Romania: Oradea to Cluj-Napoca by bike
I caught the 0610 train from Vienna, traveling through Hungary to Arad, Romania. From there I caught a train to Oradea, a couple hours north, and put my bike together outside the train station, about 3km from the center of town. I hopped on the bike, made a quick stop at the Banca Transylvania ATM to get some Romania Lei, and rode into town to look for a hotel. The first couple of places I tried were full, and it started to rain, thunder rumbling in the distance. But I managed to find a room in a old, charming (if somewhat battered) hotel on the main pedestrian drag, then went off to find some food a few doors down in a pub, having some decent porkchops and some of the best mashed potatoes I've ever head with a 1/2 liter of beer, all for about $6.
It was starting to get dark, but the rain had stopped, so I wandered around, lightning flashing in the distance, admiring the ornate buildings.
The next morning I slept in a bit, did a little more wandering, then hopped on the bike heading south through farmland along a main highway for a while. After an hour or so, I came across a gas station named "USA 1 Oil", painted red, white, and blue, flying an american flag, with a small statue of liberty. I stopped to use the bathroom and have a cold "American Action Cola", before continuing on.
After a short while, I turned off onto a side road with much less traffic, although the traffic on the main route had also been relatively light. I climbed a bit,and took a turn onto a dirt tractor trail into a field to pause and admire the view.
Back on the road, which gradually deteriorated into an unpaved, bumpy track, I waved at the villagers working in the fields, heaping hay high using carved wooden pitchforks, and the drivers of the horse drawn carts which ambled by, the horses with large, bright red tassles hanging behind their eyes (a sort of blinder?). I felt like I had gone back in time.
Eventually I came back to a larger highway, paused for some water and ice cream, and road into Beius to find a room and dinner.
The next day, I headed south a few kilometers on the highway, trying to match my map to the roads I was seeing. Unfortunately, my map only labeled the names of the most major highways, and the highway signs had village names that didn't appear on my map, so I ended up just taking a road headed in the right general direction, figuring I'd find my way eventually. And if not, at least I'd have some sort of adventure.
After an hour or so of pedalling through quaint but nameless (to me) villages, I finally came up on a village that both had a sign with its name, and which also appeared on my map, and was able to verify where I was on the map. I stopped for lunch at a small grocery in the last major village at the end of the paved road, and then headed up into the mountains. The rough, unpaved road followed a stream through the forest with almost no traffic. I stopped for a break at a pool to soak my feet in the cool water and have a snack, then continued up, up, up through the forest, the views continuing to improve as I gained altitude.
Late in the afternoon, I reached the plateau, and after following the rolling road through forest and alpine meadows, came to a small collection of buildings at Padis. There were a couple of restaurants and a bunch of cabins. I ended up heading to a group of cabins that were made out of what appeared to be giant wine barrels, with a couple of small beds stuffed inside. After negotiating a price, made more difficult by the fact that the young woman was still thinking in the old money (which had 4 more zeroes tacked on the end), and kept confusing the names of english numbers, we finally settled on a reasonable sum (about $12), and I moved into my barrel for the night as the rain started. I had large, tasty dinner in the restaurant, then chatted with a Romanian hiker over a couple of drinks and a local map, before turning in for the night.
I got up early the next morning, and rode the bike about 10 km, mostly down hill, to a trail head that led to an area with impressive sheer rock faces. They were perhaps a 100 m high, and a small river ran into a cave in the rock face. Not far away was an enormous cave entrance, which I explored a sort way into the cave before turning back to collect my luggage and get on my way to Cluj-Napoca. I was wishing I had more time to explore, but I needed to be in Bucharest tomorrow to meet up with my friend Jill from Seattle.
It was quite a long ride to Cluj-Napoca, mostly on rough, unpaved mountain roads. But the scenery was great (other than some sections of clear cut), and I was having a good time, even though it was raining on and off. After a long, steep, slow descent on an awful road, I finally hit smooth pavement which lasted the last 30 km or so until Cluj-Napoca, and I felt like I was flying. I arrived in Cluj about 2130, and managed to find a hotel, get a well deserved shower, scrounge up some food, and then collapsed into bed.
It was starting to get dark, but the rain had stopped, so I wandered around, lightning flashing in the distance, admiring the ornate buildings.
The next morning I slept in a bit, did a little more wandering, then hopped on the bike heading south through farmland along a main highway for a while. After an hour or so, I came across a gas station named "USA 1 Oil", painted red, white, and blue, flying an american flag, with a small statue of liberty. I stopped to use the bathroom and have a cold "American Action Cola", before continuing on.
After a short while, I turned off onto a side road with much less traffic, although the traffic on the main route had also been relatively light. I climbed a bit,and took a turn onto a dirt tractor trail into a field to pause and admire the view.
Back on the road, which gradually deteriorated into an unpaved, bumpy track, I waved at the villagers working in the fields, heaping hay high using carved wooden pitchforks, and the drivers of the horse drawn carts which ambled by, the horses with large, bright red tassles hanging behind their eyes (a sort of blinder?). I felt like I had gone back in time.
Eventually I came back to a larger highway, paused for some water and ice cream, and road into Beius to find a room and dinner.
The next day, I headed south a few kilometers on the highway, trying to match my map to the roads I was seeing. Unfortunately, my map only labeled the names of the most major highways, and the highway signs had village names that didn't appear on my map, so I ended up just taking a road headed in the right general direction, figuring I'd find my way eventually. And if not, at least I'd have some sort of adventure.
After an hour or so of pedalling through quaint but nameless (to me) villages, I finally came up on a village that both had a sign with its name, and which also appeared on my map, and was able to verify where I was on the map. I stopped for lunch at a small grocery in the last major village at the end of the paved road, and then headed up into the mountains. The rough, unpaved road followed a stream through the forest with almost no traffic. I stopped for a break at a pool to soak my feet in the cool water and have a snack, then continued up, up, up through the forest, the views continuing to improve as I gained altitude.
Late in the afternoon, I reached the plateau, and after following the rolling road through forest and alpine meadows, came to a small collection of buildings at Padis. There were a couple of restaurants and a bunch of cabins. I ended up heading to a group of cabins that were made out of what appeared to be giant wine barrels, with a couple of small beds stuffed inside. After negotiating a price, made more difficult by the fact that the young woman was still thinking in the old money (which had 4 more zeroes tacked on the end), and kept confusing the names of english numbers, we finally settled on a reasonable sum (about $12), and I moved into my barrel for the night as the rain started. I had large, tasty dinner in the restaurant, then chatted with a Romanian hiker over a couple of drinks and a local map, before turning in for the night.
I got up early the next morning, and rode the bike about 10 km, mostly down hill, to a trail head that led to an area with impressive sheer rock faces. They were perhaps a 100 m high, and a small river ran into a cave in the rock face. Not far away was an enormous cave entrance, which I explored a sort way into the cave before turning back to collect my luggage and get on my way to Cluj-Napoca. I was wishing I had more time to explore, but I needed to be in Bucharest tomorrow to meet up with my friend Jill from Seattle.
It was quite a long ride to Cluj-Napoca, mostly on rough, unpaved mountain roads. But the scenery was great (other than some sections of clear cut), and I was having a good time, even though it was raining on and off. After a long, steep, slow descent on an awful road, I finally hit smooth pavement which lasted the last 30 km or so until Cluj-Napoca, and I felt like I was flying. I arrived in Cluj about 2130, and managed to find a hotel, get a well deserved shower, scrounge up some food, and then collapsed into bed.
posted by Matt at 12:33
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