I was trying to clean up my Gmail account and came across this 15 year old email. In 2009 I went back to Crete to visit Irapetra, a place I spent 3 months in, back in 1971 before I went overland to India.
After Greece I travelled to Serbia by train and spent some time with friends. I wrote this email after I got to western Romania.
Letter from Romania
Well, I am sitting in Hotel Roma in Timisoura, Romania on the western part of this country. Somehow it is now November 9, 2009 and I am starting to think of what I can accomplish in the next 3 weeks.
First of all, after an exceptional time on the Greek Islands I have been so very lucky to fall into the hands of some beautiful friends and families in Serbia and Romania… that makes travel so much better to have the people who love their countries and proud of them to show them off to you.
Serbia is one big memory of eating very good, Marko driving his family VW Passat very European style through the narrow streets of Smerdervo with Euro music blasting and a series of meet ups with his friends at cafes. Marko brought me to a great pizza party with about 10 of his friends, all spoke English and it was evident they all had very good educations. It was so nice seeing Valentina again…. I learned plenty about Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia, Croates, Roms and the American (NATO) bombing of Serbia 10 years ago. It was especially disturbing to see videos of the attack on the same train I rode from Greece to Belgrad which killed children from Albania.
Right now it seems all is calm there now and they are focusing on economic development and hanging in cafes….
Marko arranged to have me catch a van from a local town, across the border to Timisoura, Romania. The van had about 5 passengers and we stopped along the way and the driver bought me a cup of coffee. Most people seem to like New York City from all the TV and movies they see. The normal cable channels are available, Animal Planet, Discovery, Travel Channel… with local subtitles.
I was delivered to the Hotel Roma which is right next to the dorms at the Polytechnical University with its 20,000 students. Alex showed up between classes and gave me a big bear hug. He said to me, I can not believe that you are actually here in my country… I have a tough time with that concept myself.
Romania is different than Serbia. It had a revolution 20 years ago and ended it’s history of communism and it is now in the EU and signs of economic development are all over. plenty of new big stores which have been built in the suburbs and there is building all over. They have not had the wars Serbia has been having.
The land here is very similar to NYS, they do have flat agricultural land and some small hills and some great mountain ranges. One thing I noticed was the very far-out Gypsy homes which have been built. It is hard to describe. they are very large with roofs with decorations and plenty of bling… there are also some gypsy villages which are poor and ugly.
the first nite I got here Alex brought me to several of the large squares in town. the buildings are a mixture of old world Europe, Austrian Hungarian and ugly block Communist construction. They have an opera house here and I hope to see an opera on wed. nite.
so Alex and Laurentiu and some of their friends had dinner on the square. i was very surprised to find a live band, singers and a group of traditional dancers. Dinner was excellent, wine, sausages, polenta and pork and some other meats I am not too sure of…..
On Friday, we loaded up Alex’s car, a Dacia made in Romania, and headed to Alex and Laurentiu’s home town of Hateg (Hatseg). Along the way we visited Castelul Corvinilor (The Castle of the Corvin family). this was a very old place set in a valley where the communists built steel plants which are no longer in use. There must have been 100 plus very large smoke stacks there… a very strange site.
We had some great times in Hateg with both families… I played Larry’s guitar (Johnny Cash) and Laurentiu’s dad played the accordion and everybody sang. We all had dinner one nite, and I asked what the Romanian national anthem sounded like. They all sang it and began to stand up…. a beautiful moment.
I got to see the first capitol of the Romans, which I felt was a better place than Knossis Palace on Crete. I have a video of Alex doing a victory run in the ampitheatre there.you can find in my Romanian pixs.
We went up into the Carpathians Mountains and saw one of the largest damns in Europe. Alex’s dad is in charge of the Hydroelectric plant there and I was given the opportunity to go into the mountain tunnel to see how the water is converted into electrical power and generates enough power for 2 million customers. it was amazing.
I was shown some churches which dated back 1,000 years and I said some prayers for all of you, especially Abigail.
I have a problem…. it seems everywhere I go I am given a bottle of wine and a bottle of raki…. my bags are starting to get very heavy….hehehehe
Last night we came back to Timisoura…
I have my heavy coat in the event it gets cold again. It is actually very nice now, but not sure about the next town I will go to in eastern Romania. I hope to arrive there on Friday.
Sorry this was so long, but I have been doing plenty of things and wanted you to know I am safe, eating well and still have money…..
love to all and hugs.
Robert
Robert John Simpson
helderweb2000@gmail.com
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