Dino'S Eforie

... from Germany in a 30-year-old East-German mobility cart.  He told me how the engine had blown up 100 km outside of Bucharest and wıth the help of a local farmer had disassembled the 50cc engine and removed the cylinder and piston.  

With the offending parts in hand Sebastian had taken the bus into Bucharest, found a mechanic who had given him the new parts, driven him the 100km back to his disabled, disabled-mobility cart ...

12th June

Golden Sands (Bulgaria) to Constanta (Romania)

Sunny periods 29 degrees

We left Golden Sands and travelled north to Constanta. The drive was fairly easy as we passed huge fields of barley, corn and sunflower (must be stunning when flowering). We also passed some new wind farms. We crossed the border with a little difficulty as they scrutinised our car paperwork but finally let us continue. We arrived in Constanta without a ...

... when we got there we discovered it was closed for renovations so we just walked around it and checked out the exterior. It was really interesting and I really would have liked to have seen the rest of it.

Not far from that fortified church is another one in Prejmer. This one was open and the woman selling entrance tickets was very helpful. After Ally and I had explored the inner fortifications and the church we were about to leave when she ...

... went by and we boarded the bus. I was the only 'foreign' one on board, the rest were either turks or gypsies. Once the bus took off everybody lit up their cigarettes and started smoking. I couldn't wait for this trip to be over with. Had our passports checked at my first Passport Control and then we were over the border into Bulgaria.

... the 80s heavy metal phase and corny made-in-China hippy fashion and accessories. We had fun here, though we were somewhat baffled by Mihnea's amazing stamina which enabled him and his girlfriend to party till 5am, while we had to make a shameful retreat around 2:30am on both nights. The beach itself was a nice place to sleep away the fatigue from the previous night though.

... out and blow it up, so we had a nice dinner and I hit the rack early. We did get some mititei, which is my favorite Romanian food...little lamb, pork and beef sausages with no skins, grilled over an open flame. German sausage pales in comparison. Starting to drag a little now...something like 11 cities in 15 days... The Black Sea is beautiful and the resorts are ...

... to the boarder. On the Bulgarian side we were controlled once. On the Turkish side we were controlled... 3 times. The gypsies gave us a wagon of cigarettes for each of us, in order to help to get them through the boarder. Continuing our "friendship" mission, we agreed to do that. I paid 10 Euros for a Turkish visa - a stamp that would let me stay in the country for a month, and when it was well after 1 am, the coach moved forward. At 6 am we were already in Istanbul there...

... things into words, and this bloody hangover isn't exactly helping, so I'll give this a go. Think back to an experience which turly stirred your blood, which caused you to question and reflect upon everything you ever thought you believed, which offered some precious clarity and clairvoyance into the massive web of life found in this world, your place in it, and at the moment of climax, the feint whisper of a better tomorrow and a better future. Deep ****, I know. But I ...

Well, there isn't much to say about Romania. There also wasn't much for us to do. So what we did end up doing is just headed to the beach on the Black Sea, and snap a photo or two. Constanta was kinda odd, it seemed like it was trying to fit into the rest of Europe, but wasn't doing too good of a job at it.

... places we visited. It is quite amazing inside, with enormous ballrooms and lavish conference rooms. All the materials used in the construction of the palace are from Romania. It sounds like the entire country contributed. The curtains were embroidered by nuns in monastaries, the wood was supplied by Romanian loggers. A law was passed during the construction of the palace that nobody could use or buy Romanian marble, as it was all to ...