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