More Romania, Hungary and into Slovakia


The campsite at Carta where we stayed 24th/25th May even had artwork in the toilets!



On Friday 25th May we went north and passed through Sighisoara, the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler more commonly known as Dracula. We saw this interesting church in town and also got hassled by two local urchins - very third world.

 
In common with many parts of eastern and central europe there are many storks nests to be seen in towns and villages - bringers of good luck? We spent the night of Friday 25th May in a motel car park near Reghin, Romania. No charge - parking is free round here.


On Saturday 26th May we continued north to close to the Ukranian border. We passed through some very poor areas - it seems washing machines (and womens' rights?) are a pretty low priority round here.


There were roadworks going on interminably and lots of enormous potholes.



Haymaking was going on - the haystacks are interestingly shaped.



We spent the night of Saturday 26th May on some wasteground by a river near Barsana in north west Romania.



On Sunday 27th May we visited the orthodox monastry at Barsana, north west Romania - it was like something out of a disney theme park with a semi open air mass going on - very atmospheric!



From Barsana we drove west along the Ukranian border which takes the form of a river.



Later we stopped at an amazing graveyard were every grave had a picture of the deceased and a humourus verse about the person buried beneath.



Finally we crossed into Hungary and spent the night in the swimming pool car park in the town of Mateszalka.



On Monday 28th May we moved on to the Bukk Hills between Miskolc and Eger.


We found a nice campsite in the beech woods and lit a fire!


On Tuesday 29th May we visited Eger. A nice little town but not a real wow! Here's a view from the castle battlements. Apparently the water here has medicinal qualities - hope so as we filled up a bottle. Eger is home to Egri Bikaver wine - often referred to as Bull's Blood.


Eger cathedral is in my opinion a bit over the top. I think they call this style "Baroque". We spent last night in a layby at Mataterrenye, northern Hungary.


Today Wednesday 30th May we changed our plans and instead of travelling west to the Danube Bend north of Budapest we instead travelled north out of Hungary and into Slovakia where the country became more and more hilly as we headed for the High Tatra mountains on the Slovakian/Polish border.



This afternoon we arrived at the foot of the Tatra and  got some tantalising glimpses of the high peaks through the clouds.



We are staying to night at this campsite with mountain views (clouds permitting) at Tatranska Lomnica in Slovakia. There is a german van which you can see beyond ours. Otherwise no other campers yet though there is a hotel on site which seems to have a few Czech guests.

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