Romania
Again sooooo much has happened since my last post. I just cant keep up with it.
We left Sofia and headed to the second capital of the old Bugarian kingdom, Veliko Tarnivo. Arriving early afternoon it was stinking hot. Having been at much higher altitudes for the last few days meant that we had been blessed with much cooler temperatures. We found our hostel and settled in. Lucky for us the hostel had great veiws of the old fortress and we were able to see it without actually making an effort to go there. After night fell and it cooled down a bit Nick and I went into the old town and discovered that the town was hosting an international folk music/dancing festival so we watched some of the performances for a while. I unfortunately woke the next morning with an extreamly upset stomach and spent the morning in the bathroom. Recovering almost as quickly as I had taken ill I was able to make my way into town again in the afternoon for some retail therapy. Found a really cool second hand store and bought a dress and a hat for 1.50lev (0.70 euro cents). Was very happy with my efforts.
Deciding that there was not too much else to see in Veliko and feeling like we had had just about enough of Bulgaria we bought train tickets for midnight that night to head into Romania. Boarding the train I had a bit of a run in with the train guard who I thought was just a random stanger. He asked to see my tickets and then tried to take them from me telling me he would give them back in the morning. Refusing to hand over my tickets to a plain clothed man who could have very well been a bum trying to steal my tickets, he then opened the carriage door and told me to get off. Refusung to do this either we created a bit of a scene. Proper train guards with uniforms arrived within minutes and the nasty plain clothed guard turned nice as pie (typical) and then laughed when it was translated to him that we didnt know he was a train guard. So finally finding our seats we settled in for what turned out to be a sleepless night (for me not Nick) to Romania.
We had booked a hostel for 1 night in Bucharest (Romanian capital) so apon arrival at the station the next morning I called her to pick us up (as was advertised on her website). She advised that we would have to get public transport. Being tired and cranky I easily convinced Nick to ditch the hostel and make our way straight to the coast which was our plan for the next day besides that we will get a chance to go to Bucharest in transit later anyway.
So got yet another train headed for the coast. I had never seen anything like it. The train was about 20 cars long(at least) and tickets were oversold so only half of the passangers got seats for the 6.5hour trip to the coast. It felt like the entire population of Romania were headed to the beach. It was not a great start to what turned out to be the longest day in history. Not being quick enough to race the determind Romanian families to the seats Nick and I found a cosy little spot in between carriages, wedging the door open with our bags. We also were situated about 1 metre from the toilet and all its unpleasentness. About half way there the train suddenly stopped. Having terrible flash backs from Greece we eventually asked some young guys what was going on. Seems the engine had broken down and they were sending another engine to pick us up. We made friends with the young Romanian lads and they invited us to travel with them to Varna Veche. Was told we could camp on the beach, full of young people and less people than on the rest of the coast. Sounded like fun so we thanked them for offering to take us there. The train did eventually get going again and we arrived in the afternoon in Mangolia to get a bus to the beach.
Varna Veche turned out to be full of people. Tents covered the beach. Nudists everywhere. Music pumping from the beach bars. Not really the quiet beach town we were hoping for. Still we pitched our tent and had a swim. We did have a great night there, but in the morning packed our things and headed up the coast north. Got to Mangalia again and Nick declared that he thought it was time to spoil me a little and we checked into a hotel on the beach for 2 nights!!!!! So nice to sleep in a real bed in a bedroom instead of a dorm. Nick took me out for a nice dinner last night. We lashed out and bought a bottle of wine too.
So feeling very pampered and relaxed we have just made plans to head back into Bucharest tomorrow for a night to see the palace then to Brasov and Transilvania for a few days.
Phew...if your still reading thanks for the interest! I will write again when I get a chance. Hope all is well. Write me and let me know what oyu all up to xxxx
We left Sofia and headed to the second capital of the old Bugarian kingdom, Veliko Tarnivo. Arriving early afternoon it was stinking hot. Having been at much higher altitudes for the last few days meant that we had been blessed with much cooler temperatures. We found our hostel and settled in. Lucky for us the hostel had great veiws of the old fortress and we were able to see it without actually making an effort to go there. After night fell and it cooled down a bit Nick and I went into the old town and discovered that the town was hosting an international folk music/dancing festival so we watched some of the performances for a while. I unfortunately woke the next morning with an extreamly upset stomach and spent the morning in the bathroom. Recovering almost as quickly as I had taken ill I was able to make my way into town again in the afternoon for some retail therapy. Found a really cool second hand store and bought a dress and a hat for 1.50lev (0.70 euro cents). Was very happy with my efforts.
Deciding that there was not too much else to see in Veliko and feeling like we had had just about enough of Bulgaria we bought train tickets for midnight that night to head into Romania. Boarding the train I had a bit of a run in with the train guard who I thought was just a random stanger. He asked to see my tickets and then tried to take them from me telling me he would give them back in the morning. Refusing to hand over my tickets to a plain clothed man who could have very well been a bum trying to steal my tickets, he then opened the carriage door and told me to get off. Refusung to do this either we created a bit of a scene. Proper train guards with uniforms arrived within minutes and the nasty plain clothed guard turned nice as pie (typical) and then laughed when it was translated to him that we didnt know he was a train guard. So finally finding our seats we settled in for what turned out to be a sleepless night (for me not Nick) to Romania.
We had booked a hostel for 1 night in Bucharest (Romanian capital) so apon arrival at the station the next morning I called her to pick us up (as was advertised on her website). She advised that we would have to get public transport. Being tired and cranky I easily convinced Nick to ditch the hostel and make our way straight to the coast which was our plan for the next day besides that we will get a chance to go to Bucharest in transit later anyway.
So got yet another train headed for the coast. I had never seen anything like it. The train was about 20 cars long(at least) and tickets were oversold so only half of the passangers got seats for the 6.5hour trip to the coast. It felt like the entire population of Romania were headed to the beach. It was not a great start to what turned out to be the longest day in history. Not being quick enough to race the determind Romanian families to the seats Nick and I found a cosy little spot in between carriages, wedging the door open with our bags. We also were situated about 1 metre from the toilet and all its unpleasentness. About half way there the train suddenly stopped. Having terrible flash backs from Greece we eventually asked some young guys what was going on. Seems the engine had broken down and they were sending another engine to pick us up. We made friends with the young Romanian lads and they invited us to travel with them to Varna Veche. Was told we could camp on the beach, full of young people and less people than on the rest of the coast. Sounded like fun so we thanked them for offering to take us there. The train did eventually get going again and we arrived in the afternoon in Mangolia to get a bus to the beach.
Varna Veche turned out to be full of people. Tents covered the beach. Nudists everywhere. Music pumping from the beach bars. Not really the quiet beach town we were hoping for. Still we pitched our tent and had a swim. We did have a great night there, but in the morning packed our things and headed up the coast north. Got to Mangalia again and Nick declared that he thought it was time to spoil me a little and we checked into a hotel on the beach for 2 nights!!!!! So nice to sleep in a real bed in a bedroom instead of a dorm. Nick took me out for a nice dinner last night. We lashed out and bought a bottle of wine too.
So feeling very pampered and relaxed we have just made plans to head back into Bucharest tomorrow for a night to see the palace then to Brasov and Transilvania for a few days.
Phew...if your still reading thanks for the interest! I will write again when I get a chance. Hope all is well. Write me and let me know what oyu all up to xxxx
posted by Heather at
11:18
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home