The Danube Delta

The last leg of our 3-week journey took us to the delta of the Danube River, which flows out into the Black Sea. To reach Tulcea (the main town of the delta), we had to take the train back to Bucharest from Brasov, and then the bus to Tulcea.

We had organised to our accommodation in a small village about 20km from Tulcea, called Murihiol, we were staying at a farmed owned by a Ukrainian chap called Sergei. The plan was to take the bus there from Tulcea, but as arrived to late to catch the last one, Sergei had to pick us up with his trusty old Dacia (the local car manufacturer in Romania - basically they manufacture Renault cars on a licence. The latest model, the Logan, is apparently pretty sought-after in France as well because it's cheap simple enough to fix by yourself if you know what you're doing!).



We got up very early the next morning, to go and explore the delta with Sergei, who owns a boat. It was a very fascinating day indeed, as he took us down the one of the main rivers, but also down small canals, and also through a lake. The Danube delta is one of the main bird- (the ones with wings ;-) watching (regions in Europe, and it was actually quite interesting even if it's not really my thing... The delta is particularly famous for its pelicans; they nest here before flying down to the Nile for the winter. We also saw a fox, loads of frogs, a couple of sea snakes, and a vulture (not to mention loads of other birds of various description).



In the afternoon, we went to see some nice ruins near our village, dating from the 2nd-6th century AD. Unfortunately, there were no explanations or signs about the ruins, since the excavations are still very much in progress (it was quite funny to see somebody's lunch bag casually amongst some of the excavated items...).

The next day we took a longer trip with the boat, heading out all the way out to the Black Sea, via a very nice lagoon (where we saw a large group of pelicans), to one of the main villages by the coast, Sfantu Gheorghe (there wasn't really all that much to see there, I reckon Sergei took us here so he could have a pint with his mates...). Then back to Murihiol it was...



The next morning it was unfortunately time to pack up and head back to Bucharest to catch our flight back to Nice. We had a bit of a scare the night before because we realised that we didn't have enough money to pay our host (let's just say that we paid a bit more for the boat trips than expected...) - and our bus was really 1st thing in the morning, and on a Sunday... So we really hoped the cash points in Tulcea would work... (and they did, fortunately).




We didn't have a lot of time in Bucharest, but we did manage to visit the Jewish quarter of Bucharest before though - an interesting area even if only a couple of synagogues remain from that period....

The road back to Brasov

The plan was then to drive down to Brasov, taking our time, return the car, and then head for the last leg of our journey - the Danube Delta.

The road back to Brasov was actually very nice too. We started off by stopping in the Neamt region, which like Buchovina is very famous for its monasteries. These ones are more functioning monasteries than historic monuments (and therefore also tourist attractions), like the Buchovina monasteries. We visited one located in Agapia. It was not as pretty as the Buchovina ones, definitely less colourful and more austere, but it was kind of nice to see some nuns who did other things than guide tourists, for a change.



From here, we carried on to Tazlau, where we spent the night at the Florean family's farm. After meeting our very friendly hostess (who spoke excellent French), we went for a walk through the village and the nearby hills (and also visited the local ruined monastery). You could say the place pretty well encapsulates the positive "cliches" of rural Romania, without being touristy at all (with geese wandering in the streets, farmers cutting hay in the street, old ladies gossiping on benches etc.). We finished off the evening with another great farm dinner, made from local products, with a nice Alsatian family (French people, not dogs ;-) who were also guests at the farm.



The next morning we carried on towards Brasov, driving through the awe-inspiring Bicaz gorge (pity about all the tourist shops along the road), and finally reached the famous red lake. It's a very beautiful lake set in the midst of the mountains, which apparently has reddish water (it seemed pretty blue to us), because the lake was apparently created by a landslide. Very pretty, though - with tree stumps sticking out of the water.






We were now in the Hungarian-speaking parts of Transylvania, which was apparent from all the Hungarian tour buses passing us by, and the Hungarian restaurant where we had lunch. Actually, we ended up spending the night in a Hungarian-Romanian village near Brasov, called Purcareni, with a Hungarian lady. The dinner was, again, great (and atmospheric, since we had to have it in candle-light due to a power cut caused by the raging storms outside...) - and I even got to practice my extremely rusty Hungarian (all 10 words of it!).

The next morning we drove into Brasov, and returned the car, and jumped on the bus to Tulcea, in the Danube Delta.

Buchovina

Feeling a bit sad to leave the picturesque Maramures region, we nonetheless pushed on relentlessly towards Buchovina. We decided to take the pretty mountain road, which unfortunately also in very, very bad condition - with big potholes sometimes covering half the width of the road! The views were pretty and the sun was shining, so all was well - until we had the flat tire. Well, I suppose it was bound to happen at one point... But maybe we were hoping it wouldn't happen in quite such a remote area as it did....




Well, all turned out well, we got the spare tire changed, found a hotel to spend the night (we had a bit of a shock when the lady, who didn't speak a lot of English, said the room would cost 1,000,000 lei! Then we realised she was talking about old lei, so in new lei the price was a more reasonable 100 lei) - and of course the setting was very nice, in the middle of the mountains (we even had time for a bit of a hike). In the morning, we got the tire mended, and on we drove, to Buchovina...




Buchovina is a very rural area, much like the Maramures, very famous for its orthodox monasteries - which are beautifully painted both on the outside and the inside. On our first day in the region, we had time to visit two of them, Moldovita and Sucevita. Both of them were quite stunning, especially the well-restored and beautifully painted interiors. There's still quite a lot to do on the outside - but once they finish the restoration work these monasteries will be amazing! (well, they already are).



Buchovina isn't all about monasteries though - the scenery there is very beautiful as well, in the middle of the Carpathian mountains. There are also plenty of traditions and old rural life in Buchovina, and lovely little villages. We also had time for some hiking, and for visiting a real gem of a church Arbore - where we even got a guided tour in kind of a mixture of Italian and French!



We did get a bit of a taster of Buchovian life also, staying at a very remote farm (we were quite worried about getting another flat tire, driving there!) in the middle of Buchovina. Our host turned out to be quite a character. We were greeted by his dad, a cranky old Romanian, and had to wait for the son's arrival. He did finally arrive, in quite a merry mood after quite a few shots of Tuica (the local liquor, made from plums). Quite a place, his farm! Our living quarters were, by Romanian standards, pretty luxurious (kind of reminds me of a Finnish log cabin) - covered by animal furs (apparently from his hunting trips...). The dinner didn't disappoint either, almost everything on the table was produced at the farm or in the village (including the wine and tuica, both of which I had a wee bit too much of...). At this point, we found out that our host was also the mayor of the town (and later we heard that he used to be a general under Ceausescu!).



After such a great stay, we left with a heavy heart (and me, with a sore head), but such is life. The next day we visited some more Buchovian landmarks, starting with a salt mine in Cacica (which interestingly enough is a Polish village, complete with catholic church) - an interesting place with an underground sport hall, a couple of chapels and some nice carvings in the rock.



Then we visited 2 other monasteries, Humor and Voronet. Especially Voronet was absolutely stunning, with maybe the best-preserved paintings we saw in Buchovina (both on the inside and outside).

Then it was once more time to head off, as our time in Romania was nearing its end...

Maramures

From here on we drove into the Romanian countryside. Our first destination was the Maramures - a region of Romania which has managed to stick to its traditions pretty well (in spite of some noveau rich who are unfortunately making their mark with their big fancy villas).

It's a lovely, quaint region of wooden churches, old farms, traditional costumes, friendly people and lovely scenery (dotted with haystacks).



The drive took us through winding mountain roads (kind of reminded me of the Alp Maritimes...), and into a lovely valley taking us past lovely, picturesque villages. It was like being taken back 100 years in time - people still use horse & cart to bring the hay back from the fields (although admittedly that seems to be the case everywhere in Romania!). Eventually we reached the main town of the region - Sighetui Marmatiei. After booking a hotel room, we set out to explore the area.

Our first stop was "Fosta Inchisoare de la Sighet et Muzeul victimelor totalitarismului" (bit of a mouthful, that). Basically it's a museum dedicated to victims of the communist regime (the building used to be a political prison). Interesting place, very well presented - wish I understood more Romanian though (a lot of the material wasn't translated...)!



After this, we drove down to Sapina, which is famous for its "happy cemetery". Basically the local grave maker has a very characteristic way of making graves - each blue wooden tombstone is decorated with a picture from its owner's life, as well as some witty text (well, it's obviously in Romanian, so we have to assume that is the case!) describing what the deceased had been up to in his life. It's a unique and wonderful place, I've never seen anything like it anywhere else! We also visited an under-construction monastery - with a ridiculously high wooden church (75 meters!)



We finished off the day with some leisurly driving through the lovely countryside - even stumbling onto a village fare at one point. After having a dinner in a nice (if somewhat touristy) restaurant back in town, we went to sleep, after a great day!





On Sunday, we continued touring around the countryside. The plan was to visit some of the wooden churches the region is famous for, which turned out to be a bit difficult since everybody was at mass (this being Sunday) - and unfortunately most of the churches were closed in the afternoon (looks like they really do rest on Sunday in this part of the world...). At the same time, it was great to see everybody walking down to mass wearing their traditional dresses (and I do mean everybody...) - we felt a bit alien in our shorts and t-shirts! We did manage to visit one old church on the inside, and were treated to some great artwork on the walls in the church...



As much as we loved the region, with its friendly people, we decided to head towards Bucovine in the afternoon - since we were quite pressed for time...

Saxon cities

After our quick visit to Bucharest, we headed for the Saxon cities, located in the centre of Romania, in Transsylvania. It's an interesting bunch of cities, with very strong German influence. This can be very clearly seen in both the architecture, culture and even language (these cities also have German names, and it seems to be quite widely spoken).



Our 1st stop was Brasov, which is the 2nd city of Bulgaria. It's a very nice city, with a very pleasant old centre. It reminded me a lot of cities like Krakow, Heidelberg and Tubingen, with its old guild house in the middle of a big town square. The main cathedral here is also a catholic one (which is kind of unusual since Romania is predominantly Orthodox).

After our unfortunately short visit in Brasov we made the tactical decision to rent a car, since it seemed unrealistic to get the most out of Romania (especially the countryside) by using public transport, as we had initially reckoned on. It turned out to be a wise decision, even though driving in Romania is quite an interesting (and at times very scary!) experience. Let's just say that the road network is in sore need of funding, which it is getting from the EU at the moment, which unfortunately also means that every road seems to be under repair (so a lot of temporary traffic lights, which Romanians don't seem to pay much heed to...).



From Brasov we went to Sibiu, which has the honour of being the Europian capital of culture for this year. A well-deserved honour - Sibiu was even prettier than Brasov, with its 3 well-preserved medieval squares. The only gripe I would have is that although the locals have obviously put a lot of effort by putting up temporary exhibitions and informative information points - it's all in German and Romanian only!




The other problem we came up against was the fact that all the hotels in town were booked, so we had to stay in a small spa town called Ocna Sibilui. Which wasn't actually such a bad thing - the hotel we were staying in was a really great family-run place, in a very nice building. Also we were treated to the unusual sight (well, not in Romania, as it turned out...) of the cattle being brought back into town. So you could say we got stuck in a bit of a traffic jam...





The next morning we visited the Astra museuem (after accidentally entering a military area, as we were sternly informed by a grim Man In Uniform), which is a very impressive open-air museum, a bit like Seurasaari in Helsinki. Basically it's a plot of land where they have reconstructed/moved various rural buildings (farms, churches, workshops) from different parts of Romania.



The next stop was Cluj-Napoca, where we spent the night. The city is definitely not as nice as Brasov or Sibiu, but it is interesting in addition to a strong German influence, there is also a very noticeable Hungarian presence here. For example, the university offers teach in both Romanian, German and Hungarian. But we didn't linger long - there didn't seem to be much of interest apart from the large gothic cathedral and some interesting old buildings (the old buildings are in a lot worse shape than in Sibiu and Brasov - with a bit of investment this place could be a lot nicer).

Bucharest

After the relatively peaceful Ruce, our next destination turned out to be a bit of a shock to the system. Bucharest is, I suppose, best described with words like chaotic, surprising, full of contrasts, for example.

And I don't mean that in a bad way (although it was very chaotic, busy and hot!), we found it a positive surprise in many ways (it doesn't have a very good reputation as a tourist destination). Even the taxi drivers didn't rip us off!


As I said before, Bucharest is (more than maybe any city I've seen in Europe) a city full of contrasts and surprises. There are some very pretty old buildings (including a lot of very impressive churches and monasteries), but also some pretty ugly Communist-era buildings. Although even for the communist monstrosities, it has to be said that they have a bit more class than for example in Bulgaria (maybe thanks to that flamboyant madman Ceausescu)? And then you have the crazy drivers, but on the other hand some very peaceful and well-kept parks.



The ultimate "attraction" of Bucharest is, of course, the huge building which now houses the Romanian parliament (amongst other things - because this place is massive!), and which was built towards the end of Ceausescu's mad reign (he never saw it finished, poor chap). It's actually the 2nd biggest building in the world (after the Pentagon), with 12 floors (which are, er, very high indeed), and about 250x250 meters in area. Some other interesting facts: 3 million light bulbs, 2000 chandeliers, a carpet weighing more than 1 ton. It really is like a modern-day Versailles. During our 90-minutes walking tour, we saw a measly 4% of the palace. You have to say it's a very impressive place, but spare a thought for half of the old town which was razed to make room for this monument to one man's madness!






Another nice thing about our stay in Bucharest was that we stayed in a decent hotel, for a change (although it did cost us 80 euros, which by Romanian standards is a fortune). We were actually quite keen to spend some more time in Bucharest, but had to leave, because we couldn't find any free hotel rooms!