Update: Sebes, Alba Iulia, Sighet and Brasov...

Dear Everyone,

Yes, I know I said I'd stay up to date because Aylin had her laptop, but there was neither time nor energy, so for all those who sent me e-mails complaining, I apologise. It's been a marvellous, energetic and rather tiring week. Feels more like a month (in a good way). Looking at all the photos, I can't believe we did so much in so little time.

As you know, we set off last Wednesday morning having first executed 'triage' on all the clothes etc to be delivered to the creche. We will take the larger ones another time, baby clothes being more of a priority right now. Lydia had asked for books so there were also plenty of those, and Aylin donated some lovely toys along with the others collected. There was a particularly gorgeous singing bumble bee we grew very attached to, who buzzed along to some Broadway song we couldn't place, but it became the song of our trip.

Aura was an incredible driver. Nothing fazed her. Not the traffic jams, the cows, the sheep, the nids des poules in the road, not the diversions, the heat, the absolutely cretins behind wheels of juganauts...nothing. She drove and drove, always alert, always bright and funny, singing along to whatever was on the radio/CD player, appreciating views around her and chatting merrily. She organised the whole trip really, what with the pensiun near Sebes, trying to get her two friends Carmen and Mariana on the phone so we could meet, deciding what to visit and what wasn't worth it...she deserves a medal, truely. Sooooo much driving and concentration.

Anyway, where was I before admiration side-tracked me? Ah yes. We left Wednesday morning, Ahmed's studio on wheels absolutely packed to the roof with stuff for the children. As we drove through Oltenia via Calimanesti, Aura's old stomping ground for holidays as a child with her parents, we stopped off at Cozia Monastery, built in 1386...how peaceful it was, how sleepy and pretty. It's the earliest example of Byzantine architecture in Wallachia, according to my guide book. The foundation of this beautiful monastery was due to the patronage of Vlad Tepes's grandfather, Mircea the Old, who's buried there. The portico was added by Prince Brancoveanu in the early 18th century though it didn't hit me in the eyes as really very Brancovenesc...I'd like to say I'm getting better at recognising styles of architecture thanks to Nicole and Iza, but I'm still the wrong side of the mountain! In the grounds of the monastery, we visited a lovely museum of religious art full of icons, paintings, etc which held me spell-bound for a while (Parenthèse: as I write this, Radio Romania are playing Ballad by Porumbescu...couldn't have chosen better myself, sun beaming through the balcony windows, linden trees not far from my touch ladened with birds twittering up a storm...and remembering the beautiful garden surrounding Cozia Monastery...sigh!). The views of the Olt valley and mountains from the window of the church expel any doubt that God exists. Another little slice of paradise...

Finally we arrived in Sebes after hours sat in interminable traffic jams and drove directly to Mariana's house. Mariana was at school with Aura, and lives with her son and her parents in a lovely house opposite a market. Her father tends the garden very lovingly indeed and is so proud of his allotment that I was treated to a guided tour. He gave me herbs to sniff so I could try to guess what they were, and showed me a lemon tree. The leaves are edible and I was amazed by the explosion of flavour in my mouth when I put a tiny one on my tongue. The family laid the table and welcomed us in typically warm Roumanian style with delicious salads and cakes. Eventually when the sun had set and the mosquitoes started to attack me (why's it always me???!!!), we retired inside. Such charming people, so warm and friendly. Later, Marius (Mariana's son) and his mum took their old red Dacia from its place in the garage and guided us to our 'pensiun' in a neighbouring village beginning with 'L' (oops - lapsus!) between Sebes and Alba Iulia. A very classy 'pensiun' with drop-dead gorgeous views from the window and a power shower that chased the aches away next morning. Before bed, we sat in the restaurant howling with laughter aided by a bottle of Merlot. Aylin was far more adult than Aura and I, who'd completely lost any seriousness whatsoever... That's what tiredness and first day of holidays do!

Next morning, we set off for Alba Iulia. I was looking forward to visiting this city very much, not least because King Ferdinand and dear Queen Marie were crowned here in 1922. I wasn't disappointed in the least. Alba Iulia is dominated by its huge citadel laid out in the shape of a star. It was here that the declaration of Roumanian Unification was made in 1918 and the leaders of the 1784 uprising executed too, so it has an important place in Roumanian history. It literally oozes out of every brick. If that's not enough for you, the Catholic Cathedral also holds the tomb of the Hungarian warlord Hunyadi.

The Orthodox Cathedral was built in 1921 by the Roumanians to replace the original one, destroyed in a fit of pique by the Hungarians. It is breath-taking and I fell in love with it at once. The cloisters are neo-Brancovenesc, belying the medieval style of the cathedral. It's filled with neo-Byzantine frescoes including portraits of Mihai the Brave and his wife Stanca as well as King Ferdinand and Queen Marie. Aura remembered this cathedral well from her childhood visits and was overwhelmed by the superb restoration that had been carried out since her last visit. We sat on the high-backed wooden seats and soaked up the frescoes and murals until we couldn't take anymore. A lady kneeling over her bible told Aylin not to take photographs, for the light (flash was off, of course - we aren't complete heathens) took away the light of God. She really believed it. Such simplicity one could find endearing, but I found irritating. Aylin and I continued to photograph anyway, and the lady in black returned to her bible and minded her own business.

Nearby is the Catholic Cathedral of Sf. Mihai (St. Michael). The foundations of the 11th century church have been preserved. What one sees today was mostly built between 1247 and 1256. Imagine all that those walls have witnessed. It's built in late Romanesc style with gorgeous Gothic choir stalls added in the 14th and 15th centuries. The Làslo and Vàraday chapels were added later still in 1512 and 1524 respectively. The tomb of Hunyadi lies to the right of the nave as you enter through the west door, the middle tomb of three. A century after his death the tomb was vandalised by the Turks, still a bit cheesed off by their defeats at his hands. Having been neglected for much of the 20th century, the cathedral is undergoing restoration today, and a very good job they're making of it, too. I must admit that I'm not really attracted by the drabness of Catholic churches - to me they seem either devoid of colour or are so overwhelmed with it that I feel nauseous...this was an exception. It was a beauitiful place to sit for a while and rest from the heat outside.

As we were making our way around the north side, Aura's school friend Carmen arrived. Introductions made, presentations given and then a hunt for coffee in the shade. We found it next to a huge fountain across which the view of the citadel had all the makings of a fairy tale. Finally, it was time to move on. As Aura changed her top (too hot) in the back of the studio on wheels, Aylin and I danced with the singing bee to create a diversion from the strip-tease. We certainly got some amused looks from passers by. Oh, we had fun!

The traffic en route to Cluj was appalling. 20km in 2h...thank heavens for Abba in the car to while away the time. What had caused such a tailback? A small side road handicapped by kaput traffic lights, and juganauts (again) unable to get out onto the main road... We even got out and danced in the road a bit to stretch our legs. Aura had wanted to see Cluj, but there was simply no time apart from a glance at a few churches (Byzantine) on the way - shame. Next time?

The views changed dramatically the further north we climbed. From wine country and the Olt into Maramures. The haystacks changed shape, the fields became squarer. Rolling hills, softer than the dramatic panoramics of Transylvania. The simpler life. Little houses, smaller villages, wooden gates and sculpted doors, cows in the road, chickens charging about as if possessed. We took our time, stopping in awe more than once... The first views of Maramures always make me want to sob and proclaim undying allegiance to some religion until I get to grips with myself, reason that there's only one God, who needs an 'allegiance' and return to normal! It also depresses me in its beauty, for with it comes absolute simplicity, poverty and for many, unthinkable living conditions.

We arrived in Sighet around 21h, certainly earlier than envisaged. The Buti hotel had changed since my last visit - additional rooms and a nasty smell of glue permeated the air. My bedside lamp wouldn't plug in without shenanagans behind the bed head and the help of a contortionist, while Aura and Aylins' double room was a matchbox with a view of...a wall. Complaints. Rooms changed. New hotel for Aura and Aylin found for the next night (Vila Royale - very nice) and I was off to stay at Mariana's for the rest of our stay. We had dinner in a nice pub attached to the Vila Royale and then hit the sack. Oof. A long day.

The next one saw the memorial house of Elie Wiesel, now a museum and memorial to holocaust victims of Sighet, bearing in mind the hundreds that were deported from this town and the only two that returned - Wiesel himself and an old man who had gone mad and was unable to speak. I love this museum. The photos, documentation, the Torahs and Talmuds, the books and souvenirs... may it never happen again one psalmodes...but it has and always will for we are human and humans are the cruelist of beings. There is just one synagogue left in Sighet. The only one in the whole of Maramures...

On to the Merry Cemetery in Sapanta for some light relief - for it's absolutely possible in this cheerful place, the only cemetery of its kind in the world to my knowledge - how I adore it with its carved blue tomb stones full of amusing quips on the lives and demises of its 'residents' - it was ablaze with colour: marigolds, azalea, roses, wild flowers all over the place, and even more ablaze with tourists. I'd never seen it so busy. We even managed a little bit of tourist shopping - a cotton nightgown for Aura (foarte sexy as high necked, and down to wrists and feet - a real passion killer!) and postcards for me. Sapanta has changed a lot from the last time Aura was here. The little wooden houses have been replaced with big concrete ones, some in good taste, some not so good and others downright naff. But the horse and carts keep right on coming, the old ladies garbed in black continue to hoof up and down the street going about their daily lives unperturbed by the bustle of tourism... some things never change.

A drink (a few in my case - I'd forgotten the power of Satu Mare palinka - oof!) at Ileana's and then Mariana was home, back from holiday in Croatia, brown as a caramel. Aura and Aylin went home for a rest before dinner as Mariana and I caught up a little. Dinner: vinete (hurrah!) and sarmale around Mariana's kitchen table - one of my very favourite places on the planet.

The next day, having given Aura and Aylin a tour of the creche and leaving the 'convoy' in the playroom, we visited Muzeul Satului just outside Sighet. It's far bigger and thus has much more space than the Bucharest one, really giving you the impression of standing in a village. It's typical only of Maramures whereas its counterpart in the city has homesteads from all over the country. We walked around slowly, Ileana giving her marvellous historical tour. A beautiful day in a peaceful place.

The afternoon: Bârsana. 19km south east of Sighet, this is a religious village centre set on top of a hill from which you feel as if you're on the roof of the world. The paintings date from 1720. The wooden church is a delight, the icons in wood amongst some of the oldest in Maramures. This is another place of beauty and absolute calm, peaceful, awash with colour from the myriad of wild and cultivated flowers. Aura and Aylin visited the little museum that I'd seen with Clo, Marie Jo, Adrian and company last year - it was also, like Sapanta, full of visitors, though this didn't matter for there was place for everyone.

Dinner near the Sapanta river where Aylin and I adopted a cat each, me a boss-eyed Siamese and Aylin a tabby kitten. Mici, trout, mamaliga, tuica...a dinner amongst friends and though a bit parky out of doors, such a joy to be surrounded by so many loved people at one time: Aura, Aylin, Mariana and Ileana... even cats to make it almost perfect. I say 'almost' because there were people missing I'd wished had been amongst us to enjoy such a great evening (you know who you are!). I missed you!

Back at Mariana's, another friend of mine came round, having heard I was in town. She was in a state and a half having been accused of corruption by the state. She's a teacher and was surveilling the bacalaureat exam. Copying was done as it is everywhere. She was told by her director to ignore it and so she did. Sighet is being used as 'an example' and she, along with a group of other teachers, are being victimised. Okay, it was wrong to ignore it. But they aren't alone. My friend did not accept spaga, she did not take bribes. She committed a 'negligence', not corruption. She retired this summer. What a way to start ones retirement. Poor love is terrified at what the outcome will be, for she has admitted negligence. She doesn't deserve it. I don't know how to help her. She has legal fees coming out of her ears, her reputation after 40 years teaching is about to be shredded...she's a little fish in a sea of sharks. If anyone can help, please let me know. The hearing will be in Cluj within the month. My friend is an honest person and a good teacher. This is an outrage. The whole 'example' should have been made in Bucharest as that's where the real, true and flagrant corruption is - not a little backwater like Sighet... Of course, such an investigation would clearly have embarrassed too many fatcats in Bucharest, so yeah, why not - better to intimidate the minnows than the sharks... It's a disgrace.

We left Sighet Sunday morning, I feeling very teary. Leaving Ileana and Varza Mea (Mariana) was a wrench.

The Bistrita road was an excellent decision. Sighet to Brasov in 6.5h with a stop off for icecream in Sighisoara. Oh, my Sighisoara, what have they done to you?! Foul market stalls everywhere selling kitsch upon kitsch - tankards of Tepes, masks, t'shirts of Dracula, Dracula pottery, Dracula scarves, everywhere you look, fangs and blood....Purlease!!!!! Moving swiftly on, we wished we hadn't stopped though we found solace in a park near the main road under the citadel and watched a benchful of old ladies complaining about their vericose veins which gave us quite a giggle.

How lovely to find my Lidia in Brasov once again. I'd missed her very much. And surprise! Nick and Rodica were there, too. We sat down to dinner, Lidia and Marian style, table laden...and then time for Aura and Aylin to leave for the final legg of their trip on to Bucharest, leaving me with Lidia and Marian for a few more days...how sad I felt as Ahmed's studio on wheels pulled away. We'd been together for 5 days and I missed them already. I wasn't expecting to feel such a loss, but I did. Their road home via the Prahova Valley I'm glad to say was non-eventful. They were in Bucharest by 23h.

Meanwhile, Lidia had plans for our time together. No place at the pensiun we'd considered at Ptra Craiului. Never mind though. There were museums I hadn't yet seen, the telecabin to venture up (yow!), Tampa to explore and the Brasov sign, and still one more road out of Brasov to Sf. Gheorghe I hadn't taken.

We explored the town from top to bottom, which had become bedlam due to the Cerbul de Aur in Pta Sfatului. Poor Corina living on str. Republicii was kept awake half the night by Stefan Banica rehearsing in the early hours. No thought at all for the neighbouring residents, the people who have to live there... The local news was full of it, the newsreader almost apoplectic with excitement - Dacia 5, Cargo, Holograf, Aura Urziceanu...to name a few. Waaaaah! Oh, and Simply Red. Red and blue buses went up and down the Poiana Brasov road, stopping at Belvedere. Lidia and I were sitting there one evening as a bus drew up. Out got an international bunch evidently from the Cerbul de Aur, as Lidia recognised one of them as a Brasov journalist, chatting about microphones, hair styles and the like. I wonder how the people of central Brasov fared last night?!

The guy I tld you about some time ago was still in front of the Town Hall shouting about the cows that'd be stolen from him at the moment of the revolution. 'PRIMARU! SCRIPCARU! TALHARU!' he shouted through a megaphone. 'Mayor! Scripcaru (the mayor's name)! Thief!' though it admittedly sounds better in Roumanian. I wanted to buy him a cow. Lidia said he'd lost 5 so one wasn't enough.

Did you know, my Roumanian and French friends, that the French government gave gypsies 3000 euros to get out of France and return to Timisoara? Except they didn't give them money. Oh no. They gave them sheep and goats for the value of 3000euros (Lidia saw the doc on tv a few months ago). The gypsies of course, left happily. But a few months later, they were ready to return to France once more. Asked where the sheep were, they said that they had all been blind - the smecher French government had bought them blind sheep, so they'd had to eat them all even though they were poor people with no teeth and now they were going back to France to make some money...morte de rire. Blind sheep. Lidia and I laughed about it the whole time I was there. Whoever heard of blind sheep. Okay, one or two unlucky baaa lambs, but 3000euros worth?????!!!!! See what the Roumanian people have to deal with?

As we trotted around the city, Lidia fed me latest news bulletins. Blind sheep. The bears continuing to come down from the Tampa to feed on the rubbish from the dustbins. They were being moved gradually to the Carpatians further north. A mother and her cub came down the other evening, and climbed onto the roof of a block, leaving her baby on a balcony. She was eventually tranquilised and now she and junior are in the zoo. Lidia says it's a nice zoo, but still, a zoo's a zoo. I hate them and I'm not even a bear.

Another funny - there's a second hand market at Pta Traian run by the gypsies that sell just about everything. It's called Lafayette!!! I laughed til I cried!

And a Lidia joke though she didn't want to be named as the person who told it. Sorry, love! Okay, so a man arrives home absolutely soaked to the skin. His wife, duly surprised, asks him if it's raining. He replies, 'no, just windy'!!! Ha! Ha!! Roumanian humour. I love it!!

Apart from laughing a whole lot about cretins, idiots and imbeciles of whom we met rather a lot in just a few days, we were very cultured too. We took the telecabin up Tâmpa, walked along to the Brasov sign which was a darn routemarch, but how proud we were, went to the Art Museum (some Grigorescu's, Pallady's and Tonitza's I'd never seen before), the Brasov History Museum (gorgeous presentations, old furniture, ducuments, books, old photos and sketches of Brasov and HM Ferdinand and Maris in bygone years...), a really lovely trip to Sf. Gheorghe and around where Marian showed me the most gorgeous hotel that I'd give an arm and a leg to stay at...what else did we do? Well, we had lunch at Prato twice which is always a fabulous culinary experience for tummies and tastebuds. Gnocchi, tender meat, icecream with chocolate and orange. Delicious salads, which is all you really want in the heat...yum! We sat and watched Brasov from Belvedere until the buses of idiots came and the chatter and music drove us mad. We people-watched on str. Republicii as we sipped fresh lemonade. And we talked. How we talked. How I had to stop myself from crying, for leaving this dear, much-loved friend behind me almost broke my heart. For a year, she has put up with me for a weekend each month so I can feel the peace of the mountains and relax after the busyness of Bucharest. Both she and Marian had me with them for a wonderful New Year, and a fabulous Easter. There's no end to their generosity and no limit to their friendship. I shall miss them and our time together so very much until the next time.

Going for my train we'd got the time wrong by ten minutes. I arrived bang on the dot of 19h35, in a rush, stressed and flustered though quite happy to miss the train if necessary...no time to say goodbye and there I was running to the platform. Which had been changed. Found the right one. Train late by 35 minutes. It's been a week of goodbyes - Ileana, Mariana, Vicky, Rodica and Nick, Corina and now Lidia and Marian...

Got to get ready for Mara now, Iza's sister, who's coming to see the treetop. She'll hopefully move in after I leave as Ruth is happy in the cave. That'll be one less worry for Brigitte. I haven't cleared up! Spent the day doing washing, sorting out a case to leave with Aura, paying bills at the post office - ate sandwiches in the queue as there were so many people in there.  And this blog has taken a while. And shopping. Old Mother Hubbard's cupboard had the upper hand on mine!

Love to you all from Bucharest for 8 more days,

Sarah xox

Comments

[sarah in romania]

It could indeed, Cristina!

Thank you so much :) :)

[Cristina]

The 'pensiun' wich name's beginning with 'L' (oops - lapsus!) in the neighbouring village between Sebes and Alba Iulia could be... this one?

http://www.lutsch2000.ro/

Thank you for your nice article about Romania!