MOTORHOME TRAVELLERS' DIARY ROMANIA 2004

What follows are extracts from a diary we kept during our motorhome travels in Romania during the summer of 2004. We had entered Romania from Bulgaria, crossing the border by ferry over the Danube between Vidin and Calafat. We were to continue into northwest Hungary, making our way back to the UK via Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Holland and a ferry from the Hook of Holland to Hull.

It was only 30 miles to Vidin, according to the sign. Just 10 miles downhill to the E79, then 20 miles to the Feribot which crosses the Danube to Calafat in Romania. Simple, except that it took all morning at a crawl and totalled 45 miles!

The first 10 miles went well, joining E79 at Bela, but 3 miles later in Dimovo the Vidin traffic was again diverted along a minor cart-track, heading east and then north-east to join road 11 at Arcar – our first sight of the Danube. The lane was in a terrible condition, with pot-holes and craters, but did show us the simple life in rural Bulgaria among poor villagers and wandering geese and turkeys, though the storks' nests were now empty. After Arcar we rejoined E79 briefly to Dunavci, then the highway was closed again in both directions and we entered Vidin on a back-road.

The ferry-port is 3 miles north of the city centre and we found a new guarded TIR-Park/Restaurant on the left, just before the International Customs. After parking and lunching here, we left the motorhome and cycled into and around Vidin. We rode in through the riverside park, past the substantial Bala Vida Fortress (a medieval castle on a Roman site, rebuilt by the Turks in the 17th century).

Dinner at the TIR-Park Restaurant cost a total of 8 leva (€4) for a good meal of soup, toast, pork roulade and mashed potato, and our host was pleased that we didn't want change from a €5 note! The Security Guard asked 5 leva, for which he guaranteed a peaceful night.

Leaving the lorry park before 9 am, we had to pay an extra €5 Bulgarian Road Tax before clearing Passport Control and joining a few trucks to wait at the port (a passenger ferry crosses from the riverboat terminal in the centre of Vidin, but doesn't take vehicles).

We finally boarded the ferry (actually 2 barges lashed together) at 10.45 am, for the 30 minute trip across the Danube, costing us €56 one-way. We chatted with the Bulgarian occupants of an Irish-registered car – Stefan, his wife and son, returning to Wicklow (where they live and work) after a holiday visiting home. Another long and fascinating talk was with the 4 tough-looking cycle-tourists, who turned out to be from Glasgow!

On the Romanian side, at Calafat, we had a half-hour wait before being checked in and charged €12 for road tax. Then, with the help of our GPS rather than any road signs (and hindered by assorted ruffians begging for Euros), we hit the E79 road for Craiova. After passing the Glaswegians (who stopped for no-one), we paused to lunch in a layby in Giubega, where Barry noticed a flat tyre (rear nearside). By coincidence (?) we had just passed 2 Vulcanisare, one on each side of the road in the last village! We got the leaking valve replaced quickly at the first one we tried, without any need of language or local currency, for €10.

In Craiova we found an ATM to draw money (50,000 Romanian Lei to the Pound!), then continued on E574 to Pitesti, where there was nowhere to camp or park. After another 35 miles, through countryside that became more hilly and scenic, we reached the old Roman Camp town of Cimpulung, up at 2,258 ft, where the Lukoil filling station provided us with cheap diesel (Motorina) and a parking place for the night.

Away early on a lovely fresh morning with dew on the rich pastures, we climbed out of Cimpulung through wooded hills, stopping at a Mausoleum at the top of the Mateas Pass (2,830 ft), where the Romanians tried to stop the Germans in Sept-Nov 1916. The charming old guardian unlocked the little museum for us and explained the events using maps and photos - the Germans, in need of Romania's oil, had advanced from Transylvania through Wallachia to take Bucharest. Then he turned on an audio tape in a small model trench, with life-size figures watching the scene, lights flashing and noises exploding. Very simple, very effective and very moving. The entry fee was the equivalent of 20 pence each, our smallest note was 100,000 lei (about £2) and the poor man had no change. He wanted to let us in for free, and when we insisted he take the 100,000 note he kissed Margaret's hand, so gentlemanly and dignified, it touched us deeply.

We continued, up and down through the mountains to the Bran Pass at Fundata village at almost 4,100 ft. On the hillsides we saw gentle alpine cattle (whose cheeses were on sale at the roadside), red squirrels and roaming horses, wonderfully quaint wooden houses, long horse-drawn carts and a bent old woman carrying firewood home on her back. So many impressions to photograph!

Down at 2,358 ft in the tourist village of Bran we entered another world – half an hour's walk round was enough. Bran Castle is promoted as Dracula's Castle – this is Transylvania but any link with Vlad Tepes (the Impaler) is pure fantasy! Further along in Rasnov we stopped for lunch at the Intim Restaurant, below a much more authentic ruined medieval castle. (There is also a simple campsite.) Then we drove through the city of Brasov, set high in the hills below the ski resort of Poiana Brasov. We stopped on the way out to the campsite to shop at the Selgros cash & carry, which (like the other Romanian chain, Metro) admits foreigners by showing their passport. They have a good range of food and non-food goods, especially their patisserie and croissants!

Camping Dirste, where we stayed last year, is almost 5 miles south of Brasov on the left of the main road for Bucharest. Flat and grassy, with easy access, it has some nice cabins and a restaurant, but no washing machine (don't believe their directions to a non-existent nearby laundry!)

The weather had turned cold and wet, so we worked on writing and photos. We had explored medieval Brasov the previous summer – originally a walled Saxon trading colony called Kronstadt. The Gothic Biserica Neagra (Black Church or Schwarze Kirche) sometimes gives organ recitals in summer and we were lucky enough to be there on the right evening.

We talked to a New Zealand couple from Wellington, doing the usual 6-month tour in a campervan after working in London. They'd come out via France, Italy and then 2 days on the seasonal Turkish Maritime ferry from Brindisi to Cesme in Turkey, which cost them €200 altogether, including 3 good meals a day! The secret, apparently, is to depart on a Wednesday and take reclining seats rather than a cabin. They'd continued via Bulgaria, the border crossing at Ruse, Bucharest, and now Brasov. We discussed the history and geography of our continent and gave them what help we could, including a spare map of Budapest.

We tried Romanian TV, but there was nothing to watch on either of the 2 channels and reception was poor! The evening was better spent planning our route to and beyond Suceava, to visit the Painted Monasteries of Bucovina.

1 September BRASOV to BACAU/ROMAN, Romania OMV Service Station 124 miles

A late start, waiting for the downpour to stop, but by noon we were round the Brasov Ring Road and heading north-east on E74 towards Bacau and Suceava. Near Ozun, after 24 miles, we stopped for lunch and diesel (credit cards accepted, they even had a new Chip & PIN machine).

We passed many people, pitiably young or old, selling produce at the roadsides by the fields where pickers worked – spuds, cabbages, onions. A few stalls sold hollow tube-shaped pastries, baked round wooden rolling pins over hot coals, then dipped in coconut or cocoa powder. We'd tried these in Hungary, as well as at Bran – tasty and filling. The villages had Hungarian subtitles to their names and signs, confirming their ethnic origin.

After Tirgu Secuiesc the road climbed to the Oitur Pass at 2,850 ft, the border between Transylvania and Moldova. On the way up and down, ragged children tried to sell pots of blackberries. We felt sad for them – no tourist would stop and no local would pay for something they could pick themselves. The wonderful bucolic scenery was a delight, though. Vines grew round every house and verandah. There were apple and pear trees, geese, ducks, hens, horse and bullock carts – long ones to carry tree trunk logs and shorter ones piled high with haystacks. We even saw carts drawn by a pair of the dainty alpine milk-cows.

After the busy town of Onesti we climbed a lower pass at 1,594 ft, 12 miles before Bacau, a pleasanter city with less of the horrendous blocks of flats. There was no campsite or TIR-Park to be found, so we continued on E85 towards Roman, stopping for the night behind a filling station. The friendly manager would not accept any money, so we bought more diesel from him.

2 September ROMAN to DRAGOMIR MONASTERY, Nr SUCEAVA, Romania €6.00 100 miles

After 20 miles we drove through Roman, another pleasant city where the flats looked refurbished. In the villages along our route, women were making and selling handleless brooms at the roadside. Later, among the orchards, apples and pears were sold. The quaint wooden wells, still in use, had ornately carved roofs, sometimes covering seats round the well.

Suceava was busier, the driving aggressive, and we lunched in the car park at Metro cash & carry, where we bought fresh bread. In the city traffic, missing a sign for Siret, we took the Dorohoi road which crossed the river on a more easterly bridge, losing the E85. After regaining it, we stopped at a petrol station to ask directions to Camping Strand (supposedly on the River Suceava between the 2 railway stations and described by our Lonely Planet guide as 'filthy'). Luckily, we didn't find it! A lovely customer at the filling station insisted on leading us, in his car, for 5 miles north up the road, beyond his own home, to the Dragomir Monastery.

Here by the car park is a tiny campsite, with cabins in the woods and a café/bar. The kind woman pointed out an (unearthed) socket fixed on a tree, accepted a few Euros and we had a safe place for the night.

We walked over the road to visit the Monastery, built in 1609 and recently restored to house Orthodox nuns. Its grounds had substantial defensive walls, added in 1620 when Northern Moldavia was threatened by Turkish invaders. All was tranquil in the church and rose gardens until we heard an amazingly rhythmical beating to announce evening service, performed by a nun rapping a board with a wooden hammer as she circled the church. We've seen this before, in Greece's Meteora Monasteries, and heard various explanations. It may represent Noah summoning the animals to the wooden Ark (?), or hammering the nails into Christ's cross, or (our preferred version) the ringing of bells was once forbidden by the Turks. Dragomir was less tourist-visited than some of the other monasteries we saw, being devoid of a 'painted church', though it was worldly enough to charge a small admission fee (the equivalent of about €1 each), plus €2 extra for a 'camera permit' for photography (and more still for video cameras!) We bought a guidebook to the circuit of Bucovina's painted churches, to plan our route.

The evening TV showed the 'French Lieutenant's Woman' with Romanian subtitles, a rare treat!

3 September DRAGOMIR to SUCEVITA MONASTERY, Romania Popas Turistic Bucovinean €10.00 58 miles

We returned to the main E85 road and continued towards Siret, soon turning off to the right for a couple of miles to see the little painted church at Patrauti. This was founded by Stephen the Great in 1487 as a nunnery for the care of wounded soldiers. It was locked and deserted, still awaiting restoration, with no high walls or entry fee.

Further along E85 we turned off, left, towards Solca, stopping after about 10 miles to visit the beautiful church at Arbore, built in 1503. A group of young art students were busy restoring the interior frescos, damaged while the church was roofless in the 17-18th centuries. Outside, there was a half-open roofed projection on the west wall, apparently unique in Moldavia, but no tower. The colourful pictures, which once covered every surface of these painted churches, inside and out, portray bible stories, with graphic images of heaven and hell, complete with torture at the hands of fiery devils (some wearing turbans!) Intended to educate (and subdue) the illiterate peasantry of the 16th century, they remain an extraordinary World Heritage Monument. Again, there was a small entry fee, but the friendly old man let us off paying the 'photo tax' as he did not have enough change.

From Solca, we drove north to road 17a, then left for 6 miles to Sucevita. The minor roads, not numbered on our map, were all sealed and mostly very good. The only other traffic was horse-drawn carts, laden with hay, spuds, wood, sawdust or pumpkins. The local people walked the lanes, carrying scythes and wooden rakes, while mini-haystacks dotted every pasture.

At Sucevita the walled convent is the largest and finest of Bucovina's monasteries, built 1582-1601. We lunched in the car park before paying to visit the little museum and the church, covered in vivid red and green frescos. The outside north wall depicts the Virtuous Ladder (30 steps from hell to paradise), while the south wall shows the Tree of Jesse, the Virgin Mary appearing as a Byzantine Princess with a red veil. The west wall is blank – the story goes that the artist fell to his death off his scaffolding, leaving it unfinished.

It's a beautiful place, up at 2,070 ft in forested hills by a stream. Just 2 miles south of the monastery, along the road towards Vatra Moldovitei, there is a restaurant with a small campsite, villas and cabins: Popas Turistic. Here we paid to park overnight (with a hook-up) and bought a reasonable meal of chicken and roast pork with vegetables.

4 September SUCEVITA to MOLDOVITA MONASTERY, Romania Camping Vila Lulu €6.00 23 miles (+19 miles cycling)

The sunny autumn morning was ideal for a cycle ride from Popas Turistic to the top of the pass (7 miles each way). Through dense firs, tranquil forested slopes, past wooden houses with elaborate carvings and decoration, roofed fences and wells, sharing the way with horse-carts, it seemed untouched by the 20th (let alone 21st) century, apart from the odd logging truck. The newly tarred road wound very gently through the woods and meadows up to the 3,650 ft/1,100 m pass. A sculpture of a giant concrete hand stood at the top, where a few people were having a picnic, but sadly there was no café.

We freewheeled all the way back to Popas, intending to spend another night there. After lunch, with Barry working on photos and M preparing dinner, Management kindly told us that a convoy of 20 Dutch caravans was due in, so we'd have to move down by the restaurant entrance. We quickly moved further than that – about 20 miles further,! We drove over the pass, climbing 1,800 ft, through the village of Ciumumina and on to Vatra Moldovitei, home to another famous monastery.

The restaurant/campsite on the way into the quaint farming village was busy, with a busload of tourists staying in its wooden cabins and plenty of tents. There was a tennis court, football area, simple pool, barbecues, music in the bar (Saturday evening), and just about room for us to park inside the gate, with hook-up. It rained overnight.

5 September MOLDOVITA to MESTECANIS PASS, Romania Camping €4.00 83 miles

Just a mile from Vila Lulu to the Moldovita Monastery – turn right in the village and try to avoid the children selling boxes of 10 painted eggs (they're plastic imitations, costing more than at the Monastery gift shop!)

Entry was free this morning, as a well-attended Sunday service was in progress in the painted church, with a choir of Nuns and a row of kneeling peasants waiting to be blessed by the Priest in his gold and white robes. Barry recorded the beautiful singing along with the images. The outside south wall of the church shows the defence of Constantinople against the Turks in 626 AD, with a Last Judgment in the porch. Inside, opposite the lovely carved iconostasis, is a portrait of Prince Petru Rares (Moldovita's founder in 1532), offering his church to Christ. The fortifications, with towers and substantial gates, were even more impressive than the nicely restored monastery, and the museum had the Prince's wooden throne.

Back in the village, we continued for 8 miles to the top of the next pass at 3,348 ft, still on good new tarmac. After another 6 miles we reached the main highway E576, down at 2,160 ft, with a terrible surface! It had un-level railway crossings, bridges that looked none too safe, ruts and potholes. We turned left, through the town of Cimpulung Moldovenesc, then followed the Moldova River for 20 miles, through much less charming villages and scenery, to the logging town of Gura Humorului. Just before the centre, a right turn took us 2 miles south across farmland to Voronet, the Blue Monastery.

The small car park there was lined with stall-holders, forcing us to park in the road some way out to visit the least inspiring and most commercialised of the painted churches. No free Sunday entry here, where queues waited to view the frescos: the western wall's Last Judgment, the northern wall's Genesis and the southern wall's Tree of Jesse. (Eastern wall paintings have not generally survived the centuries of wind and rain.) Inside, facing the inconostasis, was again a picture of the church being offered to Christ, this time by Stefan the Great. The vibrant pigment which predominates is known as Voronets Blue.

Back in Gura Humorului, we turned left and drove 3 miles north to Humor, the Red Monastery (1530), restored to an active convent. We managed to park in the street for lunch, then visited our last painted church. This one had no defensive walls but there was a tower to climb. The porch had another Last Judgment, while the south exterior wall showed the siege of Constantinople in 1453 and the parable of the prodigal son, the dominant colour being deep red. It had the most impressive internal frescos, with some nice scenes of martyrdom!

A little overwhelmed by 3 monasteries in one day, we returned to Cimpulung Moldovenesc and drove another 10 miles from there, climbing to the top of Mestecanis Pass at 3,596 ft. We were delighted to find a simple campsite (a field with cabins) behind the restaurant, whose manager arranged an electric hook-up to one of the huts. We had a night with a magnificent mountain panorama, parked at 3,636 ft.

6 September MESTECANIS PASS to GILAU, Nr CLUJ, Romania Camping Eldorado €12.80 157 miles

As we took photos of our splendid setting on the Mestecanis Pass, 3 men returned from the woods carrying bags of mushrooms and a horse-drawn cart loaded with wooden window frames pulled up at the restaurant. The cheery driver lifted down a little lad wrapped in a blanket (his grandson?) and both went in for a warm drink – all very touching.

We dropped for 5 miles to Iacobeni, at 2,819 ft, where we were held up in the small town by a long funeral procession. An old man, laid out in an open coffin, rode on a horse-cart, preceded on foot by the priest and the men carrying a wooden cross with his name carved on it. Wreaths of fir and flowers and 2 small Christmas trees decked the cart, behind which the townsfolk walked, each bearing a special loaf. Some carried a big basket of apples, oranges and bread rolls.

Once they all turned off towards the churchyard, we passed the milk delivery woman, driving a horse-cart laden with churns. On past timber yards, stopping for a train loaded with logs, we reached Vatru Dornei at 2,655 ft, where we bought diesel and saw signs for a new 'Camping Autoturist' as we left the town.

Through the Birgau Mountains, we climbed to 3,947 ft at the Tihuta Pass, pausing just below the summit at Hotel Castel Dracula (3,615 ft) to make lunch. (Bram Stoker set his book here, at 'Castle Borgo', though there is no evidence that he – or its inspiration, Vlad Tepes - ever visited the area.) The Hotel looks suitably remote and is undergoing renovation. There is plenty of free parking, souvenir stalls, a ski lift and a new guesthouse or two.

We continued down on E576 (in terrible condition) all the way, to and through Bistrita, Beclean and Dej, reaching Cluj-Napoca at its busiest in the tea-time rush. From there 10 miles towards Oradea and the Hungarian border on E60, a better road, stopping at Gilau and the large, expensive, impersonal Dutch-run campsite of Eldorado (sic!)

In lovely sunshine, reaching 80 degrees F after a cool clear night, we enjoyed a rest day. Time to catch up with laundry and writing, and to ring and book a campsite in Budapest (Zugligeti Niche) in order to visit Ian & Judit next weekend.

Barry had some work to do on the motorhome. The metal plate covering the wooden floor under the steps had rusted through and was hanging loose (successfully screwed back on). Also the wheel replaced by the Vulkanisare a few days ago was not seated properly and had to be jacked up, removed and refitted. Margaret watched nervously and took photos!

On TV we had a choice of one channel with good reception and one poor. The only thing in English was an old episode of 'Chicago Hope'.

8 September GILAU, Nr CLUJ, Romania to PUSPOKLADANY, Hungary Camping Arnyas 2,600 Fts (c €10.60) 147 miles

Before leaving, we drove back 9 miles towards Cluj to the Metro Cash & Carry, stocking up with food and warm pizza slices for lunch. Then we returned along E60, past Camping Eldorado, through the hills. People sold fungi at the wet roadside, as well as the usual souvenir stalls with baskets, pots, embroidery and weaving. It rained heavily all afternoon, with thunder rumbling in the surrounding mountains – the western edge of the Carpathians.

The Piatra Craiului Pass had hotels and plenty of space to park and brew up, before dropping out of the mountains into drier weather. Through the centre of crowded Oradea, we saw none of its famous Hapsburg architecture (though we did spot a new McDonalds).

The border was 90 miles from Camping Eldorado and it was busy when we arrived at 5.15 pm. We spent our remaining Lei on diesel at the border village (112.5 litres for just over £60), then exited Romania after a half-hour wait, with nothing to pay on either side. The Customs men came in and looked under the bed as we entered Hungary at Artand. Immediately, we appreciated the smooth roads and level crossings, though we missed the horse and carts.

The next town we came to, 40 miles along E60, had a campsite right on our route and we checked in for 2 nights. It was fairly busy with German-speakers, as it had an outdoor thermal bath and whirlpool!