The Lonely Planet says that for many tourists the Black Sea is Bulgaria, and for us on this trip, that is what it is, as we are really just using it to transit to Romania. But what a pleasant surprise. Joanna’s memories of Bulgaria from 32 years ago were not very good, and although much of the package deal tourist development seems somewhat uncontrolled, the general atmosphere is much more harmonious and positive AND it is so cheap. We have just dined out sumptuously, including a very pleasant bottle of local Cabernet Sauvignon for NZ$24 or 10 pounds, a half litre of beer in a cafe for NZ$1.5. Then we had trouble getting the waitress to take a tip – not that we want to encourage these terrible western customs. 
Much of the Black Sea coast is given over to the dreaded package deal industry,but it is not hard to get away from it. We are camped once again on the seaside of a beautiful dune-backed beach, not unlike the best of our own Coromandel beaches in NZ.
We crossed the border from Turkey close to the Black Sea coast. We only discovered later that the border has recently reopened. The last 50 kms through Turkey on a fine new highway, into Bulgaria with 2 narrow lanes, potholes and grass growing in the cracks in the tarmac. It seems EU money has yet to make it to these parts of the country. Horse and cart still seem to be the predominant transport (apart from the odd late model Audi or Mercedes). We bumped along for the next 60kms (about 2 hours), reflecting on the perceived lack of development of Turkey, and realising that it really is a country on the move. Finally settled for the night on the seafront in Burgas – probably more noted for its prominence as a port, but in our usual tinny way we found a great park – by the sea, loads of restaurants and unfortunately several night clubs that raged well into the night. However we have managed to keep up our habit of several swims a day, and to keep the tan topped up.
We thought we had a language issue in Turkey (by the end we knew quite a few words and could get by a bit),well in Bulgaria we still don’t know how to say thank you. It is quite isolating when you can’t even exchange pleasantries. The worst thing is that Bulgarians nod their head for No and shake it for Yes. It has affected us a couple of times when David asked about parking overnight and if we could take a chair in a cafe. It is most disconcerting when they smile encouragingly and shake their head!
Next morning in Burgas we discovered we had free internet access via the restaurant next door, so spent most of morning swimming and updating blogs. It was then that we discovered the cheap restaurants and the wonderful deep fried Black Sea anchovies – Yum! And the beer at NZ$1.5 for a half litre – David is a happy boy. 
Time to head north onto Nesebar – a bit of culture with lots of old churches and Ottoman houses on a little presque isle. A pleasant respite from the over whelming tourist industry of nearby Sunny Beach. Spent the night in a carpark overlooking the old town, quiet and cool – at long last the temperatures are dropping a bit and we feel a bit chilly when it gets below 30 degrees. Finally we can get under the duvet for part of the night and even have a cuddle.
Travelled north from Nesebar through Sunny Beach – certainly not our style of holiday resort although can understand the appeal to those on a short holiday in the sun. 
They say that there is room on the 7km beach for 30 000 bums and hotel spaces for 100 000 – I suppose the rest are recovering from hangovers. We are totally used to beaches lined with permanent umbrellas now, but still too stingy to pay and carry our own. The restaurants here all offer full English breakfasts, Sunday roasts, set menus with a desert option of ice cream or beer, etc. Although we have not heard much English spoken.
Meandered our way on up the coast with mixed feelings. Enjoyed some spots such as Obzor, where we had a swim and more anchovies. We are beginning to realise that how much we enjoy a place is often dependent how easily we find a park (although if we relied on that theory we should HATE Istanbul – and we loved it). The next 50kms north is given to the package industry -not good for Camper vans, so we moved through as fast as we could. But now here we are in a place we don’t even know the name of and are blown away. I think there is a touch of homesickness here as we look at the dunes and the maram grass. If had a few spare millions I would buy the lot and turn it into a little bit of NZ on the other side of the world.
Woke up to a big change in the weather with rain and overcast skies and a drop in temperature.
Crossed into Romania and the first section of our four part tour of this interesting country – the Black sea coast with a look at the tourist beach sights just across the border Saturn, Venus, Neptune etc some are run down and none very tempting but the weather didn’t help. However we headed west on the motorway to Bucharest, crossing the low plains of the Danube, stopping overnight at a parking/petrol station/cafe rest area, always good value (ie free with a toilet etc) for us. You probably think we are obsessed with toilets – well you are right. Although we have one of our own, it does need to be emptied every now and then. One of the unusual sights in Romania are the stray dogs (officially ‘community dogs’), they are everywhere, luckily they are mostly well behaved and not aggressive but a very strange thing to allow.
Bucharest was a drive around to see the ex dictator’s palace apparently the second largest building in the world after the Pentagon! Great boulevards, ugly modern apartments, classic old buildings, quite a mix. Managed to get halfway up a one way street and beat a retreat with a 4 point turn! That was enough for Joanna.
So we headed north for part two of the Romanian tour- the mountains of Transylvannia to yet another drop in temperature. It is hard to believe how much things have changed for us in 2 days – rain, temperature,culture from middle east to Europe. 
Castle country and quaint, little Saxon houses. It is such a land of contrasts. There are people in the fields cutting the hay with a scythe,turning with a fork then loading on the horse and cart as late-model smart cars roar past them.
A night in Sinaia- a ski resort and home to a monastery and a couple of palaces – not especially old, when you think of much of what we have been looking at lately, but great spectacles and the Peles castle home to the first Romanian king with a decor from every different fashion, was well worth the visit.
This is a mountain resort with ski lifts in the centre of town and for us the change in temperature was hard to get used to – bracing to say the least. Next day on to Bran Castle – the so-called Dracula’s castle – older and plainer than Peles but an interesting stop.
Overnight in the streets of Brasov, an important town with some fine Saxon period buildings and a surprise a free Opera in the Square evening. This was very well presented in a sound shell with excellent sound and lighting and seating,We sat at a restaurant on the square and enjoyed a good meal while listening to many of the popular classics that we hear at Opera in the Park in Auckland. Had to move in the morning when knocking on the van told us that they wanted our parking space.
Campsites are an issue for us here – mostly because there are very few.
What the Romanians call camping, is rows of little wooden cabins usually under the trees,often run down and/or deserted and with facilities that could be described as “non-English.” We cope well for a few days with no services but every now and then we need to fill up/empty out. Romania has an abundance of mountain springs where we can fill up with fresh water, but the emptying out is more of a problem – say no more, except thank goodness for motorway toilet blocks.
Headed west to Sibiu, past numerous Saxon villages with gypsy women in traditional garb. Sibiu is another important Transylvanian town , with a huge main square pedestrian malls and Saxon period buildings all scrubbed up to look impressive. The rows of little Saxon houses(or big in the case of Sibiu) look like something out of a fairytale. They line the side of the road with no gaps but only a barn door for access teo their yard or alley. Thank goodness they have survived the spartan Communist era, even if sometimes surrounded by enormous concrete apartment blocks. We got an excellent park close to the old town, did a walking tour of the town, expertly guided by Joanna and managed to discover a few of the local culinary delights – sesame covered bread rings (like simits in Turkey) and deep fried pastry things stuffed full of cheese. Yum! We got all sorts of advice on good routes to take to visit interesting villages and went on to spend much of the afternoon on a wild goosechase on lousy roads. 
Stopped and planned our own route, but then the map let us down and finished up on a narrow farm track, where turning around became a major issue. All very grumpy stuff at 6.30 at night and 1 hour of light left. However careful spotting of a campsite sign at the side of the road led us to the wonderful haven we are in now – Camping Richas. It is run by a Dutch couple who have restored an old farmhouse and 
accompanying outhouses etc and recently opened a campsite 
with all the amenities that Western Europeans enjoy –including a brand new washing machine with all the instructions in English. Much needed after 10 days of free camping. Bliss. The simple joys of life on the road. They have done it very well. On the surface it looks like an old, rustic farmyard, slightly tumble down, but behind closed doors there are wonderful, modern amenities. Next morning we were taken to the top of the bell tower of the village church by a couple of local kids who then treated us to a session on the bells, while we were still up there (our ears are still ringing!)
The local speciality is fortified churches – we visited one at Beirtan which was interesting but decided one was enough, and lunch at the medieval town of Sighasoara was more appealing. We would be hopeless on tours – they get to see about 6 churches in a day. We are happier wandering or driving round the countryside and villages absorbing the atmosphere.The countryside is very very pleasant with fields divided up into strips, mountain passes with forests, and villages. Crossing mountain passes from Transylvannia in the centre to Moldavia in the north-east, we stopped to buy mushrooms and berries. Cooked up a big feast of fungi of all shapes and sizes for lunch. It was delicious, disappointingly had no after effects, and luckily found ourselves alive the next day!
North to part three, the tour the Monastery section in Moldavia with most buildings dating from the 15th century. ( This makes us sound very organised, with part 3 of our tour, but in truth, we are usually only planned about one day ahead.) We selected three of the many there to visit – Humor, Voronet and Moldovita. They all comprise a special, rather appealing building with extensive frescoes on the outside and all over the interior with lots of graphic depictions of the horrible death of martyrs, sword, fire. boil, hang……, and the usual biblical themes inside. 
They are beautiful buildings in their own right with very pleasant settings, Moldovita an impressive fortified wall. We stopped our monastery visits at these three, as there starts to become a sameness after a while. As in Transylvannia, horses and carts are everywhere (lucky for the horses the carts are on pneumatic tyres), we gave up taking photographs after a dozen or so. They are a regular item of transport and now its haymaking time some are piled high with hay (previously hand raked and turned) then hung out to dry on little wooden racks before becoming little round, rather classic, haystacks.
The people here appear to manage a self-sufficient lifestyle – a cow in every yard, brilliant vegetable gardens. In fact shops have been hard to find and supermarkets non-existent in these northern parts of Romania, because they all produce their own. Strip farming (I remember learning about at school) is still practised here. But interestingly, we have noticed the same people who are forking over the hay in the fields have a car parked down below, or the people that turn out of their yard in a horse and cart, have a late-model car parked in the same yard. Who knows? We don’t!
Onto Maramures, part 4, an isolated, rural area, that seems to almost stopped in time.
In fact it is a mix of old and new now, with the older people living the simple, peasant life while the younger ones,who still seem to be around, drive fast noisy cars and are starting to build modern,brightly –painted houses. However it is not hard to get away from it all and feel like you have gone back a hundred years. Traditional garb is still the norm here, even leggings with little leather slippers on their feet. Amazing! There is little or no concession to tourism, so sometimes a bit difficult to make your way around. Would love to have taken more photos of people, but it seems so intrusive – so we missed some treasures like the old guy on the hay laden horse and cart texting, and the old lady spinning sitting at her front gate.
We did visit a fine new (1995) monastery at Bersana and on a fete day (14 Sept) with locals wandering in for a service al
l dressed in traditional garb. Thence the most visited sight in the area – the Merry Cemetery at Sapanta. The headstones (wooden in fact) have a picture depicting the profession or craft of the deceased with a text in the first person describing their life etc. David had one of his random, rare super high temperature turns during the night and imagined the possible picture and text on his grave if he didn't survive the night – but he did. 
We camped just up the road in a peaceful country setting with horses and carts, sheep, cows etc passing along the road in the evening and again in the morn0ing, not to forget the best Romanian dinner, overlooking a sparking stream. Joanna frets that she looks like Hilda out of Coronation Street, but otherwise a lovely spot and a great meal.
EU funding has not made its way into improving Romanian roads- they are by far the worst we have encountered and make many of the rural journeys at an average of about 30km an hour. Luckily the scenery is engrossing and keeps us well occupied, if only we can hang onto our seats as we rock and roll plus swerve to avoid potholes. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in Romania, the spectacular and varied scenery and the unhurried, gentle lifestyle. It seems a shame that it all is starting to change, but you can’t really blame them for wanting to live in modern houses and use more efficient, farming machinery. On to Hungary – let’s hope the roads are better.
