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Hospitality in the Carpats

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29.09.2003 rom Orsava, Rumania - 2041km

Greetings from Orsava!

For three days now, I have been cycling in Romania and I really like this country already. Over Resita and Caransebes it was a rather hilly ride through the beautiful Carpates. Finally some mountains! As a Swiss I missed them already... after the Danube plains of Croatia and Serbia.

In Resita I met the local mountainbike club and I cycled for some kilometers with them. They were on a short dayride out of Resita and went for picknick and some football. Not big tour today, but to enjoy, this was the aim for today for the members of the club. After having cycled over all the hills, I understand them quite well now. In Caransebes I joined a road with heavy traffic and combined with the holes in the road, it got a bit tough. Luckily mountain passes are quite flat around here and I reached the Punta Orientala quite quickly by the evening. The downhill was then quite slow as the road had some huge holes and my bicycle got shaken beyond my liking... Shortly before Domasnea a dog chased me and I accelerated a bit... but then a spoke broke. No more cycling, I had to push. As I arrived in the village to ask for water, a young person immediately helped me. When I got asked where I plan to stay for the night, I said that there would certainly some space to pitch up my tent after the village. But Gheorghe said that I should stay with his family for the night. Really nice! At Gheorghes place, his mother even starts cooking a meal for me. Later in the evening, we wanted to listen to some traditional concert in the village but we arrived too late. So we went just for a short sightseeing around the village. Gheorghe then started up his computer and made me listen to his MP3, so I finally heard some traditional folk music. In fact, I wanted to replace the spoke in the evening but Gheorghe said that today is the day of God and I should until tomorrow. He studies theology in Timisoara and wants to become a priest. Of course, I change the spoke only the following morning. It was one of the cheap Chinese ones I bought in Antofagasta, Chile during my 2001 trip. It is already the second one of these that breaks.

Now I am sitting in Orsava at the Danube and there are only some 100 km to the Bulgarian border.

See you,
Daniel

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