Next story, next country
Trip Start
Aug 08, 2009
1
3
16
Trip End
Jan 28, 2010
Crisan, Romania
Monday, August 31, 2009
I ended my last story with the wine from Eger and we really enjoyed Eger (no, not only because of the wine ;-) It’s a lovely small, pitoresque, bit touristy town with a beautiful castle and beautiful views over town. We did a little bit of pre-wine tasting in the evening and the next afternoon we went to the cellars to buy some bulls blood what the region is famous for and a can with normal local wine.
Let's go to Romania!
The stories about Romania weren’t positive but curious as we are we were looking forward to it anyway and it turned out to be a very positive surprise. Lovely small towns along the “highway” with colorful houses, fences and these cute old grannies in front of the fence on a small bench talking to each other or selling their fruits and vegetables. We bought very tasty tomatoes, watermelon and onions. In Cluj we found a campsite to park the van and take a hot shower. Hahaha at least that is what the owner said: 24 hours hot water! Not… Next morning indeed the water was warm and I felt being back in high school because of the huge, open air, bathroom with 5 showers in a row and being one of the 5 ladies who was looking forward to a hot shower….I am getting used to not having any privacy at all ;-)
A Polish guy from the campsite needed a ride to the next town, so friendly as we are we took him along. Kind of boring company as he slept almost the whole time in a very attractive position, see picture. We had our laugh that’s for sure! On the way to our next stop we visited a salt mine and Dracula’s town Sighisoara. It was a long distance to the mountains where we wanted to camp, we were tired, it was getting dark and we couldn’t find any place to camp. This was the first time that we had to search in the dark and that’s not easy in these small towns. Suddenly I saw a sign of a Pension somewhere in town and I thought it was worth a try to ask if we could use their parking place. Angelique used her charms and met these enormous friendly Italian owner and Romanian couple with their father Petru (92 years old). We were very welcome and had a the most lovely evening, chatting about traveling, watching pictures from their last trip to Amsterdam and dancing with this 92 years old, but very active man on the music of Andre Rieu which he loved :-)! Petru also writes and sings his own songs and never lost his charms, what a admirable person! Next morning they invited us to have breakfast in the beautiful garden of the pension. For a fact: we both like Romania and the Romanian people!
Somewhere it has to go wrong you would say…After a day hiking in the mountains and a camp party with a huge Romanian family who didn’t speak any English (lot’s of fun, huge camp fire, loud traditional Balkan music and dancing again) we had to take the ferry to cross the river. The crew wanted us to park in a normal car spot and as many of you know our van is not the kind of normal sized car…I think Angelique did very well but unfortunately she scratched the car of two ladies and that the whole ferry and surrounding heard loud and clear! Wwhaaahh, they were furious! They were from the police and we had to pay immediately, etc, etc. When everything was calmed down a bit and we arranged to go to the police station the 4 of us we still had to pay the ferry of course. 100 Lei he told us, that is 25 Euro. No way…!! Impossible! And here we go again…ok ok 50 Lei, we still don’t believe him and it becomes 40 Lei….pfff Angelique asks the 2 ladies for help and the real fee turns out to be 25 Lei. He tried to rip us off enormously, the basterd with his I-feel-pity-for-you eyes…Well done Angelique. The ladies turned out to be nice and all was arranged quickly.
We can continue our road to the Delta at the Black See...
This is place where the Danube river splits in 3 arms and around 4000 sq km of wetland is home to lots of birds and fish species. We decide to go to Crisan, a one street-village (7km long) and 500 habitants. We have to leave the van because cars are not allowed and take the fast ferry to go to Crisan. Next days boat trip is another great memory. I enjoyed every second of it. The whole day on the water, spotting birds (even Pelicans) in a beautiful nature with some Belgium people on board...Definitely a day to put in my good memories diary.
On our way out of Romania I tried to find the music of Michaela Belicia, one of the traditional CDs we heard during our Romanian party. If anybody knows her or can find her music, Daniela maybe you know her? Would you mind buying this CD during your trip to Romania?
Comments
Let's go to Romania!
I never had Romania in mind. These pictures changed my point of view. It looks fantastic.
It is clear that the two of you are having a great time and it brings a little of your holiday and Romania sunshine into the office.
I try to find a Romanian wine and toast on you!
Rienk.