Good morning from Sighisoara…

…the last night in Romania was wonderfully quiet and relaxing. We were again very lucky with this accommodation (see below). Very wistfully, we packed our suitcases and set off in search of breakfast and back to Cluj, from where our flight home was due to depart in the afternoon. Before that, we wanted or had to wash our rental car, which had suffered somewhat despite the mostly good weather. Finding a car wash as we know it in Cluj was an adventure in itself. Somewhere in the depths of a side street with backyards, we found one and had the car washed.

While the other articles focused on the day’s destination, we would like to share our general impressions here.

Breakfast, for example, is different in Romania than at home (it usually is). It took us a while, because when you’re on the road so much, you can’t always find something suitable. But after a while we got used to it and were well fortified with hearty dumplings and coffee.

Every day on our way into the countryside, we passed large corn and grain fields, meadows with horses or cows and many small villages and settlements. The streetscape is similar everywhere. Every house has a fence or wall with a gate facing the road, behind which you can often see fruit trees. The many small fruit and vegetable stands in front of the houses suggest that everyone here grows or plants food at least for their own consumption. What is left over is sold on the street. Every now and then you see signs on these rickety tables that say “HAMBURG” – which naturally made us wonder what exactly that is. With the help of Google translator and a bit of gesticulation, we were able to narrow it down to a special type of grape. In Romania, the word “Hamburg” refers to the grape variety name “Hamburg Muscat” or “Muscat Hamburg”. This is a grape variety known for its sweet and aromatic fruit. The grapes have an intense muscat note and are popular both as table grapes and for wine production – which I (Regine) can absolutely confirm. 😊

The power supply is more than adventurous in places, you can see wild tangles of cables on almost every electricity pylon, many houses are in need of renovation or still under construction, but are still inhabited. Balconies are lined with pots of geraniums, but the railings are missing. Again and again you see large shells with open staircases and ornately forged gates in silver or gold. The people here do what they can to make their homes beautiful. Lots of flowers, decorations and colorful facades give the villages their very own charm.

We didn’t get through many big cities, only Cluj and Brasov we took a closer look at. While Cluj is very modern in places, Brasov is dominated by historical architecture – this impression can certainly be misleading, as we didn’t explore the whole city.

Highlights of our accommodation:
We spent the first night in Cluj-Napoca in an apartment complex near the airport, which is why we chose it. Our apartment was small but clean and tidy with easy access via a code system (unusual code: 0000). That was all we needed for the night.

After Cluj, we spent 2 nights in Târgu Jiu in the Upstairs residence, strategically located for our plans on the outskirts of the city, well maintained and very lovingly furnished.

Our next stop was in Făgăraș. The apartment was a little difficult to find, but the landlady came to meet us to hand over the keys. Again, everything was very neat, clean and tidy. We had our first proper meal in the evening. The restaurant looked like grandma’s large living room with all kinds of different chairs, carpets and pictures. The food was upmarket and very tasty. In the morning, we had a typical breakfast at a small roadside snack bar.

The fifth overnight stay was in the outskirts of Brasov – our highlight here was definitely the landlady, a very lovely and friendly grandmother (Romanian “Bunica” – Buni for short), with whom we chatted for quite a while via Google Translate. She provided us with an almost German breakfast, including a large tomato from her own garden.

Our next overnight stay was in Ploieşti – the absolute highlight for us was a coffee shop that we found a few streets away near a weekly market. Served with cookies – a perfect breakfast. The evening before, we had a typical local meal in a restaurant – a kind of meat stew with polenta and Marco had a grill pan with fresh vegetables.

In the deep hinterland, away from the small village of Nehoiu in a settlement with what felt like only 4 houses, we had a whole house to ourselves the next evening. The way up was 66A-style 😀 How good that we still had the tomato from Buni, together with a few cookies and fresh grapes it made a delicious dinner – it would not have been possible to find a snack bar or similar here 😀

Finally, we were in Sighisoara – by far the most beautiful place. Tourists are not allowed to drive into the old town of Sighisoara, but we had our accommodation right here – so we were allowed to load and unload. We had to park below the citadel. The apartment had thick walls and was wonderfully cool.

Conclusion: We could tell you so much more – but at this point we’d rather let the pictures speak for themselves.