"A Single to Sydney, Please"

Saturday night in Romania

The OzBus has arrived in the heart of Romania. Day Seven on the "Big Brother Bus" and I'm writing from a beautiful little town in the Southern Carpathian mountains called Brasov. We arrived here this evening just before sundown, which enabled us to take in a few of the town's sights.

After our two great nights in Prague, the next stop was Vienna, where we spent just one night. The drive from Prague took several hours and we arrived mid-afternoon. By the time we had pitched our tents in the very well-run campsite on the edge of Vienna, we only had a few hours of daylight left to enjoy the architecture of the city centre. I walked around the city with a small subgroup of the passengers, while some of the others took up where they left off in Prague and headed for the pub. We had a couple of goals in mind, but really we just enjoyed walking the spotlessly clean streets and looking at the buildings. There were far fewer tourists around than in Prague and the city seemed to be going about its business more than concerning itself with providing stunning backdrops for tourist photos. We had thought about going to the large ferris wheel, but after a very pleasant stroll around the main must-see buildings, interrupted by a few visits to cafes, it was getting late so we just grabbed some cheap Turkish kebabs and met up with the rest of the gang on the 9.30pm bus back to the campsite. I had been in Vienna at least once before but I didn't remember much of it from my previous visit. The walk along the river did seem familiar, however, and it also reminded me of some scenes from the movie "Before Sunrise".

Up early again, and we were on the road to Budapest by 8am. We arrived in the afternoon and pitched our tents just as the rain was starting, before heading into town to have a look around. This was yet another east European city that was new for me. After parking the coach we went for a look around the main market, while our leader, Leighton, looked for a good place for us all to have dinner together, all 41 of us, like an overinflated Walton family. With the dinner over and the rain still pouring down, we headed to a couple of pubs in the city to see some of Budapest indoors. When the entire group rendezvoused at the coach after nightfall, we drove to the top of a hill near the city centre to enjoy some fantastic views of the city lights and the river.

The magic spell was unfortunately broken when we returned to the campsite to discover that several of the tents had been "burgled" and some contents lifted. I was one of the unfortunate ones. They took my toilet bag, including my electric shaver, and a few other small items, but I escaped lightly compared to the lad from Kerry who had his rucksack and all the contents stolen. It looks like I might be growing that beard after all.

Quite happy to leave behind that muddy, damp and security-challenged campsite, we packed up our stuff early on Friday morning and set out for Romania. Our first stop in the country was Cluj (aka Cluj-Napoca) which we reached very late last night. For the first time since the trip began we weren't camping. Instead we stayed at a one-star hotel, which was a relic of communist times. But having spent most of the week sleeping in damp and muddy campsites (the rain does seem to be following us) we were glad to be sleeping in real beds with a real roof over our heads. Cluj had been billed as hosting "Septemberfest", supposedly Romania's answer to Oktoberfest, so were looking forward to a wild night on the city streets. We had been warned, however, that the streets would be filled with thieves and every class of ne'er-do-well imaginable. I headed out with a small group to see the city and check out one of the trendy bars near the main square. We found no trace of the Septemberfest nor of the dangerous villains keeping most of our bus-mates awake with fear back in the hotel. In fact on a wet Friday in September Cluj could only be described as dull.

This afternoon, after a longer than expected drive from Cluj, we arrived in beautiful Brasov. This is perhaps the most touristed town in Romania and it is beautifully situated in the mountains. All around the trees have their autumn colours on display. Again we are staying in a downmarket hotel. I broke off from the main group with four others to see some of the city before darkness fell. We climbed up a hill and got great views of the main square and the Black Church. Then we had a fantastic meal in a German restaurant on the main square called Altstadt. This isn't as incongruous as it seems, because Brasov, or Kronstadt as it was then known, was once a German city. I really like Brasov and I think I'll be back some time.

Tomorrow morning after a bit of a lie-in we're off to Bucharest.

29 09 2007 - 21:31 - macmac - OzBus| 260 comments - § ¶

Here we go!

After months of planning, I'm finally ready to leave Clogherhead for the more than 17,000 km journey to Sydney. The journey will be almost entirely by land and sea; at the moment the only planned flight is from Bali to Darwin. I'll be on the 8am ferry to Holyhead on Friday morning. Rendezvous with the OzBus people is at 6.30am Sunday at Cleopatra's Needle on the Embankment in London, if anyone is in the area and wants to bid a final farewell.

20 09 2007 - 16:18 - macmac - OzBus| 77 comments - § ¶