Day Fifteen. The final day, Turda and Alba.

It's hard not to feel a bit sad that our last day is here already, but the thought of a full day with our friends exploring Romania does go a long way to making up for it. It had been kept secret what we will be up to today, but we have been told to bring our jackets, in the current 30°c heat, this is interesting.

Aurel drives us out of Cluj, expertly using as many short cuts as possible in order to avoid the early morning traffic. We are soon into the country side, the majestic mountains offering a wonderful back drop to the fields. We are admiring them when Crina corrects us, "They're not mountains, they are hills! The mountains are much bigger, and more beautiful" They were big enough and pretty enough to consider them mountains in our book, sorry Crina.

We eventually arrive in Turda, Aurel pulls over to ask for directions, my very basic Romanian gives me the impression that we are heading for the Salt Mines and when we pull into the car park I am proved correct.

We both had a good idea of what to expect on a tour of a disused mine, some interesting geology, old mine workings, dirt, damp and disused machinery. As it turned out this couldn't be further from the truth. We entered, after Aurel had paid the reasonable fee of 12 lei (under £3) and descended down a long wide set of stairs. We then came across a elevator, and descended what felt like 5 or so stories.

Leaving the elevator we were greeted by a cathedral sized cavern, and we were full of wonder at the contents.

A mini golf course, bowling alleys, a ferris wheel, pool tables, sand pit, a

boating lake, artistic lighting and seating.  This definitely wasn't what we'd imagined..

Our hosts explained that the air is renowned for it's health properties, particularly for people with breathing conditions such as asthma. All the attractions were there so that a whole family could spend the day breathing in the healing air.

Our stay was short, because Aurel wanted us to see the "changing of the guard" at Alba Iulia  fortress at 12:00. Another drive through the beautiful countryside got us to Alba at 12:05, just missing it!  Which was a shame, but we still had all of Alba Iulia to see, which was great.

The fortress and churches around Alba are beautiful, the town feels like York, there is plenty of history here.  We visited a few churches within the fortress and the museum of archaeology.

We left the star shaped fortress by the third gate, towering above fortified gate is the Obelisk to Horea, Closca and Crisan.

The obelisk brought memories back for Crina, who last visited  here when she was nine.  The Communist regime compelled her to become a Scout, meaning she had to deliver reports to her school class, something she hated doing.  In front of the Obelisk was where she had to swear allegiance as a scout.  She asked if I would take some photo's of her for her mum, as a reminder of how far they have come since the revolution.

After a meal in Alba, we then head back towards Cluj.  On our return journey our friends treat us to some desserts at a confectioners, the desserts were somewhere between a mouse, trifle and cake, they were lovely.  It was a wonderful day, and it was made complete by a lovely final meal in Euphoria Bier Garten with Alin and Lidia.  We head to bed much later than intended, with a 4:00am start tomorrow.

Crina, Ioana, Carolyn & myself

Aurel, Crina, Carolyn & myself

Day Fourteen. Back in Cluj.

It felt good to be back in Cluj, a bit like coming home. We had made no plans, not knowing how fresh we would be after the journey, but after a good sleep nights sleep we decided to have a walk around the park and then into town and have a look around the market stalls. 

The weather was still wonderful, and many people were enjoying the park, rowing on the boating lake, using the exercise machines (I have seen similar in parks in England, but never seen them actually used) or just sitting in the shade.  Every time we have walked through here, we have noticed just how well used the park is.

The market was a collection of craft stalls with a few stalls selling produce, Carolyn bought a few things and practiced her Romanian.

At the opposite side of town was a mobile phone shop Carolyn wanted to visit, and around here we found more small shops and stalls, mainly selling clothes, amongst them was a small bar advertising a glass of wine for 1 lei, which is 20p, with hindsight we should have tried one to see if you can get decent a glass of wine for 20p, but we were already heading in the direction of Klausen Burger for lunch.

Having had a easy day, we were ready to meet up with our Romanian friends tomorrow, and a full day of surprise activities. 

Day Twelve and Thirteen. The return to Cluj.

Our train arrived, and we had a bit of a panic that our coach, and hard fought reserved beds didn't exist.  But after a bit of charades with a train conductor we realised that our carriage was to be added to the already long train, and a few minutes later it was added to the front of the train.

We asked our guard (Sasha) if we could be in a compartment
together, and he said he would see what he could do.  A Romanian (Michael) joined us who was on his way to Constanta, a even longer journey than ours, in the far north of Romania.  Also a very drunk, very loud man arrived, I think Carolyn had his bed.  After some shouting Sasha moved him on, all three of us were pretty relieved.

The journey was actually quite comfortable and we both slept well, we were joined by a Bulgarian lady at some point through the night, although she was very quiet in getting herself settled, but she still woke me.

The border crossing was again slow.  The Ukrainian border guards asked us a few question, most of which they directed at the Bulgarian lady.  At one point she raised her eyebrows and looked at us, we asked what was happening, she laughed and said "Not now, later".   We never found out what happened, but we got the impression she'd saved us some hassle.

We were largely ignored at the Romanian border, this time with some words from Michael smoothing the way.  A guy in the next compartment was South American, he had the third degree from the Ukraine border guards about any money, Vodka or books he was carrying, was now been interviewed by the Romanian official.  "We have BIG problem" says the guard, which got our attention, "in Romania you have Cancer, you are DEAD.  How is this so?"  It was the guards black humour, probably a bit too black, and maybe also a bit too close to the truth for many of the Romanian population.

On arrival at Suceava we found most places to be closed, but we needed to eat.  Eventually we found a Kebab bar, not far from the train station, and had a okay, but filling meal.  We decided to head back to the train station and have a drink at the bar on the platform.  Whilst enjoying our drink a drunk joined us, he had a very loud argument with the bar staff, and then slumped outside, I took his photo and felt I wanted to buy him a drink, but as I got up to buy one, the lady from behind the bar appeared with a bottle which she gave him for free.  He then sat, looked at his undrunk bottle for a few minutes and left quietly.

I didn't expect to enjoy the return journey over the mountains as much as we did coming, but I wasn't prepared for just how uncomfortable our final leg would be.  The train was heavily over subscribed, our reserved seats had been sold to several people, every station we stopped at, brought a new argument as more people boarded. This was made worse by the fact we were sharing a compartment with four Roma, and their large luggage. Their case took half the floor space, and a young child slept across two seats, they only had three tickets, but took five spaces. Eventually the Mum took the hint, and when the child woke, she made him sit up, which helped a little, but it was nothing compared to the number of people boarding at each station. The journey was very hot (not helped by the Roma insisting on having the window closed) and tiring, and we were relived to arrive back in Cluj just after midnight and then only a short taxi ride was keeping us from our much needed beds.

Day Twelve. київ actually its pretty awesome.

We had to check out of the hotel by mid-day, so decided to have a lazy breakfast and then head down to the spa for a hour.  We'd then have a drive in the opposite direction and come round in a loop to Kiev, then spend the rest of the day there.

The spa was welcome, but once we left we really didn't see anything worthwhile to stop at on our drive, so we ended back in Kiev sooner than we though (despite getting lost again)

I parked on the same road, but this time closer to the Metro station and we walked under the subway to the Metro station Dnipro.


View Larger Map

This is a good place to park, it is busy with the pleasure boats mooring right next to it, but I'm not sure I would like to use the subway under the road at night, it's the only place we saw in Kiev that looked like it could be a bad place to be after dark.

What a difference a day made, Kiev really did feel different to us.  The Easter celebrations were on, the main street was closed, there was a party atmosphere AND we knew our way around a little.  The previous day we had remarked how few shops there were.  Coming out of the Metro today we found a amazing labyrinth of subterranean shops, and the further and deeper you went the more upmarket it got.  It started with a series of stalls, then a supermarket and finally designer clothes shops in a full shopping mall about three or four floors below ground level.

We even found a great bar called Shato with fantastic traditional Ukrainian food and it's own brewery.  It was busy, and afterwards we could see why.  I'm going to say more in another post on Original Gravity at a later date.

The open spaces in Kiev are wonderful, onion domed cathedrals stand over squares with statues and fountains, the parks are full of little food stalls and pop up bars, I've never seen as many Segways, you seemed to be able to rent then in every park. We didn't get chance to cruise down the river, but that seems very popular, there's many boats to choose from.

We were glad we had made our peace with Kiev, we knew we were going to have to return to complete our Chernobyl trip and knowing there's more for us to see will help complete the trip next time.

Soon it was time to make our way back to the car and then the railway station.  I had got the route plotted in Google Navigation on my phone, but shortly after setting off, we realised the route took us down the road that was closed.  Unfortunately Google Navigation doesn't work very well without a data connection, it is fine unless you

make a wrong turn, then it struggles.  But Carolyn did manage to get us round the closure and back on route so we arrived at the train station in good time.

Day Eight & Nine. Suceava to Kiev

As the train pulls into the platform, my first thought is that it was not the right one, not like the streamlined bullet train like pictures on the website, it is pulled by the same type of Romanian locomotive that bought us over the mountains. But once it stops at the platform it becomes obvious that it is our train.

The train staff speak only Russian and our tickets come under great scrutiny. Once aboard, the train guard points to her ring finger and then us. "Yes, we are married" we reply. We are ushered in to a cabin with two men on the bottom bunks, Carolyn seems happy that we are together rather than separate cabins as we were expecting.

We get fresh crisp bedding and set our beds up. Once we are comfortable we can take in our surroundings.

If I had to date our carriage, I would say somewhere in the 80's, about thirty years old, everything is very soviet looking, functional and built to last, it looks like it will last at least another thirty years at least.

At the end of the carriage is a coal burning stove, there's ash in the grate, and loose bits of coal about, it appears that it is still in use during winter.

The doors between the carriages look and feel like they are made from 2cm thick solid steel, they are painted battleship gray this coupled with the heat and closeness, makes it feel like I've walked into the set of Hunt For Red October.



It's not long before we reach the border, a
border officer comes and takes our passports. A short while later they are returned. Through the window I can see that the Romanian electric locomotive has been replaced with a noisy diesel one. When we set off it's at a steady pace. A watch tower and sign marks the border, that was much easier than I expected.



We stop again, this time a Ukrainian border guard gets on. He is wearing full military uniform, and barks at me to sit down. He inspects our passports and asks "tourist?" we reply "Da" He looks at us suspiciously and walks off with the passports. For the next 30 minutes to a hour, many differently dressed Ukrainian officials stomp up and down the carriage. Some of them start taking the train apart.

We eventually start moving, but without our passports, at the  Romanian checkpoint the train crew returned them before we left, we begin to wonder if they've been forgotten. The train comes to a halt in a marshaling yard.

We can see many dogs, and lots of men in shorts, socks and flip flops. I remembered reading that they had to change the wheels at the Ukraine border as the tracks are a different width and it became obvious that this was what was now happening.

The entire train was lifted in to the air by a series of screw jacks,

the action was so smooth, if you didn't look at a fixed point you didn't know that you were moving. All the while the new wheels were being put into place by a flimsy looking gantry cane. The old wheels were pulled out of one end, and the new ones pulled under the from other.

This impressive feat of heavy engineering was performed by the men in flip flops, and all the time the train was kept under close watch by soldiers and dogs begging at the windows for food. I wanted to take some photos, and video of the work, but my actions caught the eye of one of the soldiers and she started to march towards me gesturing No! I put my phone away disappointed, and I didn't get the opportunity to film more, we were being watched far too closely.

Once the work was completed the train was reversed back to the checkpoint and the border guard grudgingly returned our papers. The locomotive was replaced by a slightly less noisy diesel, and we were on our way again at a steady pace.

The buffet car had two tables, and a large kiosk with a display of chocolate, alcohol, cigarettes and crisps. A thin Russian guy was buying some Vodka, every time the chef added Vodka, the thin guy told him to add more, eventually his cup was full to the top with neat Vodka. He then appeared to negotiate the price. Once his transaction was complete the thin man greeted us in English, and offered to help us with the menu. We chose beef and potatoes. He advised us that we should come back after the next station but pay now, he then negotiated our price and told us "That is very good price"

We had brought our own beer and wine, so we decided to take these straight back to the buffet car and enjoy a drink while we waited for our meal.

We hadn't been sat long when the chef appeared with two plates of pretty good steak and chips with a fresh side salad. Afterwards we had a mug each of whole leaf tea and some Russian chocolate, it was the best meal I've had in a train by a very long way.

After dinner we both got a pretty good night's sleep, and we woke on a mainline with the train making good speed, it was only a couple of hours to Kiev, the journey had seemed to fly by.

The scenery is now dominated by massive pine forests, the occasional village with a Lada or motorbike and sidecar waiting at the level crossing. Many of the trees were full of Mistletoe, great balls hung from the branches, I wondered if they had the same Christmas tradition as us, and if not, was that the reason why the Mistletoe was doing so well.

We had brought our own breakfast, so after a quick clean up we sat in the buffet car and ate croissants. We were alone, as we were the following night. It seems that the buffet car doesn't get much use, and that two tables are plenty. After breakfast we pack and prepare to disembark at Kiev.

Day Eight. Leaving Suçeava.

Oh my God. I have never felt so foreign. Today we are leaving Suceava to head to Kiev in the Ukraine.

 The train is at 1pm and we are anxious not to get caught up in anything which may cause any delays. We have had a better night's sleep thanks to earplugs and less dog conversations. Breakfast is a very intimate affair in keeping with the personal feel of Pensiune Rhapsodia. After breakfast a bit of divide and conquer; Kev goes for cash while I finish packing (there's a theme emerging!). By 10am we have 3 hours to kill. We decide to try a walk, the temperature and humidity are suffocating, our phones say its 20 degrees but it feels much hotter. We approach the edge of a Roma area, identifiable by its rough built shacks and dark skinned children who never fail to melt my heart. There is a boy of about 10 swinging a light chain, it appears to be in a playful rather than threatening manner but we decide to take a cautious line and accept this as our cue to head back to the pensiune, its too hot for walking anyway.

Eventually it time to head to the station, we still arrive over an hour early. The station is bustling and there's a holiday feeling in the air as people carry Easter gifts and children show off new bicycles which are excitedly ridden up and down the platform without reprimand from parent or guard, parents here seem less over protective and children subsequently enjoy more freedom, another echo from British childhood of earlier decades.

We find a seat inside as its cooler. A motherly, stout Romanian lady in traditional flowing skirt and headscarf asks us a question which, helped by alot of gesture and words from randomly thrown in European languages, we discover is an enquiry about our destination. Now she has discovered we are tourists she takes us under her wing. She talks to us in long streams of Romanian, and we are amazed at how much meaning filters through. Her only English words are "I love you", and a loving character she is indeed. She tells us about an English musical she once enjoyed at the cinema (or maybe it was  Bollywood?) Then she gives us a detailed warning about thieves while we are travelling who will, given a chance, take our mobiles, our clothes and beg for money for their children then watch where we keep our wallets to come back and steal them when we are a asleep. All this when our only shared words are I love you, thank-you, with pleasure, and goodbye (the latter 3 in Romanian). When its time to go she double kisses us in the Romanian greeting reserved for valued friends, and it feels right, I feel like I just received some Romanian mothering.

I feel foreign again when neither the guards on the train, nor our cabin mates , respond to either English or my hastily accrued Romanian. The guard recruits the nearest under 25 year old who obliges. Full respect to the multi lingual Eastern European youth. We are allocated 2 beds in a cabin together, we were previously told mixed gender cabins were not allowed so this is a bonus but I hope the 2 Bulgarian males already resident don't mind, I can't ask them as there are no young people around!

The only thing I can compare the cabin to in appearance is a prison cell with its 4 bunks in very close proximity. Our companions, being here before us have of course claimed the bottom bunks so we are opposite each other in the top. At first the "other-ness" of it along with the recent breakdown in trans- national communication stresses me out a bit; but the Bulgarians are welcoming in the few words and gestures we manage to exchange, the guard brings us clean bedding and their is air-con. This may be one of the most basic nights sleep I have ever had but I am safe and warm (or rather cool) , a reminder of what's actually important.

Day Seven. Suçeava

We arrived in Suçeava it had been a long journey and we we're tired.  The "taxi" drove away as soon as he'd dropped us off, leaving us in a cloud of dust.

We stood and starred at our  pension, it was in darkness, I pushed the gate, it was locked. I spotted a buzzer on the gate post, pushing the button, nothing seemed to happen. I tried the gate again, it swung open.

The door was locked, but again there was another button.  Eventually a stern, surprised looking woman answered the door.  I explained we had a reservation, she shrugged.  I tried again, and she said "Of course" and gestured for us to enter.

She gave us a choice of rooms, we chose the one with a bath, and she left us to settle in.  When we left for dinner it struck us what a strange location was, a bit like finding a mansion on the centre of a run down council estate.

We were both very hungry, so opted to go straight out to eat.  The first decent looking place we found was called London Pub, we wasn't looking for somewhere to remind us of home, the food was okay, and the pub was nothing like anything you would find in London, but we welcomed the sustenance.

We returned to the hotel, and the joys of Romanian hotel plumbing, the bath was welcome, but we couldn't get it to drain, and when we did the room was filled with sewer stench. But it still was good to have a soak rather than a shower

When we got settled to sleep, we heard some dogs barking, it got louder and louder, and just when you thought it had stopped, they started again.

By 1am, I was ready to walk out and find somewhere new, but I fell asleep, and didn't wake till sunrise.

In the morning, both very tired, we debated whether to spend a second night, or cut our losses and checkout. We decided to talk it over after breakfast, and once we'd had some coffee inside of us.

Breakfast was fantastic, a range of local cheeses, tasty tomatoes, and cold cuts, with a freshly cooked omelette to boot.  We felt better after food, and decided that we would use our second night, no way could the same happen again, could it?

Suçeava, has a more modern feel than Cluj, but still feels stuck in the 1980's, it's part of the charm of Romania, but understandably, it's not something they are proud of.  The oldest buildings in Suçeava seem to be the churches, of which there are many, Stephen the Great built a new church every time he won a battle, it appears he was a successful war monger.  Every other building however appears to be a concrete tower block.

Suçeava does have a lovely plaza with stone paving and a pedestrianised street, something we didn't see in the traffic bustle of Cluj.  An Easter display had been made on the square, giant rabbits and eggs made of tinsel, it was illuminated at night and did look fantastic.

Either we missed something, or there's not much to see in Suçeava, we did have a couple of top notch meals and managed to get provisions for our journey to Kiev.

The monasteries are supposed to be fantastic, but, all but one you need transport to see, so it's not possible on this trip.

You do see the Ukrainian/Russian influence here, the language is slightly different, both in accent and the way it is written, you see fairer skinned people, some with blond hair.

After a lovely meal in the Latino restaurant we make our way back to the pension, in the distance we can hear dogs barking....