Romania

It’s a week now since I last updated, and a lot has happened.  We arrived in Timisoara after a quick pass through the border.  Timisoara was the scene of the events which led up to the overthrow of Causcescuae in 1989.    A pleasant surprise was that we were charged only 7 euro when we expected to pay 52!  The rate for >3.5 tonnes was clearly shown as 52, but presumably as we are not a commercial vehicle we were charged as a car – a good welcome to Romania. 

The next good thing was considerable surprise at how good the road was – something which has continued, but not without exception!  We talk about letting the potholes do the job of traffic calming – we have seen this a couple of times, once in a serious way.  The road up to the town was excellent – yes truly excellent – and the same when we left town.  But the town itself was truly terrible and required a slalom course to avoid the many potholes and not inconsiderable number of craters!  Apparently the EU has funded the main roads but the town itself is the responsibility of local government.  Secondary roads, seem to be funded by national govern and aren’t bad certainly no worse than equivalent roads at home.

 Timisoara reminded us of Ghent in Belgium

 because that’s how Ghent was when we visited some years ago

It did have a beautiful Serbian Orthodox cathedral as well as some other beautiful piatzas which had already had the beautification treatment.

 Next day we went to Hunedora to see the castle

The communists thought it a great idea to build a steel plant in front of it – now derelict of course as it hasn’t survived competition.

 This is what we should have seen as we drove up

When we got back to the car park another British motorhome was parked next to us, and the owners arrived back as we had a bite of lunch.  They were on their way back from a winter tour to Italy and Greece and were making their way back to UK.  They hadn’t spoken to an English person since January so we joined them for a coffee and chat about our travels. 

Then on to Alba Iulia, scene of the signing on 1^st December 1918 of the Unification agreement which united Romania after centuries of occupation by the Saxons (there was still a substantial German population in 1989, but many then left for Germany, Hungarians, Turks, Austro-Hungarians and after a brief period of independence, the USSR.  The Russians left in 1958 about when Causcescuae came to power.  This occupation has led (as you’ll see) to an amazing variety in Church architecture; here in Alba Iulia the Eastern Orthodox finally built their own cathedral in 1948, right next to the Evangelical cathedral.

The bigger and better one is the one built by Romanians, and a fine church it is too.  Their King and Queen (a grand-daughter of Queen Victoria) were crowned in the new cathedral when it was completed.

 We decided that, as it was a fair way to the next campsite we would stop in what looked like a safe and suitable parking place next to the cathedrals.  We felt very secure knowing these guys were around!

Next day we travelled on to Sibiu- a city which was at one time run by Saxons/Germans and still has the German name much in evidence.  It was European city of culture in 2007.

 The bridge of Lies is supposed to strike you down if you don’t tell the truth.  Ceausescu survived giving a speech from it, so it’s powers may be waning!

Old men gather on the streets in most countries

It seems that in Romania the activities are more cerebral than in most countries

Others we could see were playing backgammon.

And a lovely German run campsite to spend the evening

We stopped off at a couple of the fortified Saxon churches.  One had a small TI staffed by a young lady who spoke perfect, accent-free English.  We enquired if she had ever lived in England – she hadn’t – “I just learned in school” she said.

We weren’t sure what this is about

Frances has always maintained that God is most probably a woman!!

We were now moving into ‘Dracula country’.  This is Vlad Dracul birthplace in Sighisoara.

We eat in the setting sun on the terrace of a nice hotel where a couple of well-known organisations meet

When we arrived at the campsite at Sighisoara – “Open from 1^st May …..” this is what we were confronted with

We were unable to drive right up to the gate due to parked cars, which was fortunate, because while we contemplate our options a gnarled old gentleman emerged to indicate that they were open.  So in we went to a courtyard area where there was just one caravan.  The site was just a couple of hundred metres from the city, so was very convenient.  I enquired the price and was shown the official price list.  In the morning, in a land where you get a VAT receipt when you purchase an ice cream a a couple of bread rolls, this was one place I was offered no receipt.  Maybe the caretaker and his wife were helping tourism and themselves – whatever, we were happy to stop in such a convenient spot. 

We have found the Romanians very helpful and friendly and it is an easy place to visit.  They are only too aware of their reputation abroad, to their dismay, but insist, quite righty, that the ordinary Romanian is a hard-working an honest person just like any other.  

There are certainly Roma about – some In popular places with a string of children and their hands out, but there are plenty of others smart and clean in their colourful dress going about their daily business.  In a couple of places we have come across collections of ‘Roma palaces’ - at a distance we thought it was some big Chinese restaurant.  (Interestingly we have come across no Chinese quarter so far – that will probably change when we get to Bucharest)

We have had a couple of problems, not with our travels but, unfortunately, with Sally. 

Our sophisticated water system has let us down (again!). This time we can’t fill the water tank.  A solenoid-operated valve which closes to prevent loss of water through the overflow when going uphill with a full tank also stops the water going in when it doesn’t work, so we are having to use bottled water.  At 30p for five litres it didn’t break the bank to buy a few which we can refill as we go.  Advice from the Autosleeper Owners forum is that the solenoid valve can be replaced for £2.50 from eBay; we even have the link to the item, but its 15-20 days delivery so we’ll have to live without it till we get home. 

Worse, on Thursday we went to find a campsite only to find this

So we headed off to find another one only to find this

The gradient of the hill and depth of the mud were both greater than they appear in the photo, so we decided to just wild camp where we were for the night.  But our gas wouldn’t turn on, so we couldn’t even make a cup of tea.  The gas had worked fine at lunchtime, so we were pretty put out and not feeling too happy.  We made a quick 50 mile trip to Vampire Camping at Bran, where we are now. 

In the morning an internet search came up with a pretty large motorhome and caravan dealer in Bucharest, so we phoned to see if they could look at our gas problem when we get there.  However, the very helpful English-speaking technician advised us about a small button on the regulator which if you press works 95% of the time.  Having never heard of this button, and never inspected the regulator (why would you?), We wondered if he had understood us properly.  But no, he was exactly right – we found the button, pressed it in and released it and – hey presto – our gas was coming through again.    Another Romanian willing to offer their knowledge freely, so all’s well.  

One final photo - of this campsite – which shows that Romania is different to UK.

You wouldn’t see this on a Caravan/Camping and Caravanning Club site!