Blogs from Transilvania, Romania, Europe - page 30

Before leaving Romania, we had two more stops to make to see a bit more of what the country was like when free of tourists. Cluj-Napoca is on the edge of Transylvania, pretty scenery on the way there of course, and a nice town when we got there. Despite the taxi driver who 'misunderstood' where we wanted to go (and made some extra money) it was a nice stop. A good hostel for the night, lovely buildings of course, and green parks. It cost to go into the botanical gardens, go figure, so we enjoyed the other parks for free, eating lunch and watching the locals. Wandering around a town is the best way of discovering it I think, and this place was no exception. Oradea is on the border of Romania and Hungary, and wasn't ... read more

The last week we had a small holiday so I had some time to pend it with my family and friends. Friday I was with some good friends at Valea Draganului a very nice place in Muntii Apuseni (the West Mountains). There was a nice dam and very nice places but the weather wasn't really great. anyway I will ell you about that some other time. The next day, Saturday I was with my sis, my mom and her husband at the Rachitele cascade also in that area and at a mountain called White Stones. The morning started very sunny and we had a great time driving with the car even if once we took the wrong turn :D. It was a great joy for me to see how many beautiful places are in our surrounding. ... read more

Night one: We spent the first night in Belgium which was so cold the tents froze at night. I spent the night shivering and wondering where the nearest airport was to get the first flight home!! Night Two: Night two was spent at our first proper stop in Cologne. We had two nights there and had time to look at the spectacular Dom Cathedral and went for dinner at a traditional German restaurant which sold Sausage by the metre. Night 4: Night 4 was spent in Bamburg where we sampled the local smoky beer. It tasted rather like a pint of liquid bacon and most people agreed was "interesting" and only has one pint. Had a quick look around Bamburg in the rain in the morning which is small and quaint in places but not ... read more

SIBIU, TRANSILVANIA (EUROPE CAPITAL OF CULTURE) Llegando a Sibiu por la madrugada en el midnight train desde Bucharest, aproximadamente 5 hrs. Curiosamente la unica forma de saber cual es la parada es viendo el tiquete y calculando la hora de llegada, no senales, no gritos o anuncios de llegada a alguna ciudad, y poca gente camina por los pasillos del tren....afortunadamente encontre a alguien que salio a fumar, "que curioso" y justo di con que esa era la parada..... Aparentemente Sibiu era el rey de todas las ciudades Saxonas en Transylvania (Brasov, Sighisoara, Targu Mures, Sibiel, etc) sirviendo como capital de toda la actividad cultural en Rumania y con Luxemburgo en Europa. El centro de la ciudad tiene tres plazas lindisimas con edificios en colores pastel, grandes calles de piedra, y 3 magnificas plazas que se ... read more

Ok, I'm so far behind with this blog that I'm not even going to try to catch up . . . sorry! Anyway, Dani and I went to Codlea today to meet with the head of an after school day care center for children. Dani had suggested that maybe I could work here a few afternoons a week since prior to Coleen and Erin coming, I had seemed so bored after finishing the day at the hospital. We took the bus to Codlea, a small town about 50 meters outside Brasov, and walked up to a small gypsy village, where the day center was. I was a little bit nervous about walking through the gypsy village because of what I had seen when I went with Kayleigh and Bogdan, but this one wasn’t quite so run-down. ... read more