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Our three weeks in Mosna went by too quickly. Teodore and I communicated in broken English, pantomime and the very few words of French that I spoke. He learned Russian during the Communist Era (had no choice - all Romanians were required to learn Russian), French and German before and now had his little English primer.
Behind their house was a carefully tended garden full of fresh vegetables. Most of the people were farmers in Mosna and everyone had their own big gardens to supply their food. Teodore also raised pigs, chickens, turkeys and a flock of ducks. The ducks were the most hysterical little things, almost like household pets. (Albeit, household pets that were going to be eaten somewhere along the line.) Every morning, Teodore let his ducks out the front gate to swim in the creek and look for bugs and worms. Around 4:00pm, we'd hear all this rukus, the ducks quaking to high heaven. Teodore or Maria woud come to the front door, throw more food out to the ducks and then let them back in when they were finished.
Teodore's ducks
Continue reading "Mosna and Medias" »
This weekend was an excursion to an area with Draco-Roman Ruins and a mineral springs town, Georgiu Bai. Georgiu Bai is frequented by Romanian families who come for the weekend and spent their time around this large, indoor swimming pool filled with odoriferous, mineral water. According to Georgiu Bai's literature, some of the ailments this mineral water is reputed to cure are:
- Degenerative, inflammatory, abarticular rheumatic affections, posttraumatic affections;
- Gynecoloic diseases; and
- Professional diseases (whatever that means)
Our hotel was a dingy, Russian-style hotel with threadbare sheets, walls that have never been painted, and a little 4'x5' bathroom. The bathroom was one of those all-inclusives with a showerhead sticking out the wall, toilet and sink, all on top of each other, but we never used the shower because only tepid water dripped out of it. And every time you flushed the toilet OR used the sink, water dripped out of the pipes all over the floor. The sad thing about this is we've stayed in worse hotels traveling around the world! At least the toilet flushed. We didn't pay very much for our weekend tours and, believe me, there are nicer places to stay in if you visit here.
Then we discovered Georgiu Bai had multiple discos that blared until 4:00am, and if you closed your windows, you'd risk death by suffocation. But there were some excellent restaurants.
Continue reading "Georgiu Bai Spa, Hunedoara Castle, Sarmizagetusa" »
It was up at 4:45am every day, tiptoe around the house so as not to wake Teodore and Maria, gather everything up and leave the house. My backpack had trowels, heavy gloves, my latex gloves, and camera. Out through the front gate of the house which was actually a 10' tall fortified one piece wall, and out through the still dark, quiet morning. Past the medieval Saxon Church and down the three-block long main street, heading to the long house attached to a church for breakfast. It was perhaps a mile walk to and from meals every day and once we forced ourselves out of bed, was very enjoyable out there with absolutely nothing moving and the sun slowly rising.
Breakfast was help yourself with everything laid out on a table. A selection of yoghurt, cheese, cold cuts, bread, water bottles to take with to the dig, juice, coffee or tea, fruit and candy bars. We'd make a sandwich to take out into the field or eat inside if the day was rainy.
Continue reading "A Typical Dig Day in Mosna" »
Peles Castle, an exquisite representation of new-Renaissance architecture, is considered one of the most beautiful castles in Europe and I thought it was one of the most perfect "fairy tale" castles I had ever seen. It was commissioned by King Carol I in 1873 and completed 10 years later. It had a mere 160 rooms filled with European Art, crystal chandeliers, stained-glass windows, procelains, etc. Each room was furnished to reflect a different European country. And, it was the first castle in Europe to have central heating and electricity produced by its own electrical power plant on the bank of Peles creek. I found that amazing.
During the Ceausescu era, Peles was used as a private retreat for leading communists and statesmen. Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Moamar Gaddafi and Yasser Arafat are just a few who were entertained by the Romanian dictator. Peles Castle is also surrounded by seven terraces and gardens, with statues everywhere.
Peles Castle - Isn't this place drop-dead gorgeous?
Continue reading "Peles Castle, Sinaia and Predeal" »
Bran Castle, often referred to as Dracula's Castle, was built in 1377 to protect against invaders and also served as a customs station. The myth is that it was once the home of Vlad the Impaler, the famous medieval warlord, but there is no evidence that he ever lived there. The fictional character Dracula is based on Vlad and Vlad did spend two days in the Bran dungeon. Transylvania was occupied by the Ottoman Empire at the time. Vlad the Impaler (his favorite method of punishment was to impale anyone convicted of a crime, thus his nickname) used many methods of impaling: through the anus with the stick coming out the head; skewered through the middle of the body; and, of course, there were the other ever-popular methods of torture. You could be burnt at the stake, have eyes gouged out, head and limbs chopped off, or tied to different horse and then be ripped apart. It must have been difficult for Vlad to keep coming up with new methods and ideas...but he did...
Vlad also revenged the killing of his father and brother on Easter Day by impaling the entire elderly population of Targoviste.
Bran Castle
Continue reading "Bran Castle and Sighisoara, Romania" »
Our first weekend off and the group headed out early Saturday morning in two vehicles driven by Andre and Peter. Peter and Corrine were the host family to Julie and Erin and Peter spoke very little English. Corrine instructed Julie, ..."Julie, if you see something you want to photograph, tell Peter - Peter, stop...stop...stop...and he will understand you." Who knows how many times Corrine drilled those few English words into Peter's head. A lot of places to see in two days: Rasnov Fortress, Sighisoara, and Peles Castle. The countryside is really beautiful and soon we arrived at Rasnov Fortress. Don't bother going to Epcot or Disney World...Romania has the real thing...one medieval site after another, each just waiting for Mel Brook's to film Young Frankenstein, or Dracula lurking down one of the cobblestoned passageways. Completely intriguing.
This gigantic Rasnov defensive fortress was built in the 13th century and had ramparts, towers and bulwarks. A perfect place to take refuge during a siege. We visited the museum with interesting old artifacts including a skeleton buried beneath a glass floor, secret passages, very old weaponry, and gruesome ancient etchings showing the various ways of impaling people, etc.
Rasnov information
Continue reading "A Weekend Around Transylvania Beginning With Rasnov Fortress" »
Mosna, situated near the Carpathian Mountains in southeastern Transylvania region has been continuously inhabited since early Neolithic period (Just the word "Transylvania" gives me chills and makes me want to wear strands of garlic around my neck, sleep with a crucifix shaped dagger to ward off Dracula and Bela Legosi.) It was colonized by German immigrants during the 12th and 13th centuries, who created fortified cities and churches to repel invaders. Medias is a medieval 14th century city. After Ceausecu was overthrown, most of Transylvania's Saxon community returned to Germany. The vacated historical villages are being renovated and Mosna's late Gothic-style fortified church, dating from the end of the 15th century, was restored with the help of Prince Charles of Britain. It featured strong walls with an enclosed area. It was easy to visualize medieval villagers rushing into this church when their village was attacked.
Mosna church
Continue reading "Into The Mosna Pit" »
Our host family was Teodore and Maria, a Romanian couple in their 50's. They had their own little house fronting a small river/canal (about two blocks behind Mosna's famous fortified church), two bedrooms and one bathroom - a large master bedroom that they gave up for us to sleep in - and they moved into the smaller bedroom for the duration of our stay. Teodore and Maria were fairly comfortable (or affluent) by Romanian standards because they had indoor plumbing AND a washing machine. They still hung laundry out in the backyard to dry but what a luxury, to have a washing machine. The average Romanian income is $80 per month which makes anyone earning anywhere near $10,000 a year, a very wealthy person. Since $1 US=33,000 Romanian Lei, our $100 converted into 3,300,000 Lei - instant multi-millionaires.
Neither Teodore nor Maria spoke very much English, but Teodore taught school and spoke Russian, German, French, Romanish and a little English. (He was trying to learn more English from a children's primer.) Teodore was forced to learn Russian when the Communists took over. A lot more languages than we could speak and somehow we all managed to understand each other. The nicest, warmest people in the world who couldn't do enough for us. Their children were all grown and one little 8-year old grandson visited often during our three-week stay with them.
Maria, grandson and Teodore
Continue reading "Mosna Homestay and Dig Orientation" »
You'll have to wait until the end of the Romania articles for an in-depth on Budapest. The most importance task after arrival was to find and walk over to the proper train station (Budapest has quite a few), confirm train times and make seat reservations for the 6-hour ride if necessary.
Budapest (Ferihegy) International Airport is ten miles south-east of the city centre. It has two terminals: Terminal One for low-cost airlines; and Terminal Two is divided into two, with Terminal 2A the departure and arrival point for flights of Malév Hungarian Airlines and Terminal 2B for all international carriers’ flights and a few budget airlines.
We took Airport Minibus into the city. It will drop off and pick up passengers all over Budapest. A popular and economical choice.
Continue reading "One Fast Day in Budapest and On To Mosna, Romania" »
We committed to the dig and sent our money off. Andre suggested avoiding Bucharest, capital of Romania, and either flying into Sibiu or taking a train from Budapest, Hungary to Medias where he would meet and transport us to Mosna around 8km's away from Medias. Since Budapest was on our "to visit" list, that sounded perfect. Budapest would be fun to explore and have a little R&R after working like "chain gang prisoners" for three weeks.
Air and Rail Transportation? The easiest method for us was flying from Chicago-Frankfurt on United, and catching a Lufthansa plane from Frankfurt-Budapest. ...Cheap Flights ...We purchased a Eurailpass, Romania-Hungary Pass Saver (on line). A pass, whatever kind it may be is usually much less expensive than buying a round-trip rail ticket and gives the freedom to take ANY train. The only time you need reservations is on a TGV in France.
Continue reading "Romanian Planning" »
I have always been interested in Archaeology. Not enough to take courses, but I do love digging in the dirt, unearthing little things from the ground. Looking for a dig that would accept a neophyte and wasn't too expensive, I surfed the Archaeological Institute of American website and found a listing that interested me. A three-week dig in Mosna, Romania (in the Transylvanian area) that needed interested volunteers, no experience necessary. That was good but the cost was even better...$850 per person for the entire three weeks which included room and board.
Andre Gonciar (a Romanian) was the Field Director for Archaeotek-Canada, and doing research into the Petresti People, a Neolithic culture, dating from around 4000 BC. It really didn't matter to me if it was Roman, Greek or Neolithic, I just wanted to experience a dig without spending a fortune and this fit the bill.
Romanian map
Continue reading "Visiting Romania" »
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