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....

Day Six. Travel, Kev's perspective.

As we take our seats, I have a feeling of dread, the carriage is hot, and a loud drunk Romanian man wants most of the space in the seat next to me. He is shouting and waving, this is going to be a long journey.

Soon after we leave the station the carriage starts to cool down, but the drunk is now having a heated argument in Romanian with another passenger and gesturing to us. We've only left twenty minutes and it looks like all the stories we'd heard about the train were true.

 Then suddenly he leaves, gesturing to us as he goes. The lady who he was arguing with explains in broken English that he has left because "He has had enough of us" Quite what we'd done, I've no idea.

The carriage feels more comfortable now, and I feel I can leave Carolyn safely and view Romania crawling past through the open window.

Cluj slides into the distance, abandoned industrial sites start to give way to ramshackle small holdings, farmers working fields by hand, some ploughing by horse and a few with tired looking tractors.

As we travel further, the buildings get further apart and the train starts to climb the mountain railway. We see storks nesting on the top of pylons. The mix of old and new, doesn't seem to change however, a grand house stands next to a shack with broken cars in between.

Occasionally the train slows the and we stop at a station, which normally don't have a platform, just a kerb between the tracks. Other times it slows to cross a weak bridge, the churning river can be seen between the rails.

It is impossible to try to describe the mountains and do them justice, lush and green, with spruce trees covering the tops. The occasional snow topped giant in the distance, which feels bizarre in this heat. You can smell the fresh air entering the cabin, the regular lumber yards impart the smell of freshly cut pine.

Eventually we crest the mountains and start to descend towards Suçeava, the mountain air is replaced by the smell of hot metal as the train struggles to hold back the weight of it's load.

The drunk from earlier returns, he is somewhat more sober, and starts to tell us in a mix of French, English, Romanian and mime; How hard he has to work, showing us his scars and calloused hands, and how much he loves his wife and two and half year old son.

A man comes down the train, looks into our compartment and says something in Romanian, and the drunk (Roy) gives him short shrift and gestures to us no. The man leaves carrying a flask. We'd been warned not to accept coffee off anybody while on the train, because we would likely end up drugged and robbed. I've a feeling Roy has done us a favour.

Another man enters, this time silently. He empties a bag onto a empty chair, there's a noisy toy which he demonstrates, a nail kit, tools, torches and a massager, which he demonstrates to each of us in turn. He leaves taking his bag, but leaving his stuff. Each item has a price tag. Roy explains that the man is deaf. Shortly he returns and Carolyn purchases the manicure set for 10leu. Roy gives him a couple of Leu, and the deaf man refuses, but Roy insists. I think that we might have got Roy all wrong.

Through the window the reverse of our departure from Cluj is happening and the lush vegetation starts to be a replaced by dry ploughed fields and then broken factories. The land is much flatter, the fields larger and the tractors are newer.

The guard comes to see us, he is wearing a woollen suit and cap, it matches the ones the station guards wear when they stand to attention as the train passes, even if it doesn't stop. He told us that the next station is Suçeava and the train will wait ten minutes. We thanked him and remarked how hot he must have been in the 30° heat.

We leave the train, and almost immediately a heavily tanned man approaches. "Taxi!" he shouts. We show him our reservation confirmation "I know it" he says. "how much?" l ask in English with my best Romanian accent, and he pulls out a big roll of notes from his pocket, he pulls out a ten and a five, and we say "Da". He leads us to a dirty Passat with a broken windscreen, our bags go in the boot, we climb in the back, forgetting that we are in Romania and reach for the seat belts, only to find they have been removed, as usual.

As we leave the car park he stops to talk to a friend, I get the feeling he is asking for directions. It's 5 minutes driving before he pulls up to a taxi rank, and this time I'm sure he's asking for directions. The taxi drivers oblige, but all the time look at us with slightly worried faces. "colleagua" our driver says as we pull away. 100m down a rutted dirt road is our pension, it looks out of place in this area, like finding a mansion on a council estate. We push the button on the security gate and enter for our first night in Suçeava.

Below you will find a video of the journey, each bit of film is from a different stage, you can see the scenery change. The whole six hour journey is compressed into 20 minutes. The total journey was 318km, top speed 99.1km/h, average speed 50km/h, total time 6h:21m, and time stationary 29mins