We had an awesome day with our taxi driver and our Swiss friends Jonathon and Gaell. We left for what was expected to be a 4 hour trip and it ended up being 7. Our American friends Matt and Andrea followed our taxi in their car and we made the rounds of Romanian villages that have fortified churches and one with a castle.
The castle was first and we drove up to a bar in the village. Our driver seemed to know that that was where he would find the man who literally "had the keys to the castle"! We signaled to him and he left his friends (and his beer) and walked the hill to the gate. He took our 10 lei each($2.50) and let us in to roam the place. Our taxi driver acted as tour guide (an extra we hadn't expected) and we explored at will, climbing through the ruined/partially restored 14th century castle. The castle was taken from the family who owned it during the communist era. After multiple court battles years later, the ownership was restored to three sisters. The government offered to restore the castle and make it a tourist attraction (hotel and museum), in exchange the family could have their choice of any apartment to live out their lives in. The sisters refused and now they are stuck with this ancient building that they have no money to restore. The place was amazing with beautiful ceiling details, old beams, etc. all in various stages of disrepair. We roamed the cellars by way of our driver's penlight flashlight. Even in the near darkness you could t ell that this was the most well preserved area. It was probably at least 500 yards long and the brickwork on the floor and the brick and mortar ceiling looked like new. The dungeons were in good shape too ;) The braver or more curious of our group walked planks and climbed narrow stairs to get the view (or thrill) we were searching for.
Our next stop was a fortified church (church built with defensive features for times of war) in a village called Biertan. This time we stopped at a house near the church and our driver found the woman with the key to the church. The church was pretty representative of what you find in many European churches. They had a very well organized paper that told you about each fresco on the wall of the church. We wandered around the grounds and Tom and I liberated a few delicious apples from a tree in the garden.
On our third stop our driver showed us a restaurant (the only one I actually saw in the town) so we could eat lunch/dinner and he showed us where to go for the next church. He then proceeded to enjoy a well deserved nap in his car. We had a delicious, laughter filled lunch with everyone sharing various bits of their lunch so each of us could try different things. The church had a traditional pay and go inside system which was sort of disappointing after the colorful entrances prior. In the smaller towns and villages they are unprepared to make change of any kind when you pay for something, even if something costs 44 lei ($11.00) and you give them a 50 lei bill ($12.50) they ask for small bills!! At the entrance to the church there was a funny few minutes when I had to borrow 1 lei because the cashier couldn't make change. Tom showed up with the 1 lei and gave it back to Jonathon and then Andrea had to borrow it from him because the cashier couldn't make change for her either. The 1 lei? Worth about 26 cents! The church was nice but the best part about that stop was the view! The church overlooked the most picturesque little village. The weather was gorgeous and the deep blue sky was filled with puffy white clouds. Photographer heaven.
We all fell into the taxi exhausted and just as we were relaxed and enjoying watching the horse drawn hay ricks as we passed our driver said " I have one surprise for you". As we pulled down a driveway he told us that he "loves horses and this place is very special, very beautiful". We pulled up to a large pension and he led us to a horse barn full of his friends. He introduced us to several of his favorite horses and after we visited with the he led us out and across the property to the mini zoo. Chickens, goats giant Romanian pigs, a llama, and ostriches were some of the animals. The ostriches were curious about my camera and several came running over to pose for me. One was overly curious and I told the group "let me know if he tries to...." and before I could finish the sentence he did just as I was afraid he would do and lunged at my lens, which was startling when I was looking right through it! This "Danes Horse Farm" was really the most peaceful place. There were families enjoying the pool and kids learning to ride ponies all in this relaxed atmosphere. Our driver was really pleased that we had enjoyed his surprise.
We returned to our pension and Serine was waiting for us with our daily glass of Elderflower juice. We regaled him with our tales of the day and he was also pleased that we had enjoyed the excursion he had facilitated for us.
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