Thursday 19th Cisnadoria to Sighisoara

We spent part of the day exploring Sibiu which was founded in the 12th century; in 2007 the EU designated it as ‘A Capital of Culture’.
The city is surrounded by old walls and various towers; we climbed to the top of one tower and had a great view over the city. Many of the buildings are coloured in various pastel colours including those on the large square which was very clean looking but had a slightly sterile feel to it.
We arrived at Sighisoara and laughed when we entered the campsite as our neighbours were the German couple with the bright orange ply wood caravan.

Wednesday 18th August Transfagarasan road to Sibiu (Cisnadoria)

After topping up the campers water we drove the last 9km of the Transfagarasan road up to the peak of the mountains and all the way down right into the heart of Transylvania lol We got to Sibiu to find our prospective campsite once again no longer existed, this time the map wasn’t at fault! We had made an online reservation about a week prior but the campsite had closed months ago and they hadn’t changed the online details. After following some camping signs we ended up in a campsite 10km from Sibiu in a place called Cisnadoria. The campsite was in a lovely location surrounded by countryside and old monasteries. We did some much needed washing, had a BBQ and once again made friends with the camps dogs. We were surprised to see an elderly German couple with a bright orange ply wood caravan which again looked like it was from the 1950’s, we gathered they hadn’t been on some of the roads which we had or else it would be in pieces.

Tuesday 17th August Bucharest to Transfagarasan Mountain

No wonder Tortoise had a heart attack!

Question: How do Romanians get a bulldozer off the back of a truck?

Answer:

Today we tackled the Transfagarasan road (featured on Top gear) this was built for military reasons as it has such sharp gradients and twists and turns. The road is meant to be one of the best roads in the world due to the spectacular scenery; it is surrounded by lakes and mountains including the highest peak in Romania. The road is only open from June-September due to heavy snow so we timed it right. We nearly made it to the top when Tortoise overheated, our fan hasn’t been coming on but we needed to get to Sibui to get fuses. We parked up for the night (as many others had done) in a very picturesque location surrounded by mountains, sweeping hills and a stream; we used the freezing cold stream water to keep our food cool overnight. As we sat admiring the scenery we commented how the sheep had very bad legs, some of the sheep’s legs were so bad they practically ate lying down. A while later the shepherd and his dogs herded the sheep and went past our camper they then scaled a huge mountain where they spend the night- this was the reason for the bad legs.

Monday 16th August Bucharest

arc de triomphe Romanian style

Bullet strewn wall

We spent the day wondering around Bucharest and remembered why we are not city people. The city was hot and humid and quite polluted, we found it funny to see Mont Blanc and Swarkovski and other designer shops nestled among sex shops.
We saw bullet holes from the 1989 revolution and sat in a nice park with a boating lake reading our books. At night we planned to eat dinner out but we had finished exploring the city by mid afternoon so instead we purchased a rotisserie chicken and some fresh bread and had dinner on our veranda back at the campsite.

Sunday 15th August Jupiter to Bucharest

After an early morning dip we headed to Bucharest and arrived late afternoon. The campsite was strangely charging more for a campervan than it was a room so we obviously paid for a room. When we opened the door to the room we laughed as it was tiny and like something from the 1950’s complete with built in stereo in the side board. At least we aren’t the fussy types and we wouldn’t have found anywhere cheaper. That night we had dinner in the garden grounds of the hotel and fell in love with a gorgeous puppy who took a liking to us and after playing fell asleep by our feet.

Saturday 14th August Jupiter (Black Sea Coast)

We spend the day relaxing on the beach and taking in the sights. Romanians tend to be on the large side and most aren’t shy about baring their bodies, some of the people we saw sunbathing were huge and were wearing no more than a g string bikini. We said it was good that the lettuce leaf diet or size 0 hadn’t caught on yet although some could have done with wearing slightly more clothing.
One elderly man was doing exercises about 5m in front of us, he bent over and the elastic had frayed on his Speedos so all hung loose which left little to the imagination.
As we entered the beach there were several people selling various things, one man was selling plastic bottles full of blackish coloured liquid. Cass thought it was blackcurrant juice although later on we found out it was black sea silt deposits which they applied to their bodies to aid circulation. We were glad we hadn’t bought any to drink although we weren’t too sure about smothering our bodies in it.

Friday 13th August Navodari to Jupiter

Another early start, this time it was to dodge our weirdo neighbour. We drove along many black sea coast areas including a strip which is Romania’s equivalent to Miami or the Gold Coast, they even made us pay for driving on the road lol The place was heaving and we were glad we didn’t book accommodation there, our campsite was further south in Jupiter which is a more local oriented area and much quieter. The campsite was 500m from the beach so once we had set up camp we headed for a swim and had dinner overlooking the ocean.

Thursday 12th August Murgihol to Navodari

After spending 6 days in the Danube delta we finally made it onto a boat and ventured into some of the 4187 sq km’s of wetland marshes, reed islands and sand bars. We were the only two passengers onboard a speedboat, due to its small size it meant we could get into the much smaller waterways many larger boat tours couldn’t. The delta is home to 300 species of birds including Europe’s largest pelican colony which we were fascinated by, we were also fascinated by the amount of frogs in the water at any one time we could literally see thousands. Bek and the guide thought Cass had turned Japanese as she was crazily snapping away and took hundreds of photos. We both had a great day which ended at 11am (we had an early start to bet the heat) with a rally driving session back to the campsite. The guide was dropping us back at the campsite, his car would be on the scrap heap in the Uk/Oz and when he careered over bumps and went round corners we felt like the bottom was going to give way and we would be left with a car resembling something from the Flintstones.
From Murgihol we headed to the Black Sea coast, it was a very hot day and the 44oc was too much for Tortoise. He gave up the ghost 20km from Constanta in a great free camping spot right on the beach, the area was full of local people as people only knew about the area by word of mouth. We met one guy who was camped there for a week (as many others appeared to be too) and we wondered what he would do for a wash and where he would go to the toilet as there weren’t any facilities nearby…we decided it was best not to think about this lol The guy was a bit strange and at night time we couldn’t get rid of him, in between talking he kept jumping up and down whacking himself with a towel as he said he was getting bitten by mozzies. Cass said it would help if he was wearing more than just Speedos and had some repellent on (on that point Romanians and Germans all over the world would do themselves great favours if they watched and heeded the trumpet ad! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-Lx2ihpGbc). He then went to his caravan, we thought we had got rid of him but he came back covered in vinegar as he said it was a good mozzie repellent. We said we would stick to mozzie coils and citronella candles lol

Wednesday 11th August Sulina to Murgihol

Best view of Sulina (leaving lol)

In order to catch the early ferry our alarm clock was set for 5am, we were both awake at this time eager to depart Sulina but suffering from lack of sleep. Throughout the night we had the noise of dogs barking, mosquitos buzzing and a nearby rooster’s cock-a-doodle-do which started at 2.30am… his perception of day and night was slightly muddled.
On arrival back in Tulcea we went to a farmers market and made our way to Murgihol which is situated on the edge of a lake in the Delta. We arrived in Murgihol thinking that it was a major town and would have a bank…wrong again! We backtracked to the nearest bank and then checked into the campsite, we decided that we didn’t want to be camped near the main road as the camp owner suggested but instead opted for a vacant spot down the bottom of the garden. Several hours after setting up camp we commented how the flies were driving us mad although no other campers appeared to be bothered by them and we couldn’t see anyone flinging their arms around. After hearing a snort we peered into the neighbours garden and saw a large pig laying in his sty, it was about 10m from our camper and the source of the flies.
That night we finally booked a boat trip for the next morning.

Tuesday 10th August Tulcea to Sulina

Beautiful Sulina!

We woke up early today as we had to purchase (cant pre purchase) the ferry tickets to Sulina and also find somewhere suitable to leave Tortoise, we planned to spend a few days in Sulina as it sounded a nice town and we thought we would now do a boat tour from there into the tributaries rather from Tulcea as we had originally planned.
The ferry ride from Tuclea to Sulina took us 2.5 hours along 64km of the Sulina channel which is its shortest Channel in the delta .We passed various bird species as well as pigs, cows and sheep etc at the remote villages. The boat was quite new by Romanian standards although we had to fight for a seat as the local villagers onboard had huge box loads of shopping which were strewn all over the place.
When we stepped off the ferry in Sulina we looked at each other and said “what a dump”, the roads were dug up with huge piles of cement and rubble lying around. There was dust flying everywhere and the promenade was lined with ram shackled buildings (not quite what we were anticipating) the mosquitos were also savages and the stray dogs even looked like even they hated it there!
Luckily we had a few guesthouse addresses written on a piece of paper although none of the streets were marked with names. Bek entered one guesthouse and opened what looked like a reception door but instead she was greeted by an elderly lady lying on a sofa with her skirt up around her waist reading a book. The lady gestured to Bek to enter the room next door which Bek did but instead of a reception she found two German tourists in bed-needless to say she made a quick exit. After some time we eventually found a guesthouse, the room smelt of moth balls, the bathroom smelt of river water and renovations were being carried out at this stage we didn’t care and just wanted a roof over our head.
That evening we had a foul tasting dinner and decided to get the hell out of Sulina and board the ferry back to Tulcea the following morning.
To top things off when we got back to the guesthouse we both had a dodgy stomach.

7th -10th August Tulcea

Singing and dancing folk festival (can anyone guess whose idea this was???)

We woke after a fitful nights sleep as we were concerned about Tortoise however after a rest he started fine and we were on our way to Tulcea. We arrived in Tulcea had some breakfast and went walking in search of the campsite as we felt like our legs needed a good old stretch. According to our map (and tourist information’s) the campsite was supposed to be situated around a lake however after two hours of walking in 40+c with sweat dripping off us we realised our map had once again failed us and the campsite was actually a football stadium. After a few unpleasant words we checked into a guesthouse complete with a swimming pool, cable TV and more importantly air con which we planned to crank on to the lowest temperature! Then it was time to find the tourist information centre, get some information regarding tours in the Danube Delta and hopefully book up a tour. After walking for over an hour we finally arrived at the tourist information centre, the centre was shut despite a sign saying it was open until 2pm; it was now 11am and a Saturday so this meant we would have to wait until Monday morning for it to reopen.
Tulcea isn’t the most enthralling city and is primarily used as a gateway for tours into the Danube Delta, the highlight of the year for the locals seems to be when Tulcea hosts The International Folk Festival of Danubian Countries in which various Danubian countries perform traditional dancing and singing. The festival was on while we were in Tulcea so one night we headed to watch the entertainment. Bek thought it would be a good idea to get there early so we could get a seat in prime position down the front, however when the music started we weren’t so sure if being in ‘prime position’ was a good idea as the music was so loud we compared it to being next to a speaker at a huge rave. Cass had to put tissue paper in her ears (thanks Grandma for the idea)… this only slightly dulled the sound although the locals weren’t perturbed as very loud music/noise seems to be the norm here. The dancing and singing was good to watch, we felt like we had stepped into a Tardis and gone back in time as things seemed very old fashioned compared to the west (as if the horse and carts hadn’t proved that enough lol )

6th August Iasi to roadside 30km from Tulcea

The drive from Iasi to Tulcea took us the whole day which also included a ferry crossing, we hadn’t planned on driving so far that day but our map turned out to be rather inaccurate, surprisingly this time our lengthened journey couldn’t be blamed on poor navigational skills and poor map reading skills. The finger of blame laid on our map which had various campsites marked on it although when we arrived at several they no longer existed and were simply derelict buildings so we kept on driving to the next marked on the map and hence ended up making it all the way to Tulcea. Well we didn’t actually make it to Tulcea as Tortoise conked out next to a small village about 30 km away so we slept here for the night surrounded by countryside.

5th August Iasi

We spent the day chilling out, watching the fishermen and the locals having a bbq the smoke from the coal bbq’s seemed to travel the length of the river and we thought they must like burnt food. We went for a dip in the river, later in the day there appeared to be oil on the surface of the water as well as several dead fish and a dead chicken who had fallen in from the campsite. We figured the Ukraine ( not far from the border) was probably using it as a dumping ground so we soon hopped out the water and opted for a baby wipe wash instead.

4th August Gura Humorului to Iasi

Frescoes on the monastery - "the best in the world" lol

Close up of the frescoes

Maramures

Local lady

Today we went to two more monasteries which are again on the Unesco world heritage list, there are so many in the area we reckon you could spend at least two months visiting them all. The first monastery we visited was in Gura Humorului so we walked there from our campsite and then headed to Voronet Monastery which The Lonely Planet described as having the best fresco in the world-we think they once again lied as it was by no means the best and we thought frescos in the previous monasteries were more impressive.
All the monasteries we went to were full of Italian tourists who need lessons in the art of whispering.
We expected to spend most of the day driving to Iasi but the roads were in much better condition than previously so we arrived earlier than we anticipated.
Iasi is a concrete jungle so we headed to find a more rural campsite and found a place by the river. The place couldn’t be described as a campsite, there was only one other campervan, no shower and there were old wooden huts which locals were staying in.
That night we had a bbq and were surrounded by chickens, turkeys and stray cats, the cats are so used to the chickens and turkeys that they don’t see them as food and don’t try and attack them . During the night we had the stray dogs barking non stop and the hotel next door had a party- Cass slept through the whole commotion though!

3rd August Borsa to Gura Humorului

Prislop pass

prislop pass

lovely roads

just out for a walk

hay bales in a field

gypsy camp

monastery

We drove for several km’s before we saw huge signs for Borsa Tourist Complex , we had been at Borsa Tourist and not Borsa Tourist complex which were looking for, that explained the tiny campsite and lack of ski lift.
The drive to Gura Humorului in the Bucovina region took us through the Prislop pass with forested hills, valleys and lakes the drive was once again very scenic and we stooped off at various points to admire the view or have a cuppa. We had seen the Prislop Pass described on the internet while in Australia as one of the top drives in the world.
After the Prislop pass the drive continued through small villages, many of which were brightly coloured or had large wooden engraved gates: both are traditional to the area .
The Bucovina region is listed in the Unesco world heritage list as there are a huge amount of monasteries in the area with very old frescos. We went to two monasteries today the first being Moldovita Monastery which dates back to 1537 and the second Sucevita Monastery which dates back to 1582. Both were completely covered in frescos apart from the western wall at Sucevita , legend has it that the painter fell off his scaffolding and died, leaving artists of his time too scared to follow in his footsteps.

2nd August Sapanta to Borsa

Beks design

A colourful cemetry

lovely wet roads

Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to his friend on the otherside!

We woke up to the sound of large bells tinkling, when we looked out of the camper there were approx 15 cows walking down the street, all of which had cow bells hanging from their necks. They were leaving home (back garden of their owners) to go grazing for the day.
Our first port of call for the day was Sapanta’s merry cemetery. Here the graves each a have colourful wooden cross with an epitaph. Unfortunately we haven’t yet mastered Romanian so we couldn’t read the epitaph ( all are supposed to be humorous) although the engravings gave an idea of what their life entailed and some what they even died from, there was an engraving on one of a man drowning and on another of a man caught under a train.
After Sapanta we stooped off in Sighetu Marmatiei for several hours where we had a wander around the town and visited Sighet prison which had been turned into both a memorial and a museum. Due to the communist regime between 1948 and 1952 Sighet prison housed 180 members of Romania’s academic and government elite , 51 of the prisoners died here.
We then drove through more small villages, one was called Barsana and dates back to 1326 this is the place of pilgrimage for The Maramures people and home to several monasteries. From here we went to a huge open air museum which depicted rural life in Romania over the centuries. We had a half hearted walk around as we figured we had seen first hand what was on display and the sheep were also kept in poor conditions.
Later that evening we arrived in Borsa, the Lonely Planet described the campsite which we reached by a dirt track as a tourist complex complete with ski lifts. When we arrived there was one other van parked at the campsite but the site was so small (no sign of ski lifts either) there was no room for us so we parked on the owners front lawn. We arrived at the campsite with the numberplate dangling, earlier in the week we arrived at one and the headlight glass was hanging off. That evening we got chatting to the other vans owners, a German couple travelling with a 9 month old baby who had just driven the route we were heading the next day. They said the road was so bumpy and full of potholes that they ended up cracking some eggs. We were used to bad roads by now, the whole days drive (plus days prior) was spent dodging potholes. At one point the car behind us was beeping. The beeping of a horn is normal in Romania for no obvious reason so we didn’t pay much attention and commented that they were annoying us, after a while we realised the bike rack strap had broken and they had been trying to alert us that the bikes were swinging widely back and forth lol. The roads are in bad condition but we also have to be wary of cows, dogs, pigs and chickens which roam freely, people also walk in the middle of the road.

1st August Baia Mare to Sapanta

Jessie the wonder dog

ummm no thanks

Maramures

A clumsy Bek and a rushing river - not such a good combination!

Cat and the dinner lol

We said goodbye to the family and Jessie the gorgeous family dog who looked like a lamb and made our way to Sapanta. The drive once again took us through The Maramures region past tiny little villages where people feed off their land and wear traditional dress, we drove past more horse drawn carriages pulling hay, cement mixers, scrap metal and wood etc than we did motor vehicles. If the locals aren’t working the land they appear to congregate on the side of the road, when we drove past they looked like they hadn’t seen a campervan before and many gave us a smile and a wave. We also drove past people selling wild berries and what appeared to be fungi scrapped off the side of the tree. We like trying new food and buying food off the locals but we think we will give these a miss as we don’t want to end up in a Romanian hospital suffering from delirium.
We arrived at the campsite mid afternoon and the heavens started to open, Bek had what she calls her ‘near death experience’ . We had plugged the vans electricity into a power point which must have had a faulty earth, as Bek went to open the vans door she acted like the earth and got a 220 volt shock. She was left feeling very shaky and Cass wondered how many times she was going to hear the story in future lol The rain soon stopped and we sat by the fast flowing river reading our books, Cass commented that a dog or child wouldn’t have much chance if they fell in the river. Ironically about 5 minutes later one of the camps dogs fell in, there were a few tense minutes but he had a lucky escape and managed to scramble free on one of the rocks.
Later that evening we had a bbq, we fed the dog who had also had a ‘near death experience’ our left over bones and then gave the bbq a wipe over with a sponge. Cass put the sponge on the floor and a while later it was nowhere to be seen , we then spotted it at the back of the camper although now it was a quarter of its original size. The camp dog must have taken a liking to the bbq fat which was smeared on it!

31st july Baia Mare ( Firinze)

View from the pension

The tortoise and the pension

Flowers and the yard

After two months of no TV we decided to make the most of the rooms TV and we spent much of the day switching channels between Animal Planet, National Geographic and The Discovery Channel. Bek made the mistake of giving the remote to Cass who watched CSI lol In between TV we enjoyed the view from our balcony which we shared with a swallow and chicks. We also took a walk to the top of the hill in the garden on the way down Bek flashed her the camera to the landlady to say she had been taking photos of the scenery, the lady thought Bek was asking to take a photo of her and she gestured that her hair looked a little untidy. Never mind that she was a large lady and was only wearing a leopard print bikini!
We thought the landlady thought we were weird as we had only eaten eggs for 24 hours, in the evening we took a stroll and went for dinner in a pastravia (Trout Farm) the waiter said they had no whole fish left but only pieces, we said this was fine and wondered what sort of fish farm sold out of whole fish but had still had pieces available. When the dinner came out we had a huge plate of fish but after some time we realised we didn’t have anything that resembled Trout and we had been given salmon. We had 5 huge pieces each, enough to feed a family, needless to say we ate everything but doubt we will ever have salmon served in such huge portions or for that price ever again.