Today has been a great day. I woke early so caught up on yesterday's blog before Alex awoke then breakfasted together. When we headed to the car I heard some really beautiful choir music from the extravagantly decorated church of yesterday, just up the street. While we packed the car, (it's amazing how much seems necessary to take in with you, especially if you're cooking), all the other churches in the area began striking their bells for services, a beautiful cacophony. We wandered down to the singing for about fifteen minutes before heading off. Like yesterday there was a general flow of people in and out the church so we didn't feel awkward. It was wonderful to be bathed in the vibrations of the sound waves- I think I've really been missing music from my life lately and made a point this evening to ignore the fact that the whole, if fairly empty, hostel could probably hear me and played fiddle for about an hour which made me feel fantastic!
We set off for Sighisoara- a pretty town in the hills where Vlad the Impaler was actually born although, thankfully for them, he did not return to that town after his imprisonment and torture by the Turks in his tender years which is generally believed to have had a very strong influence on his later life. On the way we passed signs to other castles and fortified churched so deviated to see these too. They weren't open, being Boxing day, but we could appreciate them from the outside. This may be the last day we have time to sight-see so we were making the most of it.
Sighisoara was indeed very pretty with an ancient, richly decorated and fortified clock tower, churches, attractive old covered wooden walkway and old buildings and graveyards. It's a very touristy place, and despite the date there were a fair few other tourists and souvenir shops open but they weren't too detracting. While I was looking at crafts Alex managed to find an unexpectedly low key place to eat- just our cup of tea- the Burgh Hostel. We each had a traditional Romanian dish which was very simple but utterly delicious and only about 6 GB pounds in all for two courses and a drink each. Much better prices than Bulgaria- it's almost a shame we already had tasty chicken stock for soup for dinner tonight.
We moved on, the rest of the drive taking a boringly long time due to the constant stream of villages that occupy Romania's road's although there's always plenty to look at here- so many brightly colored houses. We got to our pre-booked hostel in Cluj-Napoca easily, even finding a parking space near by. The chicken soup WAS delicious- I serenaded Alex on the house guitar, (I've missed my guitar), while he cooked. Since then we've been playing music or on the free Internet. I don't feel too bad about not looking about the city- we'll have a wee look at Castle Hill tomorrow but only a quick one as we're heading for Szentendre, just north of Budapest tomorrow in Hungary- about six hours drive and a border to cross.
We set off for Sighisoara- a pretty town in the hills where Vlad the Impaler was actually born although, thankfully for them, he did not return to that town after his imprisonment and torture by the Turks in his tender years which is generally believed to have had a very strong influence on his later life. On the way we passed signs to other castles and fortified churched so deviated to see these too. They weren't open, being Boxing day, but we could appreciate them from the outside. This may be the last day we have time to sight-see so we were making the most of it.
Sighisoara was indeed very pretty with an ancient, richly decorated and fortified clock tower, churches, attractive old covered wooden walkway and old buildings and graveyards. It's a very touristy place, and despite the date there were a fair few other tourists and souvenir shops open but they weren't too detracting. While I was looking at crafts Alex managed to find an unexpectedly low key place to eat- just our cup of tea- the Burgh Hostel. We each had a traditional Romanian dish which was very simple but utterly delicious and only about 6 GB pounds in all for two courses and a drink each. Much better prices than Bulgaria- it's almost a shame we already had tasty chicken stock for soup for dinner tonight.
We moved on, the rest of the drive taking a boringly long time due to the constant stream of villages that occupy Romania's road's although there's always plenty to look at here- so many brightly colored houses. We got to our pre-booked hostel in Cluj-Napoca easily, even finding a parking space near by. The chicken soup WAS delicious- I serenaded Alex on the house guitar, (I've missed my guitar), while he cooked. Since then we've been playing music or on the free Internet. I don't feel too bad about not looking about the city- we'll have a wee look at Castle Hill tomorrow but only a quick one as we're heading for Szentendre, just north of Budapest tomorrow in Hungary- about six hours drive and a border to cross.
No comments:
Post a Comment