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In May 2009 we took a trip to eastern Europe.
We drove across Germany and the Czech Republic to Slovakia,
where we hiked in the Mala Fatra mountains, then headed south across the eastern
tip of Hungary to the north of Romania.
Romania has had a complicated history. We drove through
villages of Poles and Ukrainians, and large parts of the country were
settled by Hungarians and Saxon Germans. One result has been
a mix of architectural styles, particularly in religious buildings,
and some of the churches we saw were spectacular.
In the north, by the border with the Ukraine (until 1945 the border
with Poland), is the area of Maramureş, best known for its wooden
churches. The churchyard in one of the villages, Sǎpȃnţa, has
a cemetery known as the Merry Cemetery, full of brightly coloured
headstones inscribed with witty verses. Click below for
photos of
Further east we crossed the Carpathian mountains to the district of
Bucovina. The monasteries of Bucovina are truly spectacular, with
colourful frescos painted on the outside walls. We were
particularly impressed by the monasteries of Suceviţa and Voroneţ, both
of which have frescoes dating from the 16th century.
We recrossed the Carpathians to Transylvania. This is the area
where most of the Hungarians live, but it was also settled by Germans
in the Middle Ages. Most of the towns and villages have names in
three languages. Most of the Germans left in the 1990s, but their
buildings are there to see, particularly their fortified churches.
Transylvania's
most famous resident was Count Dracula, more charmingly known as Vlad
the Impaler. A number of castles claim to be his. Bran
Castle is much photgraphed and well preserved, but has only a tenuous
connection with Dracula. The castle he actually built is
Poienari, built on a less accessible crag. Romania
is a mountainous country. We hiked in the Piatra Craiului
mountains, home of the Carpathian bear. We were just late enough
in the season to drive across the Trans-Fagaras Highway (open only 3
months a year), which crosses the very top of the Carpathians by a
tunnel. On the south side of the pass the rhododendrons were in
bloom - the distant mountainsides were tinged with pink. We
crossed the Danube into Bulgaria. Different buildings here: in
Shumen we saw the 18th century Tombul Mosque and, in complete contrast,
the cubist Monument to 1300 Years of Bulgaria on a hill above the town.
The communists seemed to like these concrete monuments. On
another hilltop we came across a neglected monument to a 1923 Communist
uprising. More impressive was Belogradchik, where the Turks built
a fortress among some curious rock formations. On the way home we followed the Romanian bank of the Danube through the Iron Gates.
We drove home through Hungary, Austria, Germany, France and Belgium to Calais.
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