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Friday, October 14, 2011

A Ride in the Romanian Hills

We spent last night in Sighisoara, about 70 miles to the northwest of Brasov.  We left around 10 am and spent most of the day in the car.

Our route took us about 70 miles Northwest to Gheorgheni. We did stop along that part of the trip at a gypsy flea market and found a lot of good merchandise.  I bought a great pastry filled with cream cheese and raisins, guide Eduoard bought a nice winter coat.

The chainsaws looked interesting, as did the many tools on display.
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The boyfriend of the lady wearing these boots bought a chainsaw.  If I had known he was going to do that, I might not have taken as many pictures of her as I did.
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We visited an Armenian Catholic Church at Gheorgheni dating from 1733 where I took this picture of a ceiling fresco.
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The road east from Gheorgheni to Bicaz is only about 40 miles but takes a long time as it is one of the most scenic routes I have been on, especially during this time of fall color.  I put up a Youtube video of part of the trip.  You will see a horse-drawn hay wagon, quite a few vendors along the side of the road and a lot of beautiful scenery if you play it.


This route has been mapped by Google StreetView.  If you want to see more of the area, just enter "Gheorgheni, Romania" in Google and click on the map entry that appears.  Request directions to "Bicaz, Romania".  Drag the little man over onto the blue line and look around.  The Google StreetView truck appears to have gone through in winter.

Just beyond Bicaz is a large dam that forms a very pretty lake, with the shoreline also bathed in fall color.

We ended up driving about another hundred miles from Bicaz to end up at Gura Humorului where we will spend the next couple of days.  This is the Moldavian area of Romania and home of many more gypsies.

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