Day Twenty-Six (Hódmezővásárhely to Timişoara) Daily Distance: 131.68 kms
Day Twenty-Seven (Timişoara to Bela Crkva) Daily Distance: 124.72 kms
Total Distance: 2472.51 kms
(First, I’d like to give a big shout-out to all the kids of LZ15 at Mission Heights Primary School. Some of you may have seen their message of goodwill and encouragement posted in response to a previous blog, 2000kms = Civic Reception. From the four of us, a big "thanks and hello” from Serbia. If I get time in the next few days I will even try to answer all of your questions!)
As we departed ‘Hod’ the landscape became very flat and wide, with less dense surrounds and more expansive agriculture. It didn’t take us long to pass Makó and reach the Hungarian-Romanian border, the first at which we had to stop and present passports (even though both countries are part of the European Union). After crossing into Romania, the first new country for me on this trip, we had a short nasty period into the wind before we turned in a more favourable direction, towards Timişoara.
The Grocer went to work just before midday and we found some park benches to have lunch on while the locals gawked at us. We’ve received strange looks from many people since we left Vienna, when the long-distance cyclists dried up at an even quicker rate than did the land, but this is the first country where every single person has properly looked us up and down, much like a top fashion critic would a catwalk star. It’s actually been quite pleasant having school kids cheer at us and wave us by. After all, they are the only Romanians that seem allowed to smile. Perhaps there isn’t much to smile about: the countryside gave the impression that Romania is a poor country, with many rundown buildings, dry crops curiously un-harvested and rubbish spread absolutely everywhere, while the clothes of many were old and tattered, the cars few and far between – and more often than not with German license plates, the dogs thin, aggressive and seemingly unhappy, and the bikes grey and rusted.
 |
| Romian 'Countryside' |
Understandably, much of that changed when we reached the large city of Timişoara which seems to be adapting for tourists: we stayed in a large modern hotel overlooking a wonderful main square. But still the sense that it is an underprivileged nation remained, and was reinforced when we had a tasteless, plain, small dinner in a prominent, central restaurant (the disappointment was probably magnified due to the stark contrast with Hungarian food, our newfound love).
We had more of the same rubbish-lined highways today as we headed due-south from Timişoara, although there is something so special about sharing the roads with donkeys, cows, stray dogs and the odd horse and cart:
Mid-morning there was a disagreement about whether to stay on the main road, which was noisy and busy (Dan), or divert to the smaller roads which were quieter but longer (the rest of us), so we split into two and I agreed to accompany Dan on the shorter route. We met up for lunch after Dan and I enjoyed a 40-minute longer break than Jim and Alan, who arrived quite tired having spent their morning on rocky unsealed roads.
The afternoon seemed to go on and on, and even once we reached the milestone of the Romanian-Serbian border (the second - and last - new country for me on this trip), the roads seemingly became longer, straighter, and less interesting after we passed several towns, all quite far from one another, before reaching our destination, Bela Crkva. While distances in the record book do not agree, this was by FAR the longest and most trying day of the trip given wind, gradient, traffic and tediousness. Therefore, it wasn’t good news when we discovered that the one hotel in town was bordered up, although we eventually found a bed at a rundown lakeside resort that was like a ghost town (it is presumably very busy in peak season), which thankfully included a staff member willing to whip up a meal slightly better than the previously mentioned Romanian experience.
Tomorrow we head back into Romania. Here’s hoping for less rubbish, more smiles, and definitely more donkeys.
No comments:
Post a Comment