May 1st during the pandemic

On every May 1st (International Workers’ Day), Romanians would flock to the Black Sea coast to take advantage of the public holiday and kick off the season. But May 1st 2020 fell in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the nationwide state of emergency which barred people from accessing public space, except for bare necessities. I went to the seaside on that day to find out what the Black Sea resorts look like when they are devoid of any human presence. I found an empty and desolate landscape, with only a handful of people roaming here and there.

Empty parking lots, abandoned hotels, deserted beaches, many small white dogs, a lady dressed in black crossing the beach from one end to the other to feed the swans, the owner of a club on the beach at a barbecue with the family (plus a small white dog ) in front of the enclosed terrace, a gentleman looking through his binoculars for a distant vessel at sea, a main street where no one asks you for money or beer in exchange for a hug, a good place for kisses, two big dogs walked by their owners, rags in the wind and a perfect sunrise in the mirror. The whole scenery seemed disturbingly yet, in some strange way, reassuringly empty and quiet.