Today we are leaving to visit family in Eastern Europe and hope to add one more country to our list of countries visited, Ukraine, where some of our ancestors originally came from. But first stop is Hungary and today we are taking for the first time a new flight option out of Phoenix, Condor Airlines. It is much cheaper than our usual flight but the reviews are so and so. Overall however we are satisfied with the flight, with the food being slightly worse than British Airways while the entertainment is much more limited but that doesn't matter as much when you have to sleep (and we also have books downloaded on the phones just in case). In Frankfurt we eat a few frankfurters (which makes sense) during our layover before almost getting lost while searching for our new gate and taking the short flight on Lufthansa to Budapest.
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| Airport at night | Our plane is here |
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| Food on flight | Layover food in Frankfurt |
We stay with some relatives near Budapest and are awaken by the sound of doves that are seemingly everywhere. After a quick breakfast we are ready to explore Budapest which we haven't visited for some years.
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| Our alarm clock | Beautiful flower |
It takes some time to arrive to the downtown area as the road is quite busy today but with the slow downs we have time take in all the changes along the way including the impressive Balna Shopping Center.
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| On the way to Budapest | Budapest bridge |
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| Balna Shopping Center | Getting close to our goal - Castle Hill |
Our first planned stop is the Buda castle, the historical center for Hungarian power and where the kings lived, near the Danube river with the added problem being that parking is in short supply. Luckily we find a parking lot near the wall that still has a few places left and from there the search is on to find a way to get to the top. The first place we investigate is an automated toilet so no luck and we have to continue along the wall to find another entrance.
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| Parking lot near the wall | Toilet with automated toll |
Actually we don't have to go far as there is an elevator close by that we take to the top and therefore with little effort we are rewarded with a good view of the parking lot. Not necessarily what we wanted so on we go to find some better viewpoints.
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| Path at bottom of wall | Ivy covered |
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| You can take the elevator | First view from above of parking lot |
As we continue on top of the wall we take a look at the different statues and armaments exhibited along the way with the majority of guns along this area being anti-air guns likely from the Second World War.
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| Monument for the last Turkish governor | View of the city and hills in the background |
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| Hmm...where is the gun?! | This one looks better |
We arrive at a corner of the fortification and from here the views over the city are quite beautiful with some intriguing architecture. We also understand why this area has so many guns - it is the back of the Hungarian War Museum with a row of cannons defending the wall from possible medieval invaders.
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| Budapest view | Like the architecture |
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| War museum | As evidenced by the cannons |
From here it is time to enter the inner castle passing by a Soviet tank likely used during the Hungarian Uprising and then continuing past the well restored City Hall.
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| Entering the inner castle | Defending the War museum? |
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| Inner Castle - quite scenic | City Hall |
As we explore the inner city area we noticed that there are quite a few archaeological digs including what seems to be an old church in the middle of the inner castle - quite interesting. The buildings here are also well renovated and quite impressive as befits a kingdom that ruled, sometimes harshly, a large surrounding area.
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| Church ruins | Inside part of the church |
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| Walking the narrow streets.. | ...and gaping at grandious buildings |
Continuing through the inner castle narrow streets we admire the old houses and the many details on them be it an inscription or a statue or something else. And then our meandering takes us to Matthias Church, built in the 14th century sitting more or less in the center of the castle area and suddenly we are again in the middle of crowds of people.
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| Beautiful colors | Statue in niche |
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| Closing in on the Matthias Church | Detail on the church |
The major attraction here is the Fisherman's Bastion (Halaszbastya). While it looks medieval it was actually built between 1895 and 1902 as part of the series of developments that were to celebrate the 1000th birthday of the Hungarian state. There is also a great view of the Parliament and the Danube River from the bastion that is very popular with all tourists (including us :)).
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| Fisherman's Bastion | Probably the most visited place in Budapest |
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| The view is breathtaking | Matthias Church |
After enjoying the views for some time it is time for us to find a place to hide from the sun and refresh ourselves so we start searching for a cafe/sweets place in the nearby streets.
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| Continuing on our way on this hot day | Lots of statues in the castle |
We actually find a sweets place relatively close which has a wide range of sweets so we buy a selection and lots of cold drinks and recuperate for a while from the unrelenting sun.
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| We need some refreshments | Sooo many choices |
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| Maybe too many? | Maybe we got too much :) |
After the hour long respite from the sun we emerge refreshed and continue towards the Presidential Palace where to our surprise and delight we discover that the guard changing is happening right when we arrive so we stay for a bit to watch.
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| Presidential Palace | And the guard |
Continuing from the presidential palace we are walking towards the other end of the castle hill where the museums are located. The area is still being excavated or restored - we are not sure - but it has been taken over by pigeons and crows (both real and made of metal).
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| Field of pigeons | Hooded Crow |
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| Old part of the palace | Metal crow |
The museum area is quite impressive with the buildings housing the museum actually being the Royal Palace during the Austro-Hungarian area and therefore rightly being built to impress. There are also some imposing statues along the way and we even find the hussar guards making their rounds through the museum grounds with a cleaning person running after them to clean up any "accidents". Funny....
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| Museum buildings | Still rebuilding |
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| Lots of impressive buildings | Matthias Fountain |
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| The guards take a tour of the castle | Walking out of the museum area |
From here it is time to return to the parking lot but this time we use a slightly different route which is more quiet but also less scenic.It still has good views though and allows us also to birdwatch a bit along the way back.
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| One last view from above | Eurasian Blue Tit |
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| House on the way to the parking lot | Red Hedgehog House - oldest house in Budapest |
Our second goal for the day is Andrassy utca (street) the major boulevard in downtown Budapest. We are planning to take a stroll along the boulevard starting near the opera and then finishing at the city park at the end of the street which contains a few interesting attractions. Andrassy utca dates back to 1872 and is lined with spectacular Neo-renaissance mansions and townhouses featuring fine facades and interiors and was recognised as a World Heritage Site in 2002.
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| Andrassy street - central street of Budapest | Colorful houses |
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| No luck viewing the Opera House today | Theater |
Continuing we arrive at the Oktogon a huge 8 sided intersection as the name implies between Andrassy and the Grand Boulevard. It is quite large and it takes some time just to cross it and then soon after we pass the House of Terror, a museum that houses exhibits related to the fascist and communist regimes in 20th-century Hungary and is also a memorial to the victims of these regimes, including those detained, interrogated, tortured or killed in the building.
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| Old mall | Lots of statues even here |
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| Octogon intersection view | Another view |
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| Continuing on Andrassy street | House of terror |
The mansions continue to be quite impressive on both sides of the street and we take our time to examine them - it is quite interesting to observe that some still have statues/engravings from the communist times.
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| Corner building | Interesting art |
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| Very iimpressive | Ubiquitous trolleybus |
As we get closer to the park there is another smaller plaza with some impressive buildings some partly and some fully restored but most of them painted on the outside with beautiful motifs.
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| Building with painted walls | Close up of the walls |
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| Partly restored old palace | Another statue along the way |
This area also seems to be where most embassies congregate as we see quite a few in the short distance to the end of the street. We also see our first Eurasian Jay a bird that seems more common now than it was years ago.
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| Lots of impressive embassy buildings along the way | Another embassy - slightly smaller |
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| Pigeons are quite common | Eurasian Jay |
And then we are in the Heroes Square the square at the end of Andrassy utca and right next to the City park. It was built to commemorate the thousandth anniversary of the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin and the foundation of the Hungarian state in 1896, and was part of a much larger construction project which also included the expansion and refurbishing of Andrássy Avenue and the construction of the first metro line in Budapest.
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| Heroes Square | Art Museum |
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| Passing over the nearby lake | Gull on the lake |
The major attraction for us in the City Park is Vajdahunyad Castle. It looks medieval but it was actually built in 1896 as part of the Millennial Exhibition which celebrated the 1,000 anniversary of the Hungarian state. It was designed to feature copies of several landmark buildings from different parts of the former Kingdom of Hungary and therefore displays different architectural styles: Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque.
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| Gatehouse tower... | ....guarded by magpies |
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| Vajdahunyad castle - it is a replica not a real one | It houses the Agricultural Museum |
It is really quite impressive and we enjoy exploring however it is getting late so soon it is time to return back to the car for the drive out of Budapest.
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| Bela Lugosi statue | Statues are very common |
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| One more view very impressive | Beautiful ivy on the gatehouse |
As we are quite tired we decide to take the subway back to the car, this has the added bonus that we ride one of the oldest subway lines in world, the third oldest underground line to be exact. It even looks the part as it seems quite old and rickety but it brings us back safely close to where we parked the car.
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| Going back using the subway | Quite old looking |
Before leaving the downtown area we explore a bit more as we want to find another cafe to drink some refreshments before the drive which is quite long during the rush hour. We make it safely to our accomodation however and then after dinner it is time to go to bed as we are quite tired after a long day.
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| One more church before returning | Old buildings are everywhere |
After a hearthy breakfast and a short walk through the garden to explore the many stink bugs that are taking over Hungary we are on our way towards Opusztaszer Heritage Park an open air museum in the south of Hungary, our major goal for today.
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| Southern green stink bug on foliage | And a brown marmorated one |
However on the way we have one more stop planned at Peteri-to (lake) a natural area where we plan to hike for a while, birdwatch and enjoy the nature in general. Finding the information about the lake was quite difficult but finally we identified a possible hiking trail and lo and behold when we arrive there, there really is a trail and a parking place on the grass. We decide to explore till the birding tower which is about 1 km in as long as we can find the right trail.
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| Peteri-to (lake) parking area | Even an info panel |
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| Start of trail | Quite beautiful |
As we start on the trail we are surprised at the diversity of wildlife even on this short stretch of trail, there are birds, butterflies, dragonflies and weird grasshopers seemingly everywhere and we enjoy exploring the new fauna even though it is quite hot with the sun beating down on us.
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| Mediterranean Slant-faced Grasshopper | Willow warbler |
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| Butterfly on the trail | Dragonfly |
We are quite happy when the trail enter a stretch of shadow with the trees on both sides of the trail making a tunnel as we continue winding towards the lake. However first we reach the small river channel feeding into the lake and we even see a snake slithering into the water as we make our approach...cool.
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| Trees are very green | Apple trees near the trail |
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| Even a few nest boxes along the way | This is actually an offshot of the trail |
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| Crossing a canal | Really marshy |
Soon afterwards we reach the viewing tower and from the top we are finally able to see the lake. Unfortunately the birds are quite far away and the only ones we are able to identify are the swans so after enjoying the breeze and the shade a bit it is time to go back to the car.
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| Our goal - the viewing tower | Climbing up |
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| Birds are far in the distance | Even a few swans |
As we reach the channel we take another look for the snake with no luck however we notice something moving through the reeds - we barely see it but it is a Little Bittern, quite cool and a lifer for us.
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| Back at the marshy channel | Can you see the Little Bittern? |
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| Wood warbler | Great tit |
On the way back we keep our eyes open and we notice wildlife almost everywhere, with some cool frogs enjoying the marshy wetlands being especially fun to watch. However the most interesting thing we see is a dragonfly with red globes on the wings - we cannot for the life of us understand what they are so we ask around afterwards and find out they are dragonfly mites - cool and scary.
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| Marsh frog | Agile frog |
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| Dragonfly with mites | Southern Darter |
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| Spotted flycatcher | Geometrician |
From Peteri-to we soon arrive at Opusztaszer National Heritage Park an open air museum of Hungarian history established in 1982. It is famous as being the location of the Feszty Panorama, a cyclorama depicting the beginning of the Hungarian conquest of Eastern Europe. It also has a small museum, an open air village, a lake and even the ruins of an old convent. It was recommended to us as an interesting place by a relative and we decided to spend the afternoon here. We start at the museum which also runs a short 3D movie which is in Hungarian only.
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| Opusztaszer Park entrance | Visitor center expo |
As we exit the building we are surprised at how many birds are nesting high in the rafters - swallows and pigeons mostly.
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| Birds are everywhere if you look up:) | Of course also pigeons |
The entry to the panorama in the main building is timed so we have some time to kill before returning to it so we decide to take a walk around the small lake and see if there are any interesting exhibits or birds around it. What seems more special on our first part of the loop is the reconstruction of what we assume is an old village during the migration of the Magyar people towards Europe. We don't have time to explore it right now and also there is a wedding going on so we decide to come back later during the day.
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| Quite an expansive area | This is where we have to be at a fixed time |
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| First we have to circle the lake | This area looks interesting ... for later |
Continuing we pass through an exhibit about industry on the Danube river and how wood was transported down rivers to processing plants. it even has a tug boat and model scale reproductions of the boats that were using the river at the start of the 20th century and later.
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| Rafts used on the Danube | And a few ships |
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| Catapult?!? | Old tractor |
We have time to enter one more exhibit which seems to concern how bureaucrats were living - we are not sure as we didn't find any descriptive sign :).
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| Inside one of the houses | Bureaucrat home |
The cyclorama is impressive and while the show is in Hungarian the tourists receive an English printout of what is being said. You are then allowed to walk around the diorama to examine the different scenes being played out and it is quite fun to look at the details. Unfortunately no photos are allowed for some reason so the only photos we have are from the museum in the same building that surrounds the cyclorama. It is weird mix of different exhibits from modern clothing to gold objects found in the area to the facial reconstruction of an old skeleton - quite eclectic.
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| Inside the rotonda museum | Are these from the same era? |
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| Objects found in Hungary | Facial reconstruction of historical skeleton |
Now it is time to explore the Magyar village - you can actually enter some of the buildings and they have some unexpected exhibits like a sequoia trunk cut and dioramas from the first and second world wars.
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| Hungarian village | Reconstructed |
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| Sequoia cut - not what we expected | Fighting diorama (not sure who against who) |
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| Inside the recreated church | Not the right exit |
From here we pass next to some ruins (from the abbey?) and then continue to explore the open air village which has houses from different epochs and different places in Hungary. We start first with an old one room school which is quite interesting as it brings back memories of our childhood.
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| Fighting instrument...maybe | Old stabilized walls |
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| Traditional school room | Old map of Africa |
It is getting quite late in the day and there are quite a few houses to explore so we try to randomly sample a few of them that look more interesting (not so randomly I guess then in the end:)). Some of them are open and arranged in a a traditional way and interesting to explore, some of them aren't so we can't explore them, some of them are just closing for the day (it is less than one hour to closing time).
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| Walking the main street in the recreated village | Windmill |
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| Inside one of the traditional homes | Traditional kitchen |
Besides the houses there are also lots of flowers, butterflies, some cool weird sheep and to our surprise peacocks?!? Likely that is not something traditional for Hungary :) but it is still fun to see them roaming around the traditional homes.
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| Onions everywhere..unfortunately | Lots of butterflies around |
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| This is typical for Hungary | This is not |
As the minutes wind down and the loudspeakers start to say something in Hungarian (likely that there is x time left) we also explore the excavated and stabilized abbey, which unexpectedly cannot be entered and can be seen only from afar and then hurry pat impressive monuments to the exit where we arrive at the exact closing time - seems that we planned it perfectly even though we didn't.
On the way back we stop at a supermarket to buy some gifts/provisions for the road ahead and then have dinner and go to bed as we are quite tired and tomorrow we have a long way ahead of us.
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| Reconstructed abbey | Close up of abbey walls |
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| Black redstart | Impressive monument near exit |
Today after a relatively early breakfast we leave our relatives home to drive towards Romania and Cluj Napoca, a long drive which includes an actual border crossing as Romania is not in the Schengen zone. On the way however we have one stop planned at the Szolnok Airplane Museum which started as a university collection before expanding to encompass mostly military vehicles. It is split between an indoor area housed in the old train station and a large outdoor area housing mostly military planes.
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| Szolnok Airplane Museum | Museum is housed in a former train station |
The first area that we visit after paying the entrance fee is the indoor area which is split in an area of smaller rooms with models of airplanes and a history of the Hungarian Air Force and then a separate hangar that houses part of the plane collection. We start with the smaller rooms and are happy that the majority of exhibits have descriptions also in English which makes it easier to understand what we are seeing.
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| Model hangar | Model airplane |
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| Older fighter plane | Newer fighter plane |
Continuing we find that a section of the museum preserves the engines of different planes that have crashed in Hungary during the World Wars. It is something that we haven't seen before or at least not in these quantities so we find it quite interesting. Also besides engines there are also quite a few fighter guns - the size is quite impressive from close up.
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| Museum room | Gun from a fallen airplane |
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| Airplane engine | Another one, quite different |
And then we arrive in the large hangar where all the indoor airplanes are kept. We actually arrive at a balcony level so we have a great view from above of the layout of the hangar and a close up view of the planes that are mounted to look as if they are in flight.
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| Main hangar | Trainer plane |
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| View of the hangar from a different viewpoint | German plane |
We then descend to the floor level and explore the many planes exhibited here, most of them are fighter planes or support planes from the war. The most interesting plane is one that was raised from the Danube river after it was hit but anti-aircraft fire, it is still in surprisingly good condition.
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| Going down | Walking between the planes |
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| Plane found in the Danube river | This one would be fun to fly |
From the hangar we exit into the large outdoor area right in fron of two very colorfully painted aircrafts a yellow jet fighter and a hawk like helicopter. The area that we have to cover is quite vast but it can be done in a loop and that is what we are planning to do starting with the battery of anti aircraft guns and rockets up on a hill seemingly still protecting the area.
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| Interestingly painted airplane | And a helicopter |
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| Defense systems at the ready | Rockets formerly protecting Budapest |
Descending we continue our loop past fighter plane after fighter plane, some of them are quite similar and it is difficult for us sometimes to even discover any differences between them (if there are any?). And then we finish our loop and we are quite happy about it as the sun was beating down on us. After a short break in the air conditioned interior we walk to the car and on we go towards the border and Romania.
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| Lots of rockets | And planes |
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| Close up of plane | One last helicopter |
The road here is quite empty until almost close to the border as the majority of traffic is going on the interstate further north. That makes for a relaxing drive as we pass through small village after small village until we reach the border.
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| Driving towards Romania | Church near the border |
The border crossing is relatively smooth and after passing through Oradea, the town right next to the border we continue towards Cluj Napoca on what is supposed to be sometime to become an interstate - not yet though. We stop on the way to buy some souvenirs before arriving tired as the sun sets in Cluj Napoca and after a fast dinner we are soon in bed to recuperate after the long drive.
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| Oradea - border city in Romania | Driving through the outskirts |
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| Interesting houses | Orthodox church |
For the next days we will stay in Cluj with relatives and visit the surrounding area. Cluj itself is the economic hub of the Transylvania region and a historic town being founded by the Romans around AD 100. It is also the de facto center of the Transylvania region with the most international flights, population and a thriving student population. And today we dedicate the day to visit the city, shop and pay our respect at the graves of some of our relatives.
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| Street in Cluj | New building |
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| Downtown building | Some can be quite impressive |
Our first stop is at the central cemetery located on a hill which makes walking the length of it an uphill climb. After paying our respects at the graves we explore the other graves a bit - as it is a historical cemetery it has lots of historic graves and interesting details, every time we visit we discover something new.
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| Inside the central cemetery | Impressive mausoleum |
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| Nice detail | Older mausoleum |
The cemetery is also one of the relatively few green areas in the city and as such it is taken over by birds from Eurasian Jays to Great Tits and Great Spotted Woodpeckers, all birds that we see in our short walk through it.
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| Eurasian Jay | Great tit |
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker | Speckled wood butterfly |
From the cemetery we continue down towards the downtown area, passing the majestic cathedral in the middle of the city and stopping at the nearby sweets store for some refreshments as is our custom when in the city.
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| Getting back to the downtown area | Catholic cathedral |
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| Famous sweets store downtown | Inside - lots of sweets |
Afterwards we continue exploring the downtown area, browsing through stores and taking our time to admire the beautifully restored houses.
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| Major plaza downtown | Cluj city hall |
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| Major street downtown | Exploring Cluj downtown |
In the evening we go into the suburbs to a mall to buy groceries and on the way we see the different side of Cluj - the housing blocks built during the communist regime that basically constitute the majority of the suburbs. It is quite a contrast (and not a good one) vs the historic downtown.
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| Towards the outskirts - lots of apartment buildings | Some of them are renovated some are not |
Today we have planned a visit to Baile Cojocna (Cojocna Salt Lakes) a resort in the vicinity of Cluj Napoca. It is not that far away but it takes some time due to the heavy traffic in the city. However after getting outside we traverse beautiful countryside even though we have to be careful not to hit any of the large potholes as we approach the baths.
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| On the way to the baths | Crosses along the way |
The Cojocna area was used even in the Roman times due to their of salt mines and that continued throughout the Middle Ages. In time the mines become saline lakes and out of those two were converted in recreational and therapeutic baths. The current baths date from the late 19th century and are known for treating many types of diseases but ultimately in the summer they are also a popular weekend destination. We are here during the week so there aren't as many people as we expected and even some of the restaurants are closed.
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| At the baths | Restaurant near the entrance |
Just near our parking spot we find a tree taken over by woodpeckers and sparrows and after enjoying them for a while we go in search for the lakes.
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| Woodpeckers are quite common | And sparrows |
As mentioned there are two lakes but given that it is hot outside we choose to sit next to the one which has some shade and then enter the water for a quick dip. We are surprised by the water fauna - typical to saline lakes - it is quite abundant as we notice when we take a swim trying our best to avoid both the fauna and also getting any salt water in our eyes or nose.
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| Pool number 1 | Pool number 2 |
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| Sitting on the pool's edge | Native fauna |
As we dry out post our bath we notice two pigeons that circle the lake to take a drink - bad idea. They seem to be quite tame (in fact they likely are carrier pigeons given the amount of bands on their legs) and we do our best to convince them to drink from a water cup instead of the lake but in the end they are too skittish even as other people join in to try to help us.
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| Unexpected visitors | And very confused ones |
We return again through the housing blocks at the periphery of the city and stop at a neighborhood market to buy something to eat that we eat back at our apartment before falling asleep as we are still tired from the previous days plus the bath we have taken today.
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| Back in town | Neighborhood market |
Today we are planning a short jaunt outside of the city proper to a new zoo-park called "Moara de Vant"/"Windmill". The road is first paved but the last few kilometers are on an unpaved road which makes us wonder if the park is even open. But open it is with the parking lot quite full and as we walk to the entrance we even find an escaped rabbit, cool. After enterting we are surprised at the variety of animals with llamas and birds of prey being the first animals we see but there is still quite a lot left to explore.
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| Escaped rabbit at "Moara de Vant" zoo | Still captive llama |
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| Eagle watching us | And a huge owl |
We next enter the aviary which has lots of different doves, finches and parakeets, it is quite surprising how many types of doves exist and some of them look quite cool.
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| Doves - could be native | These ones are not native for certain |
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| Lots of finches | And some parakeets |
Outside we visit the various enclosures for mammals, we even see a native wildcat which is quite cool however we really hope that the animals are well treated as the cages sometimes seem a bit small.
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| Coatis? | Very unhappy ferret |
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| Wildcat | Goats you can play with |
We continue through the zoo stopping here and there to watch the different exhibits, the whole zoo is much larger than expected and it is set on a hill so it can become tiring going up and down the hill to see if we missed something.
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| Small birds behind bars | And huge birds |
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| Pheasant | Hedgehog |
There is even an overlook where we can see the hills in the distance but the major reason for it is that it overlooks the deer enclosure where we can watch the bucks strutting around - not a lot of people get here as it is a bit out of the way. There are also lots of birds in the trees and we take some time trying to find and identify them before moving on.
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| View from the zoo | Beautiful buck |
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| Common chiffchaff | Common chaffinch interaction |
We continue on a trail that goes around the deer enclosure which while part of the zoo is maintained more as a hiking trail and is less popular (we are the only people on it). There are lots of birds in this area with eurasian jays and nuthatches being quite common and we enjoy watching them sing and mill about before returning to the reception area and drinking a cold soft drink to recuperate before moving on.
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| Eurasian jay | Sparrow relaxing |
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| Great tit | Eurasian nuthatch |
From the zoo we continue to the Ciurila Lakes which are not that far away but we first have to make our way back to the paved road before continuing through rustic villages below the new highway which has no exit here to the lakes. The lakes are for recreation and fishing especially and there are quite a few people fishing but we are here to birdwatch for a short while. So we park near the lake and walk along a dam and look for birds on the lakes on both sides.
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| Ciurila Lake | Road near Ciurila Lake |
The first bird we observe is an egret which is quite calm and doesn't really care about us but the other birds are a lot more skittish at least in the beginning. However we persist and continue on the dam planning to turn around after we reach the other side.
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| Calm egret | Other birds are not so calm |
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| Looking over the marsh | Flowers at the side of the road |
The walk is quite nice with flowers on the side of the road and quite a few butterflies searching those flowers out. Also we get further away from the groups of people fishing and the birds seem to become more common even though they are quite far away on a marshy lake with very bad views.
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| Gull over the water | Beautiful butterfly |
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| Dock along the road | Walking back |
On the way back however we get closer glimpses of a few birds including the skittish white wagtail that eluded as earlier. We are quite happy when we see our first marsh-harrier flying low while searching for a meal while a buzzard was watching the proceeding from high up in the sky - overall quite a good haul for a short stop.
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| Eurasian magpie | White wagtail |
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| Common buzzard | Western marsh-harrier |
At this point we are quite famished so we return back towards the city and stop at a restaurant on the outskirts which is quite popular to our surprise. It has a comprehensive menu and we choose a few regional specialties which all are quite good. Full we return back to our home for an evening of relaxation before going to sleep.
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| Late lunch restaurant | Goulash |
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| Ribs - look good | Steak |
Today is my last day in Cluj as I have to fly to Bucharest to meet up with relatives that will accompany us with a car through Ukraine - yay road trip outside of the European Union! Today we have planned a visit to the Botanical Gardens and we start on foot exploring the city and the roads that we know so well by now - but even so we find interesting places/details along the way. Today we want to explore a church in the middle of a traffic island, unfortunately it is closed and we can admire it only though the glass door.
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| Mallards on the canal | Traffic island |
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| With a church in the middle | Looking inside |
The Botanical Garden was founded by the academician Alexandru Borza in 1920. It also includes the Botanical Museum (closed when we visited), six glasshouses as well as the Roman Garden where different finds from the excavations in the town of Napoca were brought to be exhibited. After finding with some difficulty a parking place we pay the entrance fee and in we go. We are taken in by the beautiful flower arrangements, it is still late summer/early fall so flowers are in full bloom and quite beautiful.
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| Cluj Botanical Garden | The founder of the gardens |
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| Lots of beautiful flowers | Greenhouse |
We explore the greenhouses from which only a couple were open for visits but had some interesting plants and even a small pond holding lotus flowers before continuing to the outside pond which had a turtle that we cannot decide if it is native or escaped/released.
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| Inside the greenhouse | Beautiful flowers |
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| Turtle in the pond - was it released here? | Ruddy Darter |
The trails are paved and maintained close to the entrance but you can go "lost" on small forest trails on the backend of the property if you go exploring looking for solitude and birds. Believe us - we nearly got lost ourselves :).
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| Trail through the gardens | New birding signs |
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| Trail through the forest | Near a creek |
The result of our exploration was a nice creek with a small waterfall and a few birds including our first long-tailed tit.
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| Wild crossing | Crossing in style |
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| Long tailed tit | Hooded crow |
Returning we discover the Roman Garden and find the two coffins discovered during the excavations of the old Roman town Napoca. There is also a statue of Ceres - we assume also found during the excavations even though there is no plaque.
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| Statue of Ceres | Great spotted woodpecker |
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| Roman sarcophagus | Other tombs excavated in the area |
We return back through the city and the downtown area doing some souvenir and window shopping before returning home.
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| Back in the downtown area | Graffiti |
After relaxing for a few hours we are out again meeting with some friends near the Central Park. We arrive early so we explore the old casino and the university buildings nearby and find a book shop that we attend for a few minutes before our meeting starts. After a long dinner with friends we walk back home near the river and then have to pack as the plane is early in the morning. The flight is uneventful and then a day is spent in Bucharest just trying to ensure that the car is in working order/buy provisions and short meetings with family as now we prepare to drive back north towards Ukraine.
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| Lake in Central Park | University building |
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| Former casino from front - book expo inside | Casino from the side |
Today we start our trip to Ukraine however given the size of Romania we will break it up with a few days in Romania to visit different attractions on the way. After exiting Bucharest we use one of the few divided highways in the country towards Pitesti and then into the mountains towards our first goal for the day - Pestera Bolii (Bolii cave). While Bolii can be translated to disease it is most likely named after a noble family, Bolia, who owned the surrounding area. The Cave has been prepared for tourists recently and it even featured in a few movies so we are quite interested to visit it.
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| Lots of places to visit - so little time | The "Disease" Cave - sounds scary |
We start with a long descent along well maintained stairs to the entrance of the cave which is clearly visible from above. Viewed from above the size is deceiving because as we approach it the entrance looms over us - it is quite huge. And then we are in following the river and are surprised of how well it is maintained with colored lights, bridges and good paths.
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| Going down - a lot of stairs | At the ground level - entrance in huge |
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| Imposing river flowing through cave | Nicely illuminated |
The bridges especially are special and we take as many pictures as we can and we also really enjoy exploring the nooks and crannies - many of them with stairs and paths inviting us to follow them.
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| Bridge in the distance | Very colorful |
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| Looks like a dead end - except there is a ladder there | Underground stage |
As we follow the main trail we find paintings on the walls however none of them are ancient - some are from the movies filmed here and some are natural - especially the Miner's madonna which if you squint really looks like a madonna painting.
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| Looks ancient - it isn't though | Miner's madonna |
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| Another interesting bridge | Longest bridge |
Too soon we arrive at the other side and after watching a few bats hide away in the crevices we return on a slightly different way which yield immediate results as we discover the best painting yet of a horse - it looks almost as the paleolithic ones we have seen in France but it is a lot more recent from a movie filmed here. And then we are back out and after eating a quick lunch while admiring the flowers and butterflies we continue on our way.
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| End of cave with railroad tunnel on other side | This is from a movie that was filmed here |
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| Whorled Clary | Common Blue |
Our next stop is Santa Maria Orlea with two points of interest - the Kendeffy (or Santa Maria Orlea) castle and the Old Reformed Church. Both of them were built in the 14th century with the castle being a hotel during the communist times and now being closed indefinitely. You can park on the street and view it from across the fence but there is no way to get close to it so we continue to the church which is one of the oldest in Romania and we don't expect to be able to enter as it has irregular opening hours.
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| Kendeffy Castle hidden in the distance | Closest we can get |
We do our best to park as close to the church as possible without obviously breaking any traffic rules (there is no parking) and then we take a tour around the thick walls arriving at the entrance. From here we can see the church entrance and to our surprise it is open and we pounce on the opportunity and enter it.
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| Calvinist reformed church of Santamaria Orlea | The impressive entrance gate |
Inside the custodian actually gives a tour to another group and tells us just to visit around and that is what we do. The interior is covered in paintings that will need to be restored but it is interesting to see how they look after decades(centuries?) of neglect. We discover that we can climb towards the bell tower with the church balcony having an interesting lapidary exhibit that we cannot decide if it is Roman or from the church...
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| Entering the church | First view of the inside of the church |
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| Old paintings - need to be renovated | Lots of old columns from the site |
We continue climbing into the bell tower on stairs that seem too steep for normal humans and it goes up and up. Finally we reach the bell tower for some good views (would be great if the protective mesh wouldn't make it too difficult to see). On the way down we encounter a lady from the other group trying to also climb the tower and asking us how difficult it is - hmmm - quite difficult in our opinion:).
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| You can climb up | View from the balcony |
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| Hopefully the bell will not ring right now | View of Kendeffy castle from the church tower |
Our last stop for the day are the ruins of Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa - the capital and the largest city of Roman Dacia, one of the latest provinces conquered and settled by the Romans and the earliest to be abandoned. It was built during the early second century after the conquest of Dacia, became a metropolis in the third century and then was conquered and destroyed before being partially excavated in the 19th and 20th century. Only a small area is excavated and a lot of objects found are exhibited in the museum which is where we start with our visit as it closes first.
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| Roman museum at Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa | Lots of fighting implements |
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| Museum room | Houses were heated |
The museum has one of the weird policies left over from the communist era - you have to pay to take photos even if they are not commercial photos. We do that for one camera but are quite surprised to still see it enforced in the era of cell phones. Otherwise while the museum is quite small it is also quite interesting with reproductions of how people dressed and lived during the Roman times as well as archeological discoveries during the digs at the nearby site. Ultimately most of what remained and was found were stone statues and tombstones but what attracts us most is the mosaic that was found in one of the houses - it is partial but still quite interesting.
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| Entrance statues to the city | Founding stone |
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| Outside part of the exhibit | Lots of tombs |
Entering the area of excavations it seems quite small but we soon learn that this is misleading. We walk around through the stabilized homes and then notice the amphitheatre to the side and make our way towards it.
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| Entering the Roman capital of the Dacian territory | Lots of excavated houses |
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| It covers a bigger area than we expected | Entering the arena |
The amphitheatre is huge - as befits the capital of a Roman province, it is quite difficult to even take a photo that illustrates how huge it is. Unfortunately there are some chidren who snuck in and are playing football inside the arena and are shouting loudly which makes visiting it a bit stressful and soon we continue our exploration and notice a gate that goes leads us to a another set of ruins - now our interest is peaked and we decide to continue exploring in this direction.
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| Difficult to get a good photo | Maybe from here? |
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| Another ruin lost in the field | Customs house |
The trail is more like a dirt road passing near fenced in fields however now we follow also signs that promise a second excavated section just a bit further ahead and we decide to push on - not a lot of people are adventuring in this direction.
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| Trail/road between the areas | Eurasian Nuthatch along the way |
When we arrive we are quite surprised - the area is much more extensive than we expected and as far as we understand it is actually the downtown area of Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa. There is even a copy(?) of the founding stone exhibited in the museum.
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| Former "downtown" area | Lots of blocks were found |
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| Some have inscriptions | Old tombstone |
As we explore the area we discover quite a few overturned columns that are quite interesting - you can see how they have fallen and broken down.
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| Fallen columns | These columns are in worse shape |
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| Common toadflax | Wall Brown |
The last place we explore in this area is the seemingly newly excavated building in the middle likely the government building or governor residence before returning back towards the entrance. However on the way we find another side trail that leads us to the temple area that consists of at least three major buildings dedicated to various gods.
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| Central excavation | Well covered |
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| Temple and manufacturing area | Altar in the background |
And then we are back at the entrance - as we are quite hungry and the area where we are overnighting doesn't have any restaurants we decide to eat some fast food here - a specialty sausage and papanasi (a typical Romanian dessert) hit the spot and on we go. The road that we take is not recommended as supposedly is in bad repair - however it is in much better shape than expected - and this is true throughout Romania, it seems that a lot of money has been put in repairing the infrastructure (but there is still a lot to be done). On the way we even pass through a village that has a traditional wedding, quite cool.
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| Our lunch/dinner | And dessert |
After arriving at our guesthouse in Costesti we are quite tired after our 12 hour drive so after a quick shower we fall asleep - tomorrow we have another long day on the road.
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| Room for the night | Colorful bathroom |
After a good night in our guest house we wake up refreshed and after a short breakfast we start for our first goal of the day in the middle of the Orastie mountains, Sarmizegetusa Regia.
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| Our nice accomodation for the night | View from our balcony |
We started really early as we read that the road to the ruins is unpaved and in a bad condition but to our (happy) surprise it is paved quite well up to the large parking lot from where a trail on the former road leads to the ruins. We are the first ones in the parking lot right when the ruins are opening officially so on we go up towards the ruins.
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| Entrance into the heart of Dacian kingdom | Unexpectedly paved road |
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| End of the road - no one else here | Walking up to the actual entrance |
The trail is actually longer than we expected but we enjoy the nature on the way and stop to watch the birds and smell the flowers while we climb slowly towards the entrance.
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| Fireweed | Hemp agrimony |
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| Willow gentian | Eurasian nuthatch |
Sarmizegetusa Regia was the capital and the center of the Dacian kingdom until the Romans conquered and razed it deporting all inhabitants. It was part of the heart of the defensive fortifications of the Dacian kingdom with included at least five more fortresses on the mountains protecting the entrance up the canyon (all of them are Unesco World Heritage sites) and also the most important religious center for Dacian religion. We are happy that there is soneone at the ticket booth as we weren't sure given that there was no other car in the parking lot and after paying for the entrance we buy some souvenirs and in we go.
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| I wonder if the code is yellow at all times?! | Restroom along the way |
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| Entrance booths | Informational sign |
The first part is the razed part of the citadel - nothing is left except a low surrounding wall which likely is reconstructed after being excavated. However after passing the top we start descending towards the sacred area and we start to see more signs of civilization including an old paved road which led from the citadel to the sacred area. And then we get our first glimpse at the plateau and our interest is piqued - it looks quite interesting and we can't wait to descend to it.
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| This area was razed quite well by the Romans | Inner wall |
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| Old dacian road leading to the sacred area | First view of the temple area |
And the central area does not disappoint, it is quite beautiful and interesting with the most special of the temples being one looking like a Stonehenge in miniature. To give an idea how well the temples were razed by the Romans - even now archaeologists are still debating for whom the temples were dedicated to - something that might never be solved given the lack of written records from that time.
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| Impressive even now | Lots of columns |
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| Famous circular sanctuary | Close up of the sanctuary |
We continue exploring the area and notice the interesting altar that is known to be a sacrifice altar as there are canals for the blood to flow into the sewers - quite gruesome. There are also a few ruins into the surrounding forests that we explore but soon we have to leave as we have a fixed meeting about 3 hours away by car in Turda. The drive there is uneventful as we use a few more of the new divided highways and then pass next to some that are in construction before arriving in Turda to pick up the second part of our team that remained in Cluj while we brought the car from Bucharest. After eating at a sweets shop with the extended family we continue on towards our next goal - the ruins of Porolissum.
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| Sacrifice altar | Even in the forest there are excavated remains |
Porolissum sits on a mountain top but the road to it is again in much better condition than expected and we are the only people here with the caretaker - cool - likely also due to the rain that is coming. Porolissum was an ancient Roman city in Dacia established as a military camp in 106 during Trajan's Dacian Wars with it quickly growing through trade with the native Dacians and becoming the capital of the province Dacia Porolissensis in 124. It is also one of the largest and best-preserved archaeological sites in modern-day Romania which is what attracted us to the site.
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| Porolissum - modern road to the castle | And the old roman road - you can walk on it! |
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| Passing near some ruins on the road, inn or customs? | Outside temple - you can see the fortress in the background |
The main entrance to the fortress, Porta Praetoria is restored and it is quite impressive - it looks almost like a medieval castle entrance and not how we expected a Roman city entrance to look (but to be fair we didn't give this such a long thought before). Both the main gate and then walls were stone as befits an important fortress at the edge of the empire.
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| Porolissum entrance - quite impressive | Impressive from the inside also |
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| On the wall | Looks very medieval really |
There are some great views all around but some of them are threatening - as threatening us with forecasted rain as we see rainbows over the valley and we sometimes feel drops starting to fall on us. Still we push on on the main road through the city leading from the main restored gate to the back gate. This area is not excavated or not restored and you are basically walking through a field - it is a surreal experience as you know you are in the middle of a city in ruin and you can't see any evidence of it.
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| Beautiful views | It is raining in the distance (and sometimes on us too) |
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| The main road inside connecting the gates | Wall Brown |
On top we find another excavated area where the governor was living and the major offices for the city were located. We explore the ruins (we are the only visitors again) for some time before continuing to the less impressive (or less reconstructed) back gate and then into the fields following the signs for the amphitheatre.
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| Central building on top of hill | Former offices |
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| Descending towards.. | ....the back gate |
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| Mountains as far as the eye can see | These look scar |
As in all roman cities that have an amphitheatre it is quite impressive. In fact it was originally built from wood and then rebuilt from stone - likely you could fit the whole city population x3 inside or it just feels that way. It is also outside the city walls which is a bit unexpected but likely it was quite common. We walk around it and through it until we feel the rain starting to fall more decisively at which point we put our ponchos on and try to find an alternate way back to the entrance.
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| Amphitheatre entrance | View from the stands |
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| Lion:) entry | In the middle of the amphitheatre |
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| View from the other side | Black redstart |
We don't find a great alternate way but we get quite wet on the way both from the rain and the plants and then as we approach the exit the rain stops - the weather is quite skittish today. So we have time to walk back slowly and enjoy the great views before driving a couple more hours on very narrow one lane roads towards our accomodations an inn that looks like taken from a storybook.
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| Rain is coming for us | View between rain showers |
After checking in in our comfortable rooms (we seem to be the only overnight guests) we descend to the main inn area and order a few Romanian specialties as this is the last day before crossing the border (or so we hope). We even get free samples of strong alcoholic beverages made in the area which we are unsure on whether we should drink seriously as we have read reports that Ukrainian police is stopping cars even for trace amounts of alcohol and we want to avoid being stopped and harassed for any reason. But somehow we split the glasses between us and then it is time for sleep - tomorrow is crossing the border day.
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| Our room at a traditional inn | Inside the restaurant |
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| Lots of meat :) | And drinks |
We wake up early in the morning and go down to get breakfast - we are surprised we are the only ones which strengthens our conviction that we were the only overnight guests as the night before the restaurant part of the inn was full. We order a traditional breakfast which is quite good and full we are ready (we think) for everything that the border crossing can throw at us.
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| Restaurant in the morning - quite empty | Traditional tea |
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| Hearthy breakfast | Morning crepes |
The border is about 1-2 hours away but before it we are planning to visit a few more Unesco World Heritage sites on this site of the order - specifically some of the wooden churches of Maramures. And so we get lost again on small one lane roads which are not bad unless you follow a horse pulled cart for a long distance....
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| Inn from the front | Built on sloping terrain |
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| Beautiful landscape | No way to pass.... |
For once following the GPS and the waypoints that we carefully assembled lead us astray in one of those ways you see in newspapers - not that we fall into a deep chasm or get stuck in five feet snow but we do actually follow it through a few peasant yards (we even stop and ask if it is the way to church and they say yes!) and arrive at the church from the other side of a closed gate. Both the caretakers and us are dumbfounded if we can actually get to the real parking lot (they don't have the key to the gate and we don't dare drive on the pedestrian walkway and in the end we all decide that we should just park where we arrived and turn around from there after the end of the visit.
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| Roads are really narrow | Probably not the right parking lot |
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| Oh there it is - no way to get there though | Surdesti Wooden Church - this is what we came to see |
But where did we arrive? It is one of the Unesco World Heritage Maramures wooden churches - the Surdesti Wooden Church. It was for a long time the tallest wooden church in Europe at a total height of 72m before being beaten by another newly built Romanian church nearby. It is a Greek-Catholic church built in 1766 proven by an inscription in Cyrillic found above the main entrance. Before entering it though we try to find the best way to photograph it and take it all in and that isn't easy with the long, narrow tower and as we gaze up we notice that the tower has four small pinnacles at the corners of the roof which we learn is the traditional Lăpuş style.
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| Formerly the tallest wooden church | Difficult to capture in a photo |
There is also a small old cemetery on the side that we explore for some time as it is quite picturesque and then finally it is time to enter the church.
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| Back door | View from a different angle |
As we enter we are quite surprised - the church outside was quite austere but inside it is painted quite colorful and we start exploring it right after paying our entrance fee. It is not a large church but even so it is split into an antechamber and a main chamber that we explore (it helps that we are the only tourists here - this seems to be a theme on this trip).
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| Cross at the entrance | Inside the church |
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| The altar | A small balcony |
We take a close look especially at the paintings - they are quite well done and interesting and we are trying to deduce if they are newly restored or the original ones and in the end decide it is a mix of both likely :).
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| Every surface seems to be painted | Detail of painting |
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| Very colorful | Even the door is painted |
From Surdesti Wooden Church we drive just a short distance away to Plopis wooden church, another Unesco World Heritage site which is really in the same village - so one village two Unesco World Heritage sites. Unfortunately this site is under repair so we can see it only from outside the wall and then it is time to go.
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| Plopis wooden church | Traditional fence |
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| Rural landscape | Lots of flowers |
From here we are driving north towards the border on a side road which takes us through picturesque mountain villages and various monuments dedicated to battles fought almost on every square inch of the territory (between different combatants throughout the past centuries). We stop at a few sites but overall we continue on apace so we can hit the border early afternoon just in case of problems.
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| Haystacks are quite common in autumn | Flower along the way |
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| Spring at the side of the road | Monument for a rare win against the Tatars |
Before the border we have one more stop planned - another World Heritage wooden church, the Budesti Wooden Church. In fact this one we chose as a replacement for Plopis wooden church where we couldn't actually visit. It is differently located than the first two churches we visited in the middle of the village with no obvious parking space so we park near the city hall and walk through the center of the village towards the clearly visible wooden church on the top of the hill.
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| On the way | Arriving at Budesti Wooden Church |
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| Downtown area | Phew - getting there |
The church is quite impressive and can be accessed only through a long set of stairs but soon we are on top trying to find the entrance as we wonder if it is similarly painted inside as the Surdesti Wooden Church.
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| Stairs and church | Capturing more this way |
And then "disaster" strikes - the door is closed and the note mentions that today is the only day of the week it is closed but it also gives a number to call. We actually do call and get the caretaker but we find out that he is in a different village on a trip today as otherwise he would have come to open the church - too bad for us. We give that information to other tourists that are stopping and even have a long discussion with a Netherland cyclist who cycled from Hungary through Ukraine and now through Romania back to Hungary - our hats off to him.
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| Church entrance | And wooden walls |
We continue on from here towards the border and soon we arrive in Sighetu Marmatiei a town at the border with Ukraine from where one of the three border crossings to Ukraine from Romania lies. As we enter the city we are surprised that the crossing is not signposted if we didn't know there is a border crossing here you wouldn't have guessed it. Luckily Google Maps takes as correctly this time towards the border and soon we arrive at the Romanian checkpoint.
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| Continuing towards the border | Wooden doors are quite common in this area |
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| Lots of haystacks | Almost at the border |
Passing through the Romanian checkpoint is fast and efficient passport are checked, car is inspected and on we go. The crossing itself over the Tisa river seems like a scene ripped from an old movie - we cross on a rickety one lane wooden bridge over a large river - not what you would expect from the European Union border with Ukraine really. And then we are at the Ukraine border and they are everything that the Romanian border control wasn't (but was during the communist times) - dismissive and acting like they are doing you a favor if they let you in to spend time in their country. In fact they do not approve of car documents and want something notarized and turn us around so it is back to Romania for us. The Romanian border guard is amused regarding our half hour trip over the river and we pass with no problems back in Romania - now we have to find an open notary - luckily we are in a city, right?
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| Crossing the border | Tisa river - the border between Romania and Ukraine |
For the next hour we wander around through the Sighetu-Marmatiei downtown area following google maps to different notaries - all of them are closed as everyone is still on vacation. And when we finally find one they say they are so full that we should come the next day (!). After negotiations we finally make it the same day but another hour and a half passes before we receive the notarized document and then it is back to the border crossing - no issue again on the Romanian side but on the Ukrainian side 3-4 guys armed with AK47 start to hit our car and ask us - drugs, drugs? Very weird experience at least the documents are ok this time and on we go into Ukraine.
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| Back in Romania - Sighetu Marmatiei | Searching for a notary public |
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| Impressive downtown building | Wonder who lived here? |
In Ukraine our plan initially is to follow the Tisa River Valley upstream and we had quite a few stops planned including a longer hike. However due to the Ukraine border snafu we don't really have that much time left so we decide to skip the hike at least and see how much we can visit given that we also want to arrive at the hotel at a reasonable hour. We also are a bit scared as the roads are supposed to be quite bad so we do not want to arrive too late - and the initial part of the road through the border village is quite bad but then it improves slightly as we exit it even though we still have to be careful as there is seemingly a border patrol person near every tree watching the river for contraband (?).
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| First time on Ukraine roads - not bad...yet | Continuing through the endless first village |
With the hike being dropped our first stop is at the Center of Europe monument near Dilove - there are many places that claim to be the center of Europe as it all depends on the method chosen as well as the area considered with the Ukrainian one being commemorated by a marker from the Austro-Hungarian empire. Maybe..because there is some debate regarding what the monument represents with some claiming that the monument might be only triangulation point for survey purposes. Still it is an interesting point to stop and take our bearings as well as stretch our legs.
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| We had to stop here | New center of Europe sign |
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| The original sign | And the writing |
It also has a souvenir area which is good as we buy as many as we can just in case we do not find any other souvenir shops.
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| The souvenir area | Souvenir stall |
Our next stop is in Kvassi where after a lot of research we have found that there is a free mineral water source (named borkut locally) and we want to try. Surprisingly all works well - we find a parking spot and walk with our bottles on the short path the spring where we wait for some time for the people in front of us to fill their bottles at the slow flowing spring before filling our own - it is in many ways the only water we drink for the next couple days so it was a good stop :).
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| Path to the mineral water spring in Kvassi | Another path from seemingly nowhere |
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| Mineral water - burkut - sign | The spring |
Next we have another short stop planned at Trufyanets Waterfall which is right next to the highway. It has to be short as there isn't really a parking place even though a hike actually starts from here (not sure how people can arrive here). We enjoy the waterfall and the cool temperatures and take a look at the Tisa river and the trash that has accumulated in the shallows before moving on.
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| Signs for the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve | Not a good place to park in the area |
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| Trufyanets Waterfall | Close up of waterfall |
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| Road is following the river | There is some trash in the river |
The next stop is the one that we are debating the most. We are not sure if we can get to our goal or even how and also we can't decide on how much time it will take. In the end we find a parking spot (always a problem) and then say - why not? - and try to make our way towards the Wooden Church of Yasinya, part of another Unesco World Heritage Site this time related to the wooden churches in Ukraine. The part that we are not sure we can make is right at the beginning at long suspended wooden pedestrian bridge over the Tisa River. However it looks quite safe - so safe in fact that we notice even some motorcycles crossing over it - that would be scary for us.
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| Hanging bridge to our goal - Wooden Church of Yasinya | Is it safe?! |
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| View from bridge | On the other side - goal in the distance |
After crossing it is relatively straightforward to follow the rural unpaved roads to the church which as usual in this area sits at the top of a hill so we have first to find the stairs to it. The gate to the church is open which is great however the church itself is closed.
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| Getting closer | Complex is up top |
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| View from front | View from the side |
Given this we wander around the church - which is quite beautiful and in a different style than the ones in Romania at least in our eyes, gone are the huge towers and it looks more flat and even the color seems different.
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| Probably the best view | Close up of wooden church |
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| View over the valley from the church | Church cemetery |
We are in this case absolutely the only visitors besides the feathered ones that are eating from the many thistles in the area.
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| European Goldfinch | Bird's foot trefoil |
Returning at our parking lot we notice that it is actually a gas station - a weird one that we are not sure if it is even working but at least we didn't get any citations from the police so on we go.
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| Gas station? | Maybe?! |
The road passes then through a mountain paCzechoslovak_Republicss that sits at the border between two oblasts (major administrative divisions) of Ukraine. In fact this was the border between various countries during historical times with Poland and Chech Republic being among the most unexpected ones.
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| High in the mountains... | ..is the oblast border (formerly country border) |
And then we arrive at the hotel where the biggest surprise of the day expects us. In short the gate to the parking lot is closed and seemingly the hotel is closed for the season. We ring the bell, shout and so on with no success. As we start to search for alternative accomodations on the phone we suddenly notice someone mowing the lawn inside the property. We do shout again with no luck until honking the horn. He comes to the gate and is quite surprised that we have a reservation but he opens the door and lets us into the parking lot. Luckily we have cash on hand to pay for the night and then he leads us to two rooms which are quite nice even though the hotel seems to be in renovations. There is no restaurant as we expected but he starts the Wifi and the hot water (so yes it was closed) and after eating from the provisions we go to sleep as the only guests in a large hotel - this is something new really.
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| Our hotel bed obtained with a lot of effort | Interesting light fixture |
In the morning we eat breakfast from our provisions which are dwindling fast as we were banking on eating at the hotel restaurant in the evening and in the morning also. Afterwards we decide to explore the hotel grounds and the hotel which is under renovations at least at ground level. The grounds are quite nice with a pool an outdoor sauna and a creek marking the boundary of the property which is full of fish. As we prepare to leave the caretaker offers a dahlia to each of the women in our group - quite a nice gesture.
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| View from our balcony | Descending the eerily empty stairs |
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| Small arts exhibit due to renovation | Hotel pool |
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| Hotel from the outside | Flower received on leaving |
Our first stop for the day is in Vorokhta which has two attractions for us. The first one where we stop in the old Austrian railway viaduct which is really hard to miss as it passes over the highway. We find with a bit of difficulty a parking spot and then explore it and the nearby river - which is quite fortunate as it has a white-throated dipper fishing in it, first one for us. The viaduct itself was built in 1895 and its length reaches 130 meters with the length of the span being 65 m and it is considered one of the longest stone railway bridges in Europe.
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| Impressive orthodox church | Vorokhta - Austrian Viaduct |
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| Crossing the river | Walking to the river |
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| At the water level | White-throated Dipper |
The second attraction in Vorokhta is another wooden church, Tserkva Rizdva Bohorodytsi, moved from a nearby village to its place (where else than on top of a hill?) and is close to the viaduct on a really bad potholed road. Finding parking is a problem but we decide we can probably make it to the church and back without the police catching us so up we go. The church is again not open so we explore around it, take in the great views before descending and continuing on to our next stop.
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| Climbing to the historic 1615 church | Flowers along the climb |
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| Tserkva Rizdva Bohorodytsi - moved from another village | Really like the wooden stockade |
Our next planned stop is in Yaremche at the Probiy waterfall where we hope to find some food especially given that a renowned restaurant, the Hutsulshchyna restaurant is located here. For once there is a parking lot even though getting there is a bit interesting as it is not marked but google maps came to the rescue..again. The area is probably the most touristy we have seen in Ukraine during our visit and also has the most tourists - all of them domestic though as far as we can tell.
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| Wooden train - for children | Interesting statues |
We walk to the restaurant that is supposed to be open at 11 (we are hungry after our cursory breakfast :)) at around 11:15 and to our desperation it is closed and it is not clear when it will open after some asking around there is hope that it will open at 12 so we have abot 45 minutes to spend in the area. We visit the falls which are the major attraction here, buy souvenirs and explore all of the stalls and then around 12 return to the restaurant (all other ones are also closed by the way).
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| Hutsulshchyna restaurant - opens later than expected | Famous waterfall in Yaremche - probably |
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| Lots of souvenirs stands | Typical merchandise |
This time the restaurant is open, we think, as no one is at the entrance but the door is open and no one is throwing us out after we sit at a table. We even get a menu so it has to be open and then the waited comes and puts our doubts to rest. We order and then we have time to explore the dining room as we are the only people here - it is quite traditional and we enjoy the decorations. The food is also quite good and finally full we are ready to leave to continue our exploration of the country.
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| Inside the restaurant - finally | Beautiful table arrangement |
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| Starting our one borscht per day regime | And fresh mushrooms - quite good |
Next we continue towards Kolomyia a major center in the area where we have two stops planned. On the way we notice lots of logging trucks - that might be normal but still we can't help but wonder how safe the forests in the area are from excessive logging. First stop is not really in Kolomyia but in one of the surrounding villages - the Wooden Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. At this point we are used with the lack of parking spaces and park boldly in front of the entrance and up we go towards the church which is located - where else? - on top of a hill.
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| Not sure how safe the forests are here | Arriving at our next wooden church near Kolomyia |
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| With the also usual steep climb to it | Taking in the view while catching our breath :) |
This is one of the churches which looks more metal than wood even though wooden is in the name of the church and it is part of the Unesco World Heritage site of Ukrainian Wooden Churches. This is due to how the roof is low and all made out of shining metal and the door is also quite "metal-ly". As expected the church is not open and there is no one else visiting it so we spend some time ohhhhing and ahhhing from the exterior before exploring the rest of the grounds.
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| No wooden doors here | Wooden Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary |
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| Side tower | Quite different from the other wooden churches |
The grounds are nice with a small cemetery and lots of red squirrels busily preparing for the winter. After some time exploring it is time to return back to the car and then on quite bad roads to return towards Kolomyia that we passed on the way to the church.
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| Small cemetery | Only other church visitor |
Kolomyia is a historic town first mentioned in the 13th century with its period of maximum importance in the 15th century after which it stagnated or even declined not in the last part due to the number of wars fought here close to the historical border of many empires/countries. However it is recommended as a tourist stop due to the historical downtown area and especially due to the Pysanka (painted eggs) museum. As expected parking in the downtown area is interesting and nail baiting but we find an empty place and soon we start exploring the historical center.
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| On the street of Kolomyia | Where should we go? |
Actually we start with the relatively new Orthodox church before taking in the Austro-Hungarian era downtown buildings as we try to find the best way to the Pysanka museum, our major goal. We hope that it is open as we haven't been that lucky with touristic sights in Ukraine till now.
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| Cathedral | Inside everything looks new or renovated |
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| Some houses can be quite impressive | Likely from the the Austro-Hungarian time |
At least the museum is easy to identify as it is in the unique shape of a Easter egg with a few smaller painted eggs lining the way to the museum. And it is open so we pay the entrance fee and start exploring the various exhibits of - what else - painted eggs.
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| Walking towards the Pysanka museum | Housed appropriately in large colored egg |
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| Lots of painted eggs as expected | So many different styles |
The museum also has a reproduction of the oldest ukrainian pysanka egg ever found and a few other items related to pysankas but not actually pysankas like stamps that represent pysankas, artwork in shape of pysankas and so on.
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| First pysanka egg found - replica | Stamps with pysanka designs |
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| Even the ceiling is interesting | Hmm - is this supposed to be an egg? |
However by far the most impressive are the different pysanka arrangements made out of tens of painted eggs - they are quite interesting and we take our time exploring the small museum, great to see it is still open and having a good collection.
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| Impressive display | Some are foreign made |
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| The arrangements can be quite interesting | Unfortunately none are for sale |
From the museum we continue exploring the downtown area as we make our way towards St Josaphat church one of the oldest in Kolomyia. From the outside it is quite austere and we cannot find (or there isn't?) a way to get to the historical interior, the only entrance leads to a modern looking room.
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| Back in front of the museum | Major park in the downtown area |
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| St Josaphat Church one of the oldest in Kolomyia | Doesn't look like it inside though ;) |
We return on a slightly different route passing through the open air market which is bustling with people and then trying to find the street where we parked - we should have marked it on the GPS. We also take the opportunity to explore a few stores and a souvenir shop along the way as we are not sure what will be available at our next stops.
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| Passing through the market area | Trying to find our car |
But all is well if it ends well, we find the car and then we start again on the one way streets trying to find our way out of the city on streets that look to have been bombarded just the other day.
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| Streets in the city are plain horrible | Almost everywhere |
We spend the rest of the afternoon in the area between Kolomyia and Chernivtsi as we try to identify and explore multiple villages from which our family might have hailed from. We have only limited documentation available but we still pass at least through the villages they were born and possibly raised (given how villages are split now it is not certain).
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| Ancestral village for part of the family - probably | Houses seem well maintained |
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| Restaurant on the way | Continuing the exploration of the area |
We take our longest stop in Kitsman which is the largest village in the surrounding area and appears proeminently in the documents that we found. We try to find where the old church lies but with two world wars and a communist epoch since then we are not sure if we find the right spots - still it is special to explore the ancestral lands, we understand a bit more why people go to Ireland and Scotland to find their clans/ancestral villages.
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| Another possible ancestral village | Kitsman church |
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| Older building in town | Interesting color |
Our base for the next days is Chernivtsi by far the largest city in this area. It is bustling with cars with the main streets being in relatively good condition but the secondary ones giving the ones in Kolomyia a run for their money as being the worst we have ever seen. We follow Google Maps to our accomodation which is an AirBNB type of accomodation located close to the city center.
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| Entering the major city in the area - Chernivtsi | Road looks better than it felt in the car |
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| We are staying somewhere close by - now just to find it | Pigeons are already in place for the night |
There is a parking spot on the street (which is one of the really badly paved ones) but when we talk with our host, with some difficulty, he recommends to use a paid parking at a hotel nearby as supposedly cars from Romania are targeted for stealing their license plates which are then ransomed for money because otherwise you cannot return them back to Romania. That sounds like a weird scheme but we do that, pay for the paid parking which is really cheap and then return to the accomodation.
The accomodation itself is quite good with two bedrooms and a couple living rooms on one floor with the kitchen being located on a lower level. There is only one bath but what can you do about that - overall we are impressed and during the days spend in Chernivtsi it was a great base for our visit. Given that as we returned from the car park we bought additional provisions from a small supermarket along the way we eat dinner in our own kitchen from what we brought and then relax for the rest of the evening before going to sleep.
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| One of the two bedrooms | Living area |
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| Sitting area | Kitchen |
In the morning while eating breakfast on the veranda over the inner yard we watch the birds - they are common ones but it is fun to hear them sing while we eat before starting on our daily exploration.
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| Eurasian Blackbird | Eurasian Collared Dove |
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| Small inside garden | With some trees |
Chernivtsi is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and of the historic region of Bukovina of which it was the capital during the Austro-Hungarian empire. It has an Unesco World Heritage site with the University and also a beautiful downtown area and it is the major goal of our Ukrainian adventure as some of our grandparents went to high school and university here and we wanted to explore at least once the city. We stay close to the university which is our first goal and we walk in the general direction trying to discover the best way to reach it.
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| Street near our apartment | Building where we stay in |
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| House on the way | Typical street |
Suddenly the university entrance is visible after we turn a corner and we approach it taking photos of the beautiful buildings and trying to find a way to enter. Main entrance seems to be just fine for us and we enter the grounds with other people taking photos near the entrance. The university was founded in 1875 by the Austrians when Chernivtsi was the capital of the Duchy of Bukovina however its current location is in the former Residence of the Bukovinian and Dalmatian Metropolitans and it housed initially a theological university until it came under Soviet control.
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| Arriving at the UNESCO inscribed university | Almost in |
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| Quite impressive | It was a religious university |
Inside we visit the functioning church where we buy a few souvenirs and admire the intricate designs before trying to enter the university buildings proper. Here a carekeeper is refusing to let us visit and seems to ask for money (either officially or not we are not sure) and in the end we decide we have seen the best parts and leave the university to continue to explore the city.
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| The central part of the university | Inside the church |
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| Beautiful ceiling | Center of the church |
Today is the only day during our trip that we don't use (or even see) the car at all. We knew the roads were bad but sidewalks especially in some areas are not that much better with not covered manholes and pavement being broken being some of the more common occurences. Still we enjoy our walk and the impressive buildings from the Austro-Hungarian period along the way and we also stop at the controversial Mihai Eminescu statue on the way. While Eminescu is considered the most famous and influential Romanian poet and he attended school in Cernauti (Chernivsti in Romanian) so a statue makes sense however it is also possibly seen as a sign of the times when Romania held dominion over this area (so politics from both sides probably are creating/exarcebating the conflict).
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| Very old Lada car | Quite often sidewalks are not paved |
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| Eminescu square | Impressive building |
Next we continue to Theater Square which is as you would expect in front the Theater and well maintained. However the Theater is not the only attraction there are a few other imposing buildings including one that houses the Museum of Jewish history in Bukovina that we don't have time to visit during our visit.
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| Buildings on Theater Square | Star Alley - Chernivtsi edition |
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| The teather | Museum of Jewish history |
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| Chernivitsi county | Another cool building |
As we arrive in the downtown pedestrian area we are already hungry so we look for a restaurant and there are quite a few to choose from. We select one that has an English language menu so at least we know what we order :) and we also like the outdoor seating area. The food is very good, as usual we order borscht and again it is a different preparation than the previous day, and the second course is also quite filling and good and energized we are ready to further explore the city.
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| Nice restaurant sitting are | Beautiful arrangement |
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| Borscht | Mushroom soup |
In fact we continue on the pedestrian street, Koblyanskaya street, which looks like a set of an early 20th century movie. Well except for the people who are dressed contemporarily but the houses and ambience feels steeped in the past. It is quite enjoyable to walk the street and examine the different houses and the interesting architectural details.
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| Koblyanskaya street - main street | Continuing on the street |
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| Getting close to the middle | Interesting house on the street |
Around the middle of the length of the street there is an area where the different names for Chernivtsi in different languages are inscribed into the pavement. It is fun to look at them and try to match them with the different nationalities that at some point claimed Chernivtsi as being part of their empire/kingdom/area.
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| Chernivtsi in German... | ..and in Romanian |
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| Another mansion | Small pharmacy museum |
The cathedral is also right next to the the pedestrian area so we make a short detour the enter it - it is quite popular with lots of people (mostly locals) visiting it.
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| Chernivtsi Cathedral | Inside the cathedral |
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| Getting close to the end | German house |
As we reach the end of the pedestrian area we continue walking towards one of the high schools where our relatives studied. After lot of research we identified both of them and we already passed one (and the university where they went) but the other one is a bit further afield.
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| Lots of cars | Buses can be quite full |
However on the way we notice a church which seems in a bad shape with a few people in front of it discussing in Ukrainian. As we take a photo of the church they notice and approach us and we learn that they actually are working on the restauration of the church and they even invite us in. As we go inside we are offered a sheet with and English description of the history of the church and we learn that during the communism times it was actually used as an office building (you can still see where the floors were) and now they were working to restore it to its former glory...cool.
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| Catholic Church | Inside the church |
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| During the communism it was an office building | You can see where the floors where |
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| Reconstruction in progress | Lots of work is needed |
However as we try to take the photo of another old building we have quite a different experience as suddenly a soldier is running towards us shouting no photos and then ordering us to delete that photo. It is quite weird even though it was likely an army building (administrative housed in an old building with no "no photo" signs) as there was a park nearby and you could have taken as many photos as you wanted of that building from that park without him noticing...oh well. We then pass through an open air market as we weave our way through the area.
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| One of the many markets | Produce available |
Next we pass through the University Botanical Garden that is now more like a city park with playgrounds and kid areas and no explanatory signs for plants or trees or any really maintained (from a botanical standpoint) areas as far as we can tell.
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| Inside the botanical garden | Main alley |
We then finally pass by the high school - still a high school even now - and then continue on towards a street where another group of relatives lived, we want to see if we can identify the house if it even exists. While part of the street still looks from that period the rest is communist era apartment buildings and in the end we cannot identify with any precision the house we were looking for to our disappointment.
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| Really old high school | New apartment building |
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| Part of the street is still old houses | But majority are more modern |
Then it is time to return back towards our accomodation, we take a slight detour but in the end we still take the full length of Koblyanskaya back to the general area of our accomodation as it much nicer to go on a pedestrian street and we like to explore it a bit further.
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| Typical road - glad we were not in the car | Back on Koblyanskaya |
Before returning to the accomodation we explore a bit more the area around the City Hall which is quite close to us. Specifically we want to investigate if the art museum is open while we are here and unfortunately it isn't so in the end we cannot visit it even though it was on our "to see" list. After that it is a short walk back to the accomodation where we arrive quite tired (we have walked around 10 miles today) and after a dinner from our provisions it is time to go to sleep after a tiring but interesting day.
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| City Hall | Museum |
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| Trolley | Building with historic company name (written in Romanian) |
Today we have a day trip planned outside of Chernivtsi to visit a couple of historical fortresses in this highly contested historical land. We are not sure initially if we want to brave the roads and the police but in the end we decide that probably this is our only chance to visit the area and on we go. Exiting Chernivtsi by itself is an adventure and we also have one more stop planned at an old church at the outskirts which as expected is closed - this time we cannot even enter the courtyard.
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| Trying to find our way while avoiding pot holes | Old church - we cannot visit it |
Nearby it's another more modern church that we also explore - based on what we see and hear it seems to be the one tending to the small remaining Romanian community in Chernivtsi.
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| Front of Romanian(?) Orthodox church | Back is not under construction |
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| Inside the church | The altar |
And then we are on the open road towards Hotyn fortress our first goal for the day. The roads actually are quite good in this area and we make good time towards the fortress which is about one hour away.
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| On the open road | Repaired road! |
Hotyn fortress was a major fortress on the banks of the Dniester River greatly expanded by the Moldavian prince Stephen the Great in the 15th century to the current size. Due to its strategically important position it was the location of many battles when invading armies tried to attack Moldavia with it resisting many sieges including one from the Sultan Mehmet II. As we arrive the large parking lot is mostly empty which makes it difficult to look for souvenirs without being hounded by the sellers but we still find a few interesting and cheap items before starting towards the fortress.
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| Hotyn fortress - souvenir stand | The...scary...toilet |
The first wall that we approach doesn't look that impressive and to our surprise as we pass it we enter a large desolated field with only a new church visible close by. And then we notice the fortress even further into distance, this gives us a sense of the scale the fortifications were built for. Likely the field held other buildings that were since razed.
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| Entrance through the outer fortification ring | Reconstructed outer wall |
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| Surprisingly desolated inside | The Hotyn castle keep is impressive |
Interestingly enough there is actually a church service ending right when we arrive so we see cars leaving as we approach it - however when we reach it it is already closed so we take in the exterior fortifications - actually they are quite impressive and we struggle to remember another fortress we visited having such extended defensive walls vs the actual fortress.
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| Modern church inside the grounds | Close up of church |
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| Picturesque outer ring | Getting closer to the inner keep |
We then approach the main fortress and it is protected as it should :) by a drawbridge with cannons facing the exterior to protect the gate. It is quite impressive and if we would have been invaders we would have been strongly discouraged from trying to lay siege to it.
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| Here it is | The drawbridge |
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| Guardian of the drawbridge | More serious guardian... |
Part of the interior is reconstructed and part of it is a work in progress put everything is anchored by the well in the middle of the fortress, fresh water being something that is always needed in case of long sieges.
We continue exploring the fortress and it has a exhibits and a few passages that we can explore - we are happy that only a few other tourists are here so we more or less have the entire fortress to ourselves.
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| Inside the keep | Protecting/taxing the river |
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| Impressive tower | Really deep fountain |
Parts of the fortress are still in renovation like the church and what we assume is the princely mansion. The towers however seems to be well renovated and impressive even from the inside and we are wondering how they actually look from the outside.
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| The historical church | Palace like building |
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| Exploring the backend | Climbing up while exploring |
There are a few exhibits dedicated to the medieval age, one for weapons and one for torture instruments - as usual we are surprised at the inventivity in creating torture instruments and are happy we don't live during those times.
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| Defensive weapons | To pour oil on the invaders |
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| Scary torture device | Another torture device |
Then it is time to exit - we just have to find the right way to the drawbridge as somehow we are stuck at a lower tier but we make it in the end. Outside we decide to explore the fortress all around, which no one else does, and it is a great decision as the fortress is doubly impressive from ground level - you can see how high the drawbridge sits vs the ground level.
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| Trying to find the exit | Drawbridge from halfway down |
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| Very impressive from the bottom | Maybe it was not a drawbridge? |
The path along the keep is scenic and relatively well maintained and allows us to get closer also the the exterior fortifications which are not renovated but scenic.
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| Walking around the keep | Getting to another entrance |
However what takes our breath away are the views of the fortress - as we approach the river it looks more and more forbidding - something to avoid and pay your tolls as you were passing on the river.
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| Impressive from the outside | From all sides |
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| Hard to hit from this side | Near the river |
On the way we have lots of opportunities to examine the local wildlife especially butterflies, dragonflies and even a beautiful leopard slug. The riverside is actually quite nice also and we assume the path that we used is for local fishermen to reach their preferred spots on the river.
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| Somehow we arrived at the river...cool | Meadowhawk |
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| Speckled wood butterfly | Leopard slug |
After returning to the car we notice that it is still relatively early so we decide to continue to the other famous fortress nearby - Kamianets-Podilskyi. While relatively close it is in a different region with the demarcation being the Dniester river - which also served as border between different empires and kingdoms during the medieval ages.
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| Former communist statue | Crossing over the Dnistr River - former border |
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| And major trade route in medieval times | Entering a different county on the other side |
The access to the fortress is handled somewhat differently - we have to pay an entrance fee for the road to the city that passes near the fortress, quite weird. At least there is enough parking space and soon we are in search of the entrance. Kamianets-Podilskyi fortress dates from the 14th century and is placed in a superb defensive location protecting the bridge connecting the city with the mainland. It was besieged multiple times and changed hands relatively often and each succesive owner tried to make it more unconquerable expanding and reinforcing the walls. The fortress is also a candidate Unesco World heritage site which is how we decided to visit it :).
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| Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle from parking lot | The weirdly guarded road |
Before entering we take our bearings examining the city over the river and the deep river valley - the castle was certainly placed in a great location to defend the city while ensuring it cannot be attacked from a few of the sides due to the steep cliffs.
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| View from the castle gates of the city over the river | Downtown area in the distance |
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| The gate | People are living also at the bottom of the gorge |
Entering we are suprised at how much more popular the fortress is vs. Hotyn fortress which in our eyes was the "wilder" one - probably also because of the lack of tourists. But somehow the interior seems less authentic then in Hotyn - maybe also due to the renovations happening as we were visiting with trucks and excavators inside the castle.
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| Inside the castle - not that impressive | Especially with all the repairs(?) going on |
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| Not a museum - actual pottery is made here | This is part of the museum though |
We explore the courtyard which here holds a few exhibits and some artists shops even though we cannot find an actual souvenir shop.
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| External fortification | Needs a bit of repair on this side but looks more authentic |
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| Repaired tower | Medieval food area |
Some of the stairs take us to hidden nooks and crannies from which we can view the surrounding countryside - quite interesting however unfortunately as soon as we discover something 10s of other tourists are following us - quite weird.
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| Walking the walls | Looking outside |
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| Tower before renovation | And after |
The cannons here are more diverse than the ones at Hotyn and the exhibit more comprehensive and we examine them for some time trying to deduce the eras when they were built and deployed before moving on.
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| Courtyard from above | Hidden entrance |
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| Protective cannon | Another cannon |
The most interesting discovery for us is a covered walkway from which the defenders could fire at invaders. This is the one place that no one else has either discovered or followed us too and it is quite interesting to guess where it leads us. In fact it leads to an abrupt end close to the entrance gate - luckily it is well marked else we would have made it to the ground floor faster than we wanted. We then descend on a separate set of stairs and stop at the cafe for some cold soft drinks (it is still very hot) and some sweets before returning to Chernivtsi.
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| View from castle ramparts | Road and the bridge into town |
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| Very protected walkway | View from the portholes |
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| Ends abruptly | Flower in the courtyard |
After parking back into the paid parking lot we decide to go to Koblyanskaya street to find a restaurant to celebrate our last day in Ukraine - we have a few on our short list from the visit the previous day.
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| Back in Chernivtsi | Koblyanskaya street - looking for a restaurant |
We choose the most luxurious looking one which has an English menu and order borscht and other local specialties. The borscht is served again in a different way (how many can there be?) and is quite good and the rest of the food is quite delicious also. Here we also have one of the things that I would like to see implemented in more restaurants - a button to call the waiter - however as they learned that we are foreigners they were coming quite often anyway so we didn't have any occasion to actually use it (:.
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| Inside the chosen one | Button to call the waiter |
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| Borscht in different presentation | Quite good traditional food |
Today we leave right after eating breakfast from our provisions as we have to cross the border towards Romania and after the issues on entering Ukraine we hope we don't have any issues on exiting but are planning just in case based on experience. The border is about one hour away but we understand that there are lots of speed traps on the way so we go slowly but even though we see police on the side they are not interested in us - so the first possible issue is out of the way. At the border (the largest land based with Romania) everything looks professional so we relax a bit - which is our mistake I guess. The border patrol passes two times to take our passports take them away and then they give them back stamped, look in the trunk and then the car in front of us leaves for the Romanian checkpoint and we do the same as well as the cars after us. A few hundred feet afterwards there is another Ukrainian guy controlling the exit and you have to give him a separate piece of paper stamped by the previous guys - he looks at it and starts saying that "no it is not in order and we have to return to the previous checkpoint". He doesn't talk anything except Ukrainian and we don't speak it but it seems a stamp is missing - now we have to go backwards to the previous checkpoint (the other cars are left to go through).
Back we try to get the attention of guy who handled us previously and we show him the paper and ask for the additional stamp or what do we need to do for it and all hell breaks loose. He starts to shout at us that we tried to evade the control that he will fine us that we are criminals - we are completely taken aback. We ask him what we did wrong and what we are missing but he is in an ongoing tirade and finally mentions that supposedly we don't have the exit visa in the passport (which we do have and we show them to him but he does not care). Finally another border patrol person approaches, younger and that understands a few more languages, and she takes a look in our passports and sees that everything is in order and tells him to stamp the additional paper and to let us go. So in the end it was his mistake (intentional or not) that he did not stamp the extra paper when he stamped our passports but then instead of acknowledging that he wanted basically fine/intimidate us - thank god for the profesional second border patrol agent.
Romanian checkpoint is professional and fast and soon we are safely in Romania and we continue to the first stop for the day Patrauti where an Unesco World Heritage Site painted church is located.
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| Museum in Patrauti | Entering the Unesco Church grounds |
Patrauti Church is one the painted churches in Bukovina that we haven't seen during our previous visit. It was built in 1487 and it is the oldest religious settlement built by Stephen the Great and still standing in its original layout. It is also the only nuns’ monastery built by the Moldavian prince. The church is considered to have the oldest exterior frescoes in Moldova. On arrival we are greeted by the caretaker who saw a car coming to the church and walked to it so he can open it - that is customer service :). We take our time outside taking photos while he points out the different features.
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| Church of the Elevation of the Holy Cross in Patrauti | View from the front |
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| Interesting tower | Small table |
While outside we have seen the oldest exterior fresco in Moldova the interior is also well restored with some beautiful frescoes. To our surprise we recognize one of them which was in all history schoolbooks as the de facto representation of Stephen the Great the most famous and well known of the Moldavian princes.
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| Fresco inside | Quite well done |
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| Seems to be repainted recently | Famous painting found in all schoolbooks |
Our next stop is the Seat Fortress of Suceava, a medieval castle situated on the eastern edge of the contemporary city which was the capital city of the former Principality of Moldavia between 1388 and 1565.. The fortress was built during the reign of Petru Mușat in late 14th century and then was further expanded and strengthened during the reign of Stephen the Great and was part of the fortification system built in Moldavia because of the emergence of the Ottoman danger. Finding a parking spot is easy and soon we have the first great views of the restored fortress - it is quite impressive.
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| Suceava - Princely Fortress | The special way to get into the fortress |
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| Entrance bridge | Inside the fortress |
We then visit the exhibits that are spread across most of the rooms. There are the usual weapons/instruments of torture exhibits however what we find more interesting are the hologram type people that are giving life to some historical moments as well as a hologram type book - quite unusual.
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| Defenders | Small cannon |
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| Old weapons of war | Interesting ceramics |
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| The one in the back is a hologram...scary | Princely emblem |
We continue exploring outside climbing the walls and enjoying the beautiful views all around the fortress.
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| Interior courtyard | Cannons on the walls |
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| View towards the fields | View towards the city |
The fortress was restored in 2013 and it looks new especially the walls and some of the rooms - prior it had a different character as it was more ruined. What we like most is the colorful detail embedded in the wall of the church on the outside.
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| Continuingour walk on the walls | Mix of reconstructed and left in ruin |
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| Interesting detail | Inside the princely church |
Before leaving we visit the treasury - unfortunately there is no real gold but it is interesting arranged like in movies about medieval treasuries, and also the flag room where the flags of the Moldavian nobles are shown - they are really not that exciting compared to other flags we have seen.
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| The treasury | Flag room - not that inventive |
Nature wise we see our first (and last) white stork of the trip and also a huge moth high in the rafters.
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| The only white stork that we saw | Huge moth |
Before leaving Suceava and the fortress area we decide to also eat lunch at one of the tourist restaurants. We order between other dishes, "mititei" a Romanian specialty which are quite good and full we continue on as we have a long drive planned.
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| Time for a late lunch | "Mititei" - Romanian specialty |
Tonight we are staying in a village at the edge between Moldavia and Transylvania so we have to cross the mountains passing small villages on good mountain roads looking at the many well maintained houses along the way. Also interesting are the many fires along the way - it seems every house is burning something and the smell is everywhere in the air. We arrive in the village as the sun is setting and soon we are ready to go to sleep - there is only one more day left from our trip.
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| Romanian countryside | Lots of nice homes |
The village that we stayed overnight is called Bilbor and is located deep into the Carpathians and we stay in the summer home of one of our relatives - it is our first visit here. We awake to some great views and sheep eating on the neighboring pasture - quite cool.
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| Sheep in the morning | Good place to survey the area |
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| Village houses in Bilbor | Bilbor - village lost in time |
Before leaving for Bucharest we want to do a short hike into the mountains and we use an access road close by that we can hike on for a bit into the forest.
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| Walk into the mountains | Quarry along the way |
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| View back over the village | Somehow there is a tire in the creek bed.... |
There are quite a few flowers along the way including silver thistle, one of the flowers that even when dried out are still good looking and therefore are picked quite often to decorate homes. We also find edible mushrooms like boletes but even more attractive a few wild strawberries that we eat as we find them.
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| Silver thistle - quite cool | Peach-leaved bellflower |
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| Good to eat - but no time today | Good to eat - and we have time for it :) |
The forest here is clearly planted probably after it was cleared as it is in set in specific patterns with row and columns still being visible. Still nature has taken over as evidenced by the many mushrooms and flowers we see.
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| Trail through the forest | Lots of pines |
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| Most of them are likely planted | Marsh marigold |
We do not go that far but still we get some good views of the village and some exercise after the hearthy breakfast and then it is time to return to the car for the drive to Bucharest.
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| Road going into the mountains | Not for our car |
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| Returning back to the village | Idyllic view |
We stop a few more times to take photos of interesting sights like horse drawn carts on the side of the road and haystacks in the field and also to get some mineral water from one of the many sources in the village - this one next to the former bottling plant that went bankrupt.
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| Quite common view in Bilbor | Preparing for winter |
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| Mineral water spring - the factory is behind | Mineral water river |
From here we continue through the heart of Szekler country an area of Romania where Hungarians are in the majority. We stop a few times to take photos of a few of the mountain villages and also to eat some of the specialties of the area like langos from a roadside stand, it is quite good.
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| Lake in the mountains along the way | Beautiful doors along the way |
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| Time to stop to eat traditional food | The result of our search - langos |
Next we have a short birding stop planned at the Sanpaul lakes which supposedly have a lot of birds and are a protected area and even during our short stop we can confirm that it is true - we see quite a few different bird species on the lake during our 15 minute stop.
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| Sanpaul Lakes - Great Crested Grebe | Mute Swan with grown chicks |
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| Grey Heron amid the birds | Caspian gulls interacting |
In fact this whole area of Transylvania seems to be part of the bird migration with what seems to be an eagle migration passing through - almost every field has an eagle on it - mostly Lesser Spotted Eagles.
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| Lesser Spotted Eagle | Passing through seemingly abandoned villages |
Our last major stop of the day is Viscri - we are not sure if the Fortified Church, the major attraction, is still open but we decide to try and are not disappointed, we have one hour to visit it. Viscri is today one of Romania’s most famous villages due to Prince Charles’ repeated visits and its UNESCO World Heritage fortified church which was built in the 12th century and fortified and rebuilt through the next centuries. It is quite impressive from outside and we are happy that we have the opportunity to actually enter it (we are likely the last people in and for certain the last out).
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| Viscri - our last goal for the day | Passing through the central area |
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| Viscri Fortified Church - Unesco Heritage site | Inside the fortified church |
we walk the defensive ring for a bit while trying to find the entrance to the church from where we climb the church tower - it is a dizzying view of the countryside that we enjoy while we catch our breath.
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| The actual church | Back of the church |
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| View from the top of the church tower | Fortified wall is impressive |
The church interior itself is quite rustic and it is fun to explore - we can imagine how the villagers were sitting here during the sieges praying to God to escape. There are also other exhibits housed in the rooms built into the walls, most of them are ethnographic showing how the villagers lived and worked.
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| Church altar | Historic and interesting to explore |
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| Museum inside the wall | Typical village bedroom |
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| Weaving was important in the area | Walking on top of the wall |
Before closing time we take one more walk around the church following the protective walls, the whole complex looks like a compressed fortress with less space but still being as forbidding and imposing as a real kingly fortress.
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| View from the wall | Back down at ground level |
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| One more walk around the church | Where is the entrance?! |
We exit at closing time and therefore can take a photo of the complex with the doors closed before returning to the car.
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| We were the last visitors out | Exterior wall of Viscri church |
The village itself is also quite interesting and we have more time now to explore than when we drove in - the houses are big and look prosperous from a distance but if you close in you notice that most of them are not lived in with broken windows even though the facades were repaired, it is an interesting contrast.
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| Typical Viscri houses | Wonder how many are abandoned? |
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| This one is not - it has both a car and geese | This one most likely is abandoned |
From here it should be about 3-4 hours to Bucharest as we pass through the beautiful Transylvanian landscape and watch fortress after fortress passing outside, signs of the many battles that happened in this area. As we pass through the Carpathians our dreams of a speedy passage are shattered and we enter an unending queue of cars proceeding at a snails pace up the mountain, nothing to do about it and we arrive in the end in Bucharest after 6 hours quite tired and go to sleep almost immediately.
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| Rupea castle | Transylvanian lanscape |
After breakfast we start our day with a visit to the Bellu cemetery, where most famous Romanians are buried, to pay our respect to the grave of a relative. Afterwards we explore the cemetery for a short time finding the graves of the WW I French soldiers that died in Romania and are still here before moving on.
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| Bellu cemetery | World War 1 dead from French army |
The one place that we wanted to visit on our last day in Bucharest is the Vacaresti Natural Park, a green oasis in the middle of the city. We are quite curious about it as we have heard it is a bird haven and after finding parking with quite some difficulty we descend into the green park which to us seems to be the area where the flood waters from Bucharest would collect during heavy rains but in fact it was part of the communist plan to connect Bucharest to the Danube river that was abandoned due to major engineering defect (and the fall of communism).
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| Natural Park Vacaresti | New high rises at the edge |
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| Where are the birds? | Pygmy cormorant colony |
During our walk we see quite a few interesting species of birds and dragonflies which we haven't seen during our trip - it is mind boggling that we see them in the middle of the city surrounded by apartment buildings and a testament of the resilience of nature if you give it a chance.
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| Red-backed shrike | Tree pipit |
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| Small spreadwing | Gull in the air |
And then it is time to go home to pack and then in the morning for the drive to the airport. The flight home is mostly uneventful except for the last part when the plane gets diverted from Phoenix to Las Vegas where we land and then there is a long discussion as the pilots supposedly are not allowed to flight anymore for the day but to our relief they finally do the one hour leg to Phoenix and we arrive safely home after the long and interesting trip.
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