Eastern Europe - Curtea de Arges

Candles burning

The Episcopal Cathedral

Email No 20 – Curtea de Arges – Romania

In Bucarest, and after following some detailed instructions (a rare treat) from the owner of the hostel , I located the area where I could board a maxi-bus to Curtea. A relatively short trip through some mountainous scenic scenery brought me in front of the largest hotel in Curtea, the Hotel Posada. After checking the prices I decided to walk to the edge of the town to an LP recommended hotel, Pensiunea Ruxi.

I was everything LP says and more. This very reasonably priced hotel is run by a very nice, friendly family, do indeed go out of their way to make their guests comfortables. The young woman, Ruxi, was there on her spring vacation from her study in another city’s university. She is studying to become a teacher of languages, perhaps German or English. From talking to this very mature 20 years old there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that she will be a wonderful teacher.

In Curtea de Arges, everything of interest such as restaurants, stores, sights, are basically located along one 3 km street. The main sight is the Episcopal Cathedral inside the Monastery’s ground. The original edifice was built between 1514 and 1526 and rebuilt in 1875 by the French architect Andre Lecomte.

I believe that one of the mail source of church’s revenue is by the selling of candles. As you can see on the pictures, buying and burning candels is very popular. The general idea is that you buy and burn candles while making a wish. Of course the more candles you burn, the more likely your wish will come thru. Doesn’t this sound somewhat like a lottery, the more ticket you buy, the more likely you are to win a price? The advantage from a church’s point of view is that even if your wish comes through, it doesn’t cost them anything! Another small observation, in general, the candles are removed before they are completely burned out. The remainders are melted to make new candles (up to 1/3!)

Another sight in Curtea is the ruins of the 14th Century Princely Court. All that remains today is the perfectly intact church.

A much needed, relaxing, pleasant visit in a relaxed unhurried town.

Next Brasov.

Eastern Europe - Bucarest - Romania

The 7 ft Easter Egg

Rural Farm House interior

Email No 18 – Bucharest. Romania

The Varna – Bucharest Odyssey

There are a couple ways to get from Varna (Bulgaria) to Bucharest (Romania) none of them very efficient. One of the option is to board a 9:30 am train to Ruse (Bulgarian border town) and then wait about three hours in Ruse for the Moscow-bound train that gets into Bucarest at about 6:30 pm.

Another option is to take the 17:35 train to Ruse, then wait about 5 hours for a Moscow-bound train that gets into Bucarest at about 6:30 the next morning. I opted for the first choice and set out to the train station when my watch showed 8:45 am. I felt real good, being ready, and having already made reservation in Bucharest.

The train station is 15 minutes away from my hotel and as I approached it I could see the station’s tower and the station’s clock. The clock showed the time to be 9:50. The time on my watch is 8:50?

My first thought was that the Station’s clock was wrong (we are in Bulgaria after all). Then a very unpleasant thought crossed my mind in the form of a possible time change?

I checked the time with somebody in the station and found out that in fact the clock’s time was correct.

Back at the hotel I found that the time was changed three days before. A very costly oversight as I also misted a date the previous day with a Syrian woman I met at a restaurant (an English teacher).

Well, the dating is not retroactive and now I have to take the 17:35 train to Ruse and wait the 5 hours for the train to Bucarest. As a matter of fact, I am presently in Ruse, in a restaurant writing this sad story (I am joking, this is an acceptable part of the unpredictable events that occurs when one travel in this manner). I only have to wait another 3 ½ hours.

Once in Bucarest I took the metro to a station near the “Happy Hostel” and was assigned a bed in a 6-bed dorm.

The hostel is located in a cul-de-sac and surrounded by several houses, each one of them defended by its own dog. The dogs have an well coordinated defensive system. Each time (day or night) that someone walks or drives in the cul-de-sac, first, the biggest of the dogs barks, followed by barking, or howling, by all the other dogs.

In spite of my loss of one night of sleep I feel good enough to take an orientation walk.

The hostel is close to one of the very large main boulevards, some of them part of Nicolae Ceausescu expensive development follies. Another French-like sights is a reduced copy of the French Arc de Triomphe. It was constructed in 1935 in celebration of the reunification of Romania (after WW1).

Bucarest is better appreciated by walking around to more interesting side streets and by visiting some of its numerous museums.

The most interesting museum is a very large open-air collection of several dozen homesteads, farms, churches, and windmills relocated from different parts of rural Romania.

One can appreciate the clever ways people dealt with tough conditions in all sorts of weather conditions. Very steep roof line to shed the snow in the mountainous part of the country. One-room house centered around the kitchen to use the wood stove for cooking and to provide heat in winter.

The National Art Museum is divided in three parts, the third featuring European Art, with painting by Rubens, Van Eyck, Tintorito, Rembrandt and others.

Happy Easter to all!

Next Curtea de Arges.

Eastern Europe - Varna - Bulgaria

Missile Launcher (Russian?)
Black Sea Coast


Email No 18 - Varna – Bulgaria.

From the hectic bus station I took a taxi to the Tourist Office in downtown Varna. They suggested a seemingly reasonable private accommodation in a hotel very close to the beach. Apparently breakfast is included. Well the next morning I found that the breakfast consisted of a prepackaged croissant and one cup of coffee?! My complain to the reception brought the fact that the tourist office knew about it and that “they” should have told me. Typical “blame someone else” response instead of trying to fix the problem. I would not even have mentioned it if my water heather had been still functional(a simple coil capable of boiling water in a cup).
So now, I am experimenting with Muesli in water, orange juice, or other liquid (beer?). This of course does not require cooking.
The day I arrived the weather was great, sunny and warm. Then the next two days it rains. Today we have another very warm and sunny day!!
I came here for one reason, to take a break from my somewhat hectic schedule, and to catch up with pictures naming and some computer work. So, I have walked on Varna’s Black Sea beach without any specific goals. Being somewhat in churched-out mood I even gave up the idea of taking a bus to a nearby city (full of churches!!).
I met a woman from Syria, she teaches English in a private school. She was having dinner with one of her students in a neat place simply called “Happy”. Imagine a sort of mild form of “Hooters”.
All the servers are good looking young woman with very short miniskirts. I go there because they have a great menu! As a matter of fact (you would not see this at “Hooters”), one of the woman server is very obviously in an advanced stage of pregnancy.
I also had a meal at one of the local McDonald. My first meal, and probably my last, at McDonald since I started my trip.
I could not get out of having to arrange my next move (to Bucarest).
I found that there are no direct transportation from Varna to Bucarest. I have to take a train to the border (Ruse) and then another train to Bucarest. There is an unavoidable waiting time of over three hours between the two trains. I looked at the possibility of going by bus to the border, and found that the waiting time would be about the same. The train station is 10 minutes away, so I am going by train.
I wanted to get some Romanian money before leaving. None of the three exchange offices I contacted had Romanian currency. I finally found a bank where one of the cashier happened to have some.
Another avoided potential embarrassment!
This is the interesting (and sometimes very frustrating) part of travelling like this. Nothing is to be taken for granted. The train to Ruse depart from the train station, this is what you would expect, however, since I am going to Bucarest, I have to buy a complete ticket (including the Varna – Ruse portion) in another office located somewhere else in Varna. I was given a street name and a street number.
The street is 10 minutes away from the hotel. I walked and found the street, I walked along it until a found house no 51 (Oh yes, I forgot to mentioned that in some streets there are no numbers on the houses). I walked a little further until I found house no 63, and realized I was going in the wrong direction since I am looking for no 12. I backtracked to the corner of the street, a restaurant, and found out the number was 35?? I am looking for no 12, and I am at what I would consider to be the first house in this street.
The restaurant people point to an adjacent street (60 degrees from where I stand). Yes, I found the International Ticket office at the bottom of this street.
Logically you would think that two streets that are at a sharp angle to each other would have different names.
Note: I just finished reading Michael Palin’s “Hemingway’s Chair” a hilarious story of a post-office worker obsessed with EH!
Next: Bucarest in Romania

Entrance to the Fortress

Execution Rock

No 17 Email – Veliko Tarnovo

I arrived in at Veliko Tarnovo earlier than I excepted with a train faster than I anticipated. As a matter of fact I fell comfortably asleep and by some miracle woke up when the train stopped in Veliko. I barely had time to collect my stuff and get off the train before it moved on. I then took a taxi to the tourist office to seek some help with finding appropriate accommodation. The helpful office suggested a room in an hotel nearby. He got on the phone and told them what I wanted. I wanted: a private room with breakfast included, the possibility of using a kitchen for my own cooking, and if possible, a wireless connection to the Internet. I got what I wanted for about 15 euros per nite.

The nearby hotel is run by a family: the mother (who is definitely in charge!) the father, two sons (with wifes) and a couple of grandchildren.

The next day, the mother cooked me a nice breakfast that include philo, sweets stuff and cheese (unavoidable it seems). I decided that from now on and would cook my own oatmeal breakfast.

In the evening I showed up with pasta, pasta sauce and fresh spinach. The following convinced me that they are not used to have someone using their kitchen. The woman grabbed the spinach and proceeded to trim the ends and wash it, then she took a pot , put water in it and told me this is for the pasta. I explained that I was first going to cook the spinach then the pasta. She gave up and let me do my stuff.

Her husband, for ever looking happy and smiling, offered me a drink. It is either grappa or rika? Not bad, but I prefer beer. The scene was somewhat repeated the next evening, with and added challenge, the son tried to tell me that I should change room? I acted like I did not understand. So here we are, the mother is again trying to help me, the smiling father is still offering me drinks, and the soon is trying to make me move to another room. He is down to making drawings with arrows to show my moving.

I finally told him ok but I want to see my “new” room. We are not getting anywhere and he finally gave up.

The main sight in Veliko is the Tsarevets Fortress. Sitting high on a cliff and overlooking the valley and the river below, the fortress is located on a site shared over the centuries by Thracians, Romans, and Byzantines. The present ruins of many houses and churches largely dates between the 5^th and the 12^th centuries.

I like to have some idea of what I am looking at, unfortunately, none of the information panels are in English (they are in Bulgarian, Russian, German). I now that somebody speaks English. The price list at the ticket booth clearly states the different price categories in perfect English!

I let the local tourist office know about my disappointment.

I walked the mostly uphill 5 km road to the small city of Arbanasi, from which one has a great view of the valley (and the fortress) below. The first place I came across is a restaurant (mentioned in LP guide) where the very helpful owner speaks English and runs a somewhat non-traditional hillside hotel.

All and all a worthy visit in this town where one in six residents is a student.

After over two months of intense travel I need to go somewhere to just relax. Varana, on the Black Sea Coast seem the best choice.

Love and Peace -henri

Eastern Europe - Plovdiv -Bulgaria

The "Revival" museum

The Amphitheater

No 16 Email – Plovdid – Bulgaria

From Sofia I took a train to Plovdiv. Seems that the scenery out of Sofia is pretty flat, almost like the US Midwest. In Plovdid I checked into an internet-reserved private house. Eventually I am sharing a two-bed room with a young man from the US. He is on a short two-week vacation and making the most out of it.

The Thracians moved into Bulgaria in the 4^th millennium BC and by 100 AD, the Romans controlled the land. Apparently Plovid goes back to long before the Thracians and became known as Phillippopolis to the Romans in the 3 rd century AD. The city is built over ruins of past civilizations and digging for the past is going on in several places. The most outstanding discovery, so far, is a Roman Amphitheater that was buried deep into the dirt under several houses. The renovated theater is now the site of many events (many including famous singers and performers). Several of the revival-era wood-shuttered homes are open to visitors and a 22-room (circa 1847) building is now a fine Ethnographical Museum..

Much of the Old Town is built on a steep hill from which there are great views of the city.

My accommodation was nothing to brag about but the price was right.

Next: Veliko Tarnovo.