Romanian Roads

The road to Vlad's birthplace was not paved in gold or silver from his battle success, but unpaved and non existant in places.

We set off with a map of the roads to Targoviste, and all was well at first. We went to the East of the white crossed hill seen from our house and travelled through rolling hills which are a little higher than in the Cotswolds. No country pubs though, just an occasional shop, sometimes with people sitting outside with a drink, chatting and enjoying the sunny day.

This was fun, as it was the furthest we had been, and we were looking forward to seeing the Princely Court and another town.  But; and there is a but,  after too long to turn back, we came to a  road which had fallen away down a ditch. We checked the map but there were no alterntive routes except for the main roads miles away, so we slowly negotiated the road, and after a few more miles it turned to rough stone and gravel. We were expecting a dead end (again) , then we saw some houses and gingerly made our way forward.

Haystacks seen everywhere built in a conical shape.

An elaborately painted church in a small village before the road deteriorated.

Richard had to use all his driving skills to avoid the potholes and boulders on the track which the road had now become. Do you remember the scene in American Werewolf in London when the strangers went in the pub and everybody went quiet and stared at them? Well, everyone in this village in the hills seemed to be in their gardens or sitting outside their gardens watching our progress bouncing up and down on the rough surface. We were not even sure that we could get out of the village at the other end, but kept going.Remember 'Don't leave the path'? We did not stop to take photos or later when we suddenly came across half a bridge ( the right hand side)  and wondered what would have happened if a vehicle, or horse and cart of which there are many, was coming towards us? I literally shut my eyes in case the bridge collapsed, which I know is stupid as having my eyes open would have been more useful in the event of an accident!

Eventually the road improved and we arrived at Targoviste safe and sound. We travelled home the long way round!

I've since found out that about a third of Romanian roads are just gravel and that many of the roads that do exist are in a poor state of repair. There are EU grants for roads, (I have seen the signs), but the work is done v slowly and often seems to be at a standstill.

Look at the following website for a different type of new road in the mountains:

romanianmonasteries.org

Drum bun!  (literally  road good!)

Mountain Greenery

This is one of the tunes that I have woken up humming, We did go to Brasv in the mountains at the W/E, so that could account for it.

Other tunes I have woken up humming are; the theme to Rhubarb and Custard,(see previous blogs) ; Get Back,(going home?), Thriller, (saw a werewolf on Sunday), the themes from Grandstand, Match of the Day, and the cricket tune, ( I'm not keen on sport, but I like Booker T and the MG's), and the theme tune from The Lightning Tree. Does anyone remember that children's series?

Oh, and of course, the catchy bit from 'Flori de Tei'.

Bye for now.

PS, in Bucharest today,over 7,400 people took part in CPR Training, achieving a record for the Guinness Book of Records.

PPS Amy Winehouse was to have performed in Bucharest.  R.I.P.

Romanian titbits

Two thirds of Romania is given over to agriculture.

Romania has the longest growing season in Europe.

Sweetcorn is growing tall at present, and is made into Mamaliga, like polenta and originally a staple diet for the poor, but now served in with a variety of other ingredients.

If you order lemonade, it is invariably home made, and served with a straw in a half litre carafe wrapped with a serviette.

There are no recycling bins. It feels wrong putting everything in one bin.

Scumpo/scumpa is a term of affection.


Buna noapte, (good night).

Raspberris and Rhapsodies

A Perfect Romanian Raspberry.


A Perfect Romanian Rhapsody.

By George Enescu. Enjoy the images of Romania as well as the music using the following link.


http://youtu.be/e3YJ0eaESmo

Homes and Gardens,(and food)

The drive with lilacs, honeysuckle and elder, and the shaded Patio.

The cherry trees from the 1st floor balcony with a good luck charm.

View of the Orchard Garden from the balcony outside our bedroom.

The same view highlighting the apple blossom. We can see the white cross on top of the hill from our bed and it is so evocative of the area as there are crosses and small chapels dotted about the countryside.

Recent hailstones so big they hurt!

A view of the house from the orchard.

The lower branches of the walnut tree sweeping down to the gound.

Me caught unawares doing my exercises!

The garden behind here has a smallholding with all sorts of fruit and vegetables growing and small animals wandering about, including the cock which sounds like David Walliams. To the right, are raspberry and wild strawberry bushes, but I have stripped them bare now and we have eaten them as compote over ice cream.

We buy pullet eggs from a neighbour which have the yellowest yolks, and lots of people sell their produce informally at the side of the road all the way from Bucharest. A few weeks ago it was all raspberries and cherries, (there are 3 types), and more recently it has been mushrooms, apricots and extremely large melons.

I looked twice at the mushrooms as I thought that they matured in Autumn at home, but we actually had some growing in this garden, but we dare not eat them. Pickled mushrooms are on many menus in Romania, but I think that they are an acquired taste.

The cherry trees in our garden have different sizes of cherries and we have been reliably informed that there are 3 kinds, and that one of them, a small cherry to you and I is actually called Visine and we have been given a gift of a jar of jam from a colleague of Richard's whose husband spent hours stoning the visines with a copper paperclip! The resulting jam is delicious and has a sour cherry, almost Kirsch alcoholic taste, although there is another type of sour cherry. We have also eaten the yoghurts with fresh visines from our trees. Amazingly, people here do not seem familiar with black forest gateau or clafouti,  which is a shame as the cherries grow profusely and people do climb up ladders collecting them.

I must be hungry as I keep writing about food!

More later,pa pa.

Vlad The Impaler, the original Dracula story

Vlad spent his early years at The Princely Court in TARGOVISTE, the old capitol of WALLACHIA, until his father sent Vlad and his brother Radu to the Turkish Sultan in Anatolya as hostages.

After the murder of his father, Vlad Dracul (Dragon), and his elder brother Mircea, who was buried alive by Wallachian Boyars (the aristocrats 2nd in line to the Princes), Vlad returned and was enthroned in 1456. His incarceration in Turkey and his experiences of the violent death of 2 of his close family members made him a harsh ruler, with many offences punishable by death. Vlad left a golden cup by a well, and such was the fear of punishment, that it was never stolen.

THE SUNSET TOWER

At the Princely Court, Vlad had a 27 metre Watch Tower built, so that his soldiers could see any enemy attack. The building is  called the Sunset Tower as the soldiers could look all around the town at sunset and  see that all was well. Now it affords wonderful views of the town and the surrounding hills. See photos.

They say that revenge is a dish best served cold and Vlad waited 3 years for his revenge.

THE PRINCELY COURT

At Easter the Boyars were invited to bring their families to a feast at the Princely Court. When they
had drunk their fill, the Boyars were seized by Vlads Guards and impaled on stakes which were  displayed around the town, but only after Vlad had finished eating. Only a few of the fittest men escaped death, and Vlad sent them to work on Poienary Castle or Citadel situated on the north crag of the village AREFU.

Vlad is thought of as the original Dracula, and Poienary Castle as Dracula's castle. He became known as Vlad Tepes (the Impaler),

Some of the Castle or Citadel, started in 1457 is still standing and can be visted by climbing1400 steps, then crossing a wooden bridge and onwards towards 2 crumbling towers. The prism shaped tower was Vlad's residence, and although remote and difficult to attack by surprize, the Citadel was surrounded by Turks, and the Impaler's wife chose to throw herself  to the fishes rather than face the Turks. Vlad is reputed to have escaped over the mountains  on a horse with it's shoes fixed on backwards. I have not visited the Citadel, so all the photos are from the Princely Court.

The Church as seen from the Sunset Tower.

Inside the Church at the princely Court.

Views from the Sunset Tower

Part of the Court is protected by see through plastic.

The historic location attracts Wedding parties to pose for photos.

Buna seara.

Flori de Tei

Good Afternoon,

I was given a gift of 2 branches from a tree that is in flower now in Romania. Richard and I have been searching for the source of the wonderful honey scent that permeates the air whenever we go out lately, and now we know that we should have looked upwards to the tall trees whose top leaves seem to be turning over and becoming lighter in colour. The light colour comes from the small insignificant yellow flower, and now that I know the tree, I can see similar trees on the hill tops, all turning their leaves towards the sun. M has told me before that she has a tree in her garden with yellow flowers which make you calm, but I failed to guess what it was, and was looking for hypericum ( St John's Wort), or Evening Primrose,(PMT treatment). Natural remedies seem to be used a lot more in Romania than the UK.

I asked M to write the name down for me, and now know that the tree is a type of Lime, or Linden tree, and the flowers are called lime blossom in English, smelling of honey, not lime. (Check out the Jo Malone perfume.)

I have dried the flowers as insructed for 3 days in the sun between layers of newspaper, and today, I have drunk a cup of the infusion mixed with local honey from a colleague of R's whose dad has hives (bee, not the medical condition). The honey is also made from bees harvesting Linden trees, so the mixture feels v natural & approriate.  I can tell you that it tastes v good, and as it helps cure insomnia, colds, 'flu, bronchitis, mental tension, intellectual strain  digestive disorders, and contains antioxidents, I will probably drink some more.

For anyone interested, you can order the tea from the internet or watch a video of a Romanian song featuring the flowers. Watch until the end. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuvGrjxYt0Q

Stray cats & dogs

Could not get to sleep last night for howling at the moon & snoring. Not me, but village dogs (and Rich). The moon is nearly full again, and I can't help thinking of vampires. More of that later.

Before I left England, I had tetanus & hepatitus jabs, & was advised to contact a clinic to have a rabies jab, but I didn't bother as don't approach animals I don't know As soon as I arrived , I noticed the prevalence of dogs here of all shapes & sizes, and when we walk through the streets, each dog sets the next dog off barking. Most of the dogs are in gardens, but I think a lot of them are strays that have been taken in off the street.

Asking people about it, I have found out that the communist dictator, Nicolai Ceausescu demolished houses with fences and gardens in the 80's, and built tower blocks, boulevards and monuments to himself. As the apartments had very small rooms, and pets were not allowed, some people tried to keep their pets outside, but many dogs ran wild and mated with each other and undomesticated dogs (pariahs).

This has resulted in stray dogs in the thousands ; 200,000 in 2000, and up to250,000 now in Bucharest alone. A Japanese tourist was bitten and bled to death, and a woman was killed by a pack of dogs in recent times, so the Government want to solve the problem now.






The problem has recently been dealt with by 'euthanasing' the dogs, and when a daily quota of dead dogs was required, many were not given a tranquillizing shot before being strangled, or having their necks broken.

There are some organizations campaigning for sterilizition instead of killing the dogs, as the strategy has not worked because of the number of dogs, and there is even a website suggesting that holiday makers 'adopt ' a dog and take it home.

Here , in Breaza, the dogs bark a lot but seem to get used to us on our usual route to town. We have never been chased or bitten ; just 'shepherded' a couple of times. At first, I regretted not having the rabies jab , but not now .

I am still a bit worried about catching fleas from the selection of small dogs and cats that hang around the tables outside the restaurants scratching themselves, and have forbidden Rich to give them any food as they will only come back for more. Sad but true.

Woof Woof

Suicidal squirrels

We have glimpsed squirrels jumping from branch to branch across the tops of the walnut trees in our garden 2 or 3 times and they don't look grey like in the UK.

I checked on the internet and amongst other things saw a short film of Romanian red squirrels, Spring plants and people enjoying themselves in Herastrau Park. In the UK, red squirrels are extinct except in the Isle of Wight I think, as grey squirrels fare better. Survival of the fittest!

I also saw some Suicidal Squirrels! The Romanian authorities want to ban an advert on the AXN channel which is shown every day. The red squirrels are in cartoon form & commit suicide with guns, jumping out of  planes etc, in a jokey way as cartoon animals do. The problem is that the cartoons are shown on an afternoon & it is felt that the format does not match the subject matter especially as shown during the day when children might be watching. Attempts to ban the cartoons have failed so far as AXN is registered in the UK, and is out of Romanian jurisdiction.

We have hundreds of walnuts getting bigger every day, so I hope we are not overun with squirrels in the Autumn. If they stay in the trees collecting nuts;that is OK.

In June we were inundated with cherries, sweet and sour, and now we have raspberries ripening every day. I have made a few compotes with them and we have recieved a gift of sour cherry jam which is delicious. This is my second raspberry Summer. Last year it was in France at a friend's house. (You know who you are!) Next year, it will be at home, as I planted an early and a mid season raspberry bush to go with the golden bush I already have.

Talking about bushes, we have a few cats which circle round the garden surrepticiously. I don't like the marmalade cat as it captured 2 chicks and brought them in our garden to demolish them, bones and all. There were only a couple of feathers left each time. I like the other cats though, even though they sometimes surprize me in the house. I chased a dog out yesterday. I don't know which of us was the most scared.

The dogs that we pass on the way to Breaza seemed to get used to us 'til we went home and now they are getting used to us again. One of them escorted us to Richard's favourite bar last Friday and then returned home.

Woof Woof for now, going to visit some salt mines tomorrow.

Telega Mineral Baths

Telega Baths in the Prahova valley have been used by people for over a century, with a slight hiatus in the 70;s and 80's. A second bath or 'lac', has been constructed to take advantage of the waters and the region's boast of the most sunny daya in Romania.

Unfortunately, while following a sign for the second lake, we came to a dead end, (one of many), but found it on our return. The steps down to the complex were hidden from the road, and when we found them they led to a simple bridge made of planks over a dried up river bed.

When we went into the complex, I chickened out of going in the water as it looked murky and had leaves floating on it, but I have since found out that the water contains potassium chloride, ammonia, calcium,  iodine, and sulphurous mud. These constituents are apparently beneficial for rheumatics, fertility and stress. 



We decided to just have a Cafe Frappe and watch the proceedings, but no-one got in the water. We might return after asking around to check whether anyone here has been recently.

Pa pa     Anne-Marie