La Perla 2 Timisoara

... By Dec 25, the dictator, Ceausescu, and his wife, were executed after an unsuccessful attempt to flee the country. <br><br>I felt the city could be the poor cousin of Barcelona, because both of them have strangely designed but beautiful buildings, but almost all of them in Timisoara badly need painting and maintenance. They are concentrated around 3 squares in the old town, so a leisurely stroll is the ...

... have. I felt persecuted and oppressed, pushed against the wall. <br><br>The train ride was around eleven hours and overnight, so I got up and went in search of another berth. I found a berth inhabited by only an old woman and a young girl. Martin and I moved to that berth and remained there overnight. We communicated some with the girl ...

... at about 5pm and after finding the Pensione (not pre-booked) we drove into the town. Timisoara has some lovely buildings, parks and two main squares. Our favourite building was the Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral with its ornate roof and spires. We found a nice outdoor restaurant in the main square, which had old treadle sewing machines as tables, and had a lovely Romanian pork ragout (goulash) with polenta for dinner.

Im in Timisoara the second city in World to start using street lights ..... take a guess at the year?.................. I dont know either . late 1800's. What a true wonderful experience the last 24 hours. I have been staying with a Romanian , Dana. She speaks perfect English and cooks even better. She has made me traditional dishes : rice and pork wrapped in grape leaves topped with yogurt and dill 2) spinach sauce with two eggs ...

Nos despedimos de Belgrado para volver a Timisoara y desde allí coger el avión de vuelta a Valencia. Tras la huella del Danubio: El sol se oculta detrás de los frondosos bosques rumanos, el tren silba, los raíles chirrían y dejamos algo más que nuestra estancia en Belgrado. Cada regreso es una armónica melancólica, cada vuelta a casa es una nube de nostalgia. La imagen de la capital serbia al cerrar los ojos. Al acabar un viaje se empieza uno en la antesala del subconsciente.

Llegamos sobre las 3 de la madrugada al aeropuerto de Timisoara. Allí cogemos un taxi para ir a la estación de tren, donde tenemos que coger el tren hacia Belgrado. Después de los 17 euros que nos sabla el taxista, cambiamos algo de dinero rumano (RON) para poder comprar los billetes. Esperamos dos horas en el hall de la estación con algunos indigentes rumanos. A las 6 de la madrugada sale nuestro tren.

We spent a typical European day in the university border town of Timisoara. The town square is absolutely beautiful - one of the nicest we have seen. The opera house is showing My Fair Lady in a few days, and I am so sad we won´t be able to see it! The 1989 revolution started here, and you can still feel a bit of the revolutionary spirit walking through the town. After a yummy lunch in the square, we took a self-guided walking tour to see the famous buildings ...

... We only know how to go. Slowing down is just not an option." What really bums me out (besides waiting to die each time a truck passes within inches) is that we have been on two different highways that are being repaved (with EU support)....but without any sort of shoulder, meaning that all other users must share the 10 foot space with heavy traffic, only the improved surface allows traffic ...

... werent turning as fast, prob to do with the beers and also a restless nights sleep. I seemed to have set up my tent next to some Hungarians who decided it was time to party till around 3am, argh. In the morning we took a wrong turn and thought we had done quite a few extra km's, but when we caught up with the group it actually only was around 2km, that didnt sound too bad... We cycled with the "Tandem Train", Jos and John and Liz (from NZ) and made sure to stop ...

... Hungary, which now has a much stronger economy than Romania as a result (as witnessed by the four lane highways that greeted us over the border). We arrived at our hotel in Budapest at 7:00 and had a very relaxed dinner at 8:30, with bottles of tasty Hungarian wine flowing at each table. We're looking foward to a relaxed day in Budapest tomorrow with relatively little time spent in the bus, but hopefully some more memorable music making with new friends in a local choir. - TL