Part V: A day relaxing at the swimming pool and some more food in Viseu de Sus
I woke up after a good night of sleep to another gorgeous day. I had a shower and stroll around the railway yards before I went to the restaurant carriage for breakfast. At the time when I was walking around (9.30am on a Sunday), hundreds of day trippers were already arriving to hop on one of the many steam train rides up the valley.
There are two such great lounge areas around fire baskets at the hotel train.
The railway yards are very much still working, and you can clearly see that besides the big tourist steam train operation, there is also a thriving wood/sawmill industry. Of course, for transporting cut trees back down the valley, they use mostly diesel locomotives as the steam locomotives are mostly left for the tourists.
When I arrived at the dining car, most of the breakfast spread had already been devoured by other hungry guests or was taken away, even though they said breakfast would run until 10am.
It turned out however that they were not expecting me, as all guests besides me were hopping on one of the steam trains included in the package. I did not opt for such a package as two years ago I already went on the same train.
When the lovely Swiss lady who runs the hotel train turned up, she quickly apologised and asked if I would like an omelet and how I would want to have it cooked. She also offered me a coffee, and asked if I would want anything else as she would then put it back for me. I can't really fault her for the minor mistake, the staff during the entire stay were great. She quickly went back into the galley to prepare my eggs. Coupled with some homemade buns it was a good start of the day. Eating inside a dining wagon always has a certain charm.
I thanked the hosts for their great care during the nights' stay and we spend some 20 minutes more talking about the great history of the train and the differences in culture between Switzerland and Romania. Being myself someone from Western Europe who made the unusual step to move Eastwards, these are always entertaining discussions with lots of recognisable soundbites (both the reasons why we love our adopted country so much, and the things we would like to see improved!).
No steam train for me today, no mountain hiking for me today. The last weeks of work were killing and besides one day in the mountains I could also use one day doing absolutely nothing. Luckily, I knew the perfect place for it.
I walked about half an hour out of the town to the grounds of the
Mirage Resort which I already mentioned earlier. Next to it, there is a lovely swimming pool with gorgeous views over the green Maramures hills.
Walking though the town to the swimming pool. If you look clearly, you can see some disused railway tracks here (parallel to the Viseu de Sus-Borsa provincial road on which I was walking).
How a typical Maramures village looks like
As I was one of the first to arrive when the pool opened, I managed to secure a chair and umbrella directly overlooking the pool and hills.
The next hours were a perfect combination of reading, swimming, sunbathing and getting a few beers from the on-site bar/restaurant (very decently priced at around 1.20 EUR for 0.4L).
I guess these legs are mine... 
After a couple of hours at the pool (and a beer or two) it was time for lunch. And what better place to go to than yesterday's garden at
La Cassa?
Complimentary starter, some bread, countryside style cheese (they could have left out the salad leave..) and some raw onion. Which might seem odd to some, but it goes great with the shot of potent plum brandy (50-60 percent alcohol) being served with it.
A decent German Weizen, paired with what are perhaps the most traditional Romanian dishes. Pictures is sarmale – cabbage rolls filled with minced meat. In Turkey or Serbia they would call it sarma, in Georgia or Armenia tolma, in Greece dolmades. You kinda get to the point I want to make here: lots of shared culinary influences in this part of Europe!
Although where eg. in Armenia or Greece you find them more often made with vine leaves (and quite often stuffed with rice only), in Romania it's cabbage leaves and meat.
On the side is some mamaliga (the Italians and the world know it as polenta – what potatoes are for the Dutch and Germans, mamaliga is the staple for Romanians!) and some sour cream which is a must to accompany both mamaliga and sarmale.
A very nicely executed Romanian classic.
A cheesecake with fresh berries and a coffee to finish the meal.
Again I thoroughly enjoyed the restaurant at La Cassa. If you don't stay here overnight (I very much liked the hotel train, but if going as a couple I would for sure prefer La Cassa judging by the ratings/pictures) – then at least go here once for lunch or dinner. The portions are huge, the location is beautiful (both indoors and in the garden), the service is great, the food is as good as traditional Romanian cuisine can get, and the prices are great (I paid less than 10 EUR for all of it combined).
I stayed on for another beer in the garden and finished a bit of work on my laptop (fast internet and plugs) – and afterwards decided to walk back the 4 miles from Viseu de Sus to Viseu de Jos to catch the evening train back to Bucharest.
A typical Maramures style wooden church somewhere halfway between the two Viseus
Crossing another abandoned railway track.. I just love pictures such as this one of places where it was perhaps 20 years ago when a train passed by the last time..
After saying good day (buna ziua) to some men standing next to a fence alongside the provincial road in a village, one of them invited me into his garden to see his woodcutting skills and to make some pictures of it. Which is what I did! Good old village life, where locals are just genuinely friendly and proud.
Passing by the local cemetery..
And in time for my train back, which departed right at the moment as the sun was about to set. It would make for some fantastic pics of the train crossing the small mountain pass between Maramures and Transylvania proper. More on that tomorrow!
Next up, Part VI: The train(s) back to Bucharest and perhaps the best scenery from the window to date