This morning I left Bucharest at 7:30, to head to the next stay in the adventure, Budapest, with a few stops on the way.
However, first I had an important question for the front desk, as I was checking out. The first morning, I saw this button on the wall in the bathroom. So, I pressed it. It lit up – but nothing else happened. So I pressed it again. It went off…but nothing else happened. I was intrigued, so I tried it again and tested a few outlets, and it didn’t seem to be doing anything, so I gave up.
I took a picture, and asked at the desk yesterday, but she had no idea. So this morning as I was checking out, I pulled up the photo and asked again. There were two employees at the desk, and they both looked at the photo.
Guy 1: Do not press the button
Jackie: Oh. I pressed the button.
Guy 2: Da, everyone presses the button.
Guy 1: Do not press the button.
Jackie: I pressed the button. Four times.
Guy 1: Do not press the button.
And then they went about their business of checking me out of my room. But…what does the button do?? So I asked Guy 2 quietly, because he seemed more agreeable. He explained that it is actually connected to the red emergency string. If the string is pulled, an alarm goes off at the main desk. The alarm keeps going off, until that button is pushed – if it isn’t pushed right away, someone will come to the room to check on you. But, if you accidentally pull the string, you can press the button so they know you’re ok. I thank Guy #2, and say goodbye. As I’m walking away, Guy 1 & 2 are speaking to each other in Romanian, I assume to say they wish Americans would stop pressing the button.
So now I know about the button, and I’ve got my luggage and head towards a waiting area. There are people standing in the way talking; I’m not paying much attention, but I say “scuza” because that’s what we say to be polite to people in our way in Romania. It means, I think, “get out of my way right now or I will kick you in the knee.” Well, the woman in the conversation turns towards me, and starts speaking to me, in VERY slow English, where she is annunciating every syllable, and saying each word VERY loudly. And she has a southern accent. Turns out they’re from Tennessee and couldn’t figure out where to go to meet their tour guide. I was helpful, but as I was walking away, I briefly wondered if that’s how I’m talking, when I’m speaking to someone that I think might not understand English??
Anyway, on to the car. I will note that Ivan, who is taking me to Budapest today, is a very nice person. He was also a very good driver. His car was comfortable, and I felt safe.
But.
Ivan doesn’t like dogs.
He also thinks that maybe Ceausescu was perhaps assassinated by Coca Cola. They wanted to come to Romania, but Ceausescu would not let them, and then just two months later, he is dead!, and Coca Cola was there.
And if it was not Coca Cola, it may have been the Turks. He was executed on Christmas Day, so maybe the (Muslim) Turks did it to prove their power. He said I can read more about it on the internet.
There was also someone that was killed in 2021. He made videos for the internet, proving Covid wasn’t real, and in the videos he showed how healthy and strong he was. But then, he got sick and died. He was poisoned most likely, from speaking the truth.
He also thinks that maybe there is no war in Ukraine, because he saw a video of people dancing and having a party at a beach in Odessa recently.
What was slightly more interesting to me were his thoughts on Ceausescu. Ivan was 13 when he was executed. After communism fell, he did not get a free assigned apartment, like most under communism were receiving, and feels like that was not fair. (In his defense, everyone else has also said the 90’s were very tumultuous). He acknowledged that things were very bad under C, and C was spending a lot of money the country didn’t have, and food shelves were empty, etc – but believes that C has a plan, and if he had been able to carry out his plan, Romania would be one of the strongest countries in the world.
While he was in school, he learned Russian. (Everyone else I’ve met so far is younger, so by the time they were in school, communism was “over” in Romania, and they were learning English in school.) I asked where he learned English, and he said just from watching movies. Once C was executed, movies were imported, and every block there were movie rental stores, with American movies. He said there were two women who would narrate the movies in Romanian, but for years it would be them speaking Romanian over the English (so not a different soundtrack, or subtitles).
So between not liking dogs and everything else, it was an interesting drive.
Stop 1: Bran Castle (Dracula’s Castle)
Perched on a 200 foot high rocky outcrop, ‘Dracula’s Castle’ was actually founded by the Teutonic Knights in 1212, and rebuilt by the Saxons of Kronstadt under the permission of Louis I of Hungary in 1377. Today, the castle just operates as a museum, with underground passages and winding stairways through 60 timbered rooms, none of which I saw. Prince Vlad, Stoker’s inspiration for Dracula, never lived in the castle, and is really just a tourist thing and no one is quite sure how it got connected to the story. Still, I decided not to temp the fates, and only stopped to see the outside, and did not enter.
Stop 2: Sibiu
Founded in the 12th century by German Saxons, there had probably been a settlement here for many years before then. By the late 1300s the city had become home to 19 registered trade guilds, and more than 40 by the end of the 1500s. The wealth of the guilds allowed for the construction of fancy buildings and the fortifications to protect them. The Great Square, in the center of the old town, includes the Roman-Catholic church, the city’s only Art Nouveau building, and the Brukenthal Palace, which houses one of Romania’s most important art collections. A passage beneath the Council Tower connects to the Little Square, which was home to the town’s most renowned master craftsmen.
The square was full of shops and restaurants, and is currently hosting a film festival. Ivan, perhaps making up for his slight against dogs, found me this amazing thing. It is full of cheese and chunks of sausage and butter with an oat flour pastry.
Ivan kept telling me about the roofs with ice. I just kept smiling and nodding and had no idea what he was talking about. (Eyes. It turns out he was saying “eyes” not “ice.”)
Stop 3: Corvin Castle
Castle construction became in 1446 and finished around 1480. At the time, it was the biggest and most impressive buildings in Eastern Europe. It had three large area – Knight’s hall, which was used for feasts, Diet hall, which as used for formal ceremonies, and the stair towers, used for defense. Additions were made in the 17th century, and bathrooms with running water added 7 years ago.
We were told that Vlad the Impaler was held prisoner here.
This railing was not flat. They don’t have a lot of signs here, like in the United States, where they tell you what not to do because they think you don’t have common sense. Well, while I was walking out of the castle, I watched someone put their phone down on it, and then watched it just slide right off.
ON THE WAY
We drove next to the Olt River for a part of the drive, which was very pretty, and through a small part of the Corinthian Mountains.
The Roads
Overall, very good. We took some major highways, similar to our interstate, and some smaller highways then went through towns. Overall, I actually think there were less potholes here than in Minnesota (and it does snow here).
The one “bad” road we were on has not been repaired in years, because it will be abandoned. They still need to finish 15 km of a new road, to make the final connection, but it has been taking years because they ran into a bunch of problem.
Roundabouts, everywhere. Sometimes you’re in a roundabout going 120 km (75 miles) per hour. Some of them are huge, and you might start to think he’s driving around it twice? It’s hard to know.
Speed Limits. The highest posted limit I saw was 130 kmh (lets say 81 mph) and Ivan wasn’t speeding, but in comparison to other cars we were going VERY slow.
Fortress of Deva
This has existed since 1249. It sits on a plateau over 1000 feet in the air, and guarded access to Transylvania from the west.
Cars
Dacia is a Romanian car brand. They’ve been around since 1966, but in 1999 were purchased by Renault. Dacia’s are the largest export of Romania. (There is also a Ford plant in Romania).
The Border!
This is the first time I had any anxiety on the trip. Because Romania does not have the Schengen Visa, we had to stop at Border Control. The line took about 20 minutes to get to the front. Once there, we went through the Romanian checkpoint very quickly. The Hungarian check though was much slower. The guy kept looking at me, and looking at his computer. Then he gets up, and leaves his booth entirely, with my passport, and he’s gone from my view. I cannot see him. Or my passport. This seems bad. So I initially start thinking, what am I smuggling? Drugs? People? Unpasteurized cheese? I could think of nothing. Maybe there is an Interpol warrant our? but for what? But maybe they don’t care and there doesn’t need to be a reason? I start then thinking about who I can call to find me a lawyer, as well as what supplies I have in my purse to break me out of the Hungarian Gulag. Turns out, it was just a newer agent, and he had never seen an American passport before. I was told “Americans do not do land crossings.” (does that mean I lost my citizenship? I’m unclear; I guess we’ll find ou tin Berlin, which is the next time I’ll need it.
Stop 4: My hotel for the next few nights, in Budapest
There was a 1 hour time change, so now I’m only 7 hours ahead of Minneapolis. I got to the hotel around 18:30, so did a bit of exploring and had dinner before bed.
I walked down to the Danube River, and saw some of the sites at night. I knew what I was looking at from previous research, but don’t recall details about most of them at this point. I tour the city tomorrow and will learn more then.
For these photos, I was on the Pest side, looking over to Buda.
This is a memorial to the Jews in WWII. Jews were massacred in Hungary; it was decided that they should take off their shoes, so as not to waste them, and then were shot with their bodies falling into the river. It was installed maybe 20 years ago.
So it’s late and I’m tired, so I set out to find dinner. I passed by greek, tacos, Italian and pizza that all smelled delicious, but I was committed to my first meal in Hungary actually being Hungarian. And, success. I had beef goulash and picked cabbage. (Pickled cabbage tastes a lot like pickles!)
I headed back to the hotel, and came across a carousel. As I was full of goulash and cabbage, I chose not to ride it.
And then I came across another pretty building! I took a photo, not knowing what it was, but googled it in my room.
And, that’s a wrap for the night. Long day with lots of travel; I’m excited to see what Budapest holds in the daytime!
Leave a Reply