We had just a few lira left, and didn't want to go to the ATM again because we would be changing to a new currency, so we tried to get by with what we had. That meant two loaves of bread and two liters of water for the 24 hour journey. And we had various things in the food bag left over. I never thought a single packet of honey would be so valuable to me. The only thing left after arriving in Brasov was a bag of sugar, a packet of salt, and a bottle of olive oil. I'm malnourished and tired. Anyway, we're here now in Romania and it's awesome!
Here's me in the couchette car.
The train went through Bulgaria, though we didn't stop and explore anywhere. The only thing I can tell about Bulgaria is that their language uses the cyrillic alphabet and the landscape is nice. It seems to be mostly forests, which is a drastic change from the dry land I've seen for the last few weeks in Greece and Turkey. Romania is similar. After crossing the Danube, we were in a new country, and my passport is getting full of stamps!
Many tourists stay away from Romania because of its reputation for crime, but I feel much safer here than I have at most places I've been. Granted, I'm not in Bucharest. It just seems more comfortable here. Maybe it's the place we're staying, which is great. Sometimes the room you are staying in colors your experience in a new place, and this room is perfect. It's the guest house of a family that lives here, and they have a pool (though it's not filled yet.. too early). Also, there is the atmosphere of a small town here, though it's 200,000 people.
This is the first place since London that I would fit in as a local. There are more diverse ethnicities here, and some have light colored hair. Also, they're taller here. It's nice to have people attempt to talk to me in the local language rather than assume I'm a tourist. They also dress very casually here (kinda like 80's USA), so that's closer to me than the styles of, say, Italy where they are very concerned with fashion.
Here are my pre-conceptions of Romania:
There's lots of crime, and gypsies sometimes gas entire trains to steal all the wallets.
There are packs of stray dogs that roam around together, so stay away.
The crime thing is an exaggeration. And gypsies just look cool. The men wear old-fashioned suits and flat-brimmed hats. All black, almost amish. And the women wear long, colorful dresses and seem to walk in very long strides, with confidence. And some of them really are nomads that live in gypsy camps and roam with covered wagons. Check it out.
The other thing that surprised me is that I can decipher the language. It's a romance language, and very similar to Italian. It sounds like Italian spoken with a slavic accent.
I'm excited to check out the sights and see more of the culture here. I'm in Transylvania, with Dracula and all that. And I hear there's some awesome hiking around. Till next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment