Text: Peter Johansson
Editing: Christer Lundstedt
Photos: Christer Lundstedt, Peter Johansson, Roberth Nordin
Videos: Christer Lundstedt, Roberth Nordin
Friday 7th of April
08.44 Today is Good Friday and the first day of ten days off from work. Today, the three traveling friends will set off towards a common goal from three different places and at three different times. Right now I myself am at home in Bjästa, Christer is in Sundsvall and Roberth has already started his journey from Jämtland.
09.22 The time has come to move from words to action. I have just wished the neighbour Happy Easter and will now get a ride with my mother to Örnsköldsvik.
09.42 Now I'm at the Örnsköldsvik travel center, Christer is probably still at home and Roberth is even closer to our upcoming meeting place.
10.02 I'm sitting in seat 25 in carriage 4 on SJ's express train 570. Now it's off from a snow-covered home stretch to, first and foremost, Arlanda Airport.
11.09 I have invested in an early lunch here on the train. There will be baguettes and beer. I had to wait until 11:00 before I could buy alcohol.
12.00 Passengers are asked not to place prams and/or luggage in the center aisle. This has been heard by, among others, newly arrived Christer, who, with his luggage on the shelf, sat down on seat 50 here in carriage 4. Soon we will depart from Sundsvall. The journey continues.
12.55 Those who want to get on or off here in Hudiksvall can do so on the right side of the train. The bus to Ljusdal leaves in twenty minutes. Wondering if anyone on board is going with it?
Peter leaves a snowy Örnsköldsvik.
Christer walks towards the train along Norra kajen in Sundsvall.
14.07 The train is on the track towards Gävle. It is basically snow-free here, which is good.
15.28 We arrived at Arlanda Airport and were met by Roberth. He has been here since 12.00 and had time to visit a hotel gym with subsequent sauna, beer and sandwich. Here in Sky City, the restaurant O'Leary's where we had lunch on the New Year trip has become a new restaurant, Pocket.
15.46 Christer is looking around online and on an app for a train ticket that will take us from Budapest to Oradea in Romania tomorrow. The area around us is being cleaned. A man walks with a broom and shovel. A woman drives a cleaning vehicle.
16.06 At Caffè Ritazza there will be coffee and Coca Cola. We continue to figure out what to do with the train tickets. On the way here, I have realized that the waiting area where I sat and read in January is no longer there. Things change fast here in Sky City.
16.36 Christer has booked us on a bus (Flixbus) instead of a train. Now we´ll leave Budapest with a bus tomorrow morning. Now we just have to get there too.
17.10 The last meal in Sweden for a while will be at Trattoria Milano in Sky City. There will be pizza for all three of us.
18.10 We have experienced a fast and smooth check-in. In the security check there was a random drug test for Roberth, Christer falsely started at the metal detector and had to redo it. A small backpack that looked like mine had something illicit in it. Now we wait. For the first time on any of our trips abroad, we fly from terminal 4. One news is that my home team Modo Hockey has advanced to the Allsvenskan final. The winner will be promoted to SHL, the top division.
Waiting at Caffè Ritazza, Arlanda.
Roberth eats pizza at Trattoria Milano.
We travel with Ryanair although the plane is from Malta Air.
18.53 Through a window we see that our upcoming means of transport is not a plane from Ryanair, the company we booked with. Instead, there is a plane from Malta Air waiting for us. It is becoming more and more common for different airlines to help each other on various routes.
19.11 We sit spread out with limited legroom on Ryanair's or is it Malta Air's Boeing 737 with destination Budapest. Should we sit together, it costs extra. It's low budget.
19.42 Our plane has taken off. Two rows in front of me sits a traveling masquerade troupe. There is a rocker with an inflatable guitar, a pilot, a guy with an orange wig and someone who looks like Elvis Presley. There could be a bachelor party going on.
20.19 The previosly mentioned gentlemen behave well. Of course they bring in a little to drink, but they take care of themselves. I guess this is the calm before the storm.
20.43 The flight goes unexpectedly well. We will most likely land before the scheduled time.
HUNGARY
21.48 Now we have landed at Ferenc Liszt Airport in Budapest and, while waiting for the luggage, went for a visit to mosdó, the toilet. It will be a very short visit to Hungary this time. The journey goes to Romania, but we save both time and money by starting the journey here in Hungary.
22.02 The luggage arrived as it should and that is always a good start to a trip. Unfortunately, we have some experience of the opposite.
22.07 It has become time to get bus tickets and go to our temporary, short-term Hungarian home.
22.23 We did not have any success on the ticket app. Instead, we got our tickets from a ticket machine. Once on board bus 200E, we validated the tickets, I hope anyway. Soon we will leave.
We are about to take a bus from Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport.
Graffiti dedicated to the football club Kispest-Honvéd FC.
In the room at Hotel Chesscom.
22.46 We got off the bus at the station Kőbánya-Kispest. From here you can take buses as well as trains and the metro. Now we will walk in the direction to the pre-booked hotel.
22.53 Just before we saw our hotel, we saw a large painting on a wall. It is dedicated to the club Kispest-Honvéd FC. Honved means the defense of the homeland. The club was originally called Kispest AC in 1926 before they got their current name in 1944. Ferenc Puskás, ranked as Hungary's greatest footballer of all time, played at the club from 1949-1956. Kispest is the part of eastern Budapest where we are now and where we will spend the night. The name Kispest means "little Pest" and was a town of its own between 1869 and 1950. It is about one mile from here to the center of Budapest.
23.05 We are in room 105 at Hotel Chesscom (https://hotelchesscom.hu) right now. There will be a short stop here in Hungary, but we will have time to sleep. At check-in, Christer signed a document saying that we will replace what we destroy and promise to go outside to smoke. Does this mean we have to go out and smoke? Roberth asked about what we should do when neither of us is a smoker.
23.37 The first day of the journey is coming to an end. Tomorrow we travel to Romania and the journey begins for real.
Saturday 8th of April
07.46 This Easter Eve morning has started with me showering and Roberth setting out to run two kilometres. Both actions can be seen as tradition. For some time now, Roberth has been in the habit of running at least this distance every day and it continues even now during the trip. All three of us have slept well here at Hotel Chesscom.
07.57 Roberth is back. He has been running in a suburban area and saw a sign that said Red Ultra Boys.
08.47 Now we will begin the travel day by laying a small culinary foundation.
09.26 We are back after a good reggeli, breakfast, on the ground floor. Now it is personal time that applies until we check out.
09.59 Enough with private time. It's time to check out. Then the return journey to the airport begins, where our bus to Romania will stop.
10.26 We are back at the Kőbánya-Kispest station. Outside, we have seen a flower-decorated statue of football legend Ferenc Puskás. We have also bought food for the upcoming bus journey in the cramped little shop H&D Vegyesbolt. Immediately after these spartan purchases, we of course found several other places that sold good fresh bread. Now we also have tickets for the bus to the airport. Now, in daylight, we will travel back the same way we came yesterday. It's a bit cold and cloudy today.
11.02 We are back at Terminal 2 at Ferenc Liszt Airport. On the way here, Christer's newly purchased Mentos candy roll broke. Several Mentos slipped into a hole in the jacket pocket. Now they live inside the jacket. We are now waiting for the bus for which we have pre-purchased tickets. We will travel with the Flixbus service from Vienna in Austria to Cluj-Napoca in Romania.
Roberth out on the morning run.
Truth about coffee in the breakfast room.
Roberth in the hotel lobby.
Hotel Chesscom, Kispest.
A football hero is being celebrated.
Our bus has stopped for a break on the Hungarian plain.
11.16 We have placed ourselves on a bench inside the terminal and are waiting for the departure time of the bus to approach.
11.36 The bus departure time has passed. No bus has arrived. No, but look, now it's here. Christer has salvaged, recovered most of the escaped Mentos from inside the jacket.
11.43 We leave an overcast Budapest with a bus from the company Flixbus. We have traveled with them before in other countries such as France and Sweden. There are few people on board.
12.32 There are different bids for the name of the road we are traveling on. Sometimes it says M4, sometimes 89 and sometimes E60. It's getting a little brighter on the horizon. Are we heading for better, warmer weather?
12.42 The bus has stopped and passengers have gone out to smoke, stretch and urinate. I haven't smoked.
12.46 The brown river Tisza has just been crossed. The Tisza is a tributary of the Danube and, with its length of approximately 1,400 km, is one of the largest rivers in Central Europe.
13.37 There are 71 kilometers to go to our destination and according to the timetable there are still three hours of bus travel. Something is not right. Something that is true, however, is that a liter of diesel costs 585 forints, which is SEK 17,79.
13.51 We have just been to Püspökladány. We would have changed trains there if we had stuck to the original rail-based plan for this day. Calmly and quietly, we now drive through Báránd and have seen a sign that said Kaba. It is a place a little way from here.
Road works in Oradea.
Peter and Roberth are on their way to the hotel.
Crișul Repede, the river through Oradea.
Peter writes in his travel journal on the Podul Dacia bridge.
Centrul Comercial Crișul, shopping center in Oradea.
Plenty of beds at Hotelul Carnival.
14.21 Now we are soon at the border between Hungary and Romania. What happens there? How long does it take? We will be going from one EU country to another, but Romania is not part of the Schengen cooperation. Therefore, there will probably be some form of passport control.
14.34 The bus has stopped at the border station in Ártánd. A gentleman got on board and just collected all the passports. Was he a passport officer or something? We hope so.
ROMANIA
CHANGING TIME ZONE
15.43 The travelers Ulf, Peter and Nordin have received their passports back. At least those were the names called out during the distribution. Now Romanian time applies and we go on the E79.
16.16 The bus arrived prematurely at the deserted Autogara Intrans bus station on Strada Rázboieni. It gives us more time, time we need to take a walk through Oradea.
16.29 The city of Oradea has not impressed us yet. We have been attacked by dogs behind fences and the street we walked along is not too exciting. The bus option involved a long walk to the hotel which we chose for its proximity to the train station. We will benefit more from that proximity tomorrow. Oradea, called Nagyvárad in Hungarian, is only 10 kilometers from the Hungarian border. The city has a population of 206,527 inhabitants. Until 1919, the city belonged to the empire Austria-Hungary.
16.40 There was a dead end at the Catedrala Episcopala Învierea Domnului, a beautiful Orthodox cathedral. A large part of the area around it is excavated and under reconstruction. It was not entirely easy to get there.
16.57 There is around one kilometer left to the hotel. It's time to cross the river Crișul Repede on the bridge Podul Dacia.
17.38 Room 33 at Hotelul Carnival (https://www.hotel10.net/hotelul-carnival/) here in Oradea is more of an apartment. We have two bedrooms and plenty of space to move around. However, a kettle is missing. So we can't make evening coffee.
Christer and Roberth look at a city map.
Calea Republicii, Oradea.
Palatul Moskovits-Miksa, Oradea.
A group of literary figures.
Teatrul Regina Maria, Oradea.
Astoria Hotel, Oradea.
18.24 The breakfast and travel food have passed through the intestinal systems. In addition, we have a Romanian city to see and explore. So we have several reasons for going out of our room.
18.35 There is a bus from Steaua București outside the hotel. In my world, it is a football club that won the European Cup final against Barcelona in 1986.
19.09 After seeing some beautiful churches, I am now sitting on a cold metal chair. Around me I have some silent and rigid gentlemen. I have put myself in some kind of cultural artwork. It could be what is called the Literary Society of Oradea.
19.16 I am now taking a bench break in front of the city theater Teatrul Regina Maria. In front of me is a beautiful square, Piața Regele Ferdinand and a car.
19.26 On the bridge Podul Sfantul Ladislau we are now documenting in text and image. The day is fading and hunger is dawning. This part of Oradea is the one to visit. The river passes here and there are beautiful historic buildings everywhere.
19.34 At the main square Piaţa Unirii there are beautiful houses, a statue of King Ferdinand I and also a small barking dog.
19.58 The Travel Team has now landed at Euphoria Biergarten (https://euphoria.ro/restaurant-oradea/), a restaurant we found earlier in the evening. Here are substantial tables and a rustic atmosphere. The menu is in the form of a newspaper. Now let's see what there is to choose from.
Primăria Oradea, Oradea's town hall, is visible on the other side of the river.
King Ferdinand at Piaţa Unirii.
We visit Euphoria Biergarten.
The beer has been served.
Roberth and Christer together with good drinks.
Tonight's dinner will be pljeskavica.
21.03 This was a really delicious meal. We ordered Serbian pljeskavica, bread and mixed salad. The beer, Romanian Ursus, was another highlight. The fact that we also got a liter each made things even better.
22.21 After some dessert we headed towards our first Romanian home for this time. On the way, evening beer was purchased at the Profi City store. Now we are mostly going to relax, disconnect, clean up debts and book train tickets.
22.41 The first Romanian evening is rounded off with the beer Timosoreana and Ciucas to drink and Moldovan O-Zone - Dragostea Din Tei to listen to. A search on the internet shows that Steaua's football men have a match in another location. Who then came here with the bus? A youth team?
23.15 We have used the beds and bedrooms available and will now enjoy the first night in Romania since 2003.
Sunday 9th of April
07.55 It is morning in Oradea. According to us, it is Easter today, but here in Orthodox Romania it does not happen until next Sunday. Roberth just disappeared out the door to our room. It's time for him to run in yet another city and yet another country. Christer and I are taking it easy so far.
08.11 The returning runner has taken the shower, a shower I have already used.
09.11 Today we had mic dejun, Romanian for breakfast. It was eaten together with a bunch of players from Steaua București. However, they are not football players but handball players. They play a match against Oradea later tonight. By then we have already moved to the next destination.
09.37 Christer has just sent our check-in details to the next hotel. They want these to make check-in faster and smoother. He can only click the check-in button around 3 pm. Then he gets the code that will take us into our next room.
09.57 After leaving the key, we walked the short distance to the railway station. Here we are now waiting for our train to arrive. It is exactly 20 years since Christer and I last traveled by train in the country. It will be interesting to see what has changed since then.
10.33 A little late the train rolled in. It has started in Timișoara and has a final destination in Iași in northeastern Romania. I had a little trouble finding my seat but it worked out. Next to it was a large suitcase that I simply moved.
11.19 Around us there is a small forest. A waterfall seeks a date with a stream. Something is called out over the speakers. Is there a station in progress? More pointing towards this is the fact that the forest is thinning and passengers are getting ready.
Handball players from Steaua București in the breakfast room.
The breakfast guests' bus.
On site at the railway station in Oradea.
Locomotive of an older model.
On the train to Cluj-Napoca.
Hotel Pax, we stayed here in 2002.
11.23 Around ten minutes late we arrive in Șuncuiuș. There will be a short stop here.
11.50 There seems to be snow left on the mountain tops around Ciucea. We probably haven't seen snow on an Easter trip since we were in Iceland in 2014. There is about an hour left before we arrive in Cluj-Napoca. It will be a comeback for Christer and me. We visited the city in July 2002.
13.00 Now the train has stopped and we are back in Cluj-Napoca and have also seen the hotel we stayed at then, the small Hotel Pax opposite the railway station. Now we are going towards more central parts and assignments. We want to have lunch. We don't want to make a copy of the New Year's trip in France when we rarely had lunch at all.
13.10 We have started our walk towards the center by following the wide street Strada Horea. Cluj-Napoca is Romania's second largest city with 318,027 inhabitants. The city that was first called just Cluj was located in Hungary until 1920 and had a large Hungarian population. It almost completely disappeared in the late 1990s/early 2000s when an extreme Romanian-nationalist mayor expressed that he wanted to "clean the city of Hungarians, gypsies and dogs". In 2003 or 2004, the nationalist mayor was ousted. It was the dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu who added the name Napoca to the city's name in 1974. It was done when it was celebrated that it was 1850 years since the city was founded by the Romans with the name Napoca.
13.28 At the restaurant Capriccio Bistro (https://www.capricciobistro.ro) at Strada Horea 32, we intend to have lunch. An English-speaking woman greeted us.
14.06 Strengthened by Bucur Bruna, good dark beer and tasty pizzas, we are soon ready to adventure further, although a little coffee after the meal would be nice of course!
14.30 Christer ended the meal with an Americano, I chose espresso as usual. Roberth embraced today's theme and drinks gin and tonic. Today is the international Gin and Tonic Day.
The synagogue on the left, Casa Benkő on the right.
Two lunch guests at Capriccio Bistro.
Hotel Zimbru, Cluj-Napoca.
Room 305, our home for one night.
Bulevardul 21 Decembrie 1989.
Metropolitan Cathedral, Cluj-Napoca.
14.43 Happy as larks in harmony, we trot towards the next accommodation.
14.50 With the help of Google Maps, we have started to navigate in the right direction street by street. Roberth has been fascinated by and photographed power lines hanging here and there.
14.57 The waters of the river Someșul Mic, which flows through Cluj-Napoca, are at full speed. It's probably the spring flood that's started.
15.08 Now there remains a long walk along Strada București before we reach our future hotel.
15.29 We entered room 305 at Hotel Zimbru (https://hotelzimbru.ro) with the multi-digit code that Christer received. Zimbrul is Romanian for bison, European bison. Now we will clean up the debt so that the right amount of money ends up with the right person after lunch and room payment.
16.38 Christer said he feels like an old man but likes the view we have. In the Allsvenskan football that is currently underway, Häcken leads against Hammarby with 2-0.
17.24 The forces are redistributed and redeployed. We have walked into the center via a different street than the one we came on. The well-trafficked street we walked along has a name that brings to mind the fall of communism. It's called Bulevardul 21 Decembrie 1989. Roberth and I are currently taking a pew break near the Catedrala Mitropolitană, an Orthodox cathedral built exactly 100 years ago. Christer makes a video and photographs. The sky is overcast with a tendency to rain.
17.38 We are now sitting in the square between the cathedral and the Opera Națională Română. I am writing this, Christer is checking the next direction and Roberth, he is eating freshly bought langos with cheese and crème fraiche. We can be on the same bench or at least the same place as the last time Christer and I were here in the city. We recognize the place from our travel journal in 2002.
Catedrala Mitropolitană was built exactly 100 years ago.
Bishop Nicolae Ivan stands guard outside the cathedral.
Roberth and Peter take a bench break.
The temptation was too much.
Roberth has bought langos.
Opera National Română Cluj-Napoca.
18.01 We left the nice bench and walked on the street Bulevardul Eroilor, which is decorated with lots of EU flags and Romanian flags. From the Greek-Catholic Cathedral Schimbarea la Faţă, an ongoing service can be heard via loudspeakers.
18.15 We are now at the Catholic cathedral Catedrala Sfântul Mihail. The square we are on is called Piaţa Unirii. In the square outside the cathedral is the statue that the nationalist mayor Gheorghe Funar tried to move. It depicts the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus (Matthias I) who was king of Hungary and Croatia from 1458-1490. A small bench break must be completed. There are plenty of people and pigeons here. It feels more open and brighter than I remember it from the last visit.
18.27 We looked into the Catholic cathedral. There was a mass in the Hungarian language.
18.40 The Podul Horea bridge over the Someșul Mic river that we are now standing on is sporadically padlocked. Soon we are heading towards today's dinner.
18.54 Next to us we now have an anti-communist monument. It's not pretty. Beautiful fits better on the city soccer team bus we just saw. It is on its way to tonight's match against Steaua București. Kick-off is 20.00.
19.28 Christer has found his way to the city branch of Euphoria Biergarten (https://euphoria.ro/restaurante-cluj/biergarten/). We make a copy of yesterday. The copying does not only apply to the choice of restaurant, but also food and drink. In other words, it will once again be pljeskavica and big Ursus beer. There is a Euphoria Biergarten in yet another Romanian city, Arad. We're not going there, are we? I also ordered a GT, gin and tonic.
19.36 This restaurant is much busier and more crowded than the one in Oradea. The Liverpool vs Arsenal game from the Premier League is shown on the TV. Soon the long-awaited food will arrive. We have already received the beer.
Three gentlemen on a bench in Cluj-Napoca.
Plenty of flags along Bulevardul Eroilor.
The statue of Mathias Corvinus in front of the Biserica Romano-Catolică Sfântul Mihail.
We looked into the Catholic Cathedral.
CFR Cluj is on their way to tonight's game.
Euphoria Biergarten, Cluj-Napoca.
19.45 It's fast service here. The food is already here. We recognize a lot from yesterday but the bread is a little different here.
21.00 Satisfied and happy, we now head home. It's almost tempting to look for more Euphoria restaurants.
21.36 We had quick legs and have relatively quickly made our way back via the same street we came on. Now we are in the home quarters again.
21.43 Before returning to Hotel Zimbru, we bought something good for the evening at the nearby shop Profi City. K-pop is currently being offered on TV.
22.13 While the purchased items are consumed, we watch various TV channels with Romanian cultural offerings. It offers rock, folk music and various other things. Bucur Blonda is quite a good beer. I recommend more Romanian beer at Systembolaget at home. Now it is football on TV, CFR Cluj vs Steaua București. In the 55th minute, it's 1-0 to the city's team.
22.29 Steaua București equalizes with a free kick. The match is now 1-1.
22.50 The match ended in a draw. Roberth is already wrapped and asleep. Soon I will follow his example. A new day awaits around the corner.
Roberth and a quiet guest outside the Euphoria Biergarten.
New day, new beers.
Monday 10th of April
07.13 Roberth, Christer and myself, Peter have woken up in room 305 at Hotel Zimbru in Cluj-Napoca. It's a bright sky today. Today we are going to travel further through Romania. New things must be experienced and documented.
07.47 This morning will not be like previous mornings on this trip. Roberth waits with the run to the next town. It will be an afternoon run.
08.30 There was no buffet breakfast today. We ordered breakfast option 1 from a menu and got a mixed plate. Omelet, cheese, ham, olives and tomato were served on it. On the side we got bread and coffee.
09.03 We have just checked out of the hotel. After a redistribution of our packing, we are now ready to stroll along Strada București.
09.41 So far it has gone well. We found our way to the railway station, I bought a Mirinda drink for the trip and we found a platform bench. On the way here, we have learned that a liter of diesel costs 7,10 lei or SEK 16,40.
09.55 The train stopped at the station and our carriage was right in front of us. We have sat down together, although not in quite the right places according to the tickets.
10.29 The tickets have been checked and I didn't have to change seats. Christer and Roberth check their mobile phones for where Roberth can go biking in the summer. For the past two summers, he has gone on a long bicycle trip, tours that are documented here on resedagboken.cc.
10.45 A hilly, rural landscape passes by outside. It's quiet and peaceful here in first class.
Soon departure from Cluj-Napoca.
Christer and Roberth treat themselves to a first-class train journey.
The railway station in Sighișoara.
Biserica Sfânta Treime (Church of the Holy Trinity).
Târnava Mare river flows through Sighișoara.
Travel journal notes by the cherry tree.
11.37 Not much has happened since the last note. But what could happen? What do I expect? The train is moving in the right direction. In our compartment, some tourists from Greece have gotten to know a Romanian student and the conversation between them gives us some useful information, including that a new airport will soon open in Braşov.
12.45 I've dozed off a bit and now Sighișoara is getting closer. We pass some worn buildings in Copșa Mică. In the 1990s, this small town was one of the most polluted, dirty cities in Europe. this was due to a factory producing carbon black and a smelter. Carbon black is a fine carbon powder that is used for paint, printing inks, etc. and as an additive in car tires and other industrial products. Life expectancy was eight years shorter than in Romania in general.
13.45 Sighișoara's platform area is under reconstruction. It was a bit of a challenge to get from the train to the station building. After the station we have passed an ugly Soviet war cemetery, the beautiful Biserica Sfânta Treime (Church of the Holy Trinity) and the river Târnava Mare. Sighișoara with 32,287 inhabitants is called Schäßburg in German and is a popular tourist destination here in Romania. The town's medieval center has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999.
14.03 Now we have ordered lunch at Terasa Cavaler next to the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel Sighișoara. We ended up here after failing to find any other restaurants we were looking for and being lured by a sign that said Pizza.
14.15 We are basically alone here at the Hilton, but food has arrived and a nice waiter told us that he knew people who worked in Sweden.
14.30 Our lunch is finished. Now it's time to get out of here and off to our future home.
There was a lunch at Hilton.
Resting dogs in Sighișoara.
Peter outside Casa Vlad Dracul.
We have arrived at our home in Sighișoara.
Christer in room 7.
View from our room.
14.55 We walked along cobbled streets and up stairs. The steps ended at Casa cu Cerb (http://www.casacucerb.ro). After check-in, more steps followed and now we are up in room 7. Roberth is on his way out for his run that he postponed from the morning. Casa cu Cerb is a heritage listed building. The name meaning "deer house" comes from the exterior mural, which depicts a life-size deer, with its head and trophy mounted on the wall. It is one of the oldest buildings in the town and was once used as a residence. The house was inhabited by people with high administrative, judicial or priestly/ecclesiastical functions.
15.22 Roberth is back from his run. It was difficult to say the least in the city with steep slopes and uneven cobbled streets. Now he walks towards the shower. After that, we'll probably go out again to see and experience this cozy town that Christer and I visited during our train trip in 2002.
15.34 In the house next to ours, Casa Vlad Dracul, the man who is the model for the story of Count Dracula was reportedly born. He was probably born in 1431 and lived the first four years of his life right here. Vlad Ţepeş was a prince of Wallachia in present-day southern Romania in the years 1448, 1456–1462 and 1476. As a prince, the real-life Dracula fought against the expansion of the Ottoman Empire. Due to cruelty, Wallachia remained independent at a time when the neighboring countries were incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. He was known above all for lining the roads with captured enemies who had been loaded alive on sturgeons. It is believed that Vlad Ţepeş, in captivity with the Ottoman Sultan, developed a psychosis, hatred and cruelty that later affected his behaviour.
16.21 After Roberth showered and then bought more internet connection, we are now going out to see more of Sighișoara.
16.38 I am now sitting at the foot of Scara Acoperită. It is a staircase with a wooden roof that was built in 1642 to facilitate students' access to the school, which is located near the church on the hill. It would be convenient to get there during heavy winters or rains. The staircase originally had 300 steps. Today, 176 of these remain. One of the legends about the stairs says that a boy must kiss a girl he loves on each step of the stairs and say her name without making a mistake. If he succeeds, it means he is the right boy for the girl.
Casa cu Cerb, Sighișoara.
Count Dracula was born here.
Piața Cetății, Sighișoara.
Strada Școlii, Sighișoara.
Scara Acoperita, Sighișoara.
View of Sighișoara.
16.47 When we got up the stairs we were met by a musician. As we moved on, he showed signs of humour. Namely, he played, "Stairway to heaven". Now I'm sitting on a bench with a plaque that invites us to think about Julius Schmidt, born on 7/12 1942. Why and what he did I don't know. We are at the beautiful church Biserica Din Deal, the Church on the Mountain.
17.08 There is a beautiful view from here and there are plenty of spring flowers in the forest around the hill, but now we are going back down into the beautiful urban environment.
17.30 We have made our way down from the hill via a city wall and some steep cobbled streets. Now it's time for a coffee stop at The Bean Specialty Coffee (https://thebean.ro) at Piața Hermann Oberth 7.
18.12 We got really good coffee and something to eat. Now that we know where the supermarket Profi is and also how long it is open, we will see more of the town.
18.33 Outside the Biserica Romano-Catolică "Sfantu Iosif" (St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church), the trees are blooming beautifully. We are sitting in the Sandor Petöfi garden. Sandor Petöfi is a Hungarian national poet and has, among other things, written the Hungarian national anthem. Hungary and the Hungarian are never far away here in Transylvania, which was Hungarian until the First World War.
19.13 On the way home I bought some souvenirs for my youngest nephews and the three of us also passed by where Christer and I lived the last time we were here, in July 2002. Then we were picked up at the station by Cristina Faur who ran and still seems to run a small accomodation. Today it is called Cristina & Pavel and is listed as a 2-star hotel. I didn't recognize myself at all, but we think that the residence had a high wall around it, a wall that didn't exist then. Now there is some time to yourself before the evening session.
20.21 The room we stay in is cool and we are getting hungry. It's probably time to go out.
The city wall around Sighișoara's citadel.
Roberth somewhere in Sighișoara.
Visit to The Bean Specialty Coffee.
Peter has found a coffee cup big enough.
Turnul Cismarilor, the shoemaker's tower, a building from 1681.
Turnul cu Ceas, the medieval clock tower in Sighișoara.
20.29 In the usual order we went back and forth between where we are going to have dinner. At first we had intended to go to the nearby medieval restaurant Medieval Café but we realized that we still have to go out of the medieval town center to find a grocery store. Then we can also take dinner further away.
20.44 We are now sitting at a table at Gasthaus Alte Post (http://www.gasthaus-altepost.ro). It is a really beautiful cozy venue. The restaurant and hotel have been operating since 2013 when the town's old post office from the Habsburg period was renovated and changed function.
21.50 After good food and drink, it's time to say mersi or mulțumesc. There are two ways to say thank you in Romania. Now it's time to go home, uphill.
22.22 There was a small stop at the Profi store we had seen earlier before we headed home. Now there will be rounding off and debt restructuring.
23.23 Everyone is now without guilt and can cast the first stone. However, no one is available so it has to be. Tickets for tomorrow's journey are purchased via the train company CFR's app. Now everything is ready for sleep in this historic building. Wonder how many people slept here before? Wonder if there are ghosts here, or maybe vampires?
You can see 17 photos from April 7 in this photoalbum.
You can see 108 photos from April 8 in this photoalbum.
You can see 120 photos from April 9 in this photoalbum.
You can see 135 photos from April 10 in this photoalbum.
