Our intrepid duo swap European highways for single lane tracks in Romania as they make their way through Transylvania. Mwahahahahahahahahahaha!
[Not a valid template]We left Slovenia on a high and headed east towards Hungary to see what else this magical continent had in store for us! Unfortunately what we found was mainly pot-holed roads and the never-ending horizon of a very, very flat European country. Hungary is still a beautiful place in it’s own right, and is completely covered in the golden glow of hundreds of sunflower fields, but after the wanderlust atmosphere of Slovenia I guess it would be hard for any country to compete.
A brief overnight stay in the quirky but lovely Nimrod Hotel in Karcag, and a little behind schedule due to the potholes, we headed off for the Romanian border. Romania really is acting like the gateway to the east. Whilst the roads are certainly a lot better quality than the ones we left in Hungary, they don’t seem to have many motorways either. This meant the ride across the country was reduced to a more peaceful pace and allowed us to take in the change of scenery in comfort.
As we made our way over the Romanian Alps of Transylvania we came to terms with the fact that we will no longer just be sharing the roads with cars and lorries. Now we had to content with single lane roads, horse-drawn carts, cattle, stray dogs and tractors. It really was rather lovely getting to drive though what seemed like a place lost in time, little old grandmothers or ‘Nonas” catching up with friends over the fence and young couples selling fruits at a homemade stand at the side of the road.
We couldn’t quite make it to our intended destination, but we are spending the night in the lovely mountain town of Toplita before we try to make it to Ukraine tomorrow. And if you’re wondering why we didn’t make it to Moldova, it turns out border control are very picky if you don’t have the second page of the V5 certificate.
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