The opportunity has presented itself for you to be able to hear directly from the perspective of a first-time Romanian tourist. I've decided to take a break from my usual mutterings and ramblings and give the floor to Linda Haas, Mihai's former EMU/work colleague and long-time friend who will provide Zike-Bike Diaries with its first ever guest post!
Take it away Linda:
After ten days touring Italy, pretending to understand my various hosts’ Italian better than I really did, Mihai, Leigha, Mircea, and Lucian were indeed a welcome sight…and sound. We set off directly from the Bucharest airport north, on a 3-day, 2-night tour of the Transylvania region and parts beyond. It was delightful in every way, especially my four travel companions. I have never enjoyed such luxurious accommodations as our first night in snow-dusted Busteni, after my challenging stay in Bologna, Italy where I had been a “guest of a guest” in an ancient, charming-from-the-outside flat that proved disarmingly ancient and nothing else on the inside. After residing for two nights with my host and friend from 32 years ago, along with his dog and related smells, the flat capo, plus one other temporary flatmate, and a bathroom that, well…let’s just say I welcomed a long hot shower.
Along with soaking in the rich sights and sounds and tastes of Romania, (papanasi being my favorite taste so far), we spent a lot of time in the van, traveling the highways.
As an avid follower and fan of Leigha’s blog, I thought I was well prepared for travel through Romania. But honestly, I must simply say to all you blog readers out there, you’ve got to see it to believe it. And even then, you can’t believe it. Outside of the major cities, which are few and far between, the roads here are all two undivided lanes, narrow and poorly maintained, that have been patched and then patched again over the years. There are no shoulders – just dirt and weeds and ditches abutting the edge of the passable pavement. The roads pass directly through one small village after another, with homes right on either side of the road and feral dogs running amok just off the roadway.
I call them roads, but they actually serve as the main highways connecting the major cities. As such, they are truly an extravaganza of mixed-use foot, animal, and vehicular traffic unlike anything you can imagine. Cars and trucks of all sizes, even massive semi’s, of course all traveling at highway speeds. Or sometimes even faster, when someone passes in the oncoming traffic lane with insufficient room to do so safely, or insufficient sight lines to even know if it’s advisable to pass or not. Many do not slow down as they pass through the villages. Then along the sides of the road, you throw into the mix all of what follows, and then some. Children with backpacks walking to school. Old, hunched over people shuffling along with canes. People of all ages slowly pedaling dilapidated bicycles. Elderly villagers selling fruits and vegetables grown on patches of land behind their homes. Shepherds asleep with their heads just inches from the roadway, while their flocks graze in a nearby field. A nursing mother cradling her baby, again sitting just inches from the roadway and moving traffic. Feral dogs running about haphazardly, darting into the roadway with no warning. Fires burning field debris left over from crops just harvested, the fires sometimes monitored, sometimes not, sending plumes of hazy, obscuring smoke across the roadway.
Then comes the real capper -- the handmade wooden carts drawn by one or two horses, or cows, or even the occasional donkey. These carts crawl along IN THE LANE OF TRAFFIC at medieval speeds, carrying anything and everything – obviously as evidenced by Leigha’s previous post. (We turned around for the wrecked car chassis photo op, and stalked the cart down the highway, stopping several times to point our multiple cameras, much to the amusement of the cart driver.) These carts are bulky and wide, and are truly a road hazard. And you never know if you will find one over the next rise, or around the next corner, greeting you smack dab in the middle of the road.
Driving in Romania – it takes your breath away, again and again. Just look again...
3 comments:
What fun to read Linda's first experience with Romanian road travel. By the time she has completed her trip the only thing she will surely add is that as crazy and unorchestrated as it seems on the surface, it works for other Romanians. They have an unspoken understanding of the "rights of the road" that must be inborn. If this kind of driving were to be tried in the US there would be cries of " OH NO you don't - you're not getting in front of me!" Or "just try it - you think I'm moving over so you can get by?". And the carnage would be horrendous. By the time we left for home I had to salute the insanity!
Absolutely unbelievable! Having travelled in Ladakh, India, on narrow mountain roads (holding my breath mpst of the time) I have a pretty good idea of what it must be like in Romania! There must be some outer forcce
operating that keeps people, goats, carts, vehicles relativel safe!
I guess a horse is more reliable than an eastern European automobile.. eh?
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