Advertisement
Train to Timisoara
Alex, the friendly Romanian. He was very excited about our trip and was calling Eric Jack Kerouac. Everyday for the last month has been jam packed and we have only just had the chance to sit down with enough time to write about Romania.
We quickly noticed that most of the people living in Romania are very open and friendly and curious to talk to foreigners. On the train ride from Budapest we were quickly greeted by Alex, he was originally from Romania but working for M.T.V in Budapest. Purely for fun he was coming back to organize a road trip for a few tourists wanting to see Transylvania. We spent the train ride looking at some Beautiful places he was planning on taking them.
I had just been reading a book about an Englishman learning to live in a small village in Transylvania and had been really moved by the way he had described the people and the landscape. Talking to Alex stimulated those feelings again and even though it would be going in completely the wrong direction we decided to keep the idea of making a trip there in the back of our minds.
When we arrived in Timisoara we felt we had left the main tourist route and we were not seeing
Walters apartment.
We noticed there were a lot more stray dogs in Romania and also quite a few kids living on the street, some looked around 10 and were sniffing glue. as many backpackers around. The first two nights we couch surfed at Walters, a friendly guy who introduced us to the couch surfing community in Timisoara. Surprisingly they all seemed to know Theodora, the woman we would be staying with on our next WWOOF adventure.
The next day we left with Walter to meet Theo. On meeting her we noticed immediately she was an active member of the community. We greeted a few of her friends, were shown the where to go bars and then left for Stanciova.
Stanciova is a wee village of around 400 people, forty minutes out of Timisoara. Horse and carriage seem to be the preferred mode of transport and the villagers seem to have kept to traditional ways of farming. Within the village there is smaller group of younger people, including Theo, who try to work together so that they don't need to depend so much on money. This is the link to their page if you want to read more about them.
http://stanciova.wordpress.com/category/english/
Theo was very relaxed and she seemed to see WWOOF as more of a way share with people the way she lived and to have a laugh
and exchange stories. In the morning we would do some planting, have a couple of hours for lunch, and then something small but always interesting in the afternoon. The evenings were spent having a jam or playing soccer with the kids from the village.
We felt so at home that we ended staying 3 weeks instead of 2 and therefore missed Transylvania, even though people kept mentioning that we should go. We have promised ourselves that when we are back in Europe it is the first place we will go.
I could really go on about Theo, her friends and all the interesting projects going on in Stanciova and Timisoara but I will go on and on so I am just going to put up the pictures with some detailed descriptions.
Have fun having a browse.
Check that video out:
http://www.digi24.ro/stire/Satul-nostru-paradisul-lor_98986
Advertisement
Tot: 0.129s; Tpl: 0.018s; cc: 14; qc: 57; dbt: 0.083s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Louise
non-member comment
from La Cuzelle
Lovely to read about your travels and see your photos. You both look very happy. Thanks for telling Martina all about us, we had a lovely time with her and Lucky! And now Ronnie and Margit are coming too, cant wait to meet them.