Travelling to Marmures

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Vaduz Izei, July 31



We just had a great bus trip from Budapest to Sigetu Marmatiei in Northern Romania in the heart of the Marmures region. We booked on the internet using the the free access at the end of the tills in the local Tesco's in Eger.



We took the express bus back from Eger to Budapest and had been told to meet the 'car' at the AGIP petrol station outside Keleti railway station. We had booked with Christian Tours (who later turned out to be an agent) and the courier was Edmeea Trans (book direct with them to save 10€/person). The 'car' turned out to be a very nice 19 seater minibus. The driver was expecting 16 clients and we hung around waiting for a passenger on a delayed international train from Germany. It was then off the Budapest airport to collect the rest.



In the end we were 20 with one guy spending most of the journey in the footwell by the driver. Passengers were all making use of this bus connection to Northern Romania as getting from Budapest is quicker than getting from Bucherest. Many were workers returning home for a break. One lady, now Canadian, was making here annual trip home from Vancouver. Carlos, was an Italian, living in Horley Sussex with his Romanian wife and culturally British six year old son heading to see her family.



As we approached the Romanian border at around 12.30am the chap in the footwell got out. We then passed through the border, the Canadian passport being the only minor delay, and a 100 metres past the border the twentieth passager got back on. Apparently the border guards were very aware of what was going on and had asked about him as he had walked through the barriers.



Once in Romania the passengers stated thinning out. After the first big town, Satu Mare, where we changed minibuses, there were seven of us left. It was also at this point that the roads started getting decidedly rural. I was taken back to childhood drives through Spain in the sixties and early seventies.



At the next town the minibus very carefully started going 'off piste'. By this I mean it started dropping others off after going down side roads none of which were tarmaced and some of which were very rutted. So five passengers were dropped off in Negresti-Oas which left just Jane and I continuing to Sighetu Marmatiei.



Jane was doing her best to sleep on the back seat as it was now 3am. I was too excited at seeing a new country - one of the few in Europe I have not visited before. And the roads were not getting any better. In fact they started getting more bendy as well as bumpy as we climbed up to a low pass. The driver was obviously keen to get home and only slowed down when blinded by an oncoming truck.



So after another hour, latterly with the lights of Ukraine shining from the left across the river, we finally got to Sighetu Marmatiei and disembarked by the Hotel Caraona. The driver confirmed in his best Romanian (he spoke no English) that this was in fact the Hotel Tisa, our official drop off spot, despite what it said on the building. It was a good spot being right next to an ATM so we could get our first Romanian lei.



We had prearranged to be picked up by Florin, the pension owner, at 4.30am. Jane's watch said 3 am. The bus's clock had said 4 am. I decided to phone Florin and was relieved when he answered quickly and was with us within 10 minutes. The town was surprisingly busy for the middle of the night and I only looked to have my stick handy in case a couple of feral dogs got a bit close.



We later discovered the clocks changed when you entered Romania so we are two hours ahead of the UK and it was 4am. We went straight to sleep in Casa Muntean (wwww.casamuntean.ro) wondering where on earth we had got to.

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Photos

Waiting for the bus to Romania
Playing backgammon on the iPad