Francois_Dumas Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 Regular visitors will remember last years reports of our (yearly) trip to Romania ( http://travel.silvercloudpublishing.com/viewtopic.php?t=125 ) It wasn't as HOT as last year, but my PDA was still overheating again. Not such a big problem, as Romania is STILL not included in the European charting material of TomTom (Navteq). Actually, it is still not 'European' in a whole number of other aspects either (but more on that in separate stories later on). Here's a few pictures of our trip east.... Approaching our day 1 destination, a hotel in Altlengbach where we've been staying the night for more than 25 years. The Austrian highways were not very busy this time, even though a LOT of Romanians and Bulgarians are 'transferring' cars to their 'customers'. Hey Larry, look! We found electrical wires !!! *grin* Oh yes, and windmills...... Fast forward to day Two...... a country road in Hungary. We usually take some backroads to avoid the main border crossing and its truck traffic. The last 350 km's of our trip are on two-lane roads, unfortunately. We suffered an even worse traffic jam in Romania than last year. Cost us over half an hour to get across the railroad crossings, and past this red light just after the town of Arad. This is the last directive the GPS will provide us..... there is only ONE road listed in Romania....... the main road leading from Hungary to Bucharest. So much for modern technology. Mind you, after more than 30 years and not much changing, we don't really need the GPS..... Some things however DO change ! There are more and more shops 'coming to town'..... and even this (French?) hypermarket that opened last year. For the first time in history our relatives can visit a real supermarket without having to travel to The West...... Of course the cars out front still include many an old Dacia 1300 (license-built Renault 12's from the 70's)..... And prices of the products are on Western Level...... asked who the blazes could afford such prices, we were explained that people spend just about their entire income on food when shopping here..... !!! (Average monthly income is still some 200 Euros). Nina's brother Florin with a real shopping cart !! Some more modern, albeit small, cars in the huge parking lot. In France such a parking would be full! Here you can race your BMW in it on a busy day! The road back into town. This is also Romania's main artery road connecting it to the West !!! When Ceaucescu had the road built it was pure propaganda.... there were no cars to drive on it..... that has changed now What still has NOT changed is the railroad crossing behind our in-laws' house..... they DID put new barriers and lights up, but they still aren't automatically activated. And for decades Romanians open their car doors at any sign of waiting for anything...... The reason we went to Romania NOW is because it is orthodox Easter........ Here's a picture Nina took in the old town center. A remnant of the communist era.... the 'People's House'.... some sort of theatre, now turned into a restaurant and other things. The ugly 70's housing blocks across the street are nowadays 'coloured' by publicity boards. And here's the street of Nina's fathers home with the rail yard in the background. Next...... the yearly BBQ in the Backyard !!! Link to comment
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