One week gone already, with a long day’s travel from Bratislava to Timişoara in prospect. Our goal was Istanbul, and to get there and leave ourselves four days to see the great metropolis would necessarily involve a few tough journeys.

Tuesday 1 September 

It had rained a little during the night but had stopped by the time we left our hostel at 7am. Tram no.1 stopped almost at the front door and took us to Hlavna Stanica (contactless, 1 euro). The station (otherwise rather rundown) has a good café that offers a range of drinks, sandwiches and pastries.

Our 08:05 Czech RailJet to Budapest Nyugeti (originating in Brno) arrived and left on time.

We travelled across a fertile plain of maize, sunflowers and grain. Not at French speeds though. We never exceeded 120kph and we were soon running late.

The Danube alongside sparkled blue and beautiful

Then we turned south towards Budapest. About 20 minutes later we arrived at newly-rebuilt Nyugati station – with nearly two hours to transfer to Budapest Keleti and get something to eat. Rather than haul our luggage onto the metro in the heat we took a Bolt taxi (about £10). Traffic was heavy and worryingly fast! Across the road from Keleti there is an Asian Street Food mall; Anne had sushi, whilst I enjoyed the best Thai chicken green curry I have ever had (even in Thailand). Provisions can also be bought from the Spar supermarket just a few metres away.

***

Our Romanian IC to Timişoara Gara Nord left more or less on time at 13:05. Once again we travelled at no great speed across an immense plain of harvested fields and trees turning green to brown under a  blue sky. We stopped at five or six times but no-one seemed to get on or off. And once again, we were running late.

I struck up a conservation with a Romanian woman and a teenage lad, both of whom spoke excellent English. Opposite sat an unhappy and nervous lady from Kyiv who was visiting her son in Timişoara but couldn’t find her ticket. She only spoke Ukrainian, but with a few words of Russian and the help of Google Translate we were able to assist her. It was the first time I have met someone caught up in that terrible war and I expressed my feelings of sorrow as best I could.

We put our watches on another hour

It was 8pm and getting dark when we finally arrived at Gara Nord. We took another Bolt from Gara to Visaj Deluxe Downtown, our 3-star apartment in an Art Nouveau building on the edge of Piața Unirii.

The area is pedestrianised and there are many bars and restaurants to choose from. We treated ourselves to negronis at The Scotland Yard, then shared a pizza.

Wednesday 2 September 

We set off early for a day of visiting the squares, churches and synagogue, all within easy walking distance of the centre of Timişoara. Having been a European Culture of Culture a few years ago, millions of euros have been spent renovating the fine buildings of this former Austro-Hungarian city, the capital of the Banat region. It shows.

It is a source of pride that the 1989 Uprising started here. The (surprisingly hard to find) Timișoara Revolution Memorial is well worth a visit. You can learn about life under the Communist regime and the personality cult of Nicolae Ceaușescu – as well as the many victims, mainly students, killed in the violent revolution that got rid of him.

We walked south to the Opera building, then took the vaporetto trip along the Bega Canal from the Metropolitan Cathedral. In truth there wasn’t a lot to see, and it was more enjoyable to cool down at the L’arc pe Mal bar.

Dinner that evening at the Taste of Bali restaurant was authentic and very good.

Thursday 3 September

We packed our bags, then wandered out for a coffee before taking a Bolt taxi to the “bus station”.

A toilet-less portakabin on a bomb site

The FlixBus departed for Sibiu – 270 km away – at 12:45. We soon reached the A1 motorway and made good progress, but after 80 km we left it and continued by the old road, snaking up and down wooded hills, and passing roadside fruit stalls around the town of Margina, before finally returning to the A1. Directly behind us a particularly unattractive German-speaking young couple were billing, cooing and giggling – and really pissing me off, to the extent that I had to resort to earplugs. By the end he was literally on top of her. That’s one disadvantage of taking the bus rather the train: you are stuck in your seat. But would you prefer a nine-hour journey with a change halfway through?

***

We made our way to our accommodation, which was in a traditional Saxon family house just outside Sibiu’s medieval Upper Town, where the friendly owner, a history teacher, was there to greet us.

Sibiu was settled by Germans from Saxony in the 12th century

The city celebrates its Transylvanian Saxon heritage and its original name of Hermannstadt is still widely used. However in 1945 a large part of the German population was deported to the Soviet Union. Most of the remaining German speakers left in the 1970s and 80s.

Sibiu has also been a European Capital of Culture. We explored the Upper Town before having an early dinner at Kulinarium on the edge of beautiful Piața Micǎ (literally small square). I opted for cream of spinach soup with a couple of quail’s eggs, followed by a substantial main course featuring sausages – more than I needed – but Anne was more restrained. Our meal for two with wine and service came to under £60.

Friday 4 September

We enjoyed a cooler night, which was welcome.

The sightseeing began in Piața Mare (= big square, obvs) with a visit to the art gallery in Brukenthal Palace, then to the Gothic masterpiece of the Evangelical (Lutheran) Cathedral and the equally impressive Holy Trinity RC Church. We had an Italian-style lunch al fresco at Paste şi Vin in the Lower Town. You may have gathered that it specialises in pasta and wine (highly recommended). Romanian is a Latin language. Having plugged away at learning Romanian for several years, mostly with the aid of Duolingo, I realised that I understood the language reasonably well and I gradually gained confidence in speaking it.

The crafts market in Piața Micǎ opens in the morning and continues well into the night. Amongst the stalls were some selling copper goods (including huge cauldrons and stills), looked after by Kalderash gipsy women wearing predominantly red skirts.

We were fortunate that the International Roma Music Festival was taking place that weekend. There was some great free music.

Saturday 5 September

We felt it was time for a walk in the countryside, so we took a taxi to the village of Raşiniri, about 8 km away, visited the church, then took the well-marked path to Cisnădioara.

As soon as we were out of range of the village dogs there was total silence: a rare experience. We greeted a shepherd resting in the shade while guarding his flock, and he wished us bună ziua in return. It was yet another roasting day. Although our walk was no longer than 7 km, it felt like enough. When we reached Cisnădioara we decided it would be too exhausting to climb the hill to see the Romanesque church of Saint Michael… and went for lunch instead.

Returning to Sibiu we strolled the length of the busy main shopping street with its unfeasible number of bakeries, ending up in Piața Micǎ for more music.

Sunday 6 September

In similar fashion to the previous day we took a taxi to the nearby village of Cisnădie to see the medieval church. Originally built in the 12th century, it was fortified after the 1493 Turkish invasion to protect the local Saxons from Ottoman raids. The fortifications include a double line of walls, a moat and several towers along the walls.

Back in Sibiu, we walked along beautiful Strada Cetǎții with its medieval walls and towers.

We were relaxing when we suddenly decided to explore another village… and ordered yet another taxi.

Sibiel lies in a beautiful setting on the edge of the Cindrel Mountains. We intended to eat there but nowhere seemed to be open. However the local museum has an impressive collection of “naive” icons painted on glass, many from the 18th century.

Elijah’s chariot was a popular subject

Opposite is a church with recently discovered frescos (never overpainted).

We headed back to town to have dinner at Weinkeller. My cabbage rolls were not as good as I was hoping for, but the red wine from Maramureş was excellent. And there was another evening of lively Roma music in the square to end our stay in this lovely city.

Monday 7 September 

Still no let up from the sun. We left Sibiu Autogara on the 11:00 FlixBus to Bucharest on a good dual-carriageway, but soon we were trundling down an old, heavily-used road along the Olt river valley. A single-track narrow-gauge railway ran alongside (no trains today). The countryside was gorgeous, with farming villages and guest houses along the way.

But it was often disfigured by industrial wasteland, factories and truck stops. We crawled our way over a mountain and down into a fertile valley of fruit trees. At last, we joined the A1 motorway to the capital, passing through endless fields of harvested grain, maize and sunflowers.

It was six and a half hours to Bucharest

Autogara Militari is not far from the metro station; as in London, but unlike Paris, you can pay with a contactless card. Metro 3 takes you to Piața Unirii (six stops) on the edge of the old town. We unwound at the Nomad Skybar before going to a Thai restaurant. One can only deal with so much ham, cheese and pastry.

We spent the night at Rembrandt Old Town hotel (***), whose top floor has a room or two with a roof terrace with great views over the city. It had been a long day.

Tomorrow we’d be in Bulgaria

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This was our second visit to Romania. The first time we stayed in Bucharest and Braşov, visited a couple of castles and saw quite a few bears. Would we go again? Certainly. The food is good, the people are friendly, and there’s a lot left to see.