Romania - part 1

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14 OCTOBER - EGER TO VADU TZEI (MARAMURES) VIA DEBRECEN

Early start this morning and had left the pension by 8am. Mode of transport on this very long travel day included a bus, followed by a train, then a tram, then another train, then private transport. We got to the bus station bright and early and found our bus. There was already a queue (of sorts) of locals waiting to get on. The boys took care of all of our luggage so that we could all hop on and make sure we all got enough seats. Turned out that wasnt really neccessary as the bus driver realised we were Intrepid and let us on first. And boy did we get some death stares. After that it was a tram ride to town where we had a few hour break. Enough time for lunch and a quick look around while we took it in shifts to watch the bags. Then it was off to the train station for the first train.

When the first train showed up we were all very surprised to say the least. It was a total of two carriages (so very cute) and quite old. Probably an understatement. We basically took up more than half of one of the carriages. Our bags took up even more room than that. It was about an hour and half until we arrived at the station where we had to change trains. As we were crossing the border we got our passports checked. Well, essentially some guy hopped on (his uniform essentially said Frontier Police), took all our passports off of us, then brought them back stamped about 15 minutes later. Not sure i like the fact that they take them away and if I was on my own I would have been a bit concerned about that, but turned out ok. Then we were let off the train and waited for the next train to come along, which was considerably better and newer than the previous one.

Then it was another hour and a half on that train until we arrived at another station where we got off and transferred to a minibus which was quite squishy. Also ended up being a very bumpy ride through to the homestay outside of Maramures where we were staying for the next two nights.

Homestay was a lot better than most of us expected. We were all in twin share rooms and had our own bath rooms too. Five people stayed at one place and the other 9 stayed at the main place.

Had a nice homecooked three-course dinner which I think everyone loved as no one has had home cooked food for some time! Makes a nice change from restauarant meals all the time.

15 OCTOBER - MARAMURES

The private transport picked us all up at about 9am in the morning where our first stop was a Romanian ATM so that we could all get some local currency. From there we headed to the Merry Cemetary. Yes, Merry like happy. All the grave markers have been carved, some with pictures of the person, some with pictures of the persons occupation, some with pictures of how they died. And all also tell a story, so our local guide (Nikoli) translated some of the stories for us which was quite interesting.

After that it was on to the grocery store to buy enough food for lunch for two days and a breakfast and snacks. Then we headed for our first picnic lunch. Sat on a hill overlooking the town which was stunning. But unrealistic and shame it wasnt a lot sunnier but still a ver pleasant day.

We then headed to a few churches and a monastry. At the second church it was like they had never seen tourists before. The whol day was like that. As we were driving we were overtaking horses and carts and people doing real hard labour. At the second church this lady who I think said she was 75 or something, came out trying to give everyone walnuts. She just wouldnt take no for an answer. We then all trekked up the hill to this quaint little church with her speaking Romanian to us the whole time, Our guide was also trying to translate and explain a little about the church, which was now just a museum church.

After that it was onto this huge monastry where only a handful of nuns live before we headed home via an old fashioned distillery where again they were making the local spirit (call halinka but not sure if thats how you spell it) the traditional way. The bed and breakfast next door offered us some samples and sang and danced for us as well. It is like 50% proof so I think they had had a few samples that day...

Then it was home for another home cooked dinner, which was again three courses and really nice.

16 OCTOBER - MARAMURES TO SIGHISOARA (TRANSYLVANIA COUNTRY)

Long travel day today and extremely early start with a 445am departure. Got into our minibus again and went to another station where we got a train all the way through to Sughisoara. The train ride itself was 7 hours with the minibus being a two hour trip. Arrived into Sighisoara at about 2pm in the afternoon and while waiting for taxis to take us to our hotel, we were hounded by little kids asking for money. Really sad and in some ways a lot like Vietnam in that respect. We all said no as they say that you shouldnt given them money as it goes straight to their parents, who were probably sitting in the pub up the road. But everyone had walnuts from the day before and some spare food so they gave that to them, which the kids just scoffed into.

After checking into the pension and discovering our tour leaded had made minor errors with the rooms resulting in two of us not having anywhere to sleep (camp beds were put into the bigger rooms so it all worked out in the end!) we headed for a quick walk and then to the pub for a few drinks. Then we had dinner at a nice little Romanian restauarant. Sighisoara is quite a cute little place and with a full day there the next day none of us were in a hurry to see anything given how exhausted everyone was from being up so early.

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