A Romanian Bus ride

Journeyed to Sibiu by bus. Had come from Oradea to Cluj by train and not noticed I had been sold a second class ticket. It was a difficult trip. Very hard to get luggage onto and off the train and nowhere to put it. Crowded, stuffy with wretched bathrooms.

But there are many independent bus companies operating in the Balkans and I decided to try. The hotel arranged a reservation for me. ($8.33)

The company operated out of a little shed at the bus station.

The bus was crowded with small hard seats. The proverbial “cheek by jowl”.

We made very slow progress because of many stops, and at every stop a laborious process of new passengers buying tickets from the driver.

One rest station. Fresh new paint.

Pay this woman a quarter and use the wash room. No towels. No problem, dry your hands in your hair.

 

Sibiu

I came to Sibiu as surely all tourists do, to see one of the best preserved medieval old towns in Europe. And it is very nice. The town was originally founded by Germans and was one of the six Saxon cities of Transylvania. Here are some photos of a few of the more spectacular areas and buildings.

There are also interesting little nooks and vistas around the old battlements.

Even the unrestored streets in the old town are are interesting. And there are still plenty of crumbling buildings worthy of saving.

I was attracted to a large produce market down by the river in the real town.

 

This is a very tidy town with block after block of fine houses with well-tended gardens. There are also areas of gritty soviet style apartment blocks, and poor people with the history of hard living written on their faces.

Cathy asked me why my “indoor” pictures were always pubs and restaurants (woops) and so I took these:

 

Tomorrow back on the train. Six hours across Romania. Did get a first class ticket ($27). Will lay over two nights in Arad, a little town near the border and figure how to best cross into southern Hungary.

So impressed by the price to quality ratio of Romanian wines. Googled it up and learned that they have been making wines here for 6000 years. Wow indeed.

Divide by 4 to get dollars.