Heading north in earnest

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The heat of the last couple of days has not waned overnight and it looked like we were in for a hot drive as we head northwards.So we would be thankful for an efficient a/c in the Citroen.

We have had a very good stay in the pension in Sibiu and great value for all that was provided by way of the large room and use of full kitchen facilities.We have met all the family from the woman who runs the place to her parents and her daughters over the past two days and not one of them could speak English but we still managed to communicate and practically understand almost everything !

Being on the northern side of Sibiu we were very quickly out of the city and on our way on R1 driving through rolling rural countryside on a relatively quiet road.With no attractions to stop for we made quick progress to the sizeable town of Sebes where the road turned in a more northerly direction and into a flatter,wider valley with all the crops we have been seeing as we have driven in Romania, being grown.

For all of the distance between Sibiu and Sebes,about 50km, we had followed a new highway,the A3, that was under construction with impressive looking bridges and cuttings that will straighten the road out considerably and shorten the journey when it is completed.With the harsh winter that central Romania has the new highway can probably only be worked on during the spring/summer/autumn period until the snow arrives.

The city of Alba Iulia ahead of us was very industrial and coming across these types of towns and cities seem to happen at least once a day when we have been driving.It is hard to imagine whether these types of towns will ever change in the way they look until the rather ugly apartment blocks are no longer required to house the population and are torn down and replaced by more modern designs pleasant on the eye.In some of the towns the large industries that had required the numbers of people to run them are no longer working and are derelict and add to the ugliness of the look of the town.

This of course is not to say that the scenery and countryside in Romania and also Bulgaria for that matter,has not been attractive and in fact our travel at this time of year when the crops in the fields are at different stages of their growth has led to an often patchwork of colour when viewed from an elevated position making the views on the eye engaging.

Some towns have unfortunate names and Turda would have to be one of them!In the English language the name refers to a lump of excrement but we are unclear what the name refers to in Romanian.From a distance,as there was a ring road for us to use,the town had that 'used by' look with industrial businesses closed down.

We had thought that the GPS might have directed us onto the A3 highway which had been completed between Turda and the outskirts of Cluj-Napoca,however Vicky knew best and we carried on the R1.

We arrived into Cluj-Napoca,Romanias second largest city, right on lunchtime and we followed the GPS instructions that took us through the heart of the university city with the added challenge of avoiding trams as well as people crossing the wide roads.

We were pleased we had chosen an overnight stop in the countryside and we moved onto the 1F to get to the pension at Nadselu.The village was small enough to easily pick out the pension built on a hillside overlooking the valley and village.

It was a new building and the grounds were still being planted with a car park that was a good 100 metres from the pension itself.This plus the heat made it a disincentive to carry the suitcase in so we just took in what we needed for a change of clothes tomorrow and our breakfast needs.

Our room was on the second floor with a lovely outlook over the village and valley and our neighbours were a dutch couple who we met at dinner in the restaurant who had come for a weeks holiday to catch up with relatives.It made a bit of a change to have someone else to talk to at dinner time and we covered all sorts of topics from what a beautiful place NZ is to the European economy!

Whilst there hadn't been any attractions to stop for today it had been an interesting drive through the countryside ending in a very peaceful rural location for a good nights sleep.

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Comments

[Rin]

Finally caught up!
Have finally caught up on all the blogs after my holiday 2 weeks ago when I wasn't able to read any and got behind! Lol at Turda :-D

[Whiskers]

Most unfortunate name although it wasn't an attractive town.Not sure quite where they got the name from but clearly it doesn't mean the same in Romanian as it does in English.