Time to complete the Bucket List

Six and a half hours on the road and I swore that I would never travel to Cornwall again, at least not by car. Traffic jam followed traffic jam with little light relief, and service stations were packed to bursting….

However, I surprised myself how quickly I could change my mind when the door to our accommodation was opened. What a delight! We have come to the South-West of England to enjoy a cookery course at Rick Stein’s in Padstow, combining this with some sightseeing and relaxation around the town, before heading back via a few days in Devon.

I shall let the photos do the talking.

This says it all

Looks like a picture postcard, but it is for real. A view from our room.

Tea for two

Toiletries designed by Mrs Stein

A hamper just in case we get hungry at night

A little midnight reading

A view of our accommodation (just a room, not the lot!)

Lovely hydrangea

I could go on as there are so many photogenic views, but I cannot pass by some images from our meal this evening at Rick Stein’s seafood restaurant. What a treat.

This has proved to be a good start to our trip. We look forward to what tomorrow at the cookery school will bring.

Copyright: Words and photos Sue Barnard 2019

Romania offered so much more than we had expected, which had been based, predominantly, on attention-grabbing headlines over the years. This was a beautiful country in terms of mountainous, flat, and green landscapes. The architecture was a surprising mix of Baroque, Gothic and Renaissance buildings, plus many occupied or derelict Communist structures. The painted monasteries and churches were breathtaking.

But what of the three aspects I had considered in my initial blog – the orphanages, Ceaușescu, and the Roma people? I was told that those orphanages have long since gone, much improvements have been made, and fostering is a favoured route today. However, some reports online make for uncomfortable reading.

Discussion about the end of Communism was interesting. While many say they would not want to go back to those times, there are some who think otherwise arguing that at least they had a job, an income and their family members were within the country. Since the 1990s the population has dropped from 23 to 19 million; those leaving Romania for a perceived better life often do not return.

Regarding the Roma people they appear to face the same issues as in the UK. There are estimated to be around 630,000 people, around 3% of the population, but some sources consider this to be higher. During the Communist time attempts had been made to settle families and some of those areas remain today.

Generally what we saw was a prosperous country. There was no shortage of cars, many of the big brands were there including Lidl, Renault, H&M, C&A, KFC, Zara and many more. Unemployment figures are generally low at around 3% but this hides a disparity in parts of the country especially where some large industries have closed.

Friends have asked whether we were on a group holiday. We were – booked through a UK travel company in the usual way, but specialist companies might be an option too. Wildlife and horse riding trips can also be provided, and some operators offer overnight stays in pensions and ‘live ins’ with families. Our tour involved a lot of road travel, but this did give us an insight into village life, the architecture, the plains and their agriculture, the mountains and ski resorts. However, if possible avoid times of religious festivals as sites get extremely busy. Prices were favourable at around half of those in the UK. A starter, main meal and drink of good quality usually came to around £22 for two people.

Romania offered far more than we anticipated and I am sure we only touched the surface. The local people were friendly, and our group’s cohesion made for a most pleasant tour. Amazingly some of our fellow travellers knew one of John’s colleagues from the aviation insurance market.

Copyright: words and photos Sue Barnard 2019

This may have been our final day, but there was no let up in cognitive stimulation. During the 1989 Revolution our hotel had been a flashpoint. The world’s media was based within the building and crowds massed outside to draw attention. Our guide, as a young person, was at the scene. Many were killed or injured, including journalists. Today, what remains close to the hotel are a few small memorials that many visitors will pass by unaware of their significance.

We walked on to the Bucharest Municipal Museum nearby. Its focus is the history of this capital, but unlike other museums its first display boards ask the visitor to consider the concept of time, what one has chosen to do with that time and what impact that has on the person’s life. Its exhibits then take viewers on a journey starting with the present and heading further and further into the past, while enabling them to return to the present at any time. This aspect was profound. Many may have missed the display board and its meaning completely. However, they will not have missed the well-presented history of Bucharest, its Communist era, its timeline to the 1400s and display boards going back to pre-historic times. It was a small museum, but much effort had been taken to provide detailed explanations in English.

Our next destination, as part of the group, proved to be the grand finale. This was the Palace of Parliament, the pinnacle of Ceausescu’s Communist vision. The Leader bulldozed a sixth of Bucharest to make space for this colossal building which is identical on each of its four sides. An estimated 2,000 homes, plus churches and other historic buildings, were demolished to make way for the grand project. That took four years. A further five years were needed to build it using only Romanian labour working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and only Romanian materials. It is said that 5 million citizens had some involvement in its creation and is thereby considered a lasting monument to the people of the country. Today it houses the country’s parliament and associated departments, although rooms are available to hire.

We visited the Senate chamber, conference rooms and walked part of the passageways. What hits the visitor upon entry is the size of the interior, including the sweeping stairs in the entrance hall. Everything is on a grand scale.

Our guide confirmed just how many rooms there are, 1294. I had read estimates between 1100 and 3000 so was pleased to get some accuracy. All rooms were palatial and of different styles. The running costs are enormous – a month’s utility bill alone costs €1 million.

This was a perfect visit to end our time in Romania.

Copyright: words and photos Sue Barnard 2019

Today was a travelling day so we spent the morning on the coach travelling the 340 kilometres between Sibiu and Bucharest.

When we reach our hotel in Bucharest we had the afternoon free before going to the opera that evening for the premiere of La Troubadour at the Bucharest Opera House.

Shortly after we reached our hotel room we heard some chanting outside and a demonstration was passing right under our window. We weren’t sure what they were demonstrating about but our guide advised us that it was about a Romanian child that was being adopted by a Romanian family but was ultimately adopted by a family from the United States after a court case. We do not know the full story but it all seems very sad.

We left for the Opera House at 6pm for the premier of the opera La Troubadour.

As we are not opera buffs we were not aware of the story and were only slightly more enlightened after the event. Some of our fellow travellers had seen it before and explained the plot but always ended up saying, it’s complicated. The opera house had a screen translating the opera from Italian into the Romanian language so this did not help us much.

That said the opera house was very picturesque although very hot. The singing, costumes and acting were all very good. Although not really our cup of tea, it is always interesting to go to something that we would not normally go to.

Tomorrow we have a free morning and then we visit the inside of the Romanian Parliament building before going to the airport for the flight home.

So, we have spent time in the monasteries, in the churches, and up the towers (goodness knows how many steps we have climbed). Now we had the opportunity to develop our creative appreciation with time spent on the visual arts.

We have been overnight in Sibiu, a lively 12th century Saxon city. A trip out today took us to Sibiel (the names are so often sounding the same) and the Glass Icon Museum containing around 600 Orthodox Christian artworks of the 18th and 19th centuries. These were not created by highly experienced artists of the time, but by Romanian peasants painters in a variety of art schools across the country. The styles differ by region, some having a predominance of a particular colour or soft tone, for example. The styles have been described as ‘naive’. The artwork had to be created on the rear of the glass, thus a mirror image had to be painted. This led to some interesting end results, particularly with lettering.

Our evening time spent in Sibiu coincided with a 10 day festival of arts. During our visits we were entertained by exciting and creative circus artists parading along the town’s streets, some on bouncing stilts dressed in bright red costumes and pulling strange faces at the onlookers. Other acts included musicians clowning around; and the sound of bagpipes drew us down a small street to find an orchestra with each performer doing his own thing. This led to a cacophony of sound as they geared up for their evening performance.

But we could not leave the region without getting a close up of the creativity of wildlife, and in this case the storks which nest in Romania each year, and particularly around a town named Cristian. A metal frame is fitted on the top of the telegraph poles across the country in order to support the nests. This helps prevent the birds settling on chimneys, although this does happen. Many nests contain the parents and two or three offspring. Our timing cannot have been much before they started to fledge for their journey to South Africa.

Copyright: words and photos Sue Barnard 2019

We left monasteries in favour of churches as we wended our way back gradually from north Romania south towards Bucharest, which we will reach on Saturday. Our journey took us via some beautiful valleys in Transylvania, rather reminiscent of Austria with its peaks and chocolate box houses.

Every town we passed through, it seemed, was so nicely decorated with planting, particularly bedding plants, roses and trees clipped as standards. Upon enquiring, the town halls take it upon themselves to make their villages horticulturally pretty. Unlike the capital, very little graffiti is seen in these smaller communities.

The order of the day, particularly on Thursday, involved towers and fortified churches. We had never seen so many towers and that meant, wherever possible, we really wanted to climb for the best view over the towns. At this stage of the trip (my!) legs are beginning to feel the strain of yet more steps. Just one trip to reach a church involved 200 steps even before we got to its tower!

The town in which we stayed overnight on day five, Sighisoara, was architecturally beautiful. Sighisoara has buildings dating back to the 14th century. Its medieval citadel contains 9 towers dedicated to various trades including the ironsmiths, bootmakers, tailors, butchers and rope makers. Our first climb was up the 60 metre tall clock tower (also a museum) to see the workings of the little metal characters who chime the bells every 15 minutes. Six floors up I realised that I would not need my Pilates session this week.

This is also the town in which Vlad the Impaler (better known as Vlad III Dracula) was allegedly born. His birthplace is now a restaurant and, of course, it is customary to eat at this establishment. We could not resist the blood sausage and rare steaks!

After a morning tour of Sighisoara, we left for Sibiu and visited a fortified Saxon church at Biertan en route.

There are many of these Saxon fortified churches in this area of Transylvania and the church we visited was a UNESCO World heritage site. While larger towns under threat of invasion may have fortifications around their outskirts, smaller communities created fortifications around the church, incorporating defensive towers.

After the visit at Biertan we hit the road again to Sibiu where we had a tour of the old town that evening before a traditional Romanian dinner.

Tomorrow we visit Corvin castle and the rural Transylvania village of Sibiel.

Today was Monastery day. South Bucovina’s 8 painted monasteries were erected in the 15th and 16th centuries at a time when Moldavia was threatened by the Ottermans. The churches have frescoes internally and externally with formal Orthodox iconography. The monasteries were persecuted in Communist times but since 1990 the work has begun in earnest to preserve these important monuments. They have become UNESCO Heritage sites.

We were to visit four of the monasteries, being Voronet, Humor, Sucevita and Moldovita. Unfortunately we were not able to photograph the insides of the churches which were spectacular, but were able to take pictures of the outsides.

There was hardly a space on the external or internal walls of the churches that were not covered with frescoes (or meant to be covered, as some had deteriorated with time). The churches all had four or five sections within and we were told that there were strict rules of what should be shown on the walls of each section, and in what order.

In between visiting the second and third monasteries we had lunch in Gura-Humorului and they had a very novel use for an old, I would assume, Dacia car that was in the middle of the road near a roundabout.

Before we reached the last monastery at Moldovita, we stopped at a very unusual tribute to the builders of the road we were travelling on. It was, we were told, the sort of thing done during the communist times in Romania.

The last monastery at Moldovita was being renovated so outside was not as photogenic as the previous three but was again stunning inside.

If you are ever this way they are definitely worth visiting and you can see why UNESCO values them.

As we left our last monastery the thunder and lighting started and the rain fell in biblical proportions but that was probably fitting after our day’s visits.

Tomorrow we have a road trip to Sighisoara with a stop at the Saxon town of Bistrita.

How I would have liked to have studied under the guidance of Vasile Oltean.

We were off to visit Romania’s very first school and were lucky enough that this gentleman was in residence during our overnight stay in Brasov. Priest Oltean has been the director of the St Nicolas’ Cathedral Museum for many years and was making it his life’s work to research some 6,000 books and 30,000 documents found by chance when vital renovation works were carried out upon the cathedral’s bell tower. During the Communist regime thousand of books had been destroyed, but these rare gems had been plastered within the interior walls of the bell tower to help ensure their safekeeping.

Oltean, having us all sit behind school desks and waving a stick to ensure our attention revealed some of the history of the church and school.

He had such a jovial air that we all were happy to pay attention, and he really did make learning fun. During his long tenure he has published his interpretation of some of these texts dating back to the 11th century, and his work is ongoing. He pulled out a bag of dusty old books to reveal ‘This is my reading for today!’. His latest work was some 800 pages in length. Thankfully this was not in English, for I am sure his charming nature would have had some of us purchasing the heavyweight for our flight back. Surprisingly, he slipped into marketing mode with as much ease and charm, offering us a potted history of the school for a very reasonable sum of 5 Lei (£1).

We were then on an 11 hour journey north-east to Radauti. Whilst the coach journey was long it did give us a flavour of the landscape and villages. Our flight into Romania last Friday had provided a view of wide landscapes patterned with coloured strips of land. During our drive today these strips revealed the extent of Romania’s agricultural land – the Transylvania region in particular growing potatoes and corn. However, tastes were changing. Our guide revealed how, as a young boy, a home always had a supply of homegrown and pickled cabbage to last through the winter. That was no longer common. In fact, the country now sees increasing imports of vegetables from overseas.

Other foreign companies are also seeing potential in Romania, including car manufactures such as Ford and Renault, which has led to offshoots in the form of automotive parts producers. Multi-national beer and water firms have also moved in, the country having good industries in both categories,

But while not catching up on the country’s history during our lengthy, but pleasant, coach ride, we were able to hop off to see the Bicas Gorge, some 300 metres deep, and the Neamt Monastery founded in the 14th century.

The interior is covered throughout by original iconography, and its rare historical content is extended to its museum containing thousands of books. The site also includes a theological school and a more recently built church adorned with religious facades.

Tomorrow brings with it more monasteries as we overnight in Radauti.

Copyright: words and photos Sue Barnard 2019

We left the capital today and headed north through the flat plains of Wallachia and on towards the Bucegi mountains and some of Romania’s ski resorts. Although very popular, their shorter slopes are more attractive to the locals rather than overseas visitors who tend to opt for the longer runs in France.

On our visiting list today were four important buildings. The first was Peles Castle, more an imposing house than a style of castle we are familiar with.

It was the residence of King Carol I, Romania’s first and longest serving of the country’s four monarchs. Many of the grand buildings here have a far shorter history than those of the UK. This residence was built in German Renaissance style from 1875 and no expense was spared. It is considered to be the first European castle to have electricity. It had its own power plant, central heating and even a central vacuum system. It has turrets and spires but a very dark, albeit an incredibly ornate, interior. There are masses of breathtaking intricately-carved adornments comprising an estimated 25 species of wood. Beautiful hand-painted stained glass windows adorn many of the rooms, and decorative frescoes in the theatre (our equivalent of a media room today) were designed by Austrian artists Gustav Klimt and Frank Matsch. An armoury has more than 500 pieces including a full horse armour weighing 60kg and thought to be the only complete set in the world. Unfortunately in several of these houses photography is not allowed, so we are unable to illustrate many of the fine pieces.

Within the same grounds is Pelisor Palace.

This was also built by King Carol I, but for his nephew and heir to the throne, Ferdinand and his wife Maria, granddaughter of our Queen Victoria. It is said that Maria did not like the dark style of Peles Castle and had Pelisor decorated in art nouveau style in the much lighter pastel colours.

We then headed to Bran Castle, an intriguing building with lots of little passageways.

The original furniture does not remain, but there are many ornately decorated fireplaces.

Bran Castle is incorrectly thought to have been the home of Vlad Tepes, the 15th century Wallachian prince (known as Vlad the Impaler due to the cruel ways he despatched his enemies) whom the novelist Bram Stoker (not to be confused with Bran here mentioned) immortalised in his novel about Count Dracula in 1897. Despite that, there is quite a lot of reference made to Dracula at the castle.

Our final stop of our 11 hour journey was Brasov which is one of four towns colonised by the Saxons from Germany in the 12th century.

We visited the Black Church in Brasov that was originally built in 1383. It is considered one of the most beautiful Gothic monuments in the country. Although not black, it was named after the building caught fire in 1689. Only the walls, font and treasury survived and much rebuilding has since taken place. The dimensions were intended to be monumental and this is clear once entering the interior. Its roof stands 65 metres tall and its main organ (one of five) is claimed to be the biggest mechanical organ in the country. Recitals are carried out each Tuesday. It was originally intended to be a Catholic Church but today is considered to be one of the most important Lutheran places of worship in the region.

Tomorrow we head for more religious sites on our way to Radauti in the north-eastern area of Romania.

Copyright: words and photos, Sue Barnard 2019

Our first day and what better way to start than a sightseeing tour of the capital city. As today is Saturday the normally busy roads were very empty so a morning tour with the afternoon at leisure was a good start.

Apart from the harrowing pictures of children in orphanages, Romania is probably best known to most of us in the West for events in the final years of communist rule (being 1947 to 1989 in total) which were orchestrated by the last General Secretary of the Communist party, Nicolae Ceausescu, who was deposed in 1989. We visited the building which contained his offices as General Secretary and from where he attempted to escape in a helicopter when he realised that time was up for his brutal regime.

Apparently, 100,000 people demonstrated outside his office and 800 were killed which only added to the determination of the masses to get rid of Ceausescu and his communist cohorts. There are two monuments to the people killed located outside the office with the names of those killed inscribed on a wall of remembrance.

At the time Ceausescu was deposed, his vanity project was being built in another part of Bucharest. Four kilometres of an area of Bucharest had been cleared of houses with people being pushed out so that he could build what is the second biggest building in the world and the heaviest building in the world.

This Building is now home to the Romanian Parliament and has more than 1,000 rooms. The building is not yet finished and is still being worked upon 30 years after Ceausescu’s demise.

Modern Romania is a fairly new nation, was formed in 1859 and only declared independence from the Otterman Empire in 1877. Much of Bucharest was laid out to mimic Paris with wide boulevards and Bucharest’s own Arc de Triomphe.

There are many other fine buildings in Bucharest including churches which are highly painted inside so there is plenty to see for all tastes.

One place to visit in the Old Town, which is more unusual, is what has been called the “World’s prettiest bookshop”. It’s name is Carturesti and its is much nicer than your average Waterstones.

After the city tour had finished at about noon, and the temperature had reached 32 degrees centigrade, we headed off to the Dimitrie Gusti National Village museum which was 3.2 miles away. We decide to take the underground which was just 3 stops rather than walking in the heat. The underground is very easy to use and all journeys seem to be 5 leu. In fact you get 2 journeys for 5 leu (which is roughly GBP 1) whatever the distance you go. Seems a good system as once you had gone through the barriers to catch the train, you did not need a ticket to get out as the barriers opened automatically to let you off the station.

The National Village museum, which serves a similar purpose to our own Weald and Downland Museum in West Sussex of preserving important historic buildings, was cheap to get in (only 8 leu for a senior) and has 60 buildings which are either houses, windmills, agricultural buildings from a wealthy family’s abode, to a hovel – literally as they had a Romanian hovel on show.

Definitely worth a visit as the large park area has restaurants and a cold beer was certainly needed today.

By 6pm the heat had got to us so we got the underground back to the hotel and went out to the old town for a bento box meal with some local beer.

Tomorrow we leave at 7.30 am for Sinaia, Bran and Brasov.