Escaping The Crowds

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The week started with the realisation that we only had a fortnight left in the van. Clearly we weren't going to get to see as much of Eastern Europe as we had hoped, with Spain and France taking up more time than we had thought. We were hoping to get to Romania and decided we had just enough time to at least see a small amount of it and after a bit of research decided on the Maramures region in the North West of the Country.

The Maramures region is the last peasant culture in Europe; where the residents live off the land, use horse-drawn carriages and still wear traditional clothes. The area is also known for its wooden churches and stunning scenery. Crossing the boarder into Romania we were instantly shocked by the state of the roads, if you could call them that. Even the fairly main roads were full of pot holes and were practically half gravel. After about an hour of driving though mostly countryside we were passing through the one big town in the area and our car decided to not change into gear. Thankfully we were across the road from a petrol station and were able to push it to saftey. A few of the bolts that they put in in Hungary had came loose and the whole drive shaft fell of. Michael could have easily fixed it with the right tools. So once again we called road side assistance and two hours later a boy racer turned up in a hotted up VW golf wearing white shoes (never a good sign!). He looked over in the general direction of the engine and said in the only English words he knew 'no good'. He called someone who told Michael that they would tow the car 3km and then fix it on Monday (it was a Saturday). After a few heated words Michael began to search the kids VW for any tools as he only needed a few things to get us back on the road, but the only tool he could find was the one who belonged in the drivers seat. After a game of charades the boy racer finally came to his sensors and called another mechanic who appeared in about 10 minutes and as Michael thought had the van fixed in another 10 minutes.

Our boy racer waved goodbye and left us in a cloud of burnt rubber.We debated whether to just turn around and head back to Hungary but decided to push on. Unfortunately the roads got about 10 times worse (if that's possible) the closer we got to our destination- the town of Breb. When we were about 20km away from the campsite we got hit by one of the strongest storms we have ever seen. Within a minute of rain we had to find high ground for the van as the road was now covered in 3 inches of water and rocks the size of your fist were being carried down the hill. We waited for the storm to pass then continued up over the mountain pass. Twelve hours from when we left Hungary and 200ks later we turned up in Breb and drove through the town trying to find the campsite. The last hurdle of the day was to discover that our campsite was 1km along a road that was made up of more rocks than mud and Michael had to ease the van up the track in first gear the whole way. We were pretty shocked when we saw that two out of the three current occupients a the campsite were Australians, especially when we found out they had gotten there via public transport- it made out day sound easy!

The campsite was run by a Dutch couple and was in a beautiful setting. We spent the next day relaxing in the hammocks and went for a wander into town to see the locals going to church, all decked out in their traditional clothes. The town was so tiny it only consisted of two churches and one pub. That night we went down to the pub with the Aussies and a Mexican guy also at the campsite. All the local men were there still dressed in their Sunday best, and Michael bought the first round of 5 beers costing him just $2.50AUD. When the pub closed we were shocked to see a guy also leaving get into his tractor and pull away. We walked up the hill for a few minutes and were surprised to see our path blocked by the same tractor, with the engine running, and no driver. We wondered where the driver was and after searching the area with our mobile phone lights we saw him passed out in the bushes. Suddenly a neighbour came running out of a nearby house, left the driver sleeping and drove the tractor away. We were all left laughing and wondering how long the guy would remain in the bushes.

We were sad to leave the beauty of the campsite but happy to be getting out of Romania, as we started our journey back west. Thankfully the car managed to hold up over the roads and we breathed a sigh of relief as we entered back into Hungary. We spent the night Tokaji which is a pretty little town, where Hungary's most famous wine comes from. We found a cave winery and managed to try some for about 50cents a glass and it was delicious. We also found a local restaurant where we had some paprika chicken.

Slovakia was next, and we headed to the tiny town of Levoca. Lecova was a picturesque little place with a square that provided views off into the mountains from every street. The best part about traveling around Eastern Europe is the lack of tourists, with us only seeing a couple of others in Lecova. We knew if the town was in France or Italy it would be teaming with tourist shops and people taking photos.

Heading for Poland we passed through the Tatra Mountain range and got a small glimpse of the beauty of Slovakia, wishing we had more time to spare. Crossing the boarder into Poland, Michael wished that he could turn around and join the 400 strong Dutch car rally which gave us a warm welcome of honks waves and thumbs up as we passed by on account of our Dutch number plates.

Krakow, Poland's second largest city was our next stop and what a beautiful city it is. Krakow was the former royal city of Poland and has a huge castle as well as an old town with a stunning square. It is hard to be impressed by European squares after going to so many but Krakow manages to do just that, with gothic churches, a main market and horse drawn carriages. Other reasons that make Krakow so appealing is that there is a dramatic drop of tourists that you would find in a major western European city and one can actually afford to eat a meal in the main square.

Next we headed to Auschwitz visiting both camps 1 and 2, which are the remaining concentration and extermination camps built by the Nazi Germans in the town of Oswiecim. Visiting a place where 1.1 million people were murdered was always going to be a somber occasion, but was certainly a real eye opening experience and even with all the displays in the buildings it was hard to imagine what those poor people went through.

Heading north we stopped in at the town of Tarnowskie Gory and caught up with one of Michael’s former colleges from London who had returned to her hometown in Poland. We went to a restaurant and under tried the local dish of rolada slaska which was an amazing tasting type of sausage.

The week ended in Wroclaw, Poland which is a stunning little city with beautiful architecture and pretty much no tourists. Wroclaw is a university town, so was teaming with young people and was great to wander around the square which is in my opinion one of the prettiest in Europe and basically just see locals. After locating one of the busier restaurants on the square and Michael consuming almost half a goose, we decided that no trip to Poland could be complete without trying some of the local vodka. After doing one final lap of the square we made our way back to the tram commenting on how good the public transport system was. As Wroclaw passed by the tram windows we came to a sudden stop and the few remaining passengers disembarked, along with the driver. A quick consultation of our iphone showed that we had in fact traveled in the opposite direction across the city thanƒ we wanted. As the few remaining trams started to shut down for the night we jumped on the next passing tram only to dropped at the central tram depo. We conceded defeat and hailed the next passing taxi.



Next week we will be heading back to The Netherlands to return the van.

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Comments

[Pam Baynes]

Beautiful Photos!
Hi Jenny and Mike, Wonderful blog again Jenny. We have all enjoyed your travels through Europe. Thank you and love to you both. Pam oxox

[Nanna & Gargs]

Journeys.
Well you have plenty of laughs and worries too but it all sounds a great time for you both, Must have been a real worryn when the Van broke down. Good luck on your next adventure. love .