Romania, Poland, Latvia, and Russia (plus a little Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, and Estonia thrown in)

After the back-to-back touristing with Mom and Dad (and very fun touristing it was!), Luke and I were happy to slow the pace a bit when we arrived in Oradea, Romania. Rachel’s partner, Manny, spent most of his childhood in Romania, before immigrating to Australia. Him and Rach were visiting family for a few weeks, and so we joined them at the house of Manny’s parents, Maria and Garby. I’ll tell you all about that in this post, but I’ll also briefly touch on: Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Russia. More later.

Romania: really quite nice

First of all, Romania, especially Oradea and even more especially Maria and Garby’s place, is lovely. As we found out, Romania is wooded and full of character. Oradea, a city I had never even heard of, has narrow tree-lined streets, an old town that has both quaint and grand sections, lots of bath complexes, all the services you need, and plenty of

old communist buildings to keep things, hm, interesting. Maria and Garby’s house is on a quiet suburban street (quiet when the neighbourhood guard dogs aren’t having a chat with one another, I should say), with a garden that Luke and I freaked out over. Rows and rows of plump grapes, trees bursting with plums, chickens running around. It was like Eden.

Romania: Taking care of business

We did more than our usual amount of sleeping, but we also managed to achieve many chores. This is a fabulous way to get to know how a community works, as we learned in Louth with Nick and Louise. Post office, doctor, translation service, supermarket, car repair shop (6 times), shopping mall… Manny generously translated everything for us, and sometimes Garby ferried us around, too.

Romania: Millions of Mannies

Manny did a count and thinks he has about 150 family members in Oradea. Sadly, we only got to meet a small proportion, but that was still a lot. Rule #1: Romanians will feed you. Sometimes chunks of pig fat. (Luke reports that this was delicious.) Sometimes, a full meal at midnight after seeing a movie. Orange soda seems to be a constant, to which I give my stamp of approval. Manny’s family was warm and inviting and just generally good eggs.

Romania: A hare is spared, this time

Perhaps our quirkiest visit was with Trian. He and his wife, Stella, have a house in town, but they spend most of their time in a hut in a managed forest where he was a forest ranger during his career. He jumped in our car and directed us into said forest. Upon reaching his house, we were greeted by his 7 dogs (ranging from an itty bitty one to an enormous one), who all like to get in on the hunting action. In fact, at one point during the visit, the boys had gone off somewhere and I was standing by myself (happily, I should add). I heard a soft rhythmic thumping and looked around to find a hare, running like lightning, right down the dirt road. Seconds later two or three dogs appeared in the frame, silently chasing. Apparently they didn’t get it because a couple minutes later they ran up to me, hareless and wiggling for a pat.

Romania: Luke gets peed on

The house’s other inhabitants included a flock of hissing geese and a couple of teeny-weeny-tiny-baby-puppies (one of whom decided to pee all over Luke’s shirt). The neighbourhood was also fascinating: the only neighbour for miles, right across the road, was a vacant house that used to belong to Romania’s dictator during Communist days. Apparently the ruler only came once, but his soldiers used to hang out there and hunt boars. The house also hosted secret meetings of the nascent communist party, then rebels trying to figure out how to take over the government. They succeeded, clearly.

Romania: We learned stuff

Oradea, and Romania in general, is a fascinating blend of leftover communist-era relics (both physical and social), old stuff, and modern capitalist stuff. Our favourite supermarket was bigger than a Walmart, and the shopping mall would pass for a Westfield any day. And we saw Ghostbusters, which we are thankful to report was NOT dubbed into Romanian. All of that is interspersed with evidence of the communist past: monolithic apartment blocks (to better keep watch on the inhabitants, Manny says), the labyrinth of enormous steam pipes for heating said monoliths, the building in town where people were “questioned”, enormous disused factories. Manny patiently answered our invasive questions and explained the difference between the Warsaw Pact (to which Romania was a party) and Soviet Union (to which it was not).

Romania: We did stuff

Of course, we did manage to take a lil’ mini vacation during this holiday within a holiday. Rach, Manny, Luke and I hit the road for 4 days, heading down to Retezat National Park, a few hours south of Oradea, with a few stops along the way. This trip included:

• 

  Two nights at a mushroom farm, or, more accurately, a mushroom depot. People find mushrooms in the woods and bring them here to be exported. We got a little tour from the owner and ate our meals on the back patio with what seemed to be workers and family, and a few stray Retezat hikers.

• A very intense and incredibly beautiful full-day hike towards, but not all the way to, Mount Retezat itself. This involved scrambling up and down steep slopes, waiting for sheep to cross our paths, and mentally preparing for a bear and/or viper attack. (Last one is just me, I think.) We also found a fantastical red polka dot mushroom, which, upon being shown the picture, our host declared as perfectly deadly. One lick and you’re toast. Good thing we didn’t give it a bite.
  

  Death awaits the unwary licker.

  

  The reward for a difficult climb. That dam in the distance is about 10 kilometres away.

• 

  An introduction to the flamboyant, over-the-top houses of the Gypsies. When Sasha Baron Cohen used a (real) poor Romanian Gypsy village as his setting for his repulsive but guiltily hilarious movie Borat, he conveniently left out these grandiose, sparkly mansions.

• Checking out a major tourist attraction: bison. These bad boys drew the crowds, comparatively speaking for rural Romania. They just stood there, but they were fuzzy and Luke and I have plans to get a friendly one and cuddle with it on chilly nights. It will take up about one quarter of our tiny house.
• Popsicles. This is the new name for Romanian haystacks, rechristened by Rach and Manny. We enjoyed watching them being built; it’s a family affair with Grandma standing on top and smooshing while others toss.

  

• Unending road works. For some unknown reason, the powers that be have decided the best way to “fix” a road is to demolish one lane, dig a meter and half down, and leave the long pit there for a few hundred meters. Cultural relativism shield, engage.

In general: We are awkward

On a different note, it turns out that a major barrier to cultural appropriateness for Luke and I is the feeding of animals. We do it, usually from the table, and people think we are weirdos. At the mushroom farm, a toddler shooed away the dog we were feeding with our leftovers, so that smarted a little. Toddler has better manners than us. But they are just so darn skinny and adorable, we can’t help it.

Now, for Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia

We left Romania a bit later than we had hoped (blame the car mechanic, as always), so we only had 5 days to get through 6 countries on the way to Russia. This meant several hours of driving a day, and not much time for touristing. We did stop in Krakow, Poland, and also in Riga, Latvia, both of which are lovely. We camped most nights. The campgrounds were more or less like those in Western Europe, with a few quirky ones. The campground in Riga, for example, was an empty field behind a convention centre, with temporary toilets and several massive Iveco trucks kitted out for some serious, Sahara-style overland. At a beautiful lakeside campground in Poland, where we were advised by a friendly neighbour to definitely not drink the water, we noticed a proliferation of number stickers saying, “Cholesterol ’15”, “Cholesterol ’08” and the like. Very curious as to what sort of annual bash might be named “Cholesterol”, and why.

And finally, Russia

I’ll delve more into Russia in our next post, once we’ve had a few more days here. In the meanwhile, I’ll just give a few tidbits:

• The border was surprisingly easy. We did make a reservation online, (oh Estonia, you’re so efficient), but were the only car waiting, and were called 15 minutes before our time slot. We only went through 4 checkpoints, and I had been told to expect 7. The guards seemed tickled by us. Once again, hooray for an Aussie passport. They didn’t even really check our car thoroughly – they had us open all the doors, but seemed too overwhelmed to do anything further. I guess that’s a good reason to not do any housecleaning for a few days before a border crossing.
• There is NO English here. Not only that, but people are totally boggled by the fact that we don’t speak Russian. “Why the heck not??? Why are you here, then?” I can hear their internal dialogues asking. Most just continue speaking to us in Russian.
• No one smiles. We’re at a cafe right now, and I just saw a lady smile at her friend’s comment. Once, a guy in a phone shop giggled when he couldn’t speak to us in English. Otherwise, no smiles. After listening to 30 hours of Russian history on audiobook as we drive, I can see why. I probably wouldn’t be smiling either.

Our new friends

Now that we are a bit more of a novelty item, we’ve attracted some delightful people. Gas stations seem to be the place for this to happen. In Latvia, a tour bus pulled up behind us at a gas station while we were chopping up a salad in the back of the car in the spitting rain. A lady practically ran over to us as soon as the bus stopped, and excitedly peppered us with questions. Turns out she’s French, but speaks excellent English. She was doing a bus tour through Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. She was very excited to hear about our trip and take a look through the car. What a lovely character. Joelle, if you are reading this, hello and lovely to meet you! Maybe see you in Mongolia some day!

The most intriguing couple we’ve met were in a parking lot in Russia, near Pskov. They were in an RV, and we realised with astonishment that they had Chinese plates! A large sticker on the side of their camper told us they were driving from Beijing to France and back. We interrupted their lunch (chopping onions in the van) to exchange our stories in charades and map-pointing, plus a little google translate app action. Their van says, in Russian, Chinese, and English, “Hello friends!” and “The world needs us to know each other.” They were like perky, smiling apparations of the spirit of world peace.

We also had a good “chat” to some fellows in a market in the rural Russian town of Ostashkov, who were convinced that we were English (“Tony Blair! Tony Blair!” they suggested enthusiastically), until we showed them Australia on google maps. They then got excited and took pictures with us. And tried to sell us vodka.

That’s all for now

Tomorrow, we’re off to explore Moscow, and will attempt to find the Mongolian consulate and get a visa. We will also be attending a Russian mechanic for an emergency fix-up (more later). We welcome you to perform any superstitious rights you wish to help us through these tasks.

Romania: In and around Oradea

Gorgeous Oradea, which doesn’t have nearly enough churches. This one is across from the shopping mall.

The lack of churches is clearly appalling.

I mean, where are people supposed to worship in Oradea?

Hanging out on the back porch

More hanging out on the back porch. Soaking in Luke’s words of wisdom, no doubt.

Porch time at Maria and Garby’s place

A midnight visit with some of Manny’s fabulous family. A poke in the side is what Manny is receiving from his cousin, I guess.

Having a giggle with Manny’s cousin

Look at all that food! At midnight!

Before the midnight visit, in the mall. After kebabs, during ice cream, before movie.

Thinking about eating a fish head at Maria and Garby’s place.

Maria showed Rach and I how she makes her unbelievably delicious soup. The woman can do soup.

Charming Oradea. The street car tracks are set in grassy lawns.

A brand new restaurant overlooking the city.

With a bit of a climb up. Deciding whether or not to do it.

And we decided to postpone the walk up, but that meant that we got to see it at night.

Ohhhh, Oradea at night!

Ohhhh, ahhhhh

Oradea at day, just as pretty. This is one of the few fully restored buildings, and it’s a treat.

A view down Oradea’s main street in the old town

Manny taking care of business for me at the post office

Oradea being all pretty.

A different part of Oradea.

But this is also Oradea! This could be Sydney. Or Reykjavic.

Manny spent some time in this gorgeous home as a kid, and now other family members own it.

It’s right across the street from this park! With ping pong tables!

Checking out Oradea’s fine purveyor of sporting goods

Manny recuperates after a successful shoe-buying experience.

On the way through the forest

Trying on Trian’s old forestry uniform

Luke tries on Trian’s hat – there’s a feather there folks!

Having a moment with the puppies

This goose wants us to know that it does not approve of our actions. Or presence.

This is a shelter for people who are boar hunting in the woods. They sit there and shoot a boar when it runs in front of them.

We encountered traffic whilst driving back from the forest.

A really typical driving scene in Romania.

Some of our fellow road-users. This is a Gypsy family, according to Manny.

Manny and Rach took us to Baile Felix, a famous bath complex/tourist town near Oradea. This is the boys freaking out over Romanian pastries.

There were large ponds full of flowers at Baile Felix.

And also a South American pan flutist? Playing Peter Paul and Mary covers. Over a loud speaker. He stopped once to answer his cell phone.

There were these gorgeous wooden churches in the Baile Felix area.

Manny had a chat with this old fellow in one of the churches.

Rach and Manny adorably walking through Baile Felix.

More Baile Felix – not the number one most relaxing part of the complex.

I love how the graffiti artist in Baile Felix really went with the theme in his or her colour choice.

Manny’s aunt sent Rach and I presents! How sweet is that?

Luke at the mechanic. Look closely and you can see office decoration that would count as a sexual harassment lawsuit in Australia.

Packing up to leave Oradea for Russia

Romanian road trip

At the Bear Caves in north-west Romania

A sign at the bear caves cautioning us about vipers. Not at all overwhelming.

Inside the bear caves (by the way, I know what you’re thinking, this cave is not named after a specific self-label prominent in the San Francisco LGBT community. No, it’s named thus because a bunch of bears died in there and left their bones.)

Along the drive south to Retezat National Park. There are lots of beautiful tiled houses like this in Romanian villages.

And lots of churches, of course! Some with shiny silver roofs.

And lots of sheep to wait for, too.

Another typical view along our hours of driving

Purple tiles with a side of red tractor

Manny and Rach did a photoshoot in the back seat, I guess. To great success!

We stopped by Corvin Castle, in Hunedoara. It was first built in the 14th century but has had lots of input over the centuries, of course, including a heavy dose of, hm, creative restoration in our modern era.

Luke and I had an actual, heated discussion about which Game of Thrones character group could use this as a filming location.

Luke and I found our new family crest!

Inside the castle

I like your interesting shape there, tower friend!

Hanging out on a grassy field by the castle

Manny contemplates the lack of opportunities for becoming a feudal lord

Big people, tiny window

Back on the road – a Gypsy house that is much to my liking

We stopped for lunch near the bison

It was a bison themed restaurant! Rach told us to pose with the bison beer

And here he is, the magnificent creature himself. Don’t you just want a cuddle?

Manny angling for the shot

Bison face

Luke face

And now, we begin our hike in Retezat National Park (south-central Romania, east of Timisoara)

Luke waits patiently while the women take care of the directions

Crossing a stream

A hiker’s hut, I guess

Carvings from the 60’s

Scrambling over fallen trees

Climbing up steep slopes

Taking a quick lil break

And finally, we reach some neat view

We’re so excited!

I’m trying to figure out what we’re looking at from the peak

Rach posing with a trailmarker

We scrambled up this to see the view, vipers be damned. (And all those times Grandpa Roy told me to watch out for snakes… Sorry, Grandpa!)

Luke, as always, is miles ahead of us.

Waiting for sheep on the path

And, of course, waiting for sheep on the road after the hike

We also stopped by some neat Roman ruins in Sarmisegetusa.

Woohoo ruins!!!

Back at the mushroom farm, Luke tells a tale. Behind him is the dog we kept feeding, and the people who judged us for it.

We did the hike! yay!

Perhaps this is standard decor for all mushroom depot hotels.

Luke gets excited about mushrooms.

Back on the road: Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and a tiny bit of Russia

A view of Slovakia as we pass. Very Switzerland, no?

The Tatra Mountains in Slovakia. Sadly we just passed through.

Getting through Poland – our first livestock traffic jam in this particular country

It’s getting bumper to bumper around here.

And after weeks, we are finally camping again! Yay! And this place, in southeast Poland, even allowed fires.

The view a short walk from our first campground in Poland

We now enter Krakow, Poland

A huge market square in Krakow with lots of incredible artisans whose work I could not afford.

Lots of super pretty buildings in Krakow

Including pretty banana yellow ones

And little boys playing accordian on the street!

Towers with pictures on them!

And a nice Polish band.

I always had the impression of Poland being adorably sickly-sweet, and this choice of wall art proved me right.

However, we did call this cute building’s bluff. You’re just a facade, building!

We’ve left Krakow now, and here’s a cow to prove it.

And, we move on to Warsaw, which everyone had told us to avoid because it’s ugly. We just had lunch there, but this building isn’t bad!

I kind of see what people mean, though…

I am not hating this pig, on the other hand.

We had delicious Polish dumplings and potato pancakes at this place in Warsaw

Sometimes ugly cities can be very inventive. Anyway, Warsaw wasn’t always ugly, it was just hit really bad in WWII and lost many of it’s historic buildings, so really, we shouldn’t be mean to it.

Driving out of Warsaw now, to the northeast.

And now we’ve stopped at a campground near Augustow, Poland.

Where there was a beautiful lake! A massive thunderstorm prevented us from taking a paddle boat out, but we did enjoy watching the staff scoop buckets of water out of the sinking boats the next morning.

Cleaning our stove. A most enviable setting for such a dreary task, isn’t it?

Enjoying camping once again

The campsite

And baby swans! They don’t look very baby, but they chirped like chicks.

This one just can’t.

The lake

The boats managed not to sink

This could be Poland, Lithuania, or Latvia. Your choice.

One thing we’ve noticed about Soviet, or Soviet-inspired, mega-buildings is that people often try to use paint to make them less ugly. If you’ve just gota big concrete rectangle to work with, architecturally, this is a nice cost-effective way to make it slightly less blrghh, we think.

And now we enter Riga, the capital of Latvia. This is the national library, and also a slide for giant toddlers.

Riga looked quite dismal in the rain

But really, it’s quite pretty!

And quirky! Someone knit-bombed this down-pipe!

And this is a delightful little peak.

It’s almost as cutesy as Poland!

Just look at that masterful usage of pastel. Even the plantlife is in on the pastel action.

What a nice church, Riga!

Oops! Pause the pretty slide show for a picture of a rusting out bridge. Eeek.

Back to pretty!

The guild of some such that I did read about but forgot. Lovingly restored.

Mary seems real put out by that baby

Some nice art in Riga

We followed a medieval man into a restaurant

And this was the art on the walls.

But it’s ok, we made it.

And finally, a tiny gilmpse of Russia. It’s not all this gloomy, but it is 70% churches.