24 June 2016
Went to Romania on Brexit result. What a disappointment. Found out at Luton airport that
Cameron has resigned.
Welcome to the EU the airport official welcomed us when we landed in Bucharest.
Before that we picked up the car from the airport. Car hire was really cheap only £137 for 12 days and we got an upgrade but then got whacked with excess charge of 100 euros even though I protested I had excess cover. He frightened us with scary stories of Romanian drivers and Romanian roads. There was no map in the car and I thought I would get data on my phone but then realised I need to have roaming data.
Bucharest apartment was booked in old town and I had directions to the apartment so we followed signs for town centre for a while but then got lost in heavy Bucharest traffic
Had to stop and ask a couple of people for directions who were really helpful. We were quite close and he showed us on a map where to go.
We finally parked nearby and found the place and tried to get in but no doorbell so had to tailgate somebody going in. The apartment was really dark and dinghy with dog shit on floor. Neither of us spoke to each other but secretly Hitesh was probably cursing me for booking such an awful place.
We kept walking up . It was so hot , we were sweating. We walked up to the 10th floor but no apartment 30
Rang doors of 29 but no answer. A blessing in disguise really considering the state of the foyer and so we decided to find a hotel nearby. We found a hotel called Central hotel which was nice and clean and reasonably priced so checked in there.
Some people dressed in colourful costumes at the hotel and when we enquired, we found out it was part of a folk festival – they were a dance troupe. We were a bit gutted at having missed that. After freshening up , we went to Pizza Hut for dinner.
Met Indian couple there who were here for a wedding. The wife works in a venture cap company the husband is stay at home dad.
At Pizza hut , we had our first taste of fresh lemon juice Romanian style – they make it with sugar and mint
back at the hotel wrote an e-mail to the apartment place complaining of their misrepresentation of the apartment and also complained to booking.com as didn’t want to pay any cancellation fees
25 June 2016
We woke up around 7.30 ad after breakfast decided to walk around. Managed to get a tourist map from the hotel and we walked around the next day to visit all the sights. Bucharest was known as little Paris in the early 1900s. We decided to walk to the Parliament palace but before that went to Cismigui park and found out the folk festival was on over the weekend. They were really geared up for tourists and handed us a programme in English along with a few flags. There was face painting and other activities for children in the morning and the dances were starting at 3pm so we said we would be back then. It was all free. We wandered around the park and admired all the craft stalls selling embroidered tops and dresses, ethnic Romanian wear as well as organic produce and fresh juices, corn on the cob etc
We walked to the Parliament palace which is huge – it is the 2nd largest administrative building in the world after the pentagon and houses the Romanian parliament but still not finished completely. Quite a few historic buildings such as old monasteries were demolished when it was built.
After this walked to the old town near the Atheneum and other beautiful buildings such as a replica Arc de triomphe. On the way saw someone selling old books and maps – We stopped and managed to buy a couple of maps of Romania (to help us on the road as we had no sat nav). Only problem was these were about 20 years old. One of the guys there told us he had starred in Singh is Bling so I took a picture with him with his motorbike. I still have to see the movie!
The old town with its cobbled streets was really picturesque. This is where most of the restaurants are. We had a drink – iced coffee and fresh orange juice and then walked some more to see the rest of the buildings. Even their banks like the Romanian national bank was such a beautiful building.
It was coming up to 3pm so we headed to the park and took up some seats. There weren’t that many people but lots of cameras and from 4pm it was being televised live so we appeared in some TV somewhere. The dancers were from all over Romaina and also from other countries such as Cyprus , Serbia, Croatia .Last year they had even had dancers from Ireland and also India. It was really good show and was going on until 9pm but we left around 7pm to then go and have dinner.
We walked around in the pedestrianised part of town and decided on a Mexican restaurant. The food was pretty good and it was pretty cheap – around £16 for 2 of us. The only issue is the smoking. It is so hot so you want to sit outside and everyone smokes, whether are eating or waitressing so it’s a bit off putting.
Before dinner we sent off an anniversary message to Sanjay and Ila. There was live music going on in the square which was really good. Everyone seemed to be out – all the restaurants were busy but maybe the Euro football games had something to do with it.
26 June 2016
We had booked an apartment at Sibui for the night so got up early around 7am and headed off after breakfast. Armed with a map it was a little easier but only once we got out of Bucharest. Getting out we had a few issues as signposting was a little haphazard so we ended up going around in circles a couple of times. We had decided to take the transfagaran highway after Pitesti – this road is a little longer to Sibui but has been voted the best road in the world by Top gear. It has steep hairpin bends ,and climbs to an altitude of over 2000 metres (with a glacial lake at the top) and with rapid descents. It was initially constructed as a military access route across the Carpathian mountains in case of a Soviet invasion but is now a firm favourite for tourists. At the beginning of the road is a famous monastery and cathedral Curtea de Arges which is beautiful.
The road itself is very scenic but I did feel that the Canadian rockies are much more scenic. We arrived in Sibui around 4pm – it was yet another beautiful day and very hot.Being a Sunday everything appeared to be sleeping and once again there was no answer when we rang the bell at the apartment I had booked. This was also booked form London (I had booked the first 3 nights). He started complaining about booking.com and I was feeling bad about booking apartment rather than large hotels. We tried to ring the phone number given but could not get through. Luckily a neighbour came to the rescue and managed to phone the owner who lived someplace else and came after a few minutes. The apartment was nice and clean but the A/C was not very strong so it was really hot. He was really helpful though and told us to go to this open air museum called Astra National museum complex. He suggested we go straight away and so we did but by the time we got there it was already 5.30 and the lady said it is huge – the largest outdoor museum in Europe so we decided we would come back the next day to see it as we wanted to get something to eat. So we went back to the flat and got changed to go out. The town centre was only 10 mins walk away and it was buzzing. Lots of restaurants in the square and they had an international film festival going on with a huge inflatable outdoor screen. Sibui was voted the 2007 European capital of culture and it is a really pretty town with a river running in the middle and the town centre is maze of cobbled streets. Lots of lovely baroque buildings in the square.
27 June 2016
Woke up around 8 for breakfast. They had made a bit of an effort with trying to make a veg breakfast but it wasn’t great. Unfortunately it was pouring with rain. We had toyed with the idea of staying another night but we had seen the town and the outdoor museum had lost its appeal due to the pelting rain, so we decided to head to Cluj. Before we left we used the internet to book a hotel in Cluj.
Hasmita Shah 