Romania on wheels

 

We were greeted in  Romania by a lovely soft afternoon light.  A mist hung in the air  even though it was sunny and warm giving everything a soft focus. The dryness of the north of Serbia gave way to lush wild grazing land with forest and teepee hay stacks. It felt like we had entered a  fairy tale land but one perhaps without rubbish collection. Even next to beautiful fresh mountain streams and remote pockets of the Danube were piles of modern waste like cartons and plastic. It added to the wildness perhaps and didnt bothered us but it felt a bit sad in such a  pretty and otherwise untouched place. A reminder of  the ugly side of the modern world starting to affect people here. 

    We passed through small villiages that felt back in time. Everyone out in the street at dusk chatting  on doorsteps, knitting, shelling peas,  herding goats, playing the accordian for chickens scratching the dirt. It felt unreal , like a movie set,  like ye olde land theme parks back home.  That first day everyone waved and seemed quite interested in the weirdies on  bulky bikes. Were we the unreal ones perhaps? Rolling out of a film set and into real life. Strange aliens with bright clothes and all our teeth.  Their lives definately did feel more real and tangible when we pondered the locals we passed. We cycled past one man as he sat watching his three cows grazing on a patch of roadside grass. To make your living back home how many hundred cows would you need? How strange this excess would seem to this guy. You get the feeling  he would be baffled why we should bother. I think it would make little sense to him to lose the time he spends relaxing with friends or meditating on his grazing animals just to get  our extra gadgets and brand names. Who knows perhaps he would have sold his wife for an Iphone but it didnt feel that way. It seems there is little to nil sense of entrepreneurial drive here. If by chance he did get his hands on that much milk produced by a commercial dairy he would probably invite the village over for a milk swim  soundtracked by wild gypsy music that would stretch on for days............

This all sounds so idyllic but we both agreed after a few days here how difficult we would find living in a small Romanian village. The quote about not wanting to go to heaven because it sounds boring springs to mind.  Perhaps we are too addicted to modern life and stimulation, stifled by the slow pottering pace, slightly creeped out by the unabashed wide-eyed stares (are we really that interesting!!)To an extent we had to make assumptions about what the people were like and what sort of things they discussed as we were unable to talk to anyone, but we got the impression that they were immersed in their rural, traditional, day to day  lives  without much interest in reaching out to the outside world.  Shepherds sitting staring vacantly at goats, old ladies with eyes glazed watching the road. It wasnt so much that that they were that  cut off from the outside  but more perhaps that it didnt interest or captivate them. We didnt notice many people reading a paper or having animated discussions as we did in Serbia. This was in rural Romania away from bigger centres and we did meet a few more cosmopolitan people here but the overall impression of life in this part of the world was slow, traditional and from what we could tell, mostly content. Our claustrophobia at this life surprised us and was a little confusing.  Perhaps it showed us how much we value access to ideas and openness to change? Or perhaps it's just not very nice to be stared at all day?

Although we did experience this form of culture shock we were very glad we made the effort to see  Romania. The Danube is easily it's most stunning in this section with high gorges and dense forests. We had been told the road quality dropped considerably once entering Romania but for our route we found it fine. We could see that during heavy rain some sections of unsealed road may be difficult but it was just a little bumpy in the dry. A lot of road work seemed to be taking place while we were there to stop mud slides so perhaps it will be a lot better in the future.  As I mentioned earlier you pass many lovely little rural villiages with brightly coloured houses but their are also some pretty desolate scenes of industrial decay. Huge power stations and other factories like crumbling  skeletons. We found out later that after the soviets privatised industry it was often sold off to people looking for a quick buck. They would buy it cheap, strip it of any machinary and materails to sell on then leave the remains to rot. The blocky flats nearby these still housed communities but seemed grim places caused, we assume, by the work the factory provided vanishing. The lovely river at the door step of these otherwise concrete eyesours does seem to be well used. There wasnt many sections were we could stop and look down to the waters edge and not notice a group of men or a family fishing or BBQing their catch.  It seems the EU is concentrating on getting business going in this area by providing loans and grants. We noticed signs in Romanian stating the EU's contributions at many new buildings along the way. It seems like a good investment, especially if more tourists got to know the unique beauty of the region.
We stayed in a village on our last day in Romania close to the spectactular narrowest point in the gorge where the Danube is forced between the cliffs. It was in a  guest house run by a family who lived during the week in a bigger centre to the north and  come down to run things here on weekends. The father had a little English and spoke French so we could ask him a few things about what we had seen. He was very friendly and welcoming and seemed easier to relate to than the rural people we had passed on the prevous days.  He  made us an amazing banquet of tradition Romanian  breakfast consisting of a Polenta and cream porridge, eggs, cheese and preserved figs followed by a shot of fig brandy! It was lovely to sit and eat in his homely cafe as he played 60s french pop songs, with dogs, his little boy and a pet fluffball rabbit popping in and out.

 urban decay in the middle of natural wonder

huge carving of early romanian king

We rode on the second day in Romania all through the morning and early afternoon without coming across a shop for food supplies. Feeling hungry we cycled up a steep hill to a village above the river and were greeted with manic gypsy music. The whole town was out for a wedding of a young couple in the school sqaure and a band was playing for the dance. The guests were dancing quite formally to the wonderful wild music, and most of the village seemed to be out watching the event from above. We pulled in and joined the others out watching. An excited uncle-type character worked his way around the rows of spectators sharing shots of some clear strong liqueur. Not having eaten all day it went straight to our heads and we wobbled back down the hill once the dancing stopped. Great party!

soviet hula hoop?