Travels

So this week I decided at the last minute to head off, and what an adventure it turned out to be =D I visited Bucharest, Cluj, Brasov, Rasnov and Sigisoara!

I have realized in my blog that I have not spent much time actually discussing Romania. So this week I will discuss a little of this beautiful country.

1) She's BIG, 238,391 Km squared to be exact. Compare this to my bonny Isle of  8,4421 Km squared. Last week I hitched down the length of her from Bella Baia Mare all the way to Bucharest. (The equivalent of going from Malin head to Mizen head). According to Google maps this trip takes just under 8 hours by car, 12 by train. Hitching took us about 11 hours. Not bad eah? And on the way we met so many interesting people who told us alot of Romania! However the style of driving had me saying my prayers in my head!

2) She has awesome food! OK so your not going to get a cup of Barry's or a carvery to save your life but the Romanian cuisine has alot to offer!  There are many delicious dishes such as Sarmale, which is cabbage leaves stuffed with pork and rich # yummy! Mamiliga is also pretty damn good here too (once you get over the yellow meal prejudice that seems to be part of the Irish national memory) it accompanies delicious stews and can have smantana (sour cream) mixed through- noom! And the pastries... a very dangerous area for me because they are DELICIOUS! One of which is Covrigi, it's a bread pretzel but here in Romania its stuffed with chocolate or jam or vanilla cream. There are also delicacies such as Papanasi, which is deep fat fried dough served with jam and beautiful smantana. Moving swiftly on as I am beginning to get hungry!

3) Language.... Many people have been asking how I am coping with the language barrier that is Romanian. And I seem to be coping just fine! Romanian is a Latin language so has close links with Italian, Spanish and  French. If you have learnt one of these in the past it is a huge help in understanding what is going. However I am often completely lost and this is when my acting skills come in handy =D

4) Landscapes - They are beautiful and have huge extremes and variety. Mountains , lakes and beautiful countryside. And let's not forget the architecture, it's beautiful , elegant and colorful in places and then strong and imposing and colorless
in other places!

I'm all out of comparisons and hungry! So that's all for this week!