In the morning we headed out to Sibiu (180km south), which is this year's cultural capital of Europe. We arrived around 14:00 and started to look for a hotel.
Sibiu was worse than Cluj in terms of finding a place to stay. We entered a Ramada hotel and they were booked too, of course, but they were kind enough to make a gazillion phone calls and ultimately they found us a place out of town a kilometer south of Rasinari (which itself is 15km south of Sibiu).
We spent the afternoon until the evening walking around the old center of Sibiu. When I say “old”, I mean old! Some houses were from as far back as the 14th century. The whole area was pretty large and was quite spacious and very nice. In fact, I’d go as far as saying that it was probably the nicest city area I’ve seen in Romania. Before leaving we headed up a clock tower and got some nice 360 degrees views of the city.
We then headed to the Pension, called “Mirani”, which was a little hard to find as it was located in a c pitch dark area. It was just built and run by a couple who used to live in Torrence, CA for a while (60miles south of LA). They were really nice people. The place was very nice and spacious.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Monday, October 1, 2007
Thursday, Sep 27: Cluj
We spent the entire day walking around the city center. The place is quite interesting as it has some impressive buildings. The city also looks much cleaner and better maintained than Bucharest and some other parts in Romania. Apparently, this used to be Hungarian some before 1918. In fact, all previously Hungarian areas were well maintained and very clean. Maybe I should check out Hungary next...
In the evening I headed out to a club called "After 8", which was pretty good.
In the evening I headed out to a club called "After 8", which was pretty good.
Wednesday, 26 Sep: Sighetu Marmatiei - Cluj
Heading northwest some 11km we arrived at a place called Sapanta that hosts the "happy cemetery", which is a cemetery where the gravestones writings are with rhymes. While it is called the happy cemetery I could find nothing happy about it. There was a large organized group of Israelis there. Nothing particular about this detail really...
We proceeded west about 105km on road 19 to Satu Mare, which is a bigger city. Still, we just passed through and continued to south another 17km all the way to Cluj.
Cluj is a big city and for the first time it was quite difficult to find a place to stay. It seemed all hotels were fully booked. Fortunately for us, a central hotel had a cancellation (the dude got stuck on the road or something). The owners of this hotel as we found out later was an older Israeli couple originally from Romania...
Bad Restaurant experience: In the evening we went to a food joint (I would not dare call it a restaurant). Mom ordered soup and dad a burger. Mom's soup was a little on the cold side and she asked that it be warmed up, and it was. Dad's burger was as cold as the Potomac river in the winter.. When he pointed that out the waitress, she took it and never brought it or a replacement back. Finally, we were billed for it. When talking to the waitress about it, she had the nerve to claim that he ate half, while he only had a (bad) bite. Next, she claimed it sat on the table for 10 minutes. Ultimately, the item was removed.
We proceeded west about 105km on road 19 to Satu Mare, which is a bigger city. Still, we just passed through and continued to south another 17km all the way to Cluj.
Cluj is a big city and for the first time it was quite difficult to find a place to stay. It seemed all hotels were fully booked. Fortunately for us, a central hotel had a cancellation (the dude got stuck on the road or something). The owners of this hotel as we found out later was an older Israeli couple originally from Romania...
Bad Restaurant experience: In the evening we went to a food joint (I would not dare call it a restaurant). Mom ordered soup and dad a burger. Mom's soup was a little on the cold side and she asked that it be warmed up, and it was. Dad's burger was as cold as the Potomac river in the winter.. When he pointed that out the waitress, she took it and never brought it or a replacement back. Finally, we were billed for it. When talking to the waitress about it, she had the nerve to claim that he ate half, while he only had a (bad) bite. Next, she claimed it sat on the table for 10 minutes. Ultimately, the item was removed.
Tuesday, 25 Sep: Vatra Dornei - Sighetu Marmatiei
We started the day with a walk around Vatra Dornei, which was quite nice. We then headed northwest on road 18 about 160km to Sighetu Marmatiei. The drive was very nice with some beautiful views. Sighetu Marmatiei is yet another one of them little towns and we didn't do much there especially as we arrived in the evening.
Monday, 24 Sep: Iasi - Vatra Dornei
We left Iasi and headed west on road 28A for about 75km and north on E85 for 300km up to Falticeni, which is where my grandfather's on my mom's side was born and lived until he was 1919 when he was 18.. The house was still there, though renovated much later in the 50's...
Next, we continued up north another 25km and passed through a tiny little town (of which there are many in Romania) by the name of Suceava. From there we headed west to Vatra Dornei some 115km passing through another little town called Gura Humorului and a couple of km further we visited a monastery called Voronet. The driver from Voronet to Vatra Dornei was very pretty and we had a bit of a picnic stop shortly after Voronet, where we had among other things one of, my now famous, salads The last segment of the drive (about 30km) was a bit difficult due to serious road construction. In fact, it appears the entire country road system is under construction.
A few words about Vatra Dronei - It is a resort town similar in that respect to Sinaia. My dad spent two years working there early on ('59-'61) and had loads of fun.
Next, we continued up north another 25km and passed through a tiny little town (of which there are many in Romania) by the name of Suceava. From there we headed west to Vatra Dornei some 115km passing through another little town called Gura Humorului and a couple of km further we visited a monastery called Voronet. The driver from Voronet to Vatra Dornei was very pretty and we had a bit of a picnic stop shortly after Voronet, where we had among other things one of, my now famous, salads The last segment of the drive (about 30km) was a bit difficult due to serious road construction. In fact, it appears the entire country road system is under construction.
A few words about Vatra Dronei - It is a resort town similar in that respect to Sinaia. My dad spent two years working there early on ('59-'61) and had loads of fun.
Sunday, 23 Sep: Iasi
We went to the Jewish cemetery to see visit my dad's mom tomb, who has been there for a long time. This was the least maintained most horrendous cemetery I had ever been too. It was literally impossible to see many of the grave stones, and it took the four of us a couple of hours to finally find my grandmother's gravestone (and that's given the fact that my parents knew where to look...). Ultimately, mom spotted the place..
We got to see my great grandfather's gravestone as well.
After the cemetery we headed to a place region called St. Sava, which is where my dad lived from the age of 11 to 24. Three houses were constructed in the mid 40's by my grandfather and a two of is partners, and each took one. They were all still there and occupied by one family (two sisters + 1 husband + 1 child) that bought and joint all three over the time (each house is pretty darn small). The interesting thing was that my dad knows them as he recalled when the sisters parents bought one house and remembered them since they were very little.
After the house thing, we went to the airport to drop Talmon, whose part in the trip has come to an end. The three of us then proceeded to the cultural palace and then walked around Stephen the Great str, which was closed for cars and had heaps of people.
We got to see my great grandfather's gravestone as well.
After the cemetery we headed to a place region called St. Sava, which is where my dad lived from the age of 11 to 24. Three houses were constructed in the mid 40's by my grandfather and a two of is partners, and each took one. They were all still there and occupied by one family (two sisters + 1 husband + 1 child) that bought and joint all three over the time (each house is pretty darn small). The interesting thing was that my dad knows them as he recalled when the sisters parents bought one house and remembered them since they were very little.
After the house thing, we went to the airport to drop Talmon, whose part in the trip has come to an end. The three of us then proceeded to the cultural palace and then walked around Stephen the Great str, which was closed for cars and had heaps of people.
Saturday, 22 Sep: Iasi
Didn't do too much today. Got laundry done (really important!), walked around town and saw the following:
1. Copou - a park where a bunch of Romanian folks have statues. Among them, Eminescu, who is the best Romanian poet and who apparently wrote all of his stuff next to some tree over there in that park.
2. The university where dad studied (right next to Copou)
3. Downtown
4. Ulius mall (where we got all our food...)
1. Copou - a park where a bunch of Romanian folks have statues. Among them, Eminescu, who is the best Romanian poet and who apparently wrote all of his stuff next to some tree over there in that park.
2. The university where dad studied (right next to Copou)
3. Downtown
4. Ulius mall (where we got all our food...)
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