Border Crossing

Trip Start Aug 19, 2007

Trip End Sep 10, 2007

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Flag of Romania Sighetu Marmatiei, Romania
Monday, September 3, 2007

We stopped for a few minutes at the Ukranian border where a bridge crossed over the river Tisa. The Romanian half of the bridge and border facilities are done, but the Ukranian side was shabbily built, so the authorities condemned it a few months after it opened in 2001. We couldn't cross, obviously. Andrei negotiated with the guard so that we could stand by the river and "stare into" the Ukraine; the guard eventually agreed but Andrei had to hand over his tour guide license in case we bailed. Pictures weren't allowed but we didn't hear/understand that until we had snapped a few.

We didn't hear about complicated political issues on why the bridge wasn't operational, but we did observe the sinking/leaning of the bridge on the Ukranian side of the river.

Here's an overview of a documentary film titled "The Bridge." One of the bridges across the river Tisa has a long and complicated story: the bridge between Sighet and Slatina

Beautiful facilities on the Romanian side

. Sighet is a small town in the north of Romania, close to the Romanian-Ukrainian border, and Slatina the neighbouring town on the Ukrainian bank of the Tisa.

This bridge has been build during the Austrian-Hungarian empire and destroyed shortly before the end of the Second World War.

A whole web of family, cultural and economic ties was destroyed after this war. The northern bank of the river became part of the Soviet Union while the southern bank continued to be Romanian. The river Tisa separated the two towns for more than fifty years.

Since 2000 the bridge is being rebuilt with the support of the E.U. and it's PHARE-Programme.

The reconstruction of the old bridge was finished in 2002. But people can't cross the border yet. The second round of enlargement of the EU will include Romania, which has to apply the Schengen acquis when it becomes a member of the Union and this means also to severe ties with populations and territories to which it is linked by culture and history.

The inhabitants of the two towns are still separated. http://www.deckert-distribution.com/films/deckert_204.htm

Sighetu Marmatiei hotels Slideshow