Sinaia, Romania

Experiences pour in so rapidly, and the world whizzes by so quickly when you cross almost half a country every day! Christmas eve was a particularly busy day, starting the day in the dark, catching a very full bus from stunning Sibiu at 6:30 am to arrive in Sinaia about 3 hours later. Sinaia is a very small town in the middle of a pass through the Carpathian mountains. It was a difficult stop to fit into my plans, even though it's roughly on the way toward Istanbul. I only found three couch surfers there, of whom two declined and one must be traveling. Although hotels exist, I couldn't find anything reasonable online.

So why bother with this little town? I wanted to find the Peles Castle - where the king and queen of Romania used to reside - for two reasons: one, it's apparently the most beautiful castle in Romania (and one of the nicest is Europe), and two, queen Marie was a member of the Baha'i Faith!

Because I was now lugging around my huge luggage, and since I had no directions to the castle, I considered taking a taxi, but this thought didn't last. I went into a car parts store and asked if they knew how I could get a bus ticket out, to Bucharest, since the last one I took was over filled and I didn't want to get stranded. None of three young guys working there spoke English, but they called to a lady in the back who could. She told me to find the bus ticket guy who wanders around the street outside. Weird. Then I asked about the castle. Take a taxi she said, since it's an hour walk up, up, up. One of the boys said 30 min. and explained, through her translation, the route. Outside, unbelievably, I found the wandering bus ticket guy who told me to be back to that spot on the road in about 5 hours. Perfect. But my heavy luggage... I got a brainwave and went back into the auto parts store and asked the lady if I could store my huge bag there, for a fair price. She said yes and refused payment. Bring me some chocolate, if you like, she said. Score. What a heavy burden lifted, literally.

It was a beautiful trek up the mountain to the castle, on stairs and then an ancient cobblestone path winding through dense forest, with a thick carpet of snow. It was an unseasonal 6C. Signs posted warnings of bears in the area! Tiny songbirds sang for me as I climbed.

The castle and surroundings were pretty impressive. The detail and ornamentation inside was unbelievable. Room after room, decked out so lavishly. And I only paid to see the first floor! One of the rooms was the armory, which I estimate had about 700-800 weapons mounted on the walls: swords, spears, rifles, etc. In a glass case on the mantle was a 6th century executioners sword, and I couldn't help but shudder to think that it looked well used.

Next to this castle was a smaller one, where princess Marie and prince Ferdinand lived until they inherited the throne. I kept imagining what it must have been like living here. It seemed so hard to get to and remote for me; what must it have been like in 1900? The forest surroundings and snow tipped mountains were very charming, but it must have felt so isolated. A mural on one wall at the main castle showed an epic battle between two soldiers, several dogs, and two bears. I think the bears were winning.

Queen Marie, who embraced the Baha'i Faith, passed away in 1938. I scanned the library room for Baha'i books but didn't find any quickly, and didn't want to spend all day in that one room. She was apparently well read in many languages, and quite an artist. A giant book of her poetry, written in semi-calligraphy over her own paintings was on display. One phrase really stuck with me as I began to wonder if her life here was very challenging: "If 'tis madness to remember, 'tis drearier far to forget."

On my way back down to the main road I bought a few Snickers chocolate bars. I found my luggage intact, kept one bar for myself, and waited by the road for the bus. The ticket guy appeared out of nowhere and assured me of a seat. I stood with a hitch-hiker who agree to ask any stopping autos if there's room for me too. Eventually the late bus arrived, the hitcher gave up and we all packed into a small mini-bus van. Yes, there was a seat for me, the last one, but not for the sweet old lady who came after me. I guess when you're a nice guy, there are no seat guarantees. But I didn't need to stand for long, as someone got out at the next stop. Bucharest here we come!

Oradea, Cluj, and the road to Sibiu

Somehow I missed the news that Romania had become a member of the European union in 2007. Dharlene was here almost 20 years ago, but only very briefly because she said it was pretty terrifying. Apparently it has changed an awful lot since then. It's a lot like Hungary, but there are differences. Of course, I'm still in Transylvania, which used to be Hungarian. I was hearing Hungarian here quite often, and speaking it even got me through sometimes. Wow, the bus driver just locked up halfway across a bridge and everybody's stuff went flying toward the front of the bus! That's one difference from Hungary: driving chaos and general disorder is more commonplace here.

I'm approaching Sibiu, an old, cultural hub which comes highly recommended. So highly that I altered my plans to see. Plus I found a cheap Panzio there, but couldn't find one in Sinaia. As we approach the east end of Transylvania, the Hungarian language is disappearing and I think I am starting to see subtle differences in the building ornamentation. Most house tops have small orthodox crosses or minaret shaped lightning rods or pipe covers. But all the homes have gated front yards still, all of them are of a type of stucco exterior, and all are still various pastel colours, with rust or brown serious clay tile roofs.

On my way into Oradea by train I saw a Roma family in a random dumping ground beside the tracks, digging a huge excavation, looking for what? Recycling perhaps. I felt some pity for a family in that kind of poverty, driven to such extreme, dirty labour. It freaked me out a bit.

In Oradea, I really enjoyed my stay with Beniamin and Adi, two fun young fellows. On my only night spent there, I went with them to a rented room behind a beautiful cosmopolitan café, where a group of about a dozen youth gathered to practice singing Christmas carols which they will sing to their friends during the holidays. I found it so wholesome and charming! Adi, Ben and I went to this cool café after where they were very curious to hear about differences between Canada and the U.S.

After my tricky hitch to Cluj the next day, my next couch-surfer host met me at a giant statue in Cluj's main square. As I waited for her, a huge youth choir belted out carols in Romanian on a stage at the edge of the square to my right. (uga uga uga uga uga uga uga... The bus is crossing a very old cobblestone street... Big plowed fields surround me, sometimes flat, often rolling, with big hills in the distance on both sides.)

Laura, a Romanian, and Erik, a Hungarian, where wonderful hosts: very gracious, attentive, hospitable, and eager to please. They gave me a private room with a single bed in their small apartment. Ah, the sun is now shining and although we're climbing, there's almost no snow here on the ground. My two nights in Cluj were pretty laid back. We chatted a lot about religion and Hungarian Romanian differences, and they spent a lot of time helping me check bus and train schedules online. Last night we met with a big group of their friends in a pub where they planned an upcoming new year's party, in Romanian of course. I did some minimal chatting in Hungarian with some of that background, but spent most of my time on my iPod using the free wifi to take screen shots of maps for cities I'll soon be lost in, as well as downloading various free apps about Istanbul.

Now, we're passing through a village where the house colours are gradually getting a bit brighter and bolder. My bus is climbing a lot and dipping a little as we near Sibiu, a town which won a prestigious European cultural city award in 2007.

Day of the Dead (part II): a Budapest cemetery

Here are a few photographs from a big graveyard in Budapest.  In case you know Budapest at all, this one is near the Keleti train station.

statues on top of the Keleti train station

I was still in a soul-searching mood since the candle-lit eve of day of the dead, the night before, and this is probably reflected in the photographs.  Again I pondered the concept of mourning versus expressing joy that souls have advanced toward their Creator. Many of these grave stones and statues seem to do their best at conveying eternal sadness and mourning.  I'm sure the families are sad about losing contact with those who passed, but a thought crept into my mind that I felt a bit guilty about thinking: whoever chose some of these grave stones and statues had the feeling that this soul was going to a bad place! God forbid that anyone judged their lives and thought we better put up a statue to convey how bitterly depressed we are that this soul is headed for torment!

Some of the statues are gothic and somewhat creepy. They were some of my favourites:

I don't approve of depictions of Christ, but this one drew my attention

what message is this statue trying to convey?

Here are some other statues and grave stones which caught my attention:

she looks upset about the imax cinema in the background!

this is one of my favourites, pensive but hopeful

I like the contemplative mood of this one

rarr

translation: our dear Susan, 16 years old

an architect

Here are some random scenic views around the cemetery:

I didn't make this; would've looked great at night!

had to try to get myself in there somewhere...

a small trip to a small town: Ebes

Two of the Baha'is in the area have a house in a small town of 5000 people, about a half hour bus ride from Debrecen where I'm staying.  This town, called Ebes, is what looks like a typical Hungarian town: red clay tile roofs, and fences right up to the sidewalk, some of them with scary dogs behind them (see my previous blog about Vecsés.)

So Dan, Jeane and I came to visit these two Baha'ís, Zoltan and Erika.  They met us at the bus stop in tiny Ebes, by this charming church.

Ebes' church

An interesting thing about this town is the way it was founded.  In the communist era, apparently all the farmers from a huge area were collected to this small area, since the soil is fairly fertile.  Their families were uprooted and re-established, consolidated in this little area.  The communist administration decided that it was much more efficient this way, which I guess makes sense.

Zoltan is an organic farm inspector, and Erika is a music teacher.  They both speak English very well.  This is Zoltan below, posing proudly with the addition he built on their little house (not so little any more):

 

And this, below, is me posing with his house too:

They have beautiful flower and vegetable gardens around their place, with fruit trees as well.  I had a tart apple which was the tastiest one I've ever had!  All organic and unsprayed.  Here's a very green picture of their back yard, which offers a lot of wonderful food for them:

We had a very relaxing stroll through this fruitful wonderland, and then went in for a long conversation about the Baha'í community in nearby Debrecen.  Probably most impressive during this visit for me was how Erika asked if we were hungry, grabbed a few things from the garden, and in half an hour whipped up an amazing casserole to feed five of us!

 

a few random things around Debrecen

A zillion elementary school kids got on the bus with us.  Field trip to the zoo! (I haven't been yet.)

I haven't really figured out the cuisine in Debrecen yet.  I'm proud to say that I've been in Hungary for over two weeks now, and I only had a small piece of chicken at my great-aunt's house.  You see, at Christmas every year I go to my grandmother's house near Welland, and she always cooks tonnes of meat.  I appease the family by having one piece of breaded, deep-fried chicken breast.  So my grandmother told my great-aunt Marika in Vecses that I eat chicken, but only the breast.  (It got lost in the translation some when Marika kept grabbing her bossom and saying, in Hungarian, chicken boobies are okay, right?)  So when I arrived at her house she had already cooked some chicken boobies, so I had to eat some.  Anyway, no meat since then.  But check out this wierd pizza!  I dissected it and took a picture:

Ya, those are pickles on the pizza; and peas and carrots and corn from a can.  It actually wasn't too bad.  Since then I've found out that the bakery right below my place makes tasty pizzas, but unfortunately always with meat.  I've made a running order with them, so I pick up a pineapple pizza every Friday at noon.  Yum!

This clothing store is the main competitor of "Bottom of Fashion."

A cute building.  The architecture is really interesting here.  I don't think I can wait for a blog entry dedicated only to that, so I'm going to include my favourite shots as they come in.

This is one of the medical school buildings on campus.

I love the balconies in Hungary! 

Arrival in Debrecen

On my arrival in Debrecen, I was met at the train station by Dan Engel, a short, cute, american with a charming smile.  Dan and Jeane are in their late 70s, retired, and are pioneering in Hungary right now.  They sold everything and are homeless, as they say.  So they now occupy and act as custodians for the Baha'i centre of Debrecen.  I see these two as a very good example of "shedding the lethargy".  They don't speak the language at all, they don't have health care here, and they left all their family and friends behind to move to this foreign land, in an effort to help support and propagate the Baha'i Faith here.

The Baha'i centre is a beautiful, big apartment right downtown.  It was owned by a Mrs. Afnan who passed away a few years ago and left it to the Baha'i community.  There's a big double living-room that can be split in two.  That's were I now live.  Here's a photo of the east side of the living-room.

Here's the west side:

This side is my room, where I live.  Turn left at that door, and that's a hall to my bathroom and to the kitchen which is connected to the apartment where Dan and Jeanne live, with their own on-suite bathroom. Here's the couch...

... which transforms each night into a bed...

(And back again into a couch every morning, since this is the Baha'i centre, not a bedroom.)

Here is a corner cabinet:

Which I transformed into a wardrobe/closet:

This building itself is a little nondescript from the outside, but it's interesting on the inside with cool stairs (we're on the 3rd floor), and lots of confusing doorways.  The architecture in the vicinity is a real mix of awe-inspiring, and bland.  Here's a building across the street:

McDonalds in one of Budapest's train stations, with a McCafe

another street in Budapest

at every turn, stunning ornamentation

the nude archer