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 Five. Guests.

Way back in day two, Aurel suggested as the weather was so nice, we should have a barbeque, everyone agreed, and invited themselves to his house!

We loved the idea, the chance to experience Romanian hospitality in a real home.

It is traditional to take flowers or chocolate when you are a guest in Romania, I looked out for some on my recce to the train station,but it's Sunday, and almost all the shops are closed.

Crina and Dan  kindly picked us up to take us to Aurel's home, so Carolyn asked if they could take us some where for flowers.

Fortunately it was "flower day" and Dan knew just the place.

Flower day is the last Sunday before Easter, and if you have a flower name it is considered your birthday.  Crina means lily, so it was Crina's birthday today.  More here: CLICKY

The flower market was bustling with people buying, sellers and cars.  Carolyn and Crina went to look for flowers, myself and Dan stayed with the car.  It wasn't long before a symphony of horns indicated it was time for Dan to move the car.  The horn is a familiar sound on the streets of Cluj, but is normally a indication of exasperation and not aggression.

I got out to tell the girls that we had moved, I found them enjoying the market, and with a bunch of flowers ready.

When we arrived at Aurel's house, he came out to greet us with his wife Corena and miniature poodle Oxey.

We had a tour of the garden whilst Aurel did the important work of barbecuing.  Aurel's garden is typical of many Romania gardens, in that it is mainly used to grow vegetables, we had all the different produce pointed out to us, and we swapped Romanian and English names for the plants.  You could see many other gardens all the same, but none of them were as well set up as Aurel's.

The food was fantastic, and plentiful, we were introduced to Mititei a kind of kebab, a tomato and pepper salsa, that has been semi fermented (which was lovely) and minced roasted Aubergine, unfortunately we can't remember the names of the last two, but we will be recreating them when we get home.

We spent the rest of the afternoon, chatting and eating strawberries.  Everyone was soon tired from the good food, the beer and the sun, so Dan and Crina brought us back to our hotel.

After a couple of hours back at the hotel, we had a call from Lidia to say that Alin was on his way to pick us up to meet friends in a bar, and we had fifteen minutes.  It was a lovely surprise, but did mean we had to be quick to be ready.

Alin took us to a bar by the river, we met his 5 year old daughter, a charming little girl and their friends Dan and Anna. We drank, ate pizza and compared British and Romania life, another wonderful evening and fantastic treat.

Day Five. Reconnaissance.

We are traveling tomorrow, the first leg of our train journey to Kiev takes us to Suceave.  This is comparatively short, some 6 hours and about 322km or 200miles (which still is my longest rail journey,at least in time), as opposed to the Suceave to Kiev leg which is 21 hours and 585km or 364 miles. This certainly will be a unique journey!

So, this morning, we needed to pack light and I also wanted to walk to the train station, to avoid any directional challenges tomorrow.

We decided to divide and conquer, Carolyn would pack, and I would do the walk.

Having checked the map, I could see the railway station was on the opposite side of the hill, Google navigation told me to walk right from the hotel, I thought if I turned left that would take me a more direct diagonal route.

Once I turned the second corner I saw the hill I had to climb, WOW, by the time I was nearly to the top it felt like it was nearly vertical!  I turned right and then it was down hill all the way.  That hill is going to be a challenge with all the luggage!

I wandered around the station, I read the information boards and watched a train leave, it all looks quite straight forward. I filmed a train leaving, the video is here: CLICKY

I decided to try a different route back, this involved a foot subway, these are now rare in the UK, having been filled in, in favour of pelican crossings.  This Romanian one was made even more special by the fact it has a bar, I've included a picture. Other than that they are the same dark affairs we used to have in England.

I saw other things such as a tidy classic Mini, which must be a rare sight in Romania, some interesting graffiti, and lots of people queuing to get into to church.

The walk was nice, and the thought that the packing would be done when I got back made it even nicer.

Typically the return journey was completely flat, with no hill climbing, Google was right all along!

Day Four. The botanical gardens.

As our self appointed culture correspondent I was delighted to be given a tour of the beautiful Cluj-Napoca on Friday night and have a chance to ask all of the questions I was wondering about. Here is some of what I have  learned:

•Cluj means close which is a reference to the city's position in the valley, and Napoca is the original name of the Roman settlement here and so is retained as an acknowledgement of the heritage.

•There is no demolition industry here, culture dictates that buildings are not demolished. Also, planning regulations are not stringent like ours. These two factors account for the mish mash of architectural styles, ages and placement of buildings which creates a beautiful chaos.

•The monument near our hotel is an anti communist statement, and the wording therein questioning why some forces within parliament still oppose freedom.

•The main industry is the 7 universities bringing income in rents and fuel as many students drive cars (not hindered by the restrictive insurance premiums our young people face; insurance is, currently, charged at a flat rate.)

•Cluj was in Hungary until the border moved in 1918

•In Transylvania you will find Trovants, Romanian Growing Stones. They look like rounded rocks, the ones we saw were about 30cm across. When it rains they grow and then reform their hard shell.  You can find more information here: Trovants

•There are wedding traditions of stealing shoes and stealing brides, this may have been why we saw a bride, looking somewhat out of place in a shopping mall.

Our first task on Saturday was to return to the shops in Cluj centre, when we left England the first signs of Spring were breaking through and the temperatures were making tentative attempts to rise, we arrived into an early Romanian summer with temperatures up to 30 degrees and we have not brought the right clothes. Managed to pick up a couple of things, there are some still on the list, but there's always Suceava :)

After a quick lunch back at Klausen burger we were met by Voichita and her 2 adorable and very bright children for a visit to Cluj's Botanical Garden. The weather was scorchio! Lidia and Alin, and later Marius and his son, joined us there. The gardens were beautiful but it was the sense of togetherness and friendship that made the afternoon really special. We giggled at our attempts to fill water bottles from the unpredictable flow of the water fountain, chatted on shady benches, collected water snails, swapped vocabulary while reflecting on the nature of language & how we learn, and (the geeks among us;) shared wifii hotshots and car videos.

After a quick trip to one of Cluj's large shopping malls for some vital reservation printing and our first sight of a horse & cart since entering Romania (many more to come when leave the city on Monday I hope) we were safely delivered back to our hotel in time to contemplate where to eat dinner.

On our walk to the restaurant we laughed when we caught ourselves speaking to one another in broken English after a day of simplifying our vocabulary and syntax. We have since managed a few words to each other in Romanian - much more productive.

Dinner was taken alfresco. It's hard to describe the feel of the Euphoria bar. While unmistakably still in Romania there were comforting reminisces of modern life at home as people gathered on a balmy Saturday night to drink and chat and chill. It felt like a taste of what younger generations would like Romania to be.

I was craving something familiar so, to Kev's disapproval, went for a cheese and ham pasta which was very pleasant; Kev has been wanting to try confit duck for some time and at less than £10 this was an ideal opportunity. It was delicious. We were served all the while by a hero of a waitress managing about 50 covers single handed with a mixture of food orders and those just enjoying oft repeated rounds of drinks (its a big place, easily in excess of 200 covers in total). She collected and delivered 3-4 orders at once on her trips back and forth to the kitchen without a single hiccup. We made sure our appreciation was expressed verbally and financially, a gesture which we hope made the rest of her exhausting shift more bearable.

Day Three. A surprise.

So we ate a meal in Klausen Burger last night with six Romanian friends.  The food was great, the conversation was fun, and interesting.  The beer was good, perhaps a little too good, as my hangover proves this morning. 
After the meal Alin and Lidia took us on a tour of Cluj, we drove to the top of the mountains on both sides of the valley and looked down on the city at night.  We then went onto a Cuban bar (Havanna) and drank tea.  The whole night was fantastic and we were made to feel very special.
They say you learn through your mistakes, and according to this trip, we are at university (of which there are 7 in Cluj!).  Hands up who knew that Easter is celebrated on a different date in Eastern Europe.  We certainly didn't, although I did find it strange to see Easter displays in the shops!
This applies to the Ukraine, and guess what, the dates we are there is Easter.  Experiencing a festival in a different culture is certainly a good thing, but when I learnt this last night, I was worried.
When we got back to our hotel in the early hours, I went straight to the tablet and did a search on Booking.com The first hotel in the list £1000 for three nights.  I panicked.  Game over, we couldn't afford those prices!  Especially worrying, was this price was for a Holiday Inn,  Booking.com said "It is busy in Kiev on those dates, prices might be higher than usual"  Too right.
Changing the criteria, I found a few hotels about 20 miles from Kiev at around £200.  Still more than we were used to paying on this trip, but at least affordable.
One hotel I found on Expedia seemed to stand out, it's name was "boutique Hotel Seasons Spa", there wasn't any photo's, reviews, and very little description, but the name stood out.  I Googled it, set in the forest, full spa facilities, two pools, and beautiful rooms.  It seems everyone wants to be in the centre of Kiev, and not the countryside.
But how would we get there?  Would there be public transport? Would it run on the holiday?  We decided to sleep on it.
Waking up with the idea of hiring a car, I set to Google yet again.  £100 for the four days, giving us a chance to explore the area, it looked like a good idea.  So i set to booking the hotel, first try, ended with an error, unable to confirm the booking.  Maybe the card details were wrong, 2nd time, same error.  Okay, I'll try another card, same error.  Right I'll refresh the site, same error.  Now I'm panicking again.  Maybe, it's because I'm on the mobile version of Expedia, error, but this time it says the hotel has increased the prices, would I like to book at the new prices.  My heart sinks, here we go, I knew it was too good to be true.  I click on the link, it's gone up by 10p!  I click confirm and the booking goes through!
I have now booked the car, although I am still waiting for confirmation of this, hope that's a bit smoother than the hotel!
All the while I keep receiving e-mails from tour operators in Kiev saying nyet to the tours in Chernobyl, knowing about the public holidays, it's making more sense why!
Edit: email just received confirming the car hire is secured, phew.

It's the Little Things

It's the little details that make Romania so enchanting, the little differences from home.
In so many ways its like going back to childhood, maybe that's one of the reasons I feel so happy and at peace here. It can seem, at times, like a 1980's-Life-in-England theme park. Even down to the muzak, I browsed a department store today singing along out loud to Suzanne Vega's "Luca", God I loved that song circa 1987!

Maybe the most off the wall piece of nostalgia so far..underground public loos, ours at home long ago locked ( and even in some cases, I believe, converted to dwellings) to put a stop to who knows what manner crime and depravity. I have been trying to bring to mind my experiences of such amenities but my memory is hazy, I think they are connected with visits to the seaside and our annual Christmas Shopping trip into "The Toon" (Newcastle if any explanation is needed!). But the memory it brings back with intense clarity is the smell, just the sight of the iron railings guarding the entrance and the WC sign produces a reaction at the back of my throat at the complete recall of the smell of stagnant piss and valiant efforts to mask it with what must have been industrial strength and quantities of bleach.
I haven't decided yet whether to pop down there and see if they smell the same!

Day Two. Romania.

I've never experienced a runway quite like the one at Cluj airport, it was like landing on a typical British side road.   However the trip through passport control was smooth, I did laugh when I heard a English accent proclaim "Well it's almost a queue."

Another thing that hit us on arrival was the heat, after leaving Doncaster in the high single figures, 25 Degrees Celsius, was a bit of a shock. Maybe we should have brought more shorts!

Our friends Crina and Ioana kindly took time off work to meet us off the plane, and gave us a whistle stop tour of Cjuj-Napoca centre, which was handy when we explored on our own later.

Our first three nights are in the Pension Deja vu, which is just over the river from town centre.  We chose this place for it's location and it's quirkiness, I will post photo's when we return to the UK.  The hotel is well used, but clean, and our room is massive, king size bed, three piece suite, walk-in wardrobe, tables, dresser, TV, air conditioning and mini bar. We are very pleased to have got such a room for less than £70 bed & breakfast for the three nights.

Our exploration of Cluj revealed a beautiful town with a juxtaposition of concrete tower blocks and Gothic cathedrals.  The squares and the parks were pretty, and full of people enjoying the weather.

I'd set myself the challenge of finding a good beer bar, something Carolyn had warned me wasn't possible in Cluj.  We did find some great bars, a couple had a limited selection of big brewery beers.  Our last attempt, on our way back to the hotel, led us to http://www.klausenburger.ro A pub with on-site brewery, now this was more like it, I'm not going to say more here, but I will be writing a full post at some point at www.original-gravity.blogspot.com

The evening meal in the hotel was enjoyable, if a little inconsistent.  Carolyn had steak medallions on a bed of mash with a bilberry "mirror", I had a mixed grill.  Carolyn's steak was really good, my meal was the inconsistent one.  My plate had two smoked sausages, chicken, pork fillet (I think), steak, pork tenderloin, chips and vegetables. The tenderloin was plaited around small pieces of garlic, and was fantastic, the sausages were really nice.  Whilst waiting for the food you could hear the chef beating the shit out of something, he was tenderising my steak, it didn't work.  However there was a lot of food on my plate, and I did finish feeling very full and still leaving what wasn't too good.

Day two UK

After a early start, and a mad rush to be ready, we checked out of our hotel, and set off on the short walk to the airport. Check-in and security was reasonably easy and we arrived in the departure lounge about 1 hour 30 minutes before the gate opened.

I'm not sure what your definition of lounge is, if it brings to mind a veal crate, then you probably have better idea the "lounge" at Luton this morning than me. We did manage to find a nice premium bit of wall and sit on the floor whilst we waited for boarding though.

We had paid the little bit extra for long leg room and priority boarding. Some of our passengers had also paid for priority boarding.  And some of these seemed to believe that this meant they could remove the barrier and push their family of six to the front of the queue. Surprisingly many of the passengers seemed to accept this behaviour.  Carolyn wasn't one of them, and she spent her queue time acting as goal keeper, at least it was something to do.

I'm pleased to say that none of the frequent queue jumpers were British, if there's one thing us Brits know how to do it's queue.

Day one.

After the car snapping a suspension spring and a couple of trips to the garage to get it sorted, the trip to Luton was really smooth, and we got nearly 500 miles under our belt with a trip to Newcastle yesterday.

We chose a package with a over night stay at the Ibis Luton Airport.  Our parking is with Airparks, about 15 minutes from the airport. Parking there was a pleasure, the staff were really helpful. It was stressless and even quite fun.  A good start to the holiday.

The hotel seems clean and the staff helpful, food is served 24 hours, with a full restaurant open in the evening.

We are currently chilling in the bar, with a decent wine and a shit beer.