We have to drive almost 2,000 kms (1,240 miles) to get to the top of Denmark for our ferry crossing to Norway June 1st. And we have 18 days to do it in, so that's an average of 110 kms (68 miles) per day.
Easily doable, but of course we want some rest days in there as well. And we try to keep our driving days under 200 kms (124 miles). We're trying to avoid the motorways and toll highways as much as possible.
But, we did get on one section of motorway yesterday to avoid the big city of Cluj-Napoca.
Beautiful highway with hardly anybody on it.
Scenery along the way.
But you don't get to see very much on the big highways. We prefer to stick to the back roads even if it takes a little longer. You see a lot more stuff!
We passed through one village that had a lot of big Roma houses.
It's all about trying to outdo your neighbor!
Headed for the border city of Oradea, it's a single lane road with quite a lot of truck traffic. No other choice in the direction we were headed. We made a lunch stop and a fuel stop. But we only bought enough fuel to get us into Hungary where it's a lot cheaper. You want to arrive in Hungary near empty, and depart full!
Fuel is fairly expensive in Romania, but it will be even more expensive by the time we get to Germany. We only put in 18 liters and it cost the equivalent of $2.45 CAD per liter. That's about $7.17 USD per gallon. Good thing Max is a fuel efficient motorhome!
Arrived in Oradea. I had read that it's a nice city, and that's totally true. Population of about 200,000.
Really nice city.
We can't figure out why smaller cities like this aren't on the tourist radar.
The Black Eagle Palace was built in 1908.
Black Eagle stained glass.
We are going for one more walk around town this morning, and then we are headed for the border. Next stop, Hungary!
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Nice price drop on this Shark Cordless Stick Vac.
And in Canada...
I imagine those big houses are for very extended families, yes?
ReplyDeleteYes, that is pretty much our understanding but not many of them are actually lived in and the ones that are being lived in are only using a few rooms because of the high cost of upkeep!
DeleteSome of those big houses look abandoned, don't you think? I'd love to see inside one.
ReplyDeleteMany of the house were empty, not sure that they were abandoned though. We have read that many of the families make their money in other countries such as the UK and then come to back to Romania to build these huge monstrosities so many times they are in stages of construction as the money comes in to them. We would also love to see the inside of some of the finished houses.
DeleteThose houses could easily be converted to Hotels.
ReplyDeleteBe Safe and Enjoy the cheaper fuel.
It's about time.
I don't know that they could easily be converted into hotels, I doubt that every room has a bathroom or is plumbed for a bathroom. I highly doubt that any of them would be used this way although they could make good AirBnb's with shared bathrooms. :-)
DeleteIt's just as well not all what we consider nice ,not too big ,towns are on the tourist trails. We've just arrived back to Tirana..omg, the traffic and noise is almost unbearable.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct, it is probably better that not everyone wants to explore the off the beaten path kind of places but we still think that they are missing out on so much. We really think that the best way to learn about a country is to visit these small places and see what local life is really like, rather that staying in the big cities that cater to the tourists.
DeleteYep, Tirana is definitely a pretty busy city with lots of traffic, this is why we didn't stay there too long.