Călăraşi is connected by DN3, DN21, DN31 and DN3B. Also A2 ("The Sun's Motorway") has 3 exits for Călăraşi, at Lehliu Gară (about 50 km NW), Dragalina (about 30 km N) and Feteşti (about 40 km NE). The city lies on the seventh pan-European corridor of transport(the Danube river) and is next to the fourth pan-European transport corridor(Dresden–Constanța) at 26 km.

Climate
The climate is continental with a year average temperature of 11.3 °C. The lowest temperature ever recorded in Călăraşi was -30.0 °C on January 9, 1938 and the highest was 41.4 °C on August 10, 1957.

Sports
The city is currently represented by FC Dunărea Călăraşi in the Romanian Liga III soccer league. Sala Sporturilor (Călăraşi)

Notable natives

 * Ştefan Bănică, Sr. (actor, singer)

Twin towns — Sister cities
Călăraşi is twinned with:
 * Flag of France.svg Rivery
 * Flag of Italy.svg Naples
 * 🇺🇸 Royal Palm Beach
 * 🇨🇳 Hengyang
 * 🇷🇸 Zajecar
 * 🇲🇩 Călăraşi
 * 🇨🇦 Levy
 * 🇧🇬 Silistra