At last this morning we found a great breakfast awaiting us. Our hosts, the extended family of Petre surpassed our humble expectations by heaping a table with the following goods; cornflakes and muesli, boiled egg, luncheon meat, salami, tomato platter, croissants, chocolate shreedies, biscuits and best of all a teapot of excellent strong coffee. Now that I’ve wet your appetites don’t rush to the fridge.

We decided to spend the last four days of our holiday at a guesthouse in Crisan. It’s useless denying that my original intent was to save money however I realised that there is much more to be gained when living with a family. Without knowing spending time with a family immerses you in the culture of the place especially when their way of life is different from what we’re used to.

Danube Delta Canals

For the day we planned to visit the southern part of the middle arm of the delta around Crisan with Petre’s guidance and boat. The habitat of the Danube reminded us of Tortuguero (Costa Rica), except for the rain which was non-existent here. When pressed for a habitat description my mates impression was "wet" and "full of little beady birdy eyes".

The Danube wildlife is characterised by birds, which can be found in large quantities. The most common bird on the verge of the irritable is the hooded crow which likes to mimic the position of all the other birds in the Danube just to attract your interest. The second commonest bird is the tern which is nesting here. This was our first real opportunity to observe these beautiful birds and I will honour them with the Bird of the day award. I imagine them to be a cross between a swift and a gull, small, agile and with excellent command of their flight. The largest flock of birds was undoubtedly an enormous flock of White Pelicans. The more solitary Dalmatian Pelican can also be seen occasionally. The Danube is an excellent showcase for the Roller which is probably the brightest coloured of European birds. Their blue colour is unmistakable in flight.

Count the pelicans

Herons and egrets are present in large quantities in the delta. We saw great white egret, night, grey and also squacco herons. This small heron with a sexy name is a heron shaped orange white coloured bird.

The delta is a haven for cormorants, but despite the large quantities there wasn’t one of them drying itself. Present in the delta is also the rare pygmy cormorant which is a mini-cormorant. On the same colour scheme of the cormorant there are the glossy Ibis with a curved beak and cross shaped flight.

The sounds of the delta are dominated by one animal – the frog. The green and brown frog chorus can be heard from miles away and their peeping eyes can be observed either in lily patches and other river vegetation. These frogs along with a snake swimming in the river and a racoon dog were the only non-avian species observed.

Shut up noisy one

The tour finished at around 14:00 and the sun completely redefined the colour of my skin in the last hours of the tour. My mate was quite disconcerted about this but a packet of crisps offset the thoughts away from her face. A brief nap restored our energy and then we toured Crisan.

The best definition I can manage for Crisan is "a Sim City game before losing". The village has the simplest design one can imagine, a 7km single file of houses all with a back garden in between two canals. There are around 500 inhabitants in Crisan so the village is like are one big family everybody knowing the other. Like the rest of Romania there is a huge amount of dogs and it seems that each inhabitant has a dog.

From the 15 minute tour we could spot a small shop, bar, police station, post office, school, a large hotel and a red metal framework for a planned sports centre. The village looks quite old with houses varying from precarious to decent. The village people were what one would expect from a place isolated and difficult to access; poor, most of them old, and still adhering and old lifestyle. On the contrary to articles we read before the holiday, people were not that welcoming. Their suspicious looks do little to help you feel comfortable.

I have mixed feelings about the general atmosphere of the place. As a place in itself it’s marvellous, a definite paradise for nature lovers and bird watchers. A double edge sword is the fact that the place is not commercialised and tourist oriented. From one end this gives an unbiased real view of the actual place and on the other side the place lacks the tourist friendliness and accessibility to attract mass tourism. I think the effect of the revolution is still looming in Crisan as in all other parts of Romania. Unfinished and abandoned projects 10 years due from the time of the revolution spoilt what would otherwise be a perfect place.

Since yesterday’s breakfast our anticipation for the morning increased and today we awoke at 7.30. Yesterday a group of 4 Germans joined us at the guesthouse and unlike the Germans we met in Scotland they were very friendly and outgoing.

Ladies first commands the introduction of Cecilia, a theology student studying in Sibiu (Romania) with the long term desire to become a priestess. George her brother, is a doctor or something of the type and he is definitely the biggest tomato lover I’ve ever met. David is a software developer (J2EE) with the German railway company with a Ph.D. in Chemistry, while another David works in a drug rehabilitation centre.

Our trip today took us to Mila 23 a village north of Crisan. The highlight of the trip was a White Tailed Eagle soaring above a lake. Through the canals leading to Mila 23 we encountered a couple of kingfisher nesting places as well as the kingfishers themselves. With one of the largest reed beds in the world I finally got to see my first Little Bittern (Bird of the Day). We were just to 2 meters away and I confirmed that all my fuss about the bird was well justified. Another good bird was the golden oriole.

Perched cormorants

Danube's Sex Pistols - Spoonbill

We arrived at Mila 23 at 12:50 and we brought some sausages, drinks, tomatoes and cucumbers for a picnic. Mila 23 looks much more like a village than a caterpillar like Crisan. While visiting Mila 23 one of the Davids noticed something very interesting – a bush of cannabis plants growing in the wild. It was very strange and obviously amazed the whole group. Throughout the rest of the day, we found several other wild cannabis plants which apparently are not smoked because it’s not effective.

After the Mila tour we took the boat once again and found a wild place to make a bar-b-que. David made a camp fire and we improvised kebab sticks with long twigs and made some delicious kebabs. By this time the sun was scorching and my beauty was drained from all energy. After filling our stomachs we returned back to Crisan and arrived at 17:00.

Lunch has become a time to look forward to, more for discussion and wine than for the food. Today Petre told us how Ceausescu’s secret police (Securitate) did their recruitment process. Once they approached him at a ‘special party’ after presenting a complete file about his whole life they urged him to become an informer. As an informer he had to spy on his friends and village people to report any misbehaviour or crimes against Communism. He had to lie and bullshit the police for 6 months until they gave up and let him quit.

By Friday Guesthouse Vasiliu became our second home. Our room started matching the untidiness of my office and we started feeling more comfortable in Petre and his family’s presence. The room was spacious with a generous double bed at one side and a sofa on the other. We also had two tables, one used to dry out towels and the other to write the diary and offload our sweets.

There were no locks on the door which is quite reassuring since I considered it to be a sign of security. I believe that you are less prone to danger if you’ve got good contacts with some locals. The only downside with the accommodation was the lack of a lock on the toilet / shower door. I had to play toilet guard whenever my precious visited the toilet. At least there was a swallow’s nest just outside the toilet so I could look at something interesting. Petre assured us that he will soon fit locks to his doors.

I doubt whether it was possible to find a better host in Crisan. Petre is an extremely knowledgeable and outgoing person. His linguistic capabilities are impressive as he is able to speak excellent English, French and even German. In each of the tours he helped us identify and find birds. I got the confirmation that he’s a real birdwatcher and lover when I saw his joyous expression when we saw a rosate starling while returning from Letea. A good guide is essential in the Danube especially since most places are inaccessible without a boat.

The plan for the day was to visit the village of Letea to see the sand dunes. This morning the weather threatened to rain but it never materialised. By now we got used to the boat and started noticing how slow it is. The boat trip routine was broken as soon as Petre located a male Red Footed Falcon. A few minutes later we spotted the female falcon as these lovely birds are currently nesting here. The tour was worth it for them alone. Along the canals we encountered floating islands, which are small reed beds that actual float in the canal. Petre crashed the boat into one of them to move it.

As soon as we arrived In Letea there was a tractor waiting for us in front of an old multipurpose shop. Actually the shop was a room with some shelves and an old lady behind a table. The shop closed after we brought some Romanian snacks, probably making enough money for the rest of the week.

Ferrari in Letea

Letea is a very remote godforsaken village. Crisan is like New York compared to here. All the roads are dirt roads full of cow dung and sand. The only means of transport available are tractors and donkeys. These are quite important because there is another village, C.A. Rosetti, after Letea which is not within comfortable walking distance. Most of the people here are elderly Ukrainian’s dressed and working as farmers. Since the village is so remote, all inhabitants have their own crops and animals for food, as well as a huge river and sea to fish from.

After an overview of the village we set out by tractor for the sand dunes. The trip was very pleasant and it reminded me of when I used to take buses to school. The tractor was a totally novel means of transport for us. From the tractor we spotted various hoopoes and Rollers. The sand dunes are actually hills of white sand that formed from sea shells around 10,000 years ago when the Black Sea was here. For a sandy environment I was impressed with the amount and diversity of vegetation.

Sand Dunes

From the sand dunes we hiked towards a small forest for a picnic. Walking on sand in a hot environment is not my best idea of fun, but we managed to see deer and wild horses. There are around 3000 wild horses living in the forests of Letea. Just before leaving the forest full of sheep cheese given by the tractor driver, we saw a huge oak tree that is estimated to have around 450 years.

Petre is of the firm belief that the wine from Letea is the best of the region, so before returning to Petre’s boat we went to a local family for wine tasting. At first the husband was still at work in his fields, so the tractor driver had to bring him back home. At his arrival we entered in their front garden and his wife brought a basketful of earth covered plastic bottles full of wine. The reason all bottle were covered with earth was to keep the wine cool for longer storage. Since the wine is not treated in any way so it is not very long lasting and keeping it buried in the ground increases its lifespan.

Everything was extremely interesting here, from the washing of our wine glasses to the drinking of the wine. The glasses were quite matte with whatever it could have been, and the lady washed them with some water from an old metal pail. Given that these old people drink from these glasses everyday and they’re in such a good form I found no reason to question the glasses. The wine was very good although not very strong. I regret the moment I brought wine from the supermarket to take back home as I couldn’t buy any from here because of alcohol import limit.

The whole Letea experience is the most memorable experience of the whole holiday. I really would have liked my grand parents to see this lovely place. It seemed to fit in perfectly with the descriptions and stories they used to recite when I was a child.

Our return trip was quite sad as the holiday arrived at its end. To cheer our moods Petre thought he’d seen a rosate starling but it was my dearest that actually spotted him. This lovely bird of the day is a rare bright pink and black starling. Petre has only seen 3 of them in the Danube Delta.

Departure

As a last day present lunch today was special, we had sturgeon fish and cat fish. The sturgeon was excellent but we only had one piece each. The catfish was also very good but not good as the sturgeon. Although my mate doesn’t eat fish she tasted both of them and liked them. The day ended with a sponsored round of beer from our German friends and the packing of our bags.

The trip back home started today at 07:00 from Crisan to Tulcea by hydrofoil. We arrived in an hour and since the first mini bus to Bucharest was due to leave at 09:00 we went to the quay bar for a drink. We found the mini bus at around 08:40 but to our dismay it was full up. The next bus was at noon so we had almost three hours in Tuclea.

Our first attempt was to find some shops, maybe we’ll manage to prove our visit to Romania, but we failed miserably. Next we tried to find a café for an ice-cream. Unknowingly we went inside an outdoor nightclub on its first day of operation instead. We had to settle for coffee and orange juice. Just before leaving we saw a policeman giving a ticket to a man pissing on a wall. We spent the remaining two hours near the filthy lake Cuperci (Lake Mushroom) reading and writing the diary.

(This part was scribbled on the mini-van to Bucharest) My butt has been kissing this cushioned seat for the past 150 minutes of the remaining 3 hours. I made the armature mistake of bringing a thin children’s book for my holiday despite knowing that we had a minimum of two full days travelling. I am trying to busy myself in all sorts of mental pursuits, and reading the least important parts of the guidebook.

Today we made the wrong choice of using a micro-bus (mini-bus) to travel from Tulcea to Bucharest instead of the train. Uncharacteristically the bus is modern designed on the interior of a plane. Luck has been horrendously cruel with us because the air conditioning system was not working. The heat is making the trip unbearable and I’m sweating buckets of ill smelling saline liquid. I will now be easily mistaken for a Romanian. The driver isn’t helping to rectify the situation either. He first got furious because we opened the bus window, and now he’s planning to end our lives with his reckless driving.

(Back to normal Mode) We arrived in Bucharest at around 17:00 and the bastard bus driver purposely didn’t stop us at the train station. Two other people stopped there but he just continued driving when we approached the door, despite the rest of the mini bus telling him to stop. We had to walk for about 500m to the train station and another 500m to find Hotel Ibis in Bucharest.

We were now back to civilisation once again. What a refreshing change. The best thing was that we had a cable TV and we could watch the first Euro 2004 matches. Before settling in bed we satiated our hunger at the train station Mc Donald’s. To enter the train station without a train ticket you must pay 4,000lei (0.04Lm). This is probably a way to keep beggars away from the station.

This morning was an early one waking at 03:20 for the 06:35 flight from Otopeni Airport to Milan Malpensa. The airport is very basic with no shops at all, a baggage scan system before the actual check-in counters.

Malpensa airport is very far away from Milan Center. We first had to take a 50 minute bus to "Stazione Centrale" then take the metro to "Piazza Duomo" for a total cost of 7.50Euro. A very unpleasant surprise awaited us here. As soon as we got out of the metro a huge block of grey greeted us. I couldn’t believe my eyes, the Duomo Cathedral was completely covered for restoration. Not even in a hundred years can you imagine the disappointment of my loved one. She has been waiting to see the Duomo for ages and now that we were just there in front of it, it was covered. I obviously had to listen to a whole litany of why Italy is the worst and stupidest place on earth, etc. etc. etc. Fortunately, there was a Burger King just around.

We had to content with Vittorio Emmanuele street as at least this was open. After a huge soft ice-cream we went shopping and she restored her mood. At 15:30 we returned to the airport to be in time for the 19:30 flight back home.

Sob Sob Sob.

This morning we had to pay an extra 20,000lei because we exceed our 200,000lei breakfast voucher. Our original plan for the morning was to get the cable car from Sinaia centre and continue trekking from the cable car descent. Thanks to the hotel receptionist we found a shortcut to arrive to the centre of Sinaia by taking a secondary road behind the hotel reception, passing through the forest in front of the lovely Sinaia monastery and finishing in the centre after 20 minutes.

Like the other centres so far, Sinaia centre is basically Boulevard Carol I which is lined by various shops and taxis at every corner. When we arrived at Hotel Montana where the cable car is located our luck abandoned us because the cable car was closed for maintenance. We tried to locate the natural history museum for assistance on nature trails but apparently the museum was completely closed down. We resorted to our lonely planet trail map and decided to get a taxi to Hotel Furnica, which is only a few meters away from Hotel Economat, and ask the receptionist for assistance. This time the plan worked and the receptionist indicated northwards from her location towards two trails, a blue one and a red one. We choose blue.

The first part of trail is a normal road with no attractions whatsoever except for a solider ‘s quarters. Romania is littered with urban camouflage soldiers carrying a Kalashnikov especially in tourist attractions. The trail is a constant ascent probably leading to Cota 1400 where the cable car station and Hotel Alpin lie. There are so many trail markings that even a plant can complete the trail. The trail path is excellently maintained and clearly delimited.

Sinaia view from Bucegi

Since the trail is constantly uphill it is quite tiring but as soon as we arrived at the peak the breathtaking scenery erased our exhaustion, yet the best part of all this had still to come. A few meters after we started our descent back two large birds flew off in the forest and instinctively my better half raised her head and spotted a young Ural Owl perched in the tree above. I started hyperventilating in excitement and awe while she struggled to get a memorable photo. After our eyes feasted on such a beauty and we decided to leave, we spotted another one, then another, then another. Just as soon as we left the poor owls in peace one of their parents flew off from another tree. Orgasmic experience!

Although the Ural Owls were without any doubt the loveliest animals they weren't the only ones. The first week of June was brilliant for birds because most of the species were with their young. Most of the young were struggling with their first flight so it was easy to spot them. Chaffinches and black birds filled the whole forest floor with their hustling of leaves and lovely song. A collared flycatcher was also nesting in one of the trees. In the morning, while we were walking towards the centre of Sinaia there was a spotted woodpecker's nest with young on a tree just besides the pavement. At the end of the hike we saw dippers also with young, at a small river for the joy of my loveliest.

Baby Ural Owl

The last thing worth noting about this ultra active day was the discussion between myself and the train station attended. I was asking about tomorrow's trip to Tulcea and she thought that I wanted to go to Turkey. That’s what I call importance of correct pronunciation.

Today was the big travel day. We had to travel from Sinaia to Crisan, which means travelling from central Romania to Eastern Romania. The only way we could do this in one day was by taking the 03:22 train from Sinaia to Bucharest to be able to catch the 06:40 to Tulcea (not in Turkey).

We arrived at the train station by taxi at 02:50 and reluctantly entered the station building. There were two tourists already waiting for the ticket office to open so we waited alongside. After my eyes got accustomed to the dark I started noticing people sleeping on the various benches in the station, and soon after their snoring followed to reassure me that they were no treat.

The train to Bucharest was full up and we struggled to find an empty wagon. At a stop an old man sought our company to the detriment of our olfactory glands. Romanians did a good job at reminding us of the smelly people at work, at least these poor people are excused for their poor condition they surely haven't got our managers salary.

We arrived at Bucharest at 05:00 and to avoid potential dangers we sought refuge at Mc Donald’s. At least the horrid coffee served for a purpose. It is very important to look purposeful and confident not to be an easy target in such an environment.

According to locals the train to Tuclea is one of most modern trains in the train fleet and it shows. Since the voyage was quite long we had fixed seating locations. The pickpocket from our last train experience was replaced by a much more interesting person, who was a nuclear physicist with a Ph.D. in missile guidance working in the aeronautic industry. To our envy his company provides AI solutions mostly through expert systems and the like. Our topics of conversation varied from football, wine, travel and even gardening. He recommended a book entitled "The Japanese" by an American Ambassador in Japan.

We arrived at Tulcea at 11:10 and waited for the 13:30 ferry to Crisan in a bar near the quay. The Danube Delta is said to have three arms; the northern arm reaching out to Rosetti, the middle arm finishing at Sulina and the southern arm into Sfantu Gheorghe. We lodged in Crisan almost half way between Tulcea and Sulina (2 and ½ hours by ferry and 1 hour away by hydrofoil).

On the ferry I received a message from work because there was a power failure and they didn't have the correct password to reload the server on my PC. The second in command pal at work was on a half day leave so all hell broke loose. Obviously things were blown completely out of proportion with the higher management of the company being notified, as if they could do something. On his arrival from leave the situation was solved immediately.

At Crisan (16:00) we were greeted by Petre Vasiliu and accompanied to his house were we rested for the rest of the day and savoured a good traditional meal.

After yesterday’s laborious day we excused ourselves for waking up late. To this effect we had to sacrifice most of our lousy breakfast with cold coffee, stale bread and no cereal. I nicked a fork instead to compensate for the price difference (I forgot my cutlery at home).

We arrived at the bus station near the train station by taxi, and caught the only bus for Brasov departing at 10:00. We must thank the train station personnel for this important piece of information. The trip lasted 4.30 hours and despite the beautiful scenery outside transport was getting quite tedious. The bus route passed through Bran and we regretted not stopping there, since time was pressing and therefore we couldn't visit Bran.

To make up for it I changed plans on the hotel accommodation after reading that the Aro Sport hotel in Brasov was miserable. This change cost me 60Euros because the next cheapest hotel in LP was Hotel Postavarul who had cheap shared bath rooms and 2 star rooms at 60 Euros (Hotel Coroana). After the public toilet experience and considering the state of affairs between us at the moment I made the right choice by getting a better room and spending some more. We had a choice between two rooms and we choose the bigger one with a two single beds, cable TV and en-suite bathroom. This definitely helped to change our sour mood.

The hotel was at the corner of the main pedestrian street in Brasov, "Strada Republicii". This street is lined with shops on both sides and leads to the large Black Church. I managed to get my dearest a present (two eagles engraved in wood) and card for her birthday. The Black Church was quite disappointing. First of all it is not black, just a sooty ashen colour resulting form a fire in 1689. Apart from being quite imposing it isn’t anything extraordinary. Since it was disallowed to photograph inside the church we didn’t bother to enter. The church location is also extremely non-photogenic. A lesser known and blacker attraction was the "Black Tower", and the "White Tower". Although not as imposing as the Black Church both towers offer excellent locations to photograph the Black Church.

Black Church

After the cultural tour we watched a comedy featuring Rob Schneider and then went for a pizza in the centre of Brasov. As the food was so cheap I dared a beef steak and Cabaret Sauvignon Blanc while she ordered a Funghi. Surprisingly enough the Funghi pizza also had ham so she had to remove each and every piece of ham from each slice. I then overdosed on ham to make up for the small beef portion.

Today was my favourite's birthday so I conceded extra sleep time. At last for breakfast we got some good hot coffee although bread was still stale.

After breakfast we called a taxi to take us to "Gara" to catch the bus to Bran, but as soon as we had almost arrived I realised that he was not taking us to the bus station so I told the driver "Bus to Bran". He gave me a sour look and called out "Auto Gara nu Gara" which I gathered to mean that I should have said "Auto Gara" for bus station. At this he sped across Brasov's streets ignoring red lights and all traffic rules and we managed to arrive at the bus station just in time for the 09:00 bus.

The bus took 40 minutes to arrive at Bran and with some common sense we located Bran Castle. It is a very imposing beautiful castle which I surely cannot adequately describe here. The photos will help you understand what I mean. In the middle of the castle there is a lovely courtyard and each room contains exhibits such as paintings, furniture, Madonnas, helmeted fireplaces and a huge chalice. One thing which kept me wondering in Bran Castle was how much more authentic would it have been were the walls not white washed with plaster and kept in their original form. This though hit me after we climbed a very narrow staircase with the original wall structure that is too nice to forget.

Bran Castle

Castle Courtyard

Castle View from Courtyard

After the castle experience we brought a kilo of the reddest cherries at the marketplace outside the castle for 50,000lei and nibbled them till the bus arrived at 11:40. There are hourly buses to and from Brasov.

Upon arriving in Brasov we took a taxi to the train station this time to go to Sinaia. This train was an inter-city IC train and it was much better than the personal train to Curtea de Arges. At the only train stop a suspect person came to sit on a different seat at my left. The keen observation of my mate remarked that his only possession was a rolled newspaper in his hand which is the weapon of choice for pickpockets. After a while he asked to sit near the window to my right which coincidently was near our day packs and my wallet. He told us that he was working for the train company and wanted to look out of the right window. It was very evident that his intentions weren't good so I played dumb as if not understanding his request. I then asked him to get a translator if he wanted anything specific and at this he shut up. A few minutes later a train conductor came over and we realised that this guy didn't even have a train ticket.

As soon as we arrived in Sinaia we were greeted by two scruffy men who offered us a room but we ignored them and rushed for a taxi instead. After a long-winded hill we arrived at the special birthday hotel for the holiday, the once palace Hotel Economat. Before we actually made it into the room three small children came to offer us small berries and they were so insisting and cute that I had to give in and brought two small cups of minute sour strawberries. The room was magnificent and lived very well to our expectations. I think the receptionist wasn't lying when she told us that she gave us the best room. A small corridor lead into the bedroom displaying a king sized velvet green covered bed. To my mates enthusiasm we had satellite TV with Animal Planet again and a well ventilated (open window) toilet with heater to dry our laundry. The only minus was that we didn't have a bath only a shower, but that is negligible compared to the beauty of the room.

The main attraction in Sinaia is the Peles Castle which was within walking distance from our hotel. Unfortunately we arrived late and could not enter inside because the last guided tour starts at 4.30 and like all other attractions it is closed on Monday. The Peles is the utmost of castles; it should be made a wonder of the world. I will forgive you for not visiting any other castles in Romania but you must see the Peles. There is no point describing in words just take a look at the pictures.	Peles Castle

To finish the birthday on a culinary note we had dinner at the hotel's restaurant, and it was the only mistake of an otherwise perfect birthday. For once the birthday was actually the best day of the holiday. Everything was magnificent from Bran Castle to the Peles Castle, Hotel Economat and the 1kg of cherries. This will be a very difficult birthday to beat but it was well deserved after 4 consecutive birthday flops.

The new Airbus was graced with our presence along with another 23 passengers at the hideous hour of 23:25. The airport was completely deserted with all employees regretting the night ahead.

The in-flight meal was prepared with the enthusiasm of a cook working at midnight. The beef was more akin to chewing gum than meat and I was in doubt whether the rice salad was already digested before being put on the plate. The chicken menu of my travel and life companion was a much better choice.

We arrived at 03:00 and as soon as we entered thie Banasea (Bucharest’s secondary airport) arrival lodge, I looked out of the window to confirm that outside was an aeroplane not a time machine. Everything looked at least 10 years old. The customs check was just 10 meters away from the entrance and the baggage belt another 10 meters away. Through the transparent door you are able to actually see baggage being offloaded and being placed on the convenor belt. Just besides the belt before going out of this multipurpose room three customs policeman were opening and checking each bag, but we had no problems. This is the perfect beginner airport everything placed in one room, not even our ex-secretary would have managed to get lost here.

As we had no hotel to go to we lodged for two hours at a marble covered circular hall just outside the arrival lodge. Along with the numerous vulture taxi drivers there were a couple of other tired people in the same room. To avoid falling asleep in this dubious environment I started reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. My mate was suspiciously eyeing anybody who tried to trespass the 5 meter radius barrier.

At around 04:30 we started getting concerned about how we were going to arrive at the main train station (Gara Nord). As soon as I got up to peep outside, a taxi driver approached me and asked where I want to go. He was not content with Gara Nord and pressed for the actual destination. I told him “Curtea de Arges” and he insisted upon taking us there. When he gave up, he quoted 20Euros for the trip to the train station. No way! I knew that a normal trip should cost no more than 10Euros because I had called the information office a day before. I haggled the price down to $15 and told him to come over at 05:00. After two minutes another taxi driver approached us and told us that he was an authorised taxi driver while the other wasn’t. At this I was all ears and as soon as we settled for 10Euros we left immediately. I had been warned by the Tourist office to use only authorised taxis so I felt bold that I choose the best option.

My enthusiasm didn’t last for long because when we went to the ticket booth of the train station the English illiterate sales girl did not accept Euro or Dollar currency. This was a very serious problem because the train was supposed to leave at 06:40 and it was too early to exchange money legally.

At this golden opportunity somebody approached us accompanied by a train station security member and offered a mini bus service to Curtea de Arges for $5. This was extremely cheap almost too good to be true, but since there was the security guard we accepted. As soon as we got out of the train station a junk car that wouldn’t start greeted us. That’s what they call a mini bus in Bucharest. After some shallow talk I noticed the low fuel indicator was blinking and soon after we drove into the first fuel station. The driver stuck out his hand and expected us to hand over $30 for the fuel. I told him that we had agreed on $5 dollars for the trip and he replied that he had asked us $45 dollars not $5. At this my mate got snappy so we gave him $10 for fuel and insisted on being taken back to the station. Fortunately, he took us back and left us in peace. This was our first and last attempted rip-off experience of the whole holiday.

This fake taxi trip was an original way to spend time in Bucharest in the early hours of the morning. Fortunately we managed to illegally exchange some dollars at a travel agency besides the pharmacy in front of the train station, and brought the train tickets to Curtea de Arges.

The train left exactly on time at 06:40 and arrived at the changing station Pitesti at 09:20. The train was a personal train which is the slowest of Romanian trains; its speed is best compared to a metro train. We changed the train at Pitesti to a horrendous smelly, rusty, noisy 1 carriage junk of a train which arrived at Curtea de Arges at 11:00.

Just outside of the train station we experienced the unforgettable public toilet experience. The toilet was made of piss. This is an excellent solution for blind people as they can easily find the place by smelling around from meters away. The toilet was very interesting – a toilet room with no toilets, just ill dug holes. One can imagine that this will work for the male toilet but there was no difference at the ladies.		Curtea de Arges Train Station
At Curtea de Arges we lodged at Hotel Posada in a 1 star room. The first thing we did upon entering was checking the toilet to put our mind at rest that it exists. The room was pretty basic with all the necessaries it was just lacking that nice finishing touch to keep the price low.

As a village Curtea de Arges is very straight forward with a pleasant main boulevard containing all the shops and activity. Hotel Posada was located at the end of the street within 1km walking distance from the train station.

The reason we travelled to Curtea de Arges was to view the Poienari Castle which is 25km away from Curtea. According to Lonely Planet the best information source was our hotel but the solution offered by the receptionist was defiantly not the best, as she recommended taking a taxi. We walked to the train station to check out other solutions and found out that there is a mini bus service every hour. The mini bus was the perfect solution, driving us exactly at the foot of the long flight of stairs leading to the castle.

This was by far the longest flight of stairs I have ever climbed (over 1400), but since the steps are low and surrounded by the forest it was not that tiring. I think it’s less tiring than work’s stairs, at least you don’t dread going up. We spent about 40 minutes to finish our quest considering frequent breaks.

Poienari Castle Entrance

The reward was worth it. After paying 20,000lei and a camera fee of 10,000lei we could share Dracula’s original castle with a group of light hearted local youths. Unfortunately the castle is more ruins than castle as a landslide destroyed the castle in 1888. It looks like an open air castle. History has it that in 1459 Vlad Tepes built the castle to be able to observe enemies trying to access the Arges valley. Vlad’s wife is also said to have committed suicide from the castle but we didn’t manage to find blood evidence to prove it.

Needless to say the descent was much more pleasant and quick. We had to walk about 2km to get to the bus stop from the castle but we were lucky enough to find the mini bus awaiting us. Our outing ended with a quick pizza at “No Comment” which was barely edible yet satisfied our hunger.

For a first day it was pretty tiring spending 40 hours awake, travelling, avoiding scams, climbing stairs and sightseeing.

I am going to start the Romania Travel Blog part with the cost analysis of the holiday. I hope I manage to find the determination to re-write and translate some of our experiences too. The following table is an itemised breakdown of all our costs. From the last 5 holidays, Romania is by far the cheapest place we've been to, however keep in mind that the average Romanian gains only $90 a month.

The cost per person for 9 days in Romania was Lm151.61 including flights, with pre-holiday costs and a day in Milan raising the total to Lm232.88 (extra 35%). Going on holiday during a 10 day birthday celebration helped our spending spirits considerably.

Accommodation was the highest expense, however considering that we once stayed in a lovely quasi upscale palace (Hotel Economat) and made a severe mistake that cost us an extra 40Euros (Hotel Coroana) it was not that bad. Hotel Ibis (Accor) was priced at 59Euro per weekend night in the capital Bucharest.

Unlike other holidays transport was not the major expense. This is indicative on Romanian culture with large travel distances and low wages. We used taxis frequently given that they were cheap and efficient to use. Train costs vary widely according to the type of train used paying peanuts for P trains getting more costly using IC trains. In our case at least, the quality of the train reflected the price.

Food is our greatest vice. There is little you can do to resist getting 4 packets of crisps (150g) costing 10c each. We made the worst and best bargains getting food. The flop was spending almost Lm17 (21% of all food expenses) food from home. This is totally outrageous considering that we could have got the same things from Romania for less than half the price. Getting food from home is only a good idea when travelling to expensive countries like the Scotland trip. The best bargain was buying 1kg of the best tasting cherries ever for 50c (they cost Lm4.50 at home). Wine and spirits are also relatively cheap, with 3 bottles of good wine totalling Lm3.61.

Bird and Nature Guiding is ridiculously cheap. We got 3 full days of birdwatching, nature and cultural guiding for a proposed price of Lm25.75p/p which got further reduced to Lm6.44 (since there were a total of 6 people on the tour). Considering that we were expected to pay Lm65p/p for a single night tour in Finland the difference is extraordinary. The best part of the deal is that you get to see large quantities of birds in a wonderful habitat. I am sure that the prices will boom up very soon as birdwatchers invade the Danube Delta in a matter of a few years. Go for it now!

vitals

• money
• passaport
• ticket
• insurance
• spare glaces
• glasses specification
• documentation
• lonely planet
• kiko
• padlock
• camera
• films

extras

• medical kit
• book
• cards
• binoculars
• swiss knife
• meglite
• garbage bags
• food bags
• liner
• stove
• fuel
• pad
• food
• toilet paper

clothes

• 2x long sleeve metal
• Summoning
• 3x t-shirts
• adventure trousers
• burton
• blue shorts

underwear

• 1x long johns
• 6x socks
• 4x boxers

footwear

• boots
• running shoes

hygine

• shower gel
• shaving things
• toothbrush
• deodorant
• towel
• face cloth

Pending

• Raincoat
• Umbrella
• Toilet paper
• Remove sins
• Martin - Chains / Padlock
• Mechanic
• Suede
• Card nos

source: romanian tourist office

Bucharest Tourist Office - 021-314-99-57
Brasov Tourist Office - 0268-144-680
Diana Fanic (Mini Bus Service from Curtea - Brasov) - 0723567846

Taxis Low Prices

Cobacez - 0723399451
Meridian - 0723344433

I am going to bore everyone to death with all these Romania postings, but I'm using the blog as a planning and information transfer tool to full effect. This is the planned accommodation plan for the holiday. Lonely Planet has a limited number of recommendations so we had to find web resources. The best ones were:-

• Romania Tourism
• Romanian Travel Guide
• Rural Tourism

At last today we started some serious planning for the imminent Romania holiday. I'm going to exploit the blog to report my findings maybe this time I will not go over the same searches and findings over and over again. This part may bore some readers to death so I'll take no offence if you skip over.

Places to visit (Romanian Tourism Itinerary Suggestion)

• Sinaia – Nature and Bird watching base with the option of tracking (see Proposal 1). Also visit Peles Castle and Black Church
• Brasov – Main city base in South Transylvania region. Visit Bran Castle
• Curtea de Arges – Visit Dracula's original castle climbing a flight of 1425 steps (see Trip Report)
• Tulcea – Stopping city for Danube Trip
• Danube Delta – Main bird watching location

Transport (Trains)

• Bucuresti Nord Gr A -- Sinaia – Brasov (direct connection between 3 hrs)
• Brasov -- Curtea (PROBLEM !!)
• Brasov -- Bucuresti Nord Gr A -- Tulcea Oras (1 stop approx 7 hrs)

I've spent a whole weekend battling with DC++ because I couldn't download anything. I was able to connect to hubs as usual, but could not search or download anything, not even simple user file lists. Like all first attempts I tried turning off the Norton Personal Firewall but the problem persisted. After re-installing the program about 5 times using different versions I looked in the forums and searched for the timeout error. Upon browsing it occurred to me that that I could have Window's Firewall activated, and could be conflicting. Upon turning off Window's Firewall DC++ worked fine. These automatic system firewalls are very irritating with default activation. I had the same problem with ipchains on Linux and spent a whole week to sort out the problem. At least it was at work.

While taking my Cadbury High Light Mint Chocolate Drink and reading Simon Willison's blog at work I came across the Infinite cat project link. For anybody who likes cats or is interested in a really original idea … check it out.