It has been a while since I left Norway with the promise of blogging after my stay in Greece, Germany and France. Well it's still September, I'm still in Romania, and it looks like I've finally found the time and state of mind to post some pics and impressions of the past weeks. Sitting in a cosy spot inside our warm cabin here in Arieseni, while my mother picks the last blue- and cowberries between the lazy raindrops (ploaie mocaneasca), summer seems ages away... Autumn came suddenly this year, taking all of us staring at the sun by surprise – temperatures sank from 30 to 12 degrees in 24h, snow fell in the mountains and the sun disappeared two weeks ago behind the grey cloud curtain... Maybe the 15th of September (school start in Romania) is to blame, I seem to remember that it used to be like this, with the falling leaves, the leaving birds and the chestnut carpet on the way to school. But let's go back to the beginning of August, when I was still a fresh graduate with two months of vacation ahead...
My cousin's wedding and Transilvania
Please don't misunderstand me, Transilvania (Ardeal, as we call it here) is a great place to be with infinite opportunities and incredible landscapes. Tradition has been guarded in some areas, nature preserved, good investments made. You can still find typical hospitality, tasty food and strong tzuika. The major point is that you need a high tolerance for shutting an eye on the less pleasant aspects if you want to experience its remaining beauty – Romania is a country of contrasts, so in order to enjoy the good you have to be able to live with (ignore at least) the bad...
Turning 24
Even though a natural process, ageing doesn't appeal to us humans at all. 24 is starting to sound quite serious, a bit more serious than I would like to feel. However, I still found the occasion suitable for having a blast with good friends I hadn't seen in a long time. If you pass by Timisoara on a thursday evening, I recommend you to throw an eye (“arunci un ochi”) into “D'arc” and you'll surely feel like dancing :) ...
After finishing my work in Norway I went by car (lovely Wü), ferry, train and plane to Halkidiki, with some short stops in Göteborg, a parking lot somewhere on the Danish-German border, and Heilbronn. The short sun-sea-vacation was like expected: amazingly blue water, perfect temperature, long sunny days on the beach, full of laziness, tzaziki, frappe, fresh orange juice and souflaki. I can still taste the juicy watermelons, smell our sandy burned skin and picture the orange trees in the Mediterranean sunset ...
We ate some delicious cakes in Thessaloniki before leaving old Makedonia and landed on the Stuttgart airport on a summer's day midnight. Surprisingly, the only way to get out of the airport and into the city at that late hour was by cab, and after following the last tram (U-bahn) for a while we managed to arrive at my friend's place well and with lighter pockets. The next day we found Wü safe and happy where we had left it (Heilbronn) and drove south, towards dear old France. We met Alex (the morning-grumpy Austrian guy) in Place Notre Dame (Grenoble) and had a kebap, just like in the old days. He took great care of us, giving us shelter and food, taking us climbing, shopping and joining us for a climbing-road-trip to the south of France. We were in the Calanques (beautiful sea surrounding, great for climbing but not in August, great for walks but not in summer, perfect for a refreshing swim), at the Dentelles de Montmirail (lovely Provence setting, we camped at Beaumes-de-Venise, the cheapest and nicest camping I've ever been too; really cute french town with a great boulangerie), at Fanny's place in Nyons (best olives in France, beaaaautiful wine region) and in Ceuse (nice nature-friendly camping, but be sure to speak French!!).
Both Dentelles and Ceuse are amazing places, the first one situated in the heart of Provence with an impressive view over the vines, the other one THE place for climbers in Europe (yes, it's here that Chris Sharma climbed Biographie, but don't worry, even if you belong to the “amateur” league you can still enjoy the amazing view from the top of the mountain, as long as you've got a hat and are fit enough for the daily 40-50 min long walk up to the crack; up there, you feel like on top of the world...). Finally, after an exhausting and very fun week, we decided on a cold summer's evening to go back to the rocket, with great plans for “Ceuse the Return”. We arrived in a 40 degrees warm Grenoble (there had been around 10 in Ceuse) for another shopping and friends seeing round...
So many little memories don't have space between these lines, like the Aix-en-Provence ice coffee, camping between Cassis and Marseille, Alex's walk in the Calanques, camping in Avignon, breakfast in Beaumes-de-Venise, Fanny's olive trees, the postcard with Vau..(?already forgot the name of the place), turtle-Erik, the helicopter in Ceuse, sunset while heading home, and so on and so on... Comme elle est belle, la France!
Anyway, we had to leave because nothing lasts forever, does it? So we headed towards Strasbourg, passing by Switzerland, a really cute French mountain region and Besancon (huge Vauban fortress and old mediaeval site). The picturesque Alsace, with its winy hills, its dark forests and its charming châteaus was quite rainy, but we managed to climb a sandy crack in Windstein (such a weird feeling of sand coming off your grip, hmm...). Erik took the plane North, returning to a rather chilly Trondheim. I had an intense beach-volleyball session in Stuttgart (even got a small injury, but I held my flip-flops and not the sand responsible) and after a 10 hour drive I arrived in the Banatian metropole Timisoara (take the example of my Japanese friend Takaya and check google if you don't know where it is...).
Well Romania and life here is a different story... Things change fast, sometimes in a good, but more often in a less desirable way. What shocked me most was everybody's attitude towards the country – everything bad is explained by the fact that we/they live in Romania. Unfortunately, society has become very materialistic and superficial, corruption seems to be even worse then before and enthusiasts are a highly endangered species, if not extinct. Strangely (or maybe as expected?), the ones that are deepest in the corrupt system are the firsts to throw the stones at the whole situation. Meanwhile, there are a couple of millions of us Romanians living in some other part of the world, where moral rules fit our ways better, always keeping an eye on the country, but almost never daring to be the ones to fight, probably because we're still somehow part of this cynical, no hope-no way society... But-but (men-men :))... I'm always getting too serious when I think about Romania... I'll just leave things as they are and I'll keep to my stay (5 weeks is a long time to be home, it gives you the chance to discover sights, places, history, people and ideas).
My cousin's wedding and Transilvania
Late August my cousin Diana got married in the historic city of Alba-Iulia (where Romania was first united as a state, in the heart of Transilvania), I wish her and Dan the best of luck! I enjoyed the wedding, mostly because I got to know other family members I had only heard about (my grandma had 7 brothers and sisters, their grand(-grand)children and children are all around the world). After the wedding we went to the famous village Spalnaca (that's where they all came from, my grandma's family), situated in a hidden Transilvanian spot, I took some pics for the lovely atmosphere (a bit deserted and old-fashioned but very beautiful). We went back there after two weeks, extending the trip with a stay at our cabin in the Apuseni mountains, at Arieseni.
I've been coming here since I was born (actually even before, in my mother's belly), but it's only in the past few years that things have changed dramatically. People used to live here as traditionally as it gets, some of the houses didn't have electricity until 5 years ago. Well, now the place is to become a (ski?) resort, woods have been cut down, hotels and apartment houses have risen, horses have been traded for fourwheelers, carriages for landrovers, and rivers and planes have become garbage disposals (generally, Romania seems to have a huge garbage problem, I'll give a cradle of beer to the one that can tell me why people simply throw plastic bags and bottles into the nature, even on their own property, where they'll see it every day). I wonder how long my favourite picturesque spots are going to last...
Please don't misunderstand me, Transilvania (Ardeal, as we call it here) is a great place to be with infinite opportunities and incredible landscapes. Tradition has been guarded in some areas, nature preserved, good investments made. You can still find typical hospitality, tasty food and strong tzuika. The major point is that you need a high tolerance for shutting an eye on the less pleasant aspects if you want to experience its remaining beauty – Romania is a country of contrasts, so in order to enjoy the good you have to be able to live with (ignore at least) the bad...
Turning 24
Even though a natural process, ageing doesn't appeal to us humans at all. 24 is starting to sound quite serious, a bit more serious than I would like to feel. However, I still found the occasion suitable for having a blast with good friends I hadn't seen in a long time. If you pass by Timisoara on a thursday evening, I recommend you to throw an eye (“arunci un ochi”) into “D'arc” and you'll surely feel like dancing :) ...
Even though unexpected, this post has an end. I also went to other places, had other thoughts, met different people (so many special people in this world and me so lucky to know them, thanks a lot, wherever you are!!!), saw different sides, because two months with no plan and no worry makes your brain and soul work more than a year of object-oriented living (programming hmmm...). I'm still in Arieseni, picking plums and apples, listening to the fire cracking in the over, smelling the rough smoke, thinking about the Indian summer that is still to come, orange trees by the see and soft hills covered with ruby vines...
