Part IV: Viseu de Sus, the Mocăniţa steam train and the overnight stay at a special “Train Hotel”
After a lovely day in the mountains it was time to head back to Viseu de Sus for the 2nd part of my trip. The 32 kilometres hitchhiking went by easily. Within 5 minutes waiting alongside the road at Borșa Complex I had a ride to Borșa proper.
For the 2nd ride I teamed up with a young student from Cluj whom the driver of the first ride also picked up. We were dropped off by the first driver on the Western outskirts of Borșa as he had reached his own house.
We waited for ten minutes until an empty bus stopped by to pick us up. The bus driver had to drive the bus back empty to Cluj and was in a very chatty mood – and lucky enough for the student it meant a free ride all the way back home. I had a good laugh driving along for some ten kilometres until a junction at a petrol station where the road out of Borșa diverged into one road going to Viseu de Sus and another South to Cluj. Luckily, after five minutes more waiting another car picked me up for the final stretch into Viseu de Sus. I didn't mind at all that this driver wanted a bit of money for it (10 RON, 2.17 EUR).
I had long doubted what accommodation to book in Viseu de Sus – which is to Romanians most famous because of a historic steam train that operates from the town, more on that later.
Maramureș is as far from SPG or Hilton territory as one probably can get in Europe. Hotels here are mostly family-run pensions, with a handful of bigger independent three or four stars hotels scattered around the region.
A quick search online turned up two options worth considering:
La Cassa pension, which seemed to be a lovely pension more akin to a small boutique hotel (47 EUR/night), and the
Mirage Resort just outside the town at 36 EUR/night.
In the end, I decided however on a third option when
I read about a few old railway carriages at the local railway yards of the steam train which were converted into a hotel on wheels.
While obviously not as luxurious/comfy as a proper hotel room, it was the most unique option by a mile and I thought it was somewhat fun as this way it would mean I would sleep three nights in a row in a train! The price was great too, just 17 EUR for a private compartment including breakfast. A package including accommodation, breakfast and a ride on the steam train costs 40 EUR, but since I already took a ride on the same train two years ago I opted out for that as I had made other plans already.
The streets of Viseu de Sus – the town centre looks like a typical town you would find in Maramures/Transylvania, which has some Austrian-Hungarian influences in its architecture due to this part of Romania belonging to the Habsburg Empire for a long time.
The train hotel from the outside. It is located in the middle of the railway yards of the steam train. But as that train is narrow gauge, and this is normal European broad gauge – they needed to lay a few feet of rails especially for this train hotel.
The train carriages were built in Czechoslovakia in the 1950s/1960s (I forgot the exact year) and it is being run by a lovely Swiss woman who decided to start the hotel with her husband. She has amazing stories about the train, Romania and Switzerland, as well as about life in the local community and the at times difficult and plain weird laws which restaurant/hotel business in the country have to adhere to.
My private compartment. While it was a bit hot during the day, it was OK with the window open when fresh air can run through it (no aircon unfortunately). Toilets are at the end of each carriages, as well as in a separate unit built next to the train, where you can also find showers. Basically, it feels a bit like being at a camp ground!
The bed was perfectly comfortable and I had a good night of sleep.
As I wrote before, the train stands at a railway yard for the Mocăniţa steam train. This narrow gauge railway runs up in the valley of the River Vaser, which flows into the Viseu River at Viseu de Sus. It was built in the 1930s, primarily for the forestry industry in transporting workers up the valley to cut down trees, and to transport the trees back to the sawmill at Viseu.
The word Mocăniţa is derived from the Romanian word mocan, which means shepherd or one who lives in the mountains. It is suffixed as feminine and diminutive in keeping as part of a naming tradition and to indicate the small size of the locomotives.
As I wrote before, I did not go on a ride this time as I did it already two years ago. It is however highly recommended to do so, and I would love to come back for it once in winter or autumn as the scenery is completely different - as can be seen in the gorgeous video below (not mine!).
Some pictures from two years ago:
Back to the current trip: I had a little siesta for an hour in my compartment and afterwards went out in the town for dinner. As the Pension La Cassa which I named before had glowing reviews for its on-site restaurant, I went there.
While it is located in the middle of some 5-floor apartment blocks, it is a lovely old pension which is gorgeously decorated. Outside, it had a small patio as well as some tables scattered around the garden. Unfortunately, this evening they were all occupied or reserved (hotel guests have priority to reserve these), so I took a spot indoors.
The garden of La Cassa – note how few tables there are, privacy is just great! If I would return with a girl – this would be the obvious place to stay overnight/have dinner.
Service was very attentive and friendly. I was surprised that they gave every guest some on the house canapés – which is uncommon in Romania to do so as opposed to eg. a country like Greece, where on the house desserts and some “raki” or “tsikoudia” are a common feature. The canapes were some traditional bread, cheeses, onions and a shot of “tuica”, the traditional Romanian plum brandy which is more often called “palinka” here due to Hungarian influences. Strong stuff at 50 percent alcohol, but goes great with the onions and cheese.
For my main, I had some veal cut. Which came in a huuuuuuge portion (there can't be enough u's in huuuuge to describe it) as there were some 3 or 4 cuts buried underneath tons of thin-cut fries, grilled bread, bacon and some vegetables/salad. It was a great and hearty meal, but I couldn't finish it all. I washed it away with a pint of not-so-Romanian Holsten Weizen.
No matter how full your stomach is, there is always place for a dessert. The chocolate brownie with an iced coffee hit the spot.
And the nice thing? A half litre of lemonade (which I drank before I ordered any food), the on-the-house canapés, a beer, a main, a dessert and an ice coffee did not cost me more than 10 EUR. Given the lovely service I would certainly come back the next day for lunch to try out one of the outdoor spots!
Happily I went back to the train hotel, where I ordered a beer and read a bit more from my book. The train hotel also has a restaurant – but as I would already have breakfast here, I did not test it out for lunch or dinner. The sunset views were gorgeous from the compound.
The lovely Swiss hostess informed me that when she would close the dining car, she would lit up the two fire baskets in the grass next to the train. These were great seating areas surrounded by bean bags perfect for lounging.
I ordered another beer and moved into one of the bean bags. Other guests did too, and it made for a nice evening socializing with some French tourists, who were making a trip across Romania after attending a French-Romanian wedding of one of their friends in Cluj. Great people to have a talk with, as they were not the kind of “I'm a French snob and I refuse to speak English” kind of persons but very worldly lovely types of people.
After a couple of more beers, it was time to call it a night and retreat to my compartment.
Next up, Part V: A day relaxing at the swimming pool and some more food in Viseu de Sus