So, sat here swinging in the hammock after a nice relaxing day by the pool in the hotel complex next to the campsite in Eger in the Hungarian wine growing country. However, the past 10 days has been spent in Romania so more about that.
We crossed over the border early in the morning to beat the truck rush hour. Lis needed to get a border control stamp on her passport as we were leaving the schengen zone. No problems getting this, just a few car documents to be checked and a bemused look about an Australian crossing over into Romania in a British van.
Our first impressions of Romania were a rural looking land not all that different from what we had seen over the past few weeks in Poland and the Baltic states. A few hours into the day long drive however and things quickly changed. All of a sudden we were plunged into what felt like a 3rd world country. Not in a derogatory sense but shanty town type villages, poverty, people begging and horse and carts as the main form of transport for the country folk. High gates secured the houses from prying eyes but then each person had a bench out the front they would sit on and watch the world go by and catch up on local gossip. Even earning enough money to get by is a struggle here, most seem to work selling produce foraged from the near by forests and home produced goods, selling them by the side of the road. Theses included melons, onions, mushrooms, wild strawberries and cheese to mention but a few.
The roads got progressively worse with, as lonely planet describes so well, “child sized potholes” scattered about on all roads and around blind corners. The poor van was going to take a big hit, hoping the suspension would hold up and tires not be too hammered. The other issue thrown into the mix here was the appalling standard of the driving. Overtaking on blind corners, at 80kmh through 50kmh villages. Car trucks, tankers, they were all at it. This made for some super stressful driving when you also add in the horse and carts, drunk cyclists, families strolling 2 by 2 down the highway and transport police around every corner, not looking for speeders or dangerous drivers but in fact weighing the axles of the lorries and commercial vehicles. Surely it is only a matter of time before we get stopped…
We headed into central Romania through Transylvania and on to Sighisoara to see a few Dracula sights. Sighsaora’s old town is home to one of the many claimed places that Vlad Dracul lived around the area but a fantastic walled citadel even without the fairy tales added in. We had both commented that we didn’t expect to see any British travellers but then promptly bumped into our first British tribe that we had seen for a while at the campsite. They were a young family of 5 who had been on the road since February. 3 kids in a camper with one aged 6 months travelling for 7 months is quite some undertaking but being freelance and taking extended maternity leave allows that I guess. They had come up from Bulgaria after driving up form Greece and told us that Romania was pretty much 1st world compared to Bulgaria. The roads were worse, the driving worse, more poverty and not all that much to see. It was nice to get some honest advice as we had been contemplating how far East we should head and due to time remaining and bad roads whether we should continue on to Bulgaria. We made the decision not to carry on Eastwards as although there were many mountains and things we wanted to see in Bulgaria the time it was taking us to travel in Romania could have meant us driving for a week to get further East and then having to head back immediately to get home in time. Instead, we opted to enjoy the countries we could see on the way home and add those 2 weeks of driving onto the time we had in the Alps and through Hungary.
On to Brasov and then Sinia to visit Peles Castle which will remain a trip highlight. Still in perfectly habitable condition and lavishly decorated it was the old king’s summer residence for many years. Halfway round the castle visit the power went out. We were informed that being Romania, the problem could be fixed in a few hours or a few days. We continued the tour escorted by a giant flashlight and it gave the castle a more eerie feeling. The power came back on a little while later so we went on to revisit some of the darker room and the hall of mirrors, which were more impressive when lit up.
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