Blogs from Caras Severin, Banat, Romania, Europe

Seven English teachers from three countries pile into a van and drive to Romania. Sounds like a bad joke. In reality, an amazing weekend. It was a cold, drizzly Saturday in May in Budapest when took the airport bus to a stop before the airport and got lost on the way to the car rental place. We had to be there at 5. I got there at 4:55. I was the first one there. John showed up at 5 and we paid 10 euros extra per day to upgrade to the minibus. Such a good decision. Niamh showed up shortly after that, and we drove across the street to put gas in the bus. On the way, when we were turning around because we thought we were driving the wrong way down a one-way road (we've ... read more

Dnes sme sa plánovali vrátiť späť do Baile Herculane. Pán u ktorého sme bývali nás odviezol až do Iablanice a odtiaľ to bol len kúsok vlakom. Hneď ako sme vystúpili v Baile sa nám prihovoril mladý muž, či nemáme záujem o ubytovanie. Súhlasili sme a tak sme skončili v rumunskom paneláku - ale zas sme aspoň skúsili niečo iné. Baile Herculane je kúpeľné mesto a vraj sa tu kúpal už Herkules po ktorom dostali meno. V minulosti to boli vyhlásené kúpele pre smotánku. Tieto časy sú už dávno preč a tak tu ostali len staré neopravené domy a kolonáda. Ale aj tak nebolo ťažké predstaviť si ako to tu muselo vyzerať v minulosti. Zvyšok mestečka ešte dotvárali hnusné veľaposchodové hotely postavené v komunistickom štýle, ktoré sa tam vôbec nehodili. Atmosféru dotváral vajcovkový zápach ktorý sa priebežne ... read more

22-6-2007 Şopotu Nou and a short journey in the neighbourhood By 11 or so I was in Şopotu 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 wasn’t long before I set off again and initially picked up the trail quite easily. As the path reached the river I was amazed to find a car drawn up with a couple sunning themselves in bathing costumes beside it. It was such an old fashioned rural landscape, their presence seemed very strange. I was in a broad valley with ... read more

24-6-2007 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 alright?” “Yes, thanks, just fine! How are you?” “You’ve got to stop wandering about in the wild. Katy’s been killed!” “ Who - Katy - John’s wife? How?” “She was attacked by a bear in the mountains yesterday: You can’t keep on wandering around on your own!” “But there’s nobody who wants to come with me!” “You must come back ... read more

25-6-2007 Oraviţa and the forest railway We arrived in Oraviţa 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 involved cutting several tunnels and building many high slender viaducts. The journey is reputed to be extremely beautiful as it passes through wonderful countryside. The station lived up to the reputation of the line and was delightfully old fashioned. I met up with a station official whose conversation transfixed me. I couldn’t take my eyes of his teeth ... read more