Budapest(Hungary) to Cluj-Napoca(Romania)

Distance : 472 km by bus
Departure : 06/02/09 at 14:00
Arrival : 06/02/09 at 23:00

To get from Budapest to Cluj was a long way but, lucky, this time Orangeways allowed us to use the toilet ! From the gara to the house we had to take a taxi (wich is a common thing in Romania but less usual for us!) and we had a turn around Cluj: big city, more attractive with a daily light than in night time.

Razvan, our hoster, lives with his mother and the granmother, all the family is acquainted with languages, botanic stuff and...they know how to cook the best Romanian food that we ever had!

The first day was sunny, we could enjoy a walk in the forest and met Kristina. In the evening we had a creative party with other couchsurfers: a warm welcome for the travellers! All the people were making some handicrafts because Razvan and Kristina are preparing a second Homemade Fair in April... You can get more information about it on Razvan blog, really nice project !

We spent almost all the time of our days in Cluj at home. Ana, the granmother, thought us how to make socks, how to cook some Romanian stuff and, when I was sick, she took care of me only like a grandmother is able to do it.

We could also record her talking about her life:an oral history interview about a migrant's life who moved from Latvia to Germany and settled in Romania, between the Second World War and the communist dictaturship...really interesting and impressive.

Graziana, her doughter, is also an amazing woman. Before our leave they made us a beautiful present - a card with poems and a language book for learning Romanian...really kind of them!

Thanks for your hospitality...we will never forget it!!!

During these 7 days in Cluj, we met also David (brother of Elias, the Rohr family) and Szende. On our first night with Razvan he said "Yes! I know David and he will be there tomorrow night!" ... things like this can happen!
Everything was connected and inevitable ... Vale's camera arrived at David house (Olivier sent it from Austria to Romania and also another parcel with chocolate,merci!!!!!) and at last we recovered it!

We were planning to move to Sighisoara, a medieval town located 100km from Cluj, but Vale stayed 2 days in bed with a strong fever ... after that We could reach David in Apold, a small village 15 km away from Sighisoara.

A piece of story...