26 Jul Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe July 16-21
We left out early and very hungover and tired from Klenova Castle. Our few hours’ sleep was interrupted by a group of drunken ralliers playing golf among the tents. Unfortunately no one had the energy to get out of their tents and kill them.
We made great time through the beautiful countryside of Czech. Don turned the wheel over to Dave just before the Slovakian border and not long after, a police van pulled in front of us with flashing lights. Our first traffic stop! Don and Dave stepped out of the bus together, already a great team at dealing with bureaucrats. After a few minutes of discussion with the perfect English-speaking Slovakian police, it was learned we needed a vignette for Slovakia that should have been purchased at the border. The police said the fine for this offense was 700 Euros! That’s when Dave really started working his cop-to-cop magic, showing them his police ID and asking about community policing in Slovakia before saying “we’re all cops here, can’t we work something out just to return to the border and buy one?” And amazingly, it worked! The police led us back the few miles, then posed for pictures with Don ad Dave. Success!
After our narrow escape from Slovakia, we hurried on to Budapest, Hungary, where we’d found a campground online that looked promising. Alas, our satnav Emily fooled us, sending us on a wild ride through Budapest back streets until a kindly lady in a minivan offered to drive us to the site. It was over 15 minutes away and she was willing to help us out. We had one close call with a very low bridge but finally got to the site. It was really nice and we sank gratefully into our tents after a simple camp meal with the knowledge that our long day of driving would e followed by another in the morning.
From Budapest we were aiming to make the stretch into the mountains of Romania, and our special destination of the fortified church in Cristian, just outside of Sibiu. And it was well worth the effort! The ancient church was beautifully restored and the parish house inside the walls had been converted to a gracious hostel.
We discovered this gem through the efforts of fellow rallier Vlad Grigore, who is a perfect embodiment of the wonderful hospitality we found at every turn in Romania. He reached out to me before the rally to offer to help us find lodging before the Transfaragasan run, as he was also organizing a party in honor of the rally at a local club in Sibiu. Vlad put us in touch with Liliana Cazacu, the director of Evangelic Church Office of Fortified Churches, who helped us find a place that could accommodate Jan’s wheelchair–not an easy task with medieval buildings! But she surely picked us out a gem in Cristian.
We were of course driving in after a long day on the road, but kind Liliana was waiting there for us along with the matron of the church in cheerful welcome. Navigating through the stone arch proved tricky but after the boys relocated a few items, we squeezed in to the most secure parking spot imaginable.
Quickly dropping our bags off at the cavernous hostel room that would house most of us on the second floor (Jan, Johnny, and Lina were ensconced on the lower level in more private accommodation), we raced back out to waiting cabs for the nearby town of Sibiu and the party!
Even at the late hour we arrived, it was still going strong, and we learned the most wonderful of news–the beer was FREE!! This inspired us to drink in large quantities, despite having had truck stop lunches and no dinner. The result was both festive and predictable. Dave and Amy danced on tables, Don told stories, Lina and Johnny reconnected with prior ralliers, and I got to meet folks I’d chatted with online before the rally. Dave also danced alongside the pros that were entertaining a bachelorette party, Cale was very boisterous, and a big time was had by all.
We finally returned to the church around 3:30 am, but not without Cale offering the non English-speaking cabbie $150 to take him to a Taco Bell.
Back at the hostel, the wiser folks were already in bed: Sarita, Jan, and Chris. We quieted down fairly quickly, and awoke the next morning to Cale preparing a breakfast he an the matron had shopped for together. Their only common language was food, and it was strong enough to produce an amazing meal. Truly restorative to our very hungover morning. We also discovered an important truth: free beer isn’t really free, because it has a high cost the next day!
After a leisurely morning investigating the church grounds and the beautiful church itself, we made our way to the Transfaragasan on July 18th. We had a small casualty on the way out, however, with the bus roof rack scraping a mark into the historic arch. The keepers of the church could not have been nicer in the face of our apologies, and graciously accepted a large donation from Donald to assist with repairs.
The Transfaragasan is known as one of the world’s best roads for the views, the elegant curves, and the engineering genius that made it possible. For us, the road up was just as gorgeous as the ride down the other side, with pull-offs for rest and picture-taking. We met so many friendly Romanian files who were excited about our journey and all asked how we found Romania.
We happily and truthfully responded it was our favorite so far!
We put Cale on the roof for the ride down, so he could shoot video ad take some pictures along the way, while Sarita set up the go-pro and JVC cameras to capture the view from lower down. We also had the good fortune to be on the road with Team Detour, who risked life and limb to capture some great shots of the bus.
After the long ride down, we stopped in the village of Pitesi for dinner (and wifi!) before camping in a soccer field/cow grazing area across from the restaurant. A good night’s sleep prepared us for the shorter day’s drive to Constanta, Romania and the last of our rally-related parties at Oha Beach on July 19th.
Oha Beach is on a narrow peninsula facing the Black Sea and was filled with festive ralliers when we arrived in late afternoon. We camped at a campground next to the party on the beach itself, and much enjoyed catching up with friends made earlier and making new ones as well.
Cale and Don enjoyed the warm Black Sea water, though Cale was dismayed to learn there were no waves! We all sat on big beanbag chairs under shade tents, relishing the rest and relaxation after the road.
We carried the Space Hoppers down to the beach for races, with Caroline the sure winner of more than her share. Don also did some hopping,
but cheated when faced with a loss to Dave, which included a sand wrestling finale.
Amy once again shined as our party representative, keeping us company late night and being tons of fun! We all enjoyed the tasty Romanian goulash served on the beach, cooked for hours over an open fire. We also got to catch up with our beloved Amber and the rest of the Canadians of Bros and Khans, and Hans of Gobi or Go Home. It was another late night, but well worth it as we knew our time with the launch team was coming to an end.
The next morning, July 20th,
we packed up without Cale, Johnny, and Lina, who sadly would be leaving us. After Eric’s early departure just before the Czech Out Party because of pressing work at home, these good folks would make four chicken leaving the bus from our original 14.
It was a quieter day, especially without Cale and his storytelling skills, but we made do as we drove through the rolling countryside of Romania. There was no part of the country that wasn’t beautiful.
Dave’s able navigation took us to a picturesque ferry crossing, then to the Moldovan border crossing where he and Don were faced with the worst corruption they’d seen so far. It was only a few kilometers we’d travel in this tiny country, but they were determined to extract some cash before we left. Two hours and $30 later, we were on our way to the Ukraine and nearer our destination of Odessa.
Knowing we would not make it into Odessa before very late, we opted to find a campsite in a small town on the way. We followed another team to a campground and while they opted to drive down a dirt road and wild camp with the fiercest Mosquitos I’ve ever seen, we decided the campground would be more secure and perhaps slightly less mosquito infested. It was a drizzly night and we were glad to make an early start to Odessa and our planned break there for a nice rest.
The roads from Galati to Odessa were the roughest yet, made mostly of big squares of concrete with huge gaps in between them. Passing through small villages, we noted what we began to call the “Ukrainian stare”, where the locals would simply stand and stare at the bus, but we could often get the kids to wave back.
A few pictures!
