Hungary and Romania

 The next morning we got up and decided we had enough of cycling so walked into the town and had a look around. It’s a very colourful little town with many shops painted different colours and umbrellas and lampshades hanging in the street like bunting. It makes it quite a cheerful and happy place to wander the streets of. By lunchtime it was starting to get a little too warm so we headed back to the van and continued our drive ending up near the town of Egar where there was a salt hill and a nearby spa (saliris). We paid the lower evening price and headed in for a couple of hours while the temperature outside was now cooler than the 35 degrees it had been earlier. We relaxed in the pools over looking the hill of salt and Rich went to explore the saunas and spent an hour relaxing in there. Once our time was up we headed back to the van for a late dinner and to find a place to sleep. First we tried a hill stop which had fantastic views of the area and a great sun set but it was very windy so we headed back down to the outskirts of Egar for the night.

We headed into Eger next morning, first visiting its castle but not being able to get too close. We often just want to see the outside and are seldom interested in the interior and exhibits. We didn’t spend long in town but Rich managed to get his head shaved (FYI Grade 3 in the UK means 10mm, Grade 3 in Hungary means 3mm) We headed eastbound to Tisavirag lake (Not half as nice as Balaton) but was a great place to stay despite the mosquitos.

We set an early alarm to get a run in before the heat set in. I did 10k and Rich did 20k. We then carried on East to the cowboy region called Hortobagy. There was crossed the 9 arch bridge which is the most photgraphed and drawn bridge in Hungary (Says a lot about their bridges) but it is supposedly the longest road stone bridge in Europe. We got some info about the nature reserves in the area and chose to cycle around the fishponds where we saw lots of birds and water buffalo. We then did a short walk around another nature reserve which was full of birds. We stayed in Hortobagy for the night.

The next morning we drove east to the town of Debrecen where we walked into the town from where we parked. We walked around the town for a little while and saw what was called the pink temple which is a Jewish temple that is kind of pink and some other nice buildings before we headed back to the van. Considering the length of time it took us to walk from the car and the actual amount of time we were in the town I’m not sure it was worth it. We then carried on east and headed across the border into Romania and boy was that different. We first had to go through border control even though they are in the EU and Schengen area and it was like a completely different place. The driving was a little crazy, there were beggars on the streets, there were lots of homeless dogs walking around looking very pitiful (we will be lucky if we don’t come home with 100 dogs and cats!) and it just feels like an almost a different world here. We stopped to get some cash out at the first town we entered into which was an experience as it was still really hectic and there were people and cars everywhere. We quickly headed to our campsite for the night, deciding not to wild camp it for our first night and based on our experience we may not wild camp at all! We got to the campsite in Vadu Crisului which was only 10 euros for the night to discover we were the only van at 5pm but we thought someone may join us later but no we were the only ones there all night so we had the place to ourselves.

We learnt quickly that getting anywhere in Romania take a while evident by the fact that we did 6 hours driving today. We did however in that time get to visit Bears Cave which was a large impressive cave with lots of bear skeletons. At the end of the cave their was the entire skeleton of a bear which was displayed. The whole experience was very Romanian. We were flagged down to pay for parking and the only ticket we got was a voucher to spend at a nearby café (Suspicious). There were large groups of children who were in summer camps and who were very noisy! The walk to the cave was littered with street vendors selling all types of tat. The reception to the cave was chaos. The entire tour was in Romanian so the only thing we understood was that we were not allowed to take photo’s (We did) otherwise the government who were watching via CCTV (They weren’t) would find us (They haven’t yet) The hilarious thing was that the real reason they didn’t want you to take photos was because they wanted to sell you photos of the cave on a CD. Who has a CD player!? All that aside it was actually a great Cave to see.

We then headed off to Corvins Castle which is one of the magnificent castles that Romania has to offer. We didn’t feel like spending hours touring the castle so we spent 10 minutes taking some pictures before heading to Drambar for a recently built free camperstop (with free electricity!) We explored around crossing into the town on a very long, very sketchy bridge over the river.

The next morning we headed east into a town called Sibu which was an old Saxon village but there was so much traffic it to us ages to get near the town and park up. finally we managed to get through the traffic and headed into the old town. We soon realised why it had taken so long, there was a huge festival on that took over all the squares with food and drink stands, craft centres and gift shops. We walked around the town admiring the houses which look as if they have eyes in the rooftops because of the small windows. We then decided to go into the large church and climb the tower to get great views of the town and all of its building. Walking around the church was interesting as there were many graves in the walls of the church and these appeared to be noble men mostly. We then had a million stairs to climb to head up to the top of the tower and many of them did not feel like they would pass any british health and safety test! First we wound our way up some stone spiral staircase, which people were also coming down, before we entered into metal steps which each led to a different metal platform before you had to climb the next set the other side. We finally made it to the top and admired the views before we headed back down to the ground and back to the van.

We then headed off to the main thing we came to Romania for, the Transfagarasan road. This road was on top gear and named as one of the best in the world. We started on the road and as we have discovered in other places in Romania, it was a little crazy, but we enjoyed a nice slow pace seeing the sights and enjoying the views as we started the climb up the Carpathian mountains. We soon saw a whole host of little vendors selling everything you could think of and more and we knew this must be a tourist site and it was, it was a hike to a Cascade Balea (waterfall). We got our trainers on and headed up but it was a more strenuous walk than we realised, it involved a climb of over 200 meters and lots of scrambling at the end. However the view was worth it and the waterfall was really nice but we soon headed back down the way we came to the van.

We then carried up the mountain and through the twist and turns of the road which makes it great and such a sight. We got to the top and if we thought the waterfall was crazy, this was another level. After one pass we managed to find somewhere to park the van and we walked to lake Balea to scope out the area and find somewhere to park for the night. This was made harder because the app we use for parking is down and no one can access any of the data but luckily I had researched a little and knew there was some parking around for us. We found the place and paid the price and got the van but we had to drive through a really busy touristy area which was a nightmare. Once parked up we went for a walk around the lake and chilled for the night with one other camper and lots of tents. The night was the first cold one, as we are at 2,000 meters above sea level so it even got down to single figures but the van was nice and toasty all night.

 

We felt sorry for those who were in a tent overnight as it was quite a windy and rainy night. As it was due to rain in the afternoon we wanted to do a morning hike before continuing our search for bears. The hike was a climb up the ridge to Lacul capra which was a nice mountain lake. We also extended our climb to Capra 2494m. We were due to continue back down the other side but the visibility was poor, the wind was variable and the path was quite exposed on both sides leading us to go back down the way we came. We just made it back before the downpour and started making our way back down the otherside of the mountain. It was a long windy road down and we stopped often to take pictures and make sure the brakes didn’t overheat. We kept a keen eye out for bears and just when we thought all hope was lost we turned a corner to see a mama bear with her 2 cubs. It was a magnificent view but also quite sad to see bears so used to people feeding them at the side of the road. Romania has such a sad history when it comes to bears and it’s devasting to know that these ‘beggars bears’ will most likely get shot by rangers as they will end up venturing into populated areas. We felt very lucky to come across multiple bears on the rest of the drive and was shocked by the fact that people would be walking around so close to these bears. At one point a large group was walking near the dam and people were blaring their horns at them because they were about to walk head on into a group of bears. It’s surprising that there are not more incidents of bear attacks. Its also surprising that there are no road signs around to warn people of bears (They have signs to warn people of cattle!). We reckoned they should make the road a toll road and use the money to install cctv camera to catch those who are feeding the bears. P4N was still down but we found a great looking campsite at the bottom of the road where we put our 4x4 to good use getting up a gravel path. The French at the top congratulated us for making it!

The previous evening we had discovered that Libearty bear sanctuary was not open on Monday so we had to go tomorrow on Sunday, the problem was it was over 2.5 hours away (without traffic or issues) and the last tour available was 10.15. So we set our alarm for 6am got up and headed down to service the van so that we had water again and then headed out on the road for the long drive. As it was so early there was light traffic for the first parts of the journey (but there were far more people and dogs out in the road at 6.30 than we expected). We made good progress and we actually got near to the sanctuary early so we made a quick stop at Brans castle to see if we could get close enough to see it but we couldn’t without a ticket and we didn’t have time to do a whole tour that early so we headed back to the van and got to the sanctuary in time to have some breakfast before the start of the tour. The tour took us through some of the land they have (68 hectares in total) and saw some of the bears (they have around 120 in total). These bears were either rescued from circuses, zoos which did not meet EU standards (when Romania became part of the EU) or others that were held in captivity privately by petrol stations, monasteries and other places. They have also rescued some wild ones which have been injured by cars or orphaned as babies and you can see all the bears are less weary of humans and therefore can never be released but are given huge areas of wild land to explore and live as natural a life as possible. The tour took almost an hour and a half and we also saw some of their horses, farm animal, wolves and tortoises which have all been rescued. There are a couple of animals (bears and wolves) that they have taken from Ukraine due to the war but the rest of the animals are only from Romania.

After the tour we headed back to the van and off to Brans castle where there was now a huge queue. We managed, just about with limited data, to buy tickets online and skipped some of the queue to head into the castle. As with the other sights it was packed but it was good to see the castle up close and read about the history and the link with Bram Stokers Dracula. The castle has been handed down through the royal family for many years and was linked to Vlad the Impaler.

Afterwards we headed to the town of Brasov which has its own Hollywood town sign in the hills, a black church, a white tower and potentially the narrowest street in Europe. We wandered the town looking at the sights before getting some food from the vegan café in the town. It had been a long day so we were both really tired so we head back to the van and out to a nature stop for the evening. The first one we went to wasn’t suitable so we had to find another one and as usual there were several stray dogs in the area. They, and the bears, are the reasons we haven’t done any early morning runs while here in Romania, its just not worth the risk.

The next morning we got up early and headed down south to Peles castle, which was closed and we knew it but we wanted to have a walk around the grounds. We managed to park up just outside the town and headed in and up to the castle, taking the longest possible route there with Rich’s navigating. It is also undergoing some renovations and therefore had scaffolding up but we hoped to get some views of the castle which we did. The inner courtyard was probably my favourite bit as we could really see the details of the frescos and decoration of the castle. after walking around for a bit we headed back to the van, taking the much shorter route and headed back to where we had spent the night as we were planning on doing a short hike to a canyon.

 

Once back we grabbed a bit of food before heading out but it was a much longer walk to the start of the canyon than I realised and it was about 3.5km, with lots of uphill walking. Once at the start we paid the visitor tax of £4 each and had to walk another half a km to the start of the trail which is called 7 ladders. Its actually 9 ladders (2 of which go down) through the gorge with one very long one (which was a little scary and seemed to go on forever as you are climbing it!). It was a very nice walk but again it was fairly busy. Once at the end we seemed to have to walk another half a km back to the start up hill. Im not sure where all these hills are coming from as it all seems we have done is climb ladders or walk uphill.

 

Once back at the start we then had the 3.5km walk back to the van so all in all it was about a 10km walk. Once back at the van we headed back out on the road and headed to a town called Sighișoara which we both agreed was the prettiest town we have been to this trip. We headed up to the old town where we wandered little streets spotting towers and beautiful buildings, including the domineering  town hall before we walked up the 172 covered stairs to the church on the hill. This gave some great views over the town and the surrounding area. Before long though the rain clouds were starting to come in so we high tailed it back to the van and decided against the stop we had planned on as it was on grass and on the top of a hill where we could get stuck given that it is due to rain all night. We instead parked in a small suburb sports hall.

 Apart from the rain it was quiet and the next morning we got up and started the long drive out of Romania.  We drove for about 4 hours and finally made it to the border queue to make it through the Romanian side fine. However when we got to the Hungarian side they wouldn’t let Rich in as he had stayed too many days on his Schengen allowance. We tried multiple times to explain it does not count as we are married but he wouldn’t listen. He didn’t speak very good English and when he got support from the Romanian side, who spoke better English and agreed with us, he couldn’t get the Hungarian side to listen. Instead we were told to drive 50km to the bigger border where they could give Rich a visa for no charge. Finally we gave in as we were tired and headed to the border where we crossed over with no issue and no comments on length of stay. Once we were safely over the border we found a Tesco, bough some beers and headed to our stop for the night where we can finally relax after about 7 hours of driving!

The streets of Szentendre - I loved the lampshades hanging from the streets 

Egar Castle from the outside

Storks nesting on telegraph poles, its quite common over here, these two have a little baby

Another stork, this telegraph pole doesn't have the support for a nest like some of the others

Nine hole/arch bridge with a statue in front. 

One of the many birds we saw in the Hortobagy national park

Another bird in Hortobagy

The water buffalo in Hortobagy

The extra large buffalo we found in Hortobagy

More birds

Maybe the final one

Corvins castle - our first Romanian Castle

Sibu - the pretty Saxon town

The church we climbed in Sibu

The bell in the tower -  we were glad it didn't go off while we were up there

Cascade Balea

The view from the Transfagarasan road 

A view of the Transfagarasan road 

A view from our hike on the Transfagarasan  

A view from Transfagarasan and this is where we stayed for the night  

One of the many beautiful view points

The bears on the side of the road

They were so close to the road and the cars

It was beautiful and sad to see

Some tourists still feed them, meaning they are likely to start begging and could result in them being killed

Bran castle internal courtyard

You get to see some of the people and how busy it was here

The outside of Bran's castle

The Brasov Hollywood sign and the black church

The Black Church

The central courtyard of Pele's Castle

One of the many statues at Pele's courtyard

The outside of Peles castle

Pelisor castle which is on the same site as Peles castle 

A view of Sighișoara with the town hall domineering over the town 

One of the towers in Sighișoara 

Sighișoara church 

Another Sighișoara church  

The houses that have eyes

Sighișoara clocktower 

one of the old streets in Sighișoara 

The salt hill next to the spa near Egar

Jeff enjoying the sun set in Egar

The train tracks in Hortobagy 

Sunset at 9 Hole Bridge

The pink Synagogue in Debrecen 

Bear Cave

The skeleton of a bear in bear cave

Some of the cave formations in bear cave

stalactites in bear cave

View from the church top in Sibu

Another view of the Transfagarasan road 

Lake Balea where we stayed for the night

Pretty much the highest point we hiked to on the Transfagarasan 

The lake on our hike, the other side to Lake Balea

Lake Balea from above

The view from Libearty Sanctuary 

Lots of bear pictures from Libearty Sanctuary

One bear having a dip in the lake

Watermelon for breakfast

Having a role in the dirt

One of the painted doors in Bran's castle

Rich in the supposedly narrowest street in Brasov (and possibly Europe)

Above our heads at the 7 ladder canyon

One of the long ladders in the canyon

Water cascaded down the whole canyon

I made it to the top

A pretty building in Sighișoara 

Rich at the castle on the hill - Sighișoara 

Umbrellas in Sighișoara 

We made it to Romania