Time to complete the Bucket List

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.

From Budapest to Bucharest

Having left our last holiday destination of Budapest, Hungary, we are now on our way to Bucharest, in Romania. Sadly, I cannot find any quirky links between the two, apart from their similar sounding names, but wonder how many people have confused them when booking flights to these cities.

In preparation for our next trip I started to consider what I knew about Romania. Just three things came to mind: the rule of Ceaușescu, Romanian gypsies, and the terrible images broadcast from orphanages in the 1990s which led to appeals for help from families internationally. One young business contact I knew at that time was so taken by the TV appeal to UK viewers that she picked up the phone immediately and offered to provide a supportive home for two Romanian orphans – single handedly. Such was the emotive message.

But what is the wider view? Writing this blog urged me to delve more deeply into the country than just the sites we are scheduled to visit and it was not long before I found rather more points of interest than I had been left with from earlier media reports.

The country today has a lot to be proud of. It has four Nobel laureate prize winners: George Emil Palade for his investigation into cell biology; Elie Wiesel for his work in the peace movement following he and his family’s internment in Auschwitz; Herta Müller for literature, and Stefan Walter Hell for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy. All four have incredible stories worth researching in their own right.

Romania has medieval towns, many UNESCO sites – including its own version of the Arc de Triumphant – painted monasteries and fortified churches. Some of these we will be visiting.

Its capital, Bucharest, has recognition from the Guinness World Records. The city’s Palace of the Parliament is believed to be the heaviest building in the world with huge amounts of steel, bronze, marble and crystal used in the creation of the site’s 1,110 rooms and – in addition to its multi-levels above ground – 8 floors underground.

Jeremy Clarkson considers Romania has the world’s best driving road, the Transfagarasan highway, with an array of tunnels, viaducts, bridges and hairpin bends. It will be interesting to see if our coach driver will take us in that direction.

The country has Europe’s largest mammal, the European bison, and the largest number of European brown bears. Let’s hope we see them before they see us.

Happy for some, a study of 195 countries spanning 26 years concluded that Romanian men are the heaviest drinkers of alcohol, consuming more than 8 drinks a day. It is clearly not a good idea to get into a drinking competition with the locals.

Bucharest has one of the prettiest bookshops, Cărturești Carusel. We hope to get a view inside to see if it lives up to its accolade, although the mention of bookshops takes us back to Kathmandu in Nepal which has the largest number of secondhand bookshops we have ever seen. It must be for all those Everest-climbing wannabes awaiting the ideal climbing conditions to visit this awe-inspiring mountain.

How strange it is that Romania has so many aspects of interest, but all we have learned about via the media over the years is the rule of Ceaușescu until 1989, orphanages and travelling families. It will be good to learn more and put some of these things into perspective… but don’t expect me to explain the workings of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy!

Copyright: Sue Barnard 2019

Our final full day in Budapest dawned. It was another lovely sunny day with a high of 14 degrees centigrade.

We decided to explore the Buda Castle area on the other side of the river to our hotel.

The Buda side of the river is hilly, unlike the flat Pest side, and with the Castle sitting on the top of a hill. It was used by the Germans in the Second World War as their headquarters and was the last part to fall to the liberating (maybe not quite the right term) Russian troops. The Hungarian Government has recently moved into some of the buildings in the Castle complex and sentries now stand guard.

Our wine tour guide from a few days ago told us that she was not sure if the Government occupying this historic building was a good or popular move so perhaps the politicians do need some protection.

The top of the castle hill also has a very ornate church (Matthias Church), restaurants, cafes, houses and shops and for the lucky residents who live their, spectacular views over both the Buda and Pest sides of the river.

We also visited the “Hospital in the Rock” which was another remnant of the Second World War. Under the Buda Castle hill, caves had formed naturally over many thousands of years and at the outset of the Second World War these were excavated and connected to form a hospital. This was very much like the underground hospitals on the Channel Islands for those who have visited them. After the Second World War they were next used in the 1956 uprising of the Hungarian people against the Soviets. After that they were turned into nuclear bunkers during the Cold War era of the 1960s. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any photos but the hospital is worth a visit.

Before we moved on we visited a small coffee shop called the Waltzer Cafe which was novel as it was set out in the entrance to a large old house, presumably where they parked the horses in the old days. As it was open to the elements at the front, although not overhead, each chair had a blanket for the customers to either sit on or wrap around themselves.

The coffee and cake were good, so worth a visit.

After we left the Buda Castle area we walked on to the Jubileumi Park which is also on the Buda side and is another major view point over the city. The park’s main feature, apart from the views, is the Liberty Statue that can be seen from all over Budapest.

After walking back to the Hungarian Restaurant, Alma Korte, that was opposite our hotel for dinner (would recommend this place as the food was very good), we worked out from our Apple watches that over the four days we had walk a few yards short of 29 miles.

Budapest is a nice city and the people are very friendly. English is very widely spoken (which is good for us Brits) so there are no difficulties getting around or eating out. The transport system, trams, buses and metro, are all easy to use although we walked mostly as we prefer the exercise. Apparently travel was free on public transport for EU senior citizens so get here quick if you want to make use of this perk if you hail from the UK.

Definitely a good place for a short break.

Romania next in June.

Still not quite having got over our wine tour yesterday, we were off this morning for a culinary trip. Our guide Andrea from Taste Hungary had a four-hour eating session planned for us, and there was no time to lose. It was going to be action-packed.

We started at the Central Market, one of five markets in Budapest, but the most popular with locals and tourists. Agriculture is the number one industry in Hungary and markets remain the place to purchase fresh produce, although we had noticed that Tesco has some superstores around the capital.

For the Hungarians seasonality is key, and nothing is wasted. Any excess is preserved, and this is evidenced by the wide range of bottled pickled vegetables on display, which are eaten particularly during the winter. Excess fruits are used in alcoholic drinks, and nothing goes to waste in the meat section either. Slabs of smoked lard, and goose fat could be seen at every butcher’s stall in the market, alongside pigs’ trotters, tripe, and chicken heads, legs and feet. Meat had very little fat because, we were told, the cattle were hardy and tough. Consequently, their meat needed to be slow cooked for tenderness.

The market was also popular for eating. Stalls displayed made-up dishes for inquisitive tourists, as shown below.

Our first taster was larded bread with raw sweet red onion topping – a rather comforting snack which brought back some childhood memories. Lard, and tripe, have rather gone out of fashion in the UK today. Then came Langosh – a circular dough rather like a light unsweetened doughnut, topped with a thin layer of sour cream and mild grated cheese. A whole one (costing around a dollar) could last the consumer all day.

I was looking forward to our move onwards to the strudel stall. There were so many varieties on offer – not just the usual apple and cinnamon, but savoury options containing cabbage (tastier than expected), curd cheese, or potato. My favourite was sour cherry.

Heading to the delicatessen stalls we were introduced to six varieties of dried sausage, ranging from the mild smoked pork, through to hot and spicy horse (didn’t see that one coming), and pork with paprika with its heat slowly hitting the throat upon chewing. Smoked beef tongue, surprisingly, felt like we were actually eating a tongue (fatty and tender). Also a surprise was seeing photos of woolley pigs (mangalica). They look like pigs but have a coat similar to a sheep.

Some stallholders had taken great care with their displays as shown below.

All that sampling and chatting called for a hearty lunch, of course, and this was taken at a small restaurant away from the market and popular with the workers. The tradition here at Bel Varosi Disznotoros was to eat standing up. No seats are provided. We tried goulash and pheasant soups (a thin stock with meat and vegetables), followed by grilled cheese, black sausage, duck confit, deep fried courgette, and a wide variety of salads.

But we were not done. We then moved on to coffee shops which were very popular in the 1800s but were banned in the more recent Communist era. Since 2000 they have made a comeback and several are ornate with their Art Deco interiors. Our visit was to Central where we indulged in eszterhazy, a vanilla and walnut thinly layered sponge cake. A cake visit must, of course, include chocolate and we all managed to squeeze in another slice, namely dobos.

We were never far away from alcohol, however, and to complete our tour we headed to a wine sampling at Tasting Table where we enjoyed three wines from different parts of the country, including a rather nice sweet white named Szamorodni from Tokaj, produced in the north east of the country.

The culinary tour proved enlightening, giving an insight not only about the food, but life in Hungary in general. Our trip was made even more pleasing by our knowledgeable guide Andrea, and our fellow travellers for the day – a family of grandparents, parents and children from the United States. Thanks guys!

Copyright text and photos 2019: Sue Barnard

We went to the central market this morning which was quite close to our hotel.

The construction was impressive and looked like an old building that had been renovated in recent times.

We are going back there tomorrow for a culinary tour with Taste Hungary to experience the Hungarian cuisine so more on the market tomorrow.

We then walked across the Independence bridge which is the most attractive of the bridges notwithstanding the many padlocks that adorn its structure.

We then went back to the hotel to meet out guide for the Etyek Wine Country tour where we visit three small wine producers and sampled three of their wines plus dinner at the last one.

The tour comprised 11 people, 4 from the USA, 3 from Peru/USA and two others from the UK. I was the only male so it was a bit like going to a Pilates class (you will understand if you have been to a Pilates class).

The first vineyard was called Anomie (employing the owner, his wife and one staff member) and produced 25,000 bottles a year, most of which were sold to restaurants in Budapest.

The Etyek region is known for its white wines with the red Hungarian varieties being produced further south, although most vineyards seem also to produce Palinka, the Hungarian version of Grappa (about 45%).

The second vineyard, Vizi, was a two man band of father and son in law who produced 8,000 bottles of wine a year.

The vineyard was surrounded by many other small producers who generally sold their produce to restaurants in Budapest.

The last vineyard, Debreczeni-Ferenczy, produced 75,000 bottles and had vineyards in the Etyek region and further south in the country so producing both red and white wines. We enjoyed a 3 course meal with matched white and red wines with each course that was extremely enjoyable.

By the time that we had drunk 11 glasses of wine/palinka we were friends with all of our group and speaking fluently in Spanish to the lady from Peru.

Tomorrow we are going for our Taste Hungary food tour.

After the Invisible Exhibition yesterday we followed a 3 mile self-guided walking tour of the main sights that included the Hungarian Parliament, St Stephen’s Basilica, Chain Bridge, Freedom Square and the many statues that are dotted around Budapest such as the Fat Policeman and Ronald Reagan.

Part of that walk was The Holocaust Shoe Memorial that is on the bank of the Danube close to the Parliament building.

The Memorial is to remember the Jews and other citizens that we killed by the Nazi secret police group, Arrow Cross, that operated during the Second World War. The victims were shot and pushed into the Danube. All were required to line up and take their shoes off not knowing which of them would be shot. When the Nazis wanted to save bullets they would tie a few people together, shoot one, push the group into the freezing water and watch the dead bodies drag the entire group down.

The Memorial has 60, 1940’s era shoes and represent the shoes left behind by the victims.

Unfortunately people have attached padlocks to the Memorial due to the latest craze to put padlocks in public place (they are all over some of the bridges in Budapest) which rather spoils the Memorial although the chain on the Memorial are authentic.

This was not the last reference we saw to the past history of Hungary in the Second World War.

In Freedom Square, which was named after the Freedom fighters who were executed in the 1840s, their had recently been erected of a new Memorial which was the cause of daily demonstrations.

The Memorial is named “Memorial for the victims of the Nazi occupation ” but the demonstrators say that this is phoney Memorial due to the Hungarian Governments involvement with the Nazis during the Second World War. Their case is set out below.

Recent history still playing out in case we should forget the horrors.

We are off on a wine tour today outside of Budapest and the sun is still shining so more from us later.

First day in Budapest and we were left in the dark. Quite literally. Something that caught my attention when researching places to visit was The Invisible Museum. The venue describes its offering as a ‘unique interactive journey to an invisible world, where in total darkness you find your way only by touch, sounds and scent’. This is a museum like no other. It provides visitors with an experience of what it is like to be totally blind, and is led by guides who are blind or partially sighted. We thought this was something not to be missed.

Even before we entered the museum we became aware of just a few of the difficulties. We saw a blind woman with white stick tapping her way along the path. What would be a convenient waste bin to us, proved an obstacle for her as it was in her line of direction and she hit it with a painful bump. Then there were the steps into the venue, one abnormally high, others of metal more familiar to a construction site, and all within an obscure passageway.

Once inside we were welcomed by our guide Tomaz, who spent time telling us how Braille worked, before teaching us how to type our names in Braille on a small typewriter which only had six keys, but required us to press three at a time to make one character. Just as well we were not called Englebert Humperdinck or we would have been there all day! We also found out that it takes four pages of Braille to produce just one page of text.

The Braille alphabet

Then, not knowing what to expect, we followed our guide through a door and he promptly left us. That was a little uncomfortable as it was impossible to get our bearings in unfamiliar surroundings and total darkness. However, Tomaz soon returned, and with some Mongolian ladies who were joining our party. We realised how difficult it was to acknowledge the newcomers without any of the visual clues we were used to.

Tomaz then described how we were in an apartment. Initially in the hall, and that we were to keep our hand on the left. He also told us of the size of the rooms we would be visiting. This information would have been superfluous in the sighted world, but as we got into our journey we realised how valuable the information was. We inched ahead cautiously feeling with our hands. Was that a telephone I could feel on the wall, ah and a door handle? Our guide said yes go through that door. I felt as if I as intruding in someone else’s property. Then it became apparent about the size of that room. It was quite small and we started bumping into each other. Grappling on we stumbled against an object. Touch revealed it as a sofa, then higher up we felt a picture frame, but could not tell if it was a mirror or a Monet (behind glass). Then we all moved into the bathroom, finding the sink, toilet and shower cubicle. I felt as if I was getting used to this new experience. These objects were just what I expected. But on to the next room and that was not so. It was a larger room with sculptures everywhere. I felt a bald-headed statue, not realising it was a Buddha until someone else pointed it out. Then I head-butted a sculpture of David. Much more unsettling was our simulated outdoors experience, walking down kerb edges and bobbled pavements, and across roads, all with heavy traffic noises surrounding us. That was not easy on one’s own, let alone in a group of six. Crowded streets would bring their own problems.

Then we hit the fruit and veg market. Identifying pineapples by hand was not too difficult, but was that a lemon or a lime I was smelling? Tomaz explained how he would often frequent the same retailers as they were familiar with his requirements, but that it was also important for him to adventure further afield so that he would not restrict his own life experiences. It was this that encourage him to prepare his own meals. He felt that retailers were always fair in their financial dealings with him, but life for the blind had not been made easy with all bank notes until recently being the same size, without touch indicators to differentiate the values.

Finally, we were quite relieved to be taken into a ‘bar’ where we enjoyed a snack and drink. But here we had to focus on what our guide was saying while background music was playing. This was something we would not have noticed before. Pouring the drink was also an experience as we were unsure just how full the glass was getting. Touch and weight were the telltale signs.

Tomaz was blind from birth, having been born prematurely and he told us how one can tell if someone had sight and lost it, or never had sight at all. Those that initially had sight showed similar facial characteristics to sighted people learned through visual interaction, but those who had not had none of these references.

This was a brilliant and unusual experience for the sighted. We found there was a need to be patient, take things slowly, and be attentive. It put life into perspective.