Craiova
I'm sorry for the dearth of posts lately! I'll do my best to make up for the long silence over the next few days. I have lots of pictures and stories to share.
About two weeks ago (I can't believe it's been that long already!), Mike came to visit from Portugal. As I may have mentioned, he's working at a research institute in Lisbon this summer. Thanks to a Portuguese holiday, he was able to take some time away from work to come to Romania for a long weekend. I must admit, I was a little nervous about my responsibilities as a tour guide. This was Mike's first visit to Romania, and I really wanted him to like it here! As readers of this blog will know, there are a lot of beautiful places to see in Romania, way too many to see in five short days. So I had some difficult decisions to make.
After going back and forth several times, I finally settled on an itinerary. Instead of going to see some of Romania's best tourist spots, I decided to take us off the beaten path a bit. My friend and hiking-partner Irina introduced me to Andreea and Marius whose families both live in the village of Maglavit on the Danube. We arranged for Mike and me to go and stay with Andreea's family and to visit Marius's parents as well. Partially motivated by a selfish desire to see something new, rather than visit the same (beautiful) places for the nth time, I also wanted Mike to get a feel for ordinary Romania and village life.
To get to the village, we had to take the train to Craiova and then take a bus from there. Seeing as we had to stop there anyway, I decided that we would spend a night in Craiova as well. I had never been to Craiova, and I had heard mixed reviews of it. Jenny described it as a charming little university town, while some of my other friends were not so enthusiastic.
Because of the mixed reports I'd heard about Craiova, I though it might help to have the right tour guide. I got in touch with a couple on Couchsurfing, Razvan and Alexandra, who agreed to give us a tour of their favorite spots in Craiova. After a few mishaps with the train, we finally made it to Craiova on Thursday evening. Raz and Alex picked us up at the train station, and after a quick stop at our hotel, we went out for a traditional Romanian dinner. We spent the evening talking and laughing, getting to know Raz and Alex and their friends, and exploring Craiova's central square. Raz and Alex both grew up in Craiova, and they are getting married in July! Alex recently won the "visa lottery" and the two of them are applying for an immigration visa to move to the United States next year. They were wonderful hosts, and getting to know them and hear about Craiova from their perspective made the trip truly delightful.
The next morning, we walked around Craiova by day and took some pictures before w caught the bus to Maglavit. We visited the art museum and a huge park in the southern part of the city. We were struck by the beautiful architecture in the city center, which was full of ornate old buildings and impressive churches.
The Prefectura, the seat of the county government.
Craiova's central square
From our walk in the park
About two weeks ago (I can't believe it's been that long already!), Mike came to visit from Portugal. As I may have mentioned, he's working at a research institute in Lisbon this summer. Thanks to a Portuguese holiday, he was able to take some time away from work to come to Romania for a long weekend. I must admit, I was a little nervous about my responsibilities as a tour guide. This was Mike's first visit to Romania, and I really wanted him to like it here! As readers of this blog will know, there are a lot of beautiful places to see in Romania, way too many to see in five short days. So I had some difficult decisions to make.
After going back and forth several times, I finally settled on an itinerary. Instead of going to see some of Romania's best tourist spots, I decided to take us off the beaten path a bit. My friend and hiking-partner Irina introduced me to Andreea and Marius whose families both live in the village of Maglavit on the Danube. We arranged for Mike and me to go and stay with Andreea's family and to visit Marius's parents as well. Partially motivated by a selfish desire to see something new, rather than visit the same (beautiful) places for the nth time, I also wanted Mike to get a feel for ordinary Romania and village life.
To get to the village, we had to take the train to Craiova and then take a bus from there. Seeing as we had to stop there anyway, I decided that we would spend a night in Craiova as well. I had never been to Craiova, and I had heard mixed reviews of it. Jenny described it as a charming little university town, while some of my other friends were not so enthusiastic.
Because of the mixed reports I'd heard about Craiova, I though it might help to have the right tour guide. I got in touch with a couple on Couchsurfing, Razvan and Alexandra, who agreed to give us a tour of their favorite spots in Craiova. After a few mishaps with the train, we finally made it to Craiova on Thursday evening. Raz and Alex picked us up at the train station, and after a quick stop at our hotel, we went out for a traditional Romanian dinner. We spent the evening talking and laughing, getting to know Raz and Alex and their friends, and exploring Craiova's central square. Raz and Alex both grew up in Craiova, and they are getting married in July! Alex recently won the "visa lottery" and the two of them are applying for an immigration visa to move to the United States next year. They were wonderful hosts, and getting to know them and hear about Craiova from their perspective made the trip truly delightful.
The next morning, we walked around Craiova by day and took some pictures before w caught the bus to Maglavit. We visited the art museum and a huge park in the southern part of the city. We were struck by the beautiful architecture in the city center, which was full of ornate old buildings and impressive churches.
The Prefectura, the seat of the county government. 
Craiova's central square
From our walk in the park
posted by Erin Kay at 6:15 PM
1 Comments:
Since I'm just catching up with your adventures after a week and a half in Detroit, I may be your only reader to appreciate your silence! I don't feel so behind. Got your postcard and loved it :) Let me know when you can talk next!
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