Trip to Transylvania 2015 29.09.15 Departure Billund via Budapest. Arrival Cluj 16.15 Picked up by Radu, a friend of Tavi and Magor. Young handsome lawyer within crime cases. He got a hard ride, with us in the backseats in his Golf, asking hundreds of questions. After a short ride, we arrived Tavi and Magor´s home, Strada Traian 26, Cluj. Radu introduced us to their beautiful home and garden with the river and fruit yard and shortly after Magor arrived from his live TV show on medias influence on the general opinions of the migration situation in Europe right now. Now evening and after a glass of Romanian wine/elderflower we decided to walk downtown to a restaurant. On our way to and fro we were introduced to the many churches, squares, official buildings etc. Back home quite late, we were served more specialties, fine wine, Rose (night and day) and Palinka - not to mention the splendid coffee freshly brewed. Magor is a very good inspiring storyteller and very knowledgeable, which means we got an enormous amount of information and knowledge about their jobs, family, interests, story of Romania and living in Romania. Very, very interesting.
Not being aware of time, suddenly Tavi arrived home from work. It was 2-3 am! So good to see him again, and he even had brought some sweet Romania magnets as a gift for us. Before we went to our luxury suite to sleep, we were offered to borrow their 4x4 for the next couple of days. Tavi and Magor had had an enormous tight schedule the last month, regarding work and restoring their new home, and were still in a tight schedule. Nevertheless they managed to organize everything for us in perfection. We felt like very honored guests and so familiar. Late, late sleep....
Tavi and Magor are both two young, handsome, organized, intelligent and successful men. They are in harmony, though a lot of logistic has to be handled, while we are there, and they are multitasking most of the time, without seeming stressful. There is nothing like problems, only challenges, a lot of laughter and happiness. They are swopping between serving us, job tasks and cooking, cleaning etc. in between, without much talk about who does what. Like a floating process, which seems so easy for them? I am impressed!
30.09.15 Around 9 o'clock we hear doors sliding silently, a little noise from the kitchen and when we get up, a wonderful breakfast is ready for us. The night before Magor had ordered fresh farm milk for us, which was brought to the door early morning. Tavi had been early at the market to buy fresh products, tomatoes, fresh cheese, fruits, walnuts and cake (reminding of Danish wienerbrot, without being as fat). Also a lot of fresh bread. On top of this I get Tavi’s homemade yoghurt, made from the fresh milk. Reminded me so much of my childhood. Very, very delicious. Can you believe it - they even did not, usually, have breakfast themselves. On top of this everything was arranged very neat and delicately. Everything was very tasteful.
Wish we could have this at home every day. (Forgot to taste the red tea. I wonder if it was rooibos tea. )
Tavi is working on a plan for our ride and order in advance the hotel in Sighisuari for us. We have decided to go for the old medieval villages in Transylvania, most Saxon. The sun is now shining from a blue, blue sky, and Tavi puts out the pleasant hammock for us, enjoying the garden before departure. Furthermore he organizes a GPS from a friend for us.
Magor prepares a speech/welcoming for the new students, talks on the phone, swipes floors etc. and entertain us in between. Tavi also needed to pass a test via internet in between all the other jobs he is doing for us. Finally we are ready to leave and explore Transylvania further amount 2 o'clock pm We start getting wrongly out of town as I am called from my Danish insurance and not alert to assist Helge. We put on some petrol. We were shown a route which showed to be a very slow route. Villages lay like pearls on a string with slow traffic. Nevertheless it gave us a very good impression of life here in contrast to the city. It seemed like a lot of people live in a pocket of time, where nothing had changed for decades. Near Targu Mures we took a shortcut to Sighisuari as time was running. We see a lot of hills, fertile fields and green nature. Very beautiful. Around 7 pm we arrive to the hotel by the river, and get a nice room, though no view, as it is a loft room. We take a look at the swimming and spa facilities, which look very attempting, but we need to go downtown to find some dinner (Tavi's breakfast - though huge - is now
consumed)
We meet a girl in a shop who recommends us a restaurant downtown, Alte Post, not at the citadel, she says. It is better there and even much cheaper. She even recommended certain dishes to order. Chicken with mushrooms and a special Saxon salad. It was a nice old restaurant. We went to the cellar with raw original arches and bricks. Lovely setting.
01.10.15 As there was not time to climb uphill to see the old village we had to do that as the first thing in the morning after breakfast. The breakfast could not at all compete with breakfast ala Strada Traian 26 :-)
Helge's legs had some challenges climbing all the stairs in the amazing Sighisuari. What a cozy well remained city. The old walls, wooden stairs, towers, churches, cafes etc..and on top a sunny day. We rested with a cup of coffee and climbed down 3 hours later to continue to a small village Biertan. Here we went directly up the wooden stairs to the fortified church. It was under restoration and closed, but we saw all from outside - and the view from here. Walking down, the museum shop had opened, and suddenly we had our German language refreshed with the Ladies there. A short visit. Realizing that we now did not have time for both Sibiu and Viscri as recommended by Tavi, we had to make a decision. We chose Sibiu, which we enjoyed a lot, but we don’t know, of course, what we missed in Viscri ( the property of Prince Charles ).The drive to Sibiu was a delight, mountains, green fields, fruit and wine farms, very picturesque. We parked at a hotel, where we got a cup of coffee and an apple tort. The servant was kind and gave us directions to the old city and the Astra Museum. We noticed again a city with a big population of youngsters, like Cluj. And, of course, this also showed to be a university city. Lots of well-dressed people walking on their way to the square. Later we found out there was a ceremony for the start of a new year at the university. Military music and singing and speech by a professor looking like Santa Claus �
We succeeded to see most parts of the old city here and headed the Astra Museum.
Amazing old coffins, boxes for various purposes, money, clothes, weddings, tools etc. All of this is familiar to us, as we have had the very same traditions here and people like to collect these and display them in their houses.
Nice setting for a wedding
Almost dark now and 169 km to Cluj. We hurried as much as possible, but again we realized that we via the GPS were following an older route and also perhaps a slower route than necessary. Helge was chocked a couple of times by the traffic culture. We had some extreme passers. We returned before midnight however, where Magor welcomed us.
A delicate cheese and wine dish was already prepared for us. On top he started to make us a lovely salad mix with tuna. Very successful, and I had the privilege to get his recipe. Must try to copy it back home.
This evening we also had the pleasure to meet a Ph.D. student of Magor. Again we refreshed our German and on top of that the life in Switzerland, as he also had stayed and worked there. As Tavi had a special full day arrangement for us the following day I went to bed not too late. Helge stayed up much longer. Good red wine and lot of talking.....also this night Tavi was late back from his flights.
02.10.15 Again Tavi has visited the market early morning. He is very busy at the stove. He is making another surprise: Omelet with fresh spinach leaves. We are presented a huge healthy and fresh breakfast. Farm milk, 2 new kinds of fresh cheese, more fruit, tomatoes and cucumbers, bread, pastry and coffee. . He had bought a new type of cake, made of ?? Very good. I ate far too much, must start a diet ďż˝ Enjoyed the sunny garden again and Radu arrived to join us and to be the driver of the day. Nice to see him
again.
Took pictures of the garden and house before leaving. Saw Tavi´s toy in the garage. A huge BMW motorbike. He loves rolling on this, which he has learnt from his grandfather. They have a very good sense of decorating, minimalistic AND personal with art made by Tavi.
Very attractive home, but difficult to catch it right on pictures. The main door is framed by roses and in front of the houses there are many various roses. Some of the old English ones with the lovely fragrance. In nighttime the garden is fully lightened up and you can hear the river floating below.
Tavi multitasking……
Ready to go to the old salt mines, Salina Turda. We arrive to a flat area between the hills and a parking area and nothing else but an entrance building. From here we walk through long tunnels underground and all is salt. Floors, walls, ceilings.
We enter an escalator bringing us more than 120 meters underground. But before this you were able to look down the whole way from top to bottom. Amazing sight, but also a little scary.
We learn about the way the mine has been functioning, about the poor horses, about the morning prayer, and notice, not at least, the impressing carving, which has made the most beautiful patterns and various greyscale color combinations. Inside the cave it is artistically lightened up and modern installations of an arena, bridge, boat riding etc. Having overcome my phobias, claustrophobia, height/ depth phobia, I thanked no to a boat riding, without safety west in the very bottom of the cave. Pls. forgive me, Tavi. Did not want to end panicking!
Getting back we had to wait for the escalator and Tavi and I chose to take the stairs. My God, it felt like never ending, but we made it to first stock. Radu made the second stock in much less than the estimated 6 minutes. Well done. Hereafter we took a walk all way round the wooden gallery with the view all way down to the bottom. Prayed for a solid wood. Up in open air again we took a coffee and fruit break at one of the many stalls, before heading the Rimitera heritage.
In Rimitera Tavi had arranged a meal at his colleague’s grandmother/mother's house. The area was a typical Hungarian community, with neat white and green houses and lots of flowers surrounding the houses. In the background a majestic mountain.
The grandmother had prepared a meal with 3 dishes. We were welcomed in her neat dining room with a plum drink - or was it cherry? For the meal various homemade syrups could be chosen. First a mild Hungarian wedge soup with flour balls, hereafter mashed potatoes and gullasch and finally lovely homemade cinnamon cakes (snails). It was overwhelming. A pity that we could not communicate with her directly and express our gratitude. Such a sweet lady!
Before leaving we were introduced to the rental area, where they housed tourists from everywhere. It was like a little refugee with opportunity to relax, walk the mountains and experience old style Hungarian lifestyle.
From here Tavi and Radu brought us to a viewpoint with a Hungarian restaurant and huge nice garden. We enjoyed the mountains here glittered by the last sunbeams - and a coffee.
Now it was time for heading Cluj (Tavi with wet shoes and Radu with high speed). On our way back we had to drive to the side because of sirens. It was a heavy transport and from where? Windmills from Vestas, Denmark Tavi had invited friends to their home this night too. Magor and Tavi have lots of friends and a special group of these meet every Sunday to socialize. Today is Friday so everybody is not showing up. Magor is having training with his new students Friday to Saturday. But he manages to pop up anyhow later in the evening. And leaves early again next morning, when we still are sleeping. 03.10.15 Saturday morning and our departing day. Who is in the kitchen? Tavi, of course. What are you cooking, Tavi? A surprise, he says. We get a meal, we have never tried before, even not anything similar. And we love it! A mousse / salad made from eggplants/aubergine and spring onions stirred in a homemade mayonnaise. This is not a dish, you can make without preparations, as the eggplants have to be grilled carefully, peeled and frozen on beforehand. Tavi promises me to help me with the recipe when I have done the eggplants one day. We pack our suitcases; Radu helps us with paying for extra-large handbags at WizzAir, where the measures don't correspond to Ryan Air.
Magor has left behind fine wooden gifts for us, a carved spoon and turned ball pen.
Also Magor and Tavi is going to have installed their fiber internet this morning, which Radu also is assisting. To our pleasure he will join Tavi and us on sightseeing in Cluj by foot. We start on the northern side of the river, where we climb several stairs to the hill and park with a gorgeous view of Cluj. From here Tavi and Radu points out several important buildings. The new price awarded stadium, the various universities, churches, library, etc.
Radu is called from Andrea that his students all have passed! He has been their assistant so that was great news. After a coffee we cross the river and walk along the park. We see the Casino and the many couples being married.
Continue to the old part, the wall, library, administration building of the university, a beautiful church, a square with statue for heroes and dog show that day and and take a break with cake and homemade chocolate from Francisca?? Excellent!
Now the legs are tired and we are walking the last heavy steps back home. Heavy because we know we are going to leave this wonderful country and not at least the incredible inspiring and loving people here. Took some last photos of the house inside
We are brought to the AirPort about 4 pm and Tavi and Radu keep staying there until we are through all security procedures. The last goodbye. In the AirPort I buy myself a neat hand painted egg. Unfortunately we could not bring Palinka or good Romanian wine. Next destination is Budapest. A short flight, a bus and a Metro and we arrive to Ferentic Square directly, where our apartment is situated. It shows to be the most central place in Budapest.
After having got instructions for the apartment with many key combinations and some cash payment, we walk down to the river and along this. Beautiful sight with all the illuminated buildings on both shores.
After having enjoyed the atmosphere here we chose a restaurant at Marriott’s Hotel. We have a well prepared Hungarian rump and after our coffee we walk in the cozy Streets before hitting the sack. What a day! 04.10.15 We pack our stuff again and leave it in the apartment. Walk directly out into the street and enjoy a breakfast at restaurant Pio. We take a long walk, crossing the white bridge and back again. Unfortunately we had too little time for a city bus ride. We will do that next time!
At 1 pm we have to start the return to the AirPort and leave Budapest. A very short visit, but convinced we have to return soon again.
Dear Taavi and Magor Thank you so much for making this possible for us! If not we had been on our way to South Africa, and if not we had made a detour to Zanzibar, and if not you had gone to Zanzibar at the same time, and if not you had recommended a visit so insisting, we would never have had seen this lovely country of yours. We thank you so much for your overwhelming hospitality and for giving us such good experiences. We have definitely not been there for the last time, and we shall recommend for everyone. Friendships crossing borders are indeed stimulating. Much of love and hugs from Helge and Bodil