Romanianflyer

It's probably a typical FT thing: you have to go somewhere for work, so why not combine business with some leisure time/visiting friends while you are already on the road?

With a bit of creative planning, a trip to Ukraine and Turkey suddenly included stops as well in Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, and Sweden. Reviewing a whole bunch of European (overnight) trains and even fitting in a little MR on A3 (after TK the best intra-EU soft product on the market) to get me back on track to *G. So prepare for a whole lot of local food, cultural insights, and a few hotel reviews (ranging from shabby old communist hotels to the Intercontinental).

SUMMARY

1. Bucharest to Sighetu Marmatiei by Romanian overnight train.
2. Sighetu Marmatiei (Maramureş, Romania) and the Merry Cemetery.
2a. Exploring Sighet and the communist prison museum.
3. Crossing the border to Solotvyne, Ukraine.
4. Ukrainian overnight train to Lviv.
5. Food, drinks, and more food in Lviv.
6. Lviv to Uzhhorod by train.
7. From Uzhhorod to Budapest, Hungary - with Hungarian trains
8. One day in Budapest.
9. Budapest to Istanbul with W6 (Wizzair).
10. Istanbul.
11. Istanbul to Eskisehir by Turkish high speed train.
12. Eskisehir to Izmir by Turkish sleeper train.
13. Some days in and around Izmir.
14. Izmir (Çeşme) to Chios by ferry.
15. One day road trip around Chios.
16. Chios to Athens by ferry, Athens to Chania (Crete) by ferry.
17. A week on Crete.
18. Chania to Milan via ATH on OA Y, A3 J.
19. Lake Como & Bergamo.
20. Milan to Warsaw via ATH on A3 J/Y.
21. Two days in Warsaw.
22. Warsaw to Gdansk by Polish IC train.
23. Gdansk to Bucharest via Stockholm on Wizzair.

Romanianflyer

Part 1 - Bucharest to Sighetu Marmatiei by Romanian overnight train.
Departure: 18:00 - Arrival 07:15 (+1), in reality about an hour later. Price: 35 EUR/4-berth cabin

Springtime hasn’t yet really come to my hometown of Bucharest. The already massive, dreary looking facade of Gara de Nord and the gloomy neighbourhood around it, looked even worse in this dark weather than it normally already does. Bucharest is a mixed bag full of lovely old architecture (it’s nicknamed the Paris of the East) and a lot of (communist) ugliness. While there are a lot of hidden delights and positive surprises, darkened days like this reminded me that the city still has a long way to go to compete with cities like Budapest to increase its tourist numbers.



I arrived at the station about half an hour before departure. I bought my ticket online (for about €30 on cfrcalatori.ro) in a 4-bed compartment for the overnight journey to Sighetu Marmației. Booking online is very straightforward, and you get a 5% discount. Unfortunately, while any OTA can book your airline ticket all the way to Tahiti, the railway sector isn’t that integrated at all, and CFR only sells domestic Romanian journeys online. At the concourse of Gara de Nord, I bought a couple of cold beers and some snacks for the journey (unfortunately there is no catering on Romanian domestic trains) and boarded my train.


My train to Sighet. It shows as two separate trains on route planners, but in reality it’s one through carriage and no need to get off the train in Beclean pe Someş.



To my surprise, my assigned berth was in a shared 2-persons compartment instead of the promised 4-bed coupé. Given the much older-looking carriage, it’s either just a late equipment swap, or perhaps in general this train service uses a much older rolling stock. After all, my destination of Sighetu Marmației, right on the Ukrainian border, is about as faraway you can get in Romania, both mentally and in sheer distance, as opposed to taking an overnight to urban hubs like Timişoara or Cluj. Nonetheless, sharing with only one person beats sharing with three, and the wooden corridor of the carriage had a lovely smell of the grand ol’ days of rail travel.





The bed was already made when I boarded the train, a tad early at just 18:00 in my opinion! My compartment mate was an older man from Maramureş (the northernmost, most traditional province of Romania where I would be heading). And the horror: he had an unmarked plastic bottle with a clear substance with him. Those knowing Eastern Europe probably knows where this story goes to, but for the uninitiated: a clear substance in an unmarked/coca cola bottle isn’t water, it’s homemade alcohol. The Hungarians call it Palinka, the Serbians Rakija, the Romanians Țuică. Basically, it’s a distillate from plums/grapes whatever else people have at their homes, and the good stuff is at least 50% proof. So instead of sipping two beers at a relaxed pace while crossing the Carpathian mountains to Braşov, one of the bigger intermediary stops, before I knew it I was sipping the hard stuff while talking to my new friend. At least it made sleeping a lot easier! The bed was soft and comfy enough for sure, only the temperature was way to high!


That’s no water, but something of at least 50% higher in alcohol...!


Crossing the Carpathian mountains in between Ploieşti and Braşov

Somehow, even with the alcohol and balmy temperatures I still managed to get a decent 3-4 hours of sleep. I woke up with the rolling hills of Maramureş out of my train window. It’s the biggest reason why I love old-fashioned rail transport. You go to sleep, but wake up in completely different surroundings. And while I do love my view from an airplane window, you get a better grasp of your destination from the train. Half an hour before arrival, the train seemed to stop every five minutes so local school kids from rural areas could board the attached 2nd class carriages on their way to Sighet to high school! A lovely sight in the morning, and the contrast between the active kids and me and my hangover couldn’t be bigger. Mercifully, the fresh air from an open window and the lovely foggy landscapes, soon made me fully awake. With about an hour delay (the average for Romania, no surprise here!), our train rolled into the train station of Sighetu Marmației.

wubwubwub

I didn't expect to see another TR involving rail travel to Lviv and Uzhhorod on here...

Great start! Looking forward to the rest.

AvidFlyer1990

Beautiful scenery. Love the pictures. Is this Romanian countryside?

Romanianflyer

Thanks, wubwubwub!

There has been a trip report about Uzhhorod before?

I can imagine Lviv given its increased popularity (what a change in crowds since my last visit 5 years back!), but the whole Transcarpathia region is perhaps one of the least travelled regions in all of Europe!

Romanianflyer

Thanks, AvidFlyer1990, it is lovely indeed!

The pictures are taken somewhere betwern Vişeu de Sus and Sighetu Marmației. Unfortunately, the most spectacular landscapes I passed in the dark (the bit between Beclean pe Someş and Vişeu de Sus).

PAX_fips

Subscribed.

Can't wait to see the Crete part, my mother was living west of Chania for some years (early 90s), likely very different today.

Romanianflyer

Part 2 – Sighetu Marmației and the Merry Cemetery
Hotel: Vila Royal, €25 per night incl. Breakfast

It was still early in the morning when my train pulled into the little station of Sighetu Marmației (locals often shorten the town name to just Sighet). After a short 10 minute walk, I found my hotel, conveniently located just at the edge of the central square above a small café. While the reception desk didn’t expect me this early (I originally planned to take a later train, but as it only had seats available and no beds, I was forced to go for the earlier train), they were very accommodating at this early hour. They put me into an other room than originally planned, and granted me early check-in. Score! I would be OK with leaving my luggage and going out to explore town and drinking a coffee, but a little nap and a refreshing shower were much welcomed!




My room at Vila Royal, and a view over the town centre.

The room was perfectly acceptable, a comfy bed, clean, and even a nice view over the town centre. Very good value for money, and it being a provincial outpost, it’s about the general standard for accommodation you can find in the area. After the nap/shower, I went out for a coffee and pastry, and I was ready for an afternoon of sightseeing!

For a bit of background information, Maramures is known as being the most traditional part of Romania. A rich folk culture, a traditional countryside where many people still work with scythes and horse carriages, and a gorgeous scenery ranging from rolling hills to beautiful mountains. Last summer, I already explored the eastern part of the region, doing some hikes around Borşa, and taking the famous Mocănița steam train. In this part, the sights would be more cultural: some monasteries and a museum or two.





First and second picture: lovely scenery on a hike around Borşa. Third picture: relaxing at a swimming pool in Vişeu de Sus. Fourth picture: the Mocănița steam train, originally used for transporting wood/woodcutters up the river valley.

Alas, enough pictures from last summer, back to now: the plan for today was to visit the Merry Cemetery in the nearby town of Săpânța, just 20km or so out of Sighet. As there is no public transport as to speak of besides long distance buses, the only options are renting a car, negotiating a taxi for an hour or two, or hitchhiking. The latter option, which I chose, is more easy and common than it sounds. Many local people do it, and pick up hitchhikers, in rural Romanian areas. It’s a kind of informal public transport system. Sometimes they expect you to pay a small fee (5 lei, around €1), but many a local easily will drive you along for free, flatly refusing any money. Within 5 minutes of waiting at the main road of town, on driver was willing to take me to the village for a few lei.

The Merry Cemetery is famous throughout Romania for it’s beautifully painted and decorates crosses, a prime example of traditional folk art which makes Maramures such a special place. Each cross depicts and tells the story of the deceased: their profession, family and things that were dear to them. It’s a lovely place to stroll around for a while! Also in town, is a nice wooden monastery to visit.

After spending an hour or two in the small village, I walked back to the main road and got myself a ride back to Sighet in just a minute. The talkative driver wouldn’t accept any money for the ride on dropping me off!


The main road running through Săpânța. Note the horse-drawn carriage, still fairly common for the more faraway rural parts of Romania.



The merry cemetery. Note for example the details of the 2nd picture: the cross on the right belongs to a man who worked as a carpenter!

Romanianflyer

Part 2a – Exploring Sighet and the communist prison museum.

After returning to Sighet, I immediately went to one of the museums in town with dark rainclouds quickly approaching the town. Sighet has a surprisingly big number of interesting museums for a town its size: an open-air village museum, an ethnographical museum, the birth house of holocaust survivor and Nobel prize winner Elie Wiesel (the town used to have a sizeable Jewish population). But arguably by far the most important museum is the Sighet Prison.

The full name of the museum is “the memorial of the victims of communism”, and it’s housed in what was the most notorious prison for Romanian dissidents. Due to the faraway location, many of the top politicians and cultural leaders were taken here. Conditions were brutal, torture was common, and most victims never got out of their cells alive and died by the hands of their communist captors.


The former prison/museum on the left side of the street. Looks like an ordinary building from the front, but the back garden has huge walls and a guard tower still intact.


One of the prison cells, this one belonged to Iuliu Maniu, former Romanian Prime Minister. He died in this same cell, on this same bed.


Each cell has a different exhibition, ranging from as diverse topics like the life of certain high profile prisoners, to anti-communist resistance or oppression of literature under communism. While texts are mostly in Romanian, each cell has leaflets in English, French and German detailing what is on show in each exhibition.


In the garden, is a monument with the names of all victims of Sighet prison, as well as the entrance to this underground monument remembering those who were brutally murdered.

After spending an hour or two in the museum, and the rain showers slowly making place for a bit of sun, it was time for a late afternoon walk along town. Sighet is not big, but it’s an important regional centre. By the looks of the stately architecture of some of the older buildings, it immediately becomes clear it already was when the Austro-Hungarians used to rule in Madamureş. In those days, it wasn’t a faraway border town as it is now, as also the whole of south-western Ukraine belonged to the Emperor!







Getting hungry from the long day, I opted for a dinner at the café below my hotel. Some OK bean soup with smoked pork meat, a forgettable main dish, a draft beer, and a delicious lava cake and coffee for dessert didn’t cost me more than 7 euro. It took a while for them to serve the lava cake, but as it was piping hot and smelled absolutely fresh, it probably was only prepared from scratch when I ordered it! The taste of it surely made up for the long wait!





After finishing the yummy cake and the overall satisfying meal, I called it a night. The next day would see a full day of sightseeing too, as well as crossing the border into Ukraine and another overnight train journey.

Fredrik74

Interesting trip from a part of Europe I've never been. Looking forward to the rest.

offerendum

Indeed, thanks for sharing^

wubwubwub

Not sure if there's been one yet, but I'll be in Transcarpathia later this month and I'm planning to write a report.

offerendum

Go for it^

Romanianflyer

I was lucky enough myself to call Chania home for a year, albeit much more recently than the 1990s!

It's a lovely island with so much to see, do and eat. Certainly in Spring or Autumn it's always a pleasure to return!

Romanianflyer

Part 3 – Bârsana monastery, and crossing the border into Ukraine

The plan of today was simple: do a bit of sightseeing in the morning, have lunch in Sighet, cross the border over the river Tisza into Ukraine, and take the overnight train to Lviv. Romania and Ukraine share a long border, and have some historical links. The Ukrainian part of Bukovina (around Chernivtsi) and parts south of Odessa used to be Romanian territory. Even before that, when all belonged to the Austrian-Hungarian empire, the whole region was a big melting pot. But a world war and Stalin’s pen changed all this. When not driving, fixed transport links are non-existent between Romania and Ukraine. There are no direct flights, and only recently the Bucharest to Kyiv train was reinstated (crossing the border between Suceava and Chernivtsi), albeit its once-a-week frequency is a far cry from what used to be a daily Bucharest-Kyiv-Moscow service!

The connection I will make today, is the other direct passenger rail link between both countries. But as you have to cross the border between Sighetu Marmației and Solotvyna on the Ukrainian site on foot, it won’t show up if you try to look for train timetables online. But as the distance between the two border stations is just a short walk, it’s a great, easy connection if you know about it! (Because of this, online timetables like bahn.de will route you through either Hungary or Moldova instead, which not only takes longer but is far more expensive!)

But before crossing the border, there is still some sightseeing to do! My hotel had a tasty breakfast included in the café downstairs (choosing from different set menus), and soon I was ready to depart for nearby Bârsana. As I was travelling with a small duffel bag only, I checked out, took my bag, and walked to the main road to hitchhike again. While the ride yesterday to the Merry Cemetery was pretty straightforward (2 villages to the West on the main road), this destination required me to take a side road after a few kilometres south on the main road. Knowing that most cars would bypass this completely, I wrote my destination on an A4 page, and stood along the road with it for a few minutes until a car going in the same direction stopped. A middle aged couple took me into their car, apologising they had to stop for five minutes first at a supermarket on the outskirts of town. Of course, I didn’t mind at all, getting a ride this fast (again they refused any payment).

I was dropped off just outside the village of Bârsana at the local monastery complex. Besides the scenery, folk culture and the UNESCO-listed Merry Cemetery, Maramureş is famous for its wooden monasteries (also on the World Heritage list). Bârsana, located in a lush, verdant valley, is probably the most beautiful and well-known of those monasteries.











I walked around the complex at a leisurely pace, and relaxed for a while on this lovely day in the shade under the roof of the monastery well, drinking a few glasses of its “holy water”, which was refreshing at least on this warm day! The ride back to Sighet was much more straightforward, knowing that almost all traffic would be heading there. Again in a matter of minutes, I had a ride, this time by a construction worker in his white van.

Back in Sighet, I headed to a restaurant I walked by the day before which looked promising for lunch. Restaurant Rustic (Tineretului) has a traditional village-style interior, so I thought it might be a good place for hearty Romanian fare. Knowing that I wouldn’t have a real dinner being in an overnight train, I ordered both goulash (traditionally a rich, paprika-based soup full of potatoes, meat etc., and NOT a meal as you often see outside of Hungary!) and a tocăniță (a heavy Romanian stew, with paprika, garlic, a lot of different meats and of course polenta). I opted for an half-litre carafe of a very decent local red to wash it all away.







The goulash was phenomenal. Among the best I’ve tried! Perhaps it’s thanks to the sizeable Hungarian minority in this region. The tocăniță was very good as well, and I was more stuffed than a French foie gras goose when I walked away. The costs for the huge dinner including wine? Less than 7 euro. Maramureş is really good value! With a happy face after the dinner, I walked back towards the train station, crossed the railway track, and walked a few hundred metres more to the Romanian border post. I was across in just a few minutes, no questions asked or bags searched.





The Tisza river forms the border here between Romania and Ukraine. I secretly managed to snap a few shots in no-mans land of the bridge without getting noticed and thrown into the gulag. Just one or two cars and a handful of locals were trying to cross, it felt a bit like a backwater border that never gets busy at all.





The Ukrainian side of the border had a more Soviet mentality towards hospitality than the friendly Romanian border guards. I was shouted at by an officer before I even arrived at passport control that I was walking on the wrong side of the road. Apparently crossing the road to the right was not satisfactory enough, no, I had to walk all the way back to the bridgehead and start my walk on Ukrainian soil again on the right side of the road. At least the lady who checked my passport was marginally nicer, only shouting out a few questions what I was going to do in Ukraine. But after about ten minutes, I managed to get across!


Hello Transcarpathia! (Zakarpatia in Ukrainian)


Town names in multiple languages? Very common in this multi-ethnic part of Europe! Although as I have written earlier, before the last world war and communism, it was a much bigger melting pot than it nowadays is.

I exchanged some Romanian lei to Ukrainian Hryvna for a good rate with a moneychanger hanging around the border, and bought a two litre plastic bottle of a very tasty homemade wine an old gypsy lady was selling for one euro. From the border at the banks of the river to the village centre, it was a leisurely ten minute walk uphill. Definitely this place feels like a calm little village compared to the already calm town of Sighet across the river! As I still had three hours before the departure of my train, I bought some supplies for the ride at a local supermarket, and sat down for a beer at what seemed to be the village square. Costs of a pint of beer? A measly thirty eurocents. Welcome to small-town Ukraine!







Solotvyna seemed like a town where nothing much happens. While the pub I sat down was completely full with locals inside, the few outdoor seats next to the dusty road were completely empty. At times an old Lada, or an expensive SUV with foreign license plates would drive by. In such corners, only the smugglers and those with a family abroad make any real money, I thought. To my surprise, a couple that sat down at the table next to me spoke English instead of Ukrainian, and I ended up drinking a few pints with a lovely Irish couple who just went across the border for a quick look at their Romanian holiday! I would never expect to meet any other traveller here, but ended up having a great little talk until the Irish couple had to go back downhill to Romania. It was a sign that also for me it was time to say goodbye to the cheap pints, and walk slowly towards the train station for my overnight train to Lviv.