PHOTO-A-DAY CHALLENGE
Traveling Through Quaint Villages From Medieval Times and Seeing More of My Parent’s Past in Romania
Week 120 of the photographic documentary of my daily life
It was the second week in the beautiful country of Romania. We did some more hiking, avoided running into a bear in the thick fog, and visited the first Christmas market this season.
I’m on a journey together with my father and my husband to explore my parents’ home country. Transylvania is where both of them are born and where I see and find my roots.
November isn’t the best travel time many would say but apart from the luck we had with the weather, the low season is always a good time to be on the road.
We stayed for 3 nights in a guesthouse in the mountains owned by friends of my father. Yes, we were the only guests. And we were treated as more than guests. We ate way too much from the delicious food we got served and also drank more than just one palinka per night.
On our second day, we woke up to a heavy rain shower that didn’t dampen our mood but let us have a relaxed morning. Before noon the rain stopped and we headed out hiking in the fog.
We didn’t walk on an official hiking trail, those trails anyway don’t exist in this area. We chose some trodden path probably walked by sheep, deer, wolves, and bears.
Yes, there are bears around and the ranger spotted a mom with two young ones just 2 weeks prior. Not normal for so late in the season and surely concerning.
My father really wanted to spot a bear but David and I had no desire to surprise a mom with two young ones in the thick fog somewhere in the Carpathian Mountains in Romania.
We overplayed our fear by talking loudly and making lots of noise in the hopes of scaring all the animals away. To my father’s disappointment but some things are just better that way.
The next day we said our goodbyes and drove on. My father’s home village was on the list and next to many homes he showed us where he or some of his friends grew up, we also visited the cemetery.
It’s where his grandparents, my grand-grandparents, were once buried. Even though they chopped down a tree my father always used to help to find the grave, we still found the grave.
My father, my father's father and his grandfather all have the same name. My father in fact researched his roots from the father’s side and could trace his ancestors back to the 16th century. All of them always living in this town.
Quite impressive, I think.
I picked some wildflowers and decorated the otherwise barren and rocky grave and we moved on.
The following day we went to Sibiu, the city my father studied in. And after visiting a local farmers market where we bought fresh vegetables, meat and delicious cheeses, we headed into the center to visit our first Christmas Market of the season.
It was Saturday and I was glad we came in the morning. With the minute the market got fuller. A Ferris wheel was turning and the ice circle was covered with people skating across.
The next day we began our journey driving West again, which means back toward Germany. We visited one last castle. Corvin’s Castle in Hunedoara was under construction but anyway more impressive from the outside than the inside.
The last night in Romania we spent with friends of ours in Timişoara. A city close to the Hungarian border with lots of historical buildings in the center of town.
While all fountains so far had been running dry due to the cold season, Timişoara had this one in full flow. It was shining brightly, especially in the evening light.
Then we still had two days of driving ahead of us before getting back to Germany. On the first day, we drove halfway and stayed again at my grandmother’s sister's just outside of Vienna.
David and I shared the driving time behind the wheel and I just realized I stopped taking pictures. I only found this snapshot of when we were approaching the border to Hungary.
The trucks were standing 8 kilometers on the Romanian side waiting to move an inch per hour. I’m so glad our border crossing didn’t last longer than a minute. David got again a stamp into his African passport and then we could proceed with the journey.
The next morning we packed up again and also got my grandma back in the car. For the duration of our Romania trip, she stayed with her sister.
We had another six hours ahead of us. I started driving through the heavy rain and asked David to take over just after two hours on the road. It was exhausting. Pretty much after changing drivers the sun came out and the sky was blue.
Typical.
I sat back, relaxed, and read some stories on Medium. On this vacation, I fell far behind in my reading list and I’m struggling now to catch up. But it was all worth it.
This was an amazing road trip through the country of my ancestors.
Back home again my mom greeted us with my favorite Romanian soup nobody can make as good as she does. It’s what moms are for, right?
This has been my week in photographs. 7 days. 7 photographs. Anyone can join. Once. Or weekly. It doesn’t matter. We welcome everyone! Dennett started this photography challenge in 2020 and many have participated ever since.
Erika / Eileen / K. Barrett / Juan / David / Mia / Susan / LensAfield / Kim / Barbara / Diana / Barb / Sandra / Shruthi / Ellie / Pene / Olive / Gustavo / Jane / Penny / Jillian / Shell / Ivy / Lisa / Lynne
And these are the previous weekly photo essays:
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