http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Banat/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Romania , Banat en-us Sun, 19 May 2013 18:36:20 +0000 Sun, 19 May 2013 18:36:20 +0000 2562007 The journey towards Semenic I turn back again I liked the look of Anina which has some pleasant 19th century buildings. However since the maxi taxi up to Caraova was to leave fairly shortly I didnt have a lot of time to look round. Ioana my head of department at school rang to ask if I was alright and I was able to reassure her that today at least I was sticking to ordinar http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Banat/Caras-Severin/Anina/blog-566067.html 2562007 Oravia and the forest railway We arrived in Oravia at 6.00 in the morning. I bade my new friend a swift farewell and I rushed off to the train station to find out about train times up to Anina. I was very keen to take this journey as I had heard that it is the oldest stretch of forest railway in Romania and one of the steepest. It was built between 1847 and 1863 and the process in http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Banat/Caras-Severin/Oravita/blog-566066.html 2462007 MelecxinaOnce I reached the stop I found an old couple waiting there already. I fell into conversation with the lady who is going to catch the bus and who is called Melecxina. Melecxina is a little older than me and had a mass of grey curls pinned back under her regulation headscarf. Those that had escaped nodded enthusiastically in support of her animated conversation which from tim http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Banat/Caras-Severin/blog-566065.html 2462007 Following the dream Dealing with fear.As I was going to be travelling through most of the night I decided to try and sleep for a few hours in the late afternoon and evening as some compensation. I had settled down for an hour or so when my mobile phone rang. It was Mirela the director of the school I teach at in Bucharest. She was in a very emotional state. Minna are you alri http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Banat/Caras-Severin/blog-566064.html 2262007 opotu Nou and a short journey in the neighbourhoodBy 11 or so I was in opotu Nou and the heat was being to build up. The village was extremely quiet and I was pleased to see an open door into a courtyard where I found the village bar and shop. I sat and drank a great deal of some bubbly lemon drink and started to think about the next stage of my journey.It wasnt long before I se http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Banat/Caras-Severin/blog-566061.html 2162007 I set out over unmapped countryAn hour or so later I reached my turning and bade my fellow passengers farewell. As the minibus sped off into the distance I stood for a few minutes gazing out over the Danube and towards a very magnificent and mysterious looking Serbia. Then I turned up the small road towards Sichevia. My journey on foot had begun. All along the road were large mulberr http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Banat/Caras-Severin/Oravita/blog-566058.html 2062007 Get me to the DanubeDamn No places left in the sleeping wagon Id waited so long to start this journey. I didnt want to retreat back to my baking 10th floor flat in one of Bucharests less select areas. Besides which the amount of time before I had to leave for the UK was rapidly dwindling. Affairs at school where I was teaching out here in Romania had dragged on interminabl http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Banat/blog-566054.html It turns out my mobile's clock was set 20 minutes off so I had to be wakened rather then get up on my own. Peter's wife graciously offered to wash my clothes and when I noted there wasn't time for them to dry she said I have a drier She provided a graceful transition from the US to Romania. When she bade farewell she offered her hand but I said this is Romania and demanded a hug. She even http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Banat/blog-493496.html I met Peter online through the RoManiacs Yahoo Group. There was a meeting of the minds on a number of issues and we decided to meet on my arrival. After a couple days of connections with Romanian friends I wanted to see a little of my host Peter and his family's work. They have been most gracious to me. They are independent Baptist missionaries sponsored by a church in midPennsylvania for al http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Banat/Timis/Timisoara/blog-493491.html I woke up Monika and we met in time for lunch in the center of town. But first we bought my train ticket to Craiova where I moderately amusedannoyed the clerk by shushing Monika and forced her to deal with my Romanian.We then settled on Casa cu Flori for lunch. She had mentioned that she had been drinking there before but never ate at. On entering the dining room I noted that it was several laye http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Banat/Timis/Timisoara/blog-492856.html Friday I met up with two friends individually. Monika worksd at the McD and is studying to be a psychologistfamily conselor. She and her boyfriend are going to be carnies in the States this summer.She got me a daypass on the transit system and took me on a tour of several parks a few churches some of her favorite markets and shops. We dropped by her apartment and when I couldn't set up the time http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Banat/Timis/Timisoara/blog-492733.html Nice landing but so quiet compared to my first touchdown here 8 years ago. That time the Tarom airliner was packed with returning Romanians seemingly grandparents and parents returning from extended stays in the Romanian diaspora. When the wheels touched that time the entire plane exploded with cheers and applause. This time it was a businessasusual let me outta this damn plane vibe.Timisoara http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Banat/Timis/Timisoara/blog-492455.html I used to say to be full of happiness is a matter of taking risks. I took a baggage put it on my back and I went all by myself to Romania without knowing what was expecting me. It was the first time I was doing something like that. We only are 22 years old once in a all life so we must take a chance while we can and I did it.I went to Timisoara Romania for an Astronomy course along with more 2 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Banat/Timis/Timisoara/blog-484769.html My host in Timisoara did not give me a number or an address and so when I got there just after lunch I had no idea where I was or if I had a place to stay that night. The lady behind the info counter at the train station was nice enough to let me into her cubicle and search for the train timetable for my next destination but couldn't tell me anything else since she didn't speak English. I later f http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Banat/Timis/Timisoara/blog-390997.html 300808 Go West To Timisoara eventually It probably seems as though traffic gets more than its fair share of commentary in this blog on days like this its no surprise. We had seen large queues of traffic heading the other way when we were coming into Romania unfortunately now it was our turn to join the queue. It took us 9 hours to drive about 200 miles yesterday on one of Romanias http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Banat/Timis/Timisoara/blog-318139.html Wo findet man pampiges Essen Wo findet man zu ses Eis Und wo findet man gratis WLANBei McDonaldsAnsonsten gibbet hier auch was ordentliches zu sehen Den Platz des Sieges OBusse und natrlich ebenejene McD Filiale.... die hiesigen Hamburger schmecken genauso wie bei uns kosten aber wenigerDie Fahrt heut war recht langweilig ewig Autobahn durch Ungarn mittags ein Stop in einem unau http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Banat/Timis/Timisoara/blog-316495.html As I write this we are somewhere in Romania but we're not actually sure where. We left our homes Tues. morning around 930 a.m. and arrived at our first night's lodging Wed. afternoon around 300 which is about 130 a.m. local time. Don't ask what day cause right now I'm not sure what day it is. I do know that it is about 800 a.m. now and 1000 p.m. home time. We feel much better now with a l http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Banat/Timis/Timisoara/blog-300833.html On February 23 my departure date from Kenya I got to visit one more orphanage in Nairobi . I was thrilled to see Little Kanini the 3 yr. old that had been left in the Remand Home the juvenile detention center in Nakuru. She now sleeps in a room with other children her age instead of a room full of children convicted of various crimes. The staff said she often bangs her head bites herself an http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Banat/Timis/Timisoara/blog-262375.html We had heard acount couchsurfing from a few people but it was the German hicthhiker that really convinced us to give it a go. Basically its a website with people who have a couch or have some space to accomadate fellow travellers. A great resource for travellers as it gives the opporunity to meet local people and also have a free nights accomadation. Our couch surfing host in Timisoara was Rasvan http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Banat/Timis/Timisoara/blog-194823.html