Gordon: Our guidebook described the area in eastern Transylvania, in the foothills of the Carpathians, as “Székely Land”. The Székely are a Hungarian group that have been in this area since at least the 13th century. The word “Székely” comes from the Hungarian for “frontier guard”.I expected to notice some traces of a different culture, but coming down into Székely Land was like entering another ...
Gordon: Today the rain held off long enough to allow us to ride from Bicaz to Lacu Roșu (Red Lake). The scenery along the gentle climb up the Bicaz valley was reminiscent of Switzerland, with intensely green fields rising above quaint villages. The gentleness of the climb made Ruth nervous, because she knew that we had to climb 600 metres to our destination. Twenty kilometres ...
Gordon: Before we make a decision to travel to a particular destination we generally have a look at the weather that we can expect. The average temperature range in Cluj in July is a high of 26 degrees Celsius and a low of 13, with 9 days with precipitation - not bad for a cycle trip. The temperatures we have experienced in northern Romania have ...
Ruth: I am afraid Gord has lost his blogging privileges for a bit. He does struggle with what is acceptable in a post. This morning we visited our last Painted Monastery in Bucovina. Voroneț is the most visited of all the monasteries and at 9:30 in the morning it was already swarming with tourists making their way through a kilometre of craft stalls to the entrance ...
Gordon: Another day, another monastery. Today’s ride took us to the quiet, less visited monastery at Humor. The paintings on this church had some of the same subjects that we have grown accustomed to seeing: the Tree of Jesse, the Last Judgement, and the fall of Constantinople. The style at Humor is a bit more Byzantine, with the stylized creases in the drapery and faces. ...
Ruth: After a beautiful climb up out Moldovița we were treated to one of the best descents ever. As cyclists what we always hope for is a slow long float. Fast enough for fun but without the need to break much. This one delivered that for about 18 kilometres. At the top of the pass we saw an epic zip line more than a kilometre ...
Gordon:
Ruth: Just before we started the more serious climbing we passed through a village on market day where everything needed could be found from bicycle tires to tomb stones. We stocked up on some of the local sheep cheese and so lovely peaches.
Ruth: My blogging app is misbehaving so I am drafting this one in my notes so I don’t have to write it over and over again. As I write this a thunderstorm is raging outside. Each day the weather forecast has looked very grim but so far we have beaten the odds and remained dry on our rides and mostly dry on our walks. When these ...
Last night we stayed in Sapanta up near the Ukrainian Border. Sapanta is best known for the Merry Cemetery. Stan Ion Patras carved, painted and added the sometimes irreverent verses. Here I lie to take my restThey call me Gogea GeorgeGreen leaf of DogwoodI was a young manI liked the bicycleSince I was a childBut here’s what happenedI was slashed by a knifeAnd died on the ...