Romania trip report index
Part Three
We took a taxi to the airport to pick up our rental. The trip to the airport was much faster than when we arrived. Maybe because it was Saturday. We set off north on the E60, the main route north which goes straight to our destination, Sighişoara.
My thoughts of the trip. The road went through many small towns. They were essentially laid out along the main highway. No side streets. Almost every house was selling something. They changed wares as we went along. At first it was produce and flowers. Braided chains of purple eggplant, tomatoes, etc. Then it was all potatoes for a few kilometers. Huge bags of potatoes. One house sold brooms. Hundreds of brooms adorned the fences and yard. I can only assume they produced them themselves. One person had baskets and the large demi-john bottles wrapped in wicker. Farther along the road we came to a number of honey stands. The produce had stopped, the honey began. Along this very busy highway we encountered many horse drawn carts! I was surprised because we were not really out in the country there.
First the landscape was very flat. Then we headed up into foot hills. Now we were seeing people selling something like large piles of orange and green things. Finally I realized it was lentils! The red ones and the green ones. Each stand had a pile. I may buy some on the way back.
Sadly, we passed another example of the thoughtlessness of humans in some countries regarding their animals. When I see these things it makes me cry for hours. This poor dog was walking along the very busy highway. It’s left front leg was severely twisted, so severely that it looked like a bent up paper clip. It must have been broken in several places once. The dog was surprisingly able to walk on it so I assume it was an old injury, probably hit by a car, that had never been treated or set. I cannot help but think of the suffering this poor dog must have endured. He was skeletal and filthy and moving along with his head down. Just too sad to bear. I wished I could have taken him up and hugged him, fed him, cleaned him and made him happy. I even prayed in the Black Church (upcoming) that we visited that God, if there is one, would take care of his poor creature and either help him or put him out of his misery. It haunts me and will for a long time.
We went through craggy peaks that were around 3,000 meters high. There were a lot of resort towns through the pass and along the river. We had decided to stop in Brașov to break up the drive, see the sights and have lunch. They had a nice market going there with lots of unusual wares. We visited the Black Church, so called because it had been blackened by fire. It had a pipe organ with 3,200 pipes! We had an nonnotable lunch. The weather was very hot!
Market day with really unusual wares.
This was the black church. So named because a fire blackened it’s interior. It also has Europe’s largest pipe organ with 3,200 pipes.
We decided, because we were close, to visit Bran, home of Dracula’s castle. It was a complete zoo but we managed to follow the crowd into the castle for a look see. It had been inhabited most of its existence so was in good shape.
Now we needed to make tracks to Sighişoara because we were still 2 hours away. The drive from Brașov there was very beautiful. It went through a park and some very bucolic countryside. We encountered many more horse drawn carts hauling, logs, people, hay. They pile their hay into haystacks which are supported by a central pole. This is done manually. We also passed numerous flocks of sheep, goats and cattle each accompanied by a shepherd, goatherd or cowherd. I read the flocks are owned jointly by the villages. I assume the shepherds come from the village but the book said they are a dieing profession. I have to wonder how the flocks will be attended without a shepherd. I saw not one fence anywhere. I also had to wonder how all the land, houses, livestock was divided up after the fall of Ceausescu in 1989. Boggles the mind.
We arrived in Sighişoara and found our hotel, Casa Georgius Klauss. Nice place with a restaurant and bar inside the walls of the city. We decided it was time for a beer so we relaxed a bit in the bar then went to clean up for dinner. We ate at the hotel. The food was OK. Not great. We split an order of calamari with tzaziki sauce. Then I had the filet steak on spinach and luther had the Transylvanian speciality chicken. The chicken was very good.
Off to our rather difficult room. It is a big room, for sure. There is a big bed on one side and across from it a bath with toilet and sinks. The oddity is a big soaking tub right in the room with the bed. Also no dresser. There is a three step up closet affair with a wardrobe crammed in. You have to duck to get in, the door being only about four feet tall. Then there are very few hangers and you have to put your clothes on the floor. I like the hotel but it would be an easy fix to add a small chest of drawers in the wardrobe.