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Published: June 11th 2007
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Bucharest-Poleisti-Sinaia It is Sunday, 6/10, and this morning we left from Bucharest and drove to the beautiful mountain resort village of Sinaia, about 75 miles from Bucharest. On the way, we went through Ploiesti. Just a little background on Ploiesti.
Ploiesti, about 35 miles north of Bucharest, is a pretty city of about 230,000. The city was founded in the 1500s. During the mid-19th century, this region was one of the world’s leading oil extraction and refinery sites. The city was the main source of oil for Nazi Germany during WWII. Because of that, Ploiesti was the most bombarded city in Romania during WWII.
We didn’t spend any time in Ploiesti because our focus destination was Sinaia in the Carpathian Mountains. Sinaia gets its name from the 17th Century monastery built by a Romanian nobleman after undertaking a pilgrimage to Mount Sinai, Egypt. The resort village was built by King Carol 1 in the 1800’s. The grandeur of the houses is evident but they no longer belong to courtly families. Most owners live in the basements of their houses and rent out rooms to tourists. Today’s population is around 12,000 people.
Serbian Restaurant Experience The village of
More Housing Complexes
Ploiesti - Laundry Day Sinaia is breathtaking, with incredibly lush vegetation (but is a ski village in the winter). After checking into our hotel, we went farther up the mountains to a Serbian Taveran…one of Doug’s favorites. I believe Doug has tried every restaurant in Romania; therefore, he is seeing to it that we are eating our way through Romania also!
The Team continues on faith to try new foods. So far,
The Team Photographer has gagged only one time. Did we report that a Caesar salad in Romania IS NOT the same as a Caesar salad in the US? Matt now knows he gags unceasingly at the taste and smell of anchovies. Since when did Caesar salads come without Parmesan cheese, no dressing, croutons NOT toasted (kind of soggy), totally cloaked in smelly little anchovies? Matt went to bed hungry that night.
Back to the Serbian food. The Serbian restaurant hit a homerun. On Doug’s recommendation, everything was delicious. Has
The Team mentioned Tiramisi— US, one point for Caesar salads! Romania, one point for the Taramasus; To die for.
The Shopping Experience After walking in a few little shops in Sinaia and finding too many “Made in Places Other Than
Romania” items, Doug took us right out of the village to some road-side vendors. There we found some interesting Romanian-made products. For all of Mom’s single chick friends, there were no Romanian-made Italian men in any of the booths.
The Team Photographer snapped a nice gentleman who might have sufficed had the price been right. We will keep looking. We found some special memory items for our special family and friends back in the God Bless America then went back into the village.
Serious Photography Time As with a typical man, Matt found what he was looking for and that was that…time to get in some serious photography. So we left Doug behind and took off on foot, exploring all these lush areas and back streets.
The Team Photographer has a phenomenal eye for great shots. Our real adventure today was getting away from the touristy areas and finding those back alleys (and ravines) where the locals show us life as a Romanian. We continue to be amazed by the mix of life in contrasting centuries. As Matt has “said” through his photographs, one snap shows a local in housing with laundry hanging out the window, on which
a satellite dish is attached, while the occupant is hanging out the window talking on a cell phone. Amusing.
The Team has become stronger. The Mom member of
The Team has found it isn’t easy being a photographer’s assistant…quickly walking up and down steep mountain roads, HAVING TO GET OUT OF THE WAY OF THE LENS, passing off lenses, and today—climbing into a deep ravine to find the sound of a waterfall in the lush vegetation—only to find ourselves atop an old rusting dam over the flowing river below. The Mom member doesn’t do well when the heights don’t appear to have firm footing below. Team Photographer got his shots, which are absolutely beautiful.
Most of the Sinaia buildings and houses were built in the 1800s. Some of the construction is going through restoration, and there is minimal new construction. There is an apparent urgency that restoration happen quickly on some of the historical places and markers so that generations to come will have opportunities to experience Sinaia’s rich history.
World War I Rembrances A moving experience was a visit to a small cemetery in the village where German, Hungarian, and Romanian soldiers from WWI were
buried. Many of the graves were marked as unknown soldiers. The Romanian headstones faced the entry to the cemetery while the German and Hungarian headstones faced their homelands. We were saddened to know some mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters didn’t have the opportunity to receive and bury their dead. These soldiers, in time of life, were enemies; in time of death, were buried next to each other.
A solemn experience. Today we were to tour Peles Castle and the Monastary, but the castle was closed. We will have to do the Monastary and the gondola tomorrow because Peles Castle is closed on Mondays too.
The Team Photographer may get to experience the gondola solo without his assistant. A gondola falls into that “no firm footing” category. We wouldn’t want the Romanians to get the impression that Americans are wimpy and barf on gondolas, now would we? After all, we are the “Super Power.”
The “Super Power” could use a dose of the quiet innocence of this Simple Life. Enjoy the pictures.
The Team Photographer is sharing a few of the 2,400 pictures taken thus far. What memories for
The Matt & Mom Bonding Ravine-Exploring Team
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Dianne Brown
non-member comment
Great Job
Denise and Matt, I really enjoyed the tour. The Team seems to have had an interesting trip. I felt the slow pace through the photos. Hope the rest of your trip was as rewarding. Thanks for sharing. Dianne