It took me 2 years to admit this: I escaped!
ROMANIA DURING THE LOCKDOWN
Two years have passed since the establishment of the State of Emergency due to Covid19, the moment when we suddenly entered another reality, in which our daily habits disappeared, completely disturbing us.
#stayhome was the new world order. And I stayed home. Dude, I really stayed there.
I used to fill in the document every day, the paper which allowed you to go shopping or for a short walk in the area around the house. Paradoxically, I think it was the period when I moved the most, fueled by the ban on going out, but also by the small living space.
After a few weeks during which I cleaned every inch of my house and which I made a ditch after so much walking around the block, I took advantage of a professional context and I ESCAPED!
You will wonder where, considering that everything was closed, and to leave the country was out of the question.
What do you know, the hotels/inns were not forbidden to be opened, but they had very strict rules of operation, that’s why many preferred to take a break. Especially since no one was traveling anymore…
Among the small and daring ones, I found a welcoming place in Brasov, where, to my joy, I was going to be the only one! So I got in the car and went on my way!
PELES CASTLE. FIRST STOP.
I admit that I embarked on this adventure with a lot of emotion, even with a bit of fear at times. I was thinking about how I would be stopped by the many police crews I saw on TV, how I would be asked what my business was in these bad times to drive around the country like a crazy and how I would have to make explanations.
On the road – no police. Hm. Could it be so good? Well, then let me stretch it a bit and make a stop at Peles – I thought.
I knew it was closed, but I didn’t know how much of the park was closed, so I timidly stopped the car in the parking lot furthest from the Castle (near the Sinaia Monastery).
I went all this way really scared. There wasn’t any human being there! I kept looking behind me, for fear that a police crew would show up to fine me, arrest me, expel me…
I could hear all the sounds of the forest, from the branches of the wind-blown trees to all the birds on the planet 🙂
I stepped up, thinking that if a bear appeared here, I would be finished, I had nowhere to take refuge.
The fair on the road – closed, deserted. Only in my mind were the images of sellers who were always trying to sell all kinds of products, from traditional to kitsch – the joy of children!
If I tell you that Peles was reserved for me only, you will have to believe me, because I have proof.
I was the only person in this whole big area, I went all the way to Pelisor, to Economat, I took a selfie in the courtyards of the Castle, fearing that any second I will hear an authoritarian voice: “What are you doing here?? It’s forbidden!” But I didn’t hear any.
Anyway, I did not push my luck and I returned to my car, happy with the private tour.
BRASOV. MY BASE CAMP.
I got the room without meeting the hosts – something like the “find the key under the mat” system. Then I started walking around Brasov, a city that I visited many times, sometimes in transit, sometimes even stopping there.
But to see it like now?? Never!
A center dominated by a strange silence. No tourists, no locals. From time to time, deliverers or mothers with children in strollers cross the square.
The pigeons are the masters of the well, still running…
I sit on a bench, but after a few minutes, a guard comes and asks me not to sit there, because it is not allowed. There’s one thing to sit down for a while, to tie a lace, and another to spend your life here. I get up and walk. In all directions.
The cable car is parked up on Tâmpa, the Black Church is closed, and I am privileged to have the Council Square just for me. But I feel weird…
On their pedestrian street, Republicii, always full of people, now we are only about 2-3 people lost, each seeing to his own job. Souvenir stalls are closed off, as are the vast majority of shops. Even the music is locked:
However, something can be heard through a few doors. A radio, a dialogue. The restaurants are only open for deliveries.
“Our store is temporarily closed, as a prevention measure under the current situation. Thank you for understanding.” – that’s the message you see on every door.
Look, the Vodafone shop is open! It looks weird to me. I almost feel like going in to buy some phones, just to enjoy the overnight vanished shopping 🙂
Every time I returned to the Republic Street I was stuck there for minutes! I took photos and filmed it in all directions, because the image seems unbelievable to me.
If it weren’t for the occasional disturbance of some footsteps, I think I’d hear the clouds moving!
In normal times, you walk on this street among a lot of people, looking for a terrace, a souvenir shop, a pharmacy. Now is the perfect time to look up and admire the buildings. Some are really spectacular! And others could be, if someone took care of them…
As I mentioned about the pharmacy: one takes me by surprise.
Leaving Bucharest, where all the posters on the pharmacies start with WE DO NOT HAVE, followed by a long list of extremely requested products during this period, here it seems to me that I landed on a different planet. They have both these and those! Could you not buy??…
THE RASNOV FORTRESS
It is within my reach to run from Brasov to Rasnov.
I don’t know what awaits me there, I have no idea if you are allowed to drive up to the fortress now, so I leave the car in the large parking lot at the foot of the hill. I think access is forbidden, I expect someone to come out and make me turn back, so I don’t even take my camera out of the car.
In the whole empty space of the parking lot, an old man sleeps with his face in the sun, sitting on a bench. Quite risky, I tell myself, considering that the sun comes out of the clouds and it really burns here.
I go up the hill by foot, I look up the road, I look down the road, but no one appears. It’s just me and my heavy breathing because I am not that fit…
Here, as at Peles Castle, the forest sounds can be heard so well now!
Here, as there, I’m feeling the horror of what I could do if a bear cuts my way. I keep my fingers crossed, I take 10 steps back as if I saw the black cat 🙂
The bear does not appear, but the dinosaur does:
At Dino Park, the huge brachiosaurus parked on top of the entrance makes me understand that humans have disappeared from the face of the Earth. What a paradox, isn’t it?…
The 3 dusty cars in front seem abandoned during the lockdown, but I want to be optimistic and tell myself that they are employees who are still coming to work.
Up, at the Fortress, I’m talking to a cat. She is glad to have someone to spoil her. Poor thing, I guess she’s starving, and I have nothing to eat with me.
The large entrance to the Rasnov Fortress is close, but I walk on the path to the gate through which I entered the years before. Officially, not illegally. Now I feel a little outlawed, but if the gate is open, why shouldn’t I go in?…
You can only walk a few meters, then the access is blocked. I walk along the edge of the wall, look at the towns down in the valley, I take a deep breath of fresh mountain air and I take a selfie.
Then I check the windows of the Fortress, if they are well closed, so that no mosquitoes and no flies enter 🙂
I close the gate behind me and I leave.
While going down, I feel like singing a camp song, but I don’t know any. It’s for the best, or else the man guarding the touristic complex in the valley would be scared.
We look at each other gobsmacked, we greet each other happily, and I start talking to him. He looks like a hermit in these difficult times. He gives me a tip: I could have also driven up to the Fortress. Damn, now you tell me???
And what do you think I’m doing? I go, I take my car from the parking lot and I go up again, to take some pictures with my big camera.
At the second descent, happy, I share my chocolate with the guard. He is glad, because he will take the chocolate to his granddaughter.
Our dialogue awakens the old man asleep on the bench. He looks all right, he is not fried. He goes downhill, limping. I realize that he has a long way to go to Rasnov and I don’t understand how he managed to get here.
In a gesture of unconsciousness/courage (given by the pandemic context), I ask him if I can give him a lift to Rasnov. He accepts.
He gets in, I ask him 5 times to put his mask on his nose, not just on his mouth, he says “yes, yes” but he does what he wants. Then I ask him various questions and he keeps answering me with the German “bitte”… We understand each other perfectly, what can I say.
But it really kills me when he says to me: “I’m so alone!!!”. God! My heart is breaking!
He tells me that he went out for a walk, I praise him for the power to climb so much, I leave him at the first intersection in Rasnov with good health wishes and I go on my way.
DRACULA’S CASTLE
Do you know what it’s like to find empty parking spaces in Bran? All the places!
The lockdown is felt from here, from the parking lots.
Then you see the closed gates and head towards the fair, a place where you normally can’t throw a needle, where so many people wander around the sellers of souvenirs and traditional food.
Now? You don’t smell cheese, you don’t taste any bacon, you don’t have any inscribed wooden objects, cauldrons, furs or children’s toys. The fair is an abandoned field. Left deserted, a victim of the weather conditions.
All the sponge cakes, but also the “kurtos” and the “langos” have disappeared from the area. Wow, what a craving I had for a kurtos kalacs!!! Hot, just off the stick, with a lot of nuts on it!
What a pity! Especially since I came with an empty stomach and a full wallet.
As big as the castle is the banner I see in the street. I love this campaign! I can even say that it impresses me these days. I hope I’m not the only one who sees it, as I am here, now.
I walk through all the well-known places and, because I am in no hurry, I also sunbathe a little in the park near the Castle. On which occasion I see some works by contemporary artists. But the carved benches are my favorites:
Taking advantage of the open gate towards the Castle courtyard, I greet the guard who is just showing his watch-dog fangs and quietly take a selfie. The man sees that I am not a danger, but he is not too calm about the fact that someone has violated his territory. So I don’t linger.
I return to my “home” in Brasov and notice something I saw in Bucharest as well – not a bad thing: they take advantage of the lockdown to repair the roads. Cool! I hope they keep doing so…
WHAT TO DO IN BRASOV
In Brasov, apart from the center where I walked, I went by car as far as my eye could see. And I kept driving up the hill, until I arrived in a very beautiful neighborhood: Scheii Brasovului.
The supreme arrogance: to park next to the police car hihi. But none of the cops care about me, because they are talking to the locals. The square in the neighborhood is animated by the locals (if I am to judge by the familiarity with which they talk to each other and by the dogs they walk).
I visit – on the outside – the Saint Nicholas orthodox cathedral, which dates back to 1292, I admire the first Romanian school (made in the 15th century!) and discover, in the churchyard, the tomb of the Romanian diplomat and politician, Nicolae Titulescu! I had no idea it was here.
Then I go down to the center again.
In such times you can take pictures with a mask and without a mask, both in the sun and when it is clouded, considering that you are like the only person on Earth 🙂
Miracle! I find an open gelateria. A small shop that sells things that make your mouth water. Of course I can’t resist the temptation and I take a huge ice cream.
By the way, where in God’s name can you eat during the lockdown, when you run away from home???
Well, you eat to go food from the few restaurants that are open for deliveries.
At McDonald’s I see a crowd of delivery boys!
“From 2 pm to 7 and a half pm I made 27 euros” – a delivery guy tells another delivery guy. “Well, that’s fine!” – he praises him, a sign that he did worse.
I think people order a lot, considering that they are all locked in the house. Well, I don’t count those who like to cook…
I join the takeaway community and, as the pork ribs from Brasov have been my favorites for years, I take some!
The problem during the lockdown is not the food, but… the toilet!!! Where do you pee during a pandemic, when everything is closed??? Answer: you have nowhere to go. Stay at home like a good girl if you don’t want to look for a bush, or empty your bladder well, before walking around loose.
The place where I am staying has some bicycles in the yard. I haven’t ridden a bike in years, but what do I have to lose? Nobody can see me, because the main street nearby is always deserted, so I get on one and I go.
Now don’t imagine that I rode it for a few hours, crossing Brasov. I went up and down the street (it was best to go down, because I didn’t even pedal!), I hurt my ass and… enough is enough, I had enough of my bike ride.
Anyway, it was super cool, because I had the feeling I had bought my own track!
And I arrived on the famous Rope Street in Brasov. It is in the top 3 narrowest streets in Europe, with a width between 1.11 meters and 1.35 meters, and it is always on my list of walks. Just to see if I can still fit in it…
Ok. I took my portion of Brasov during the several days I spent here, so… Ready, Set, Go to other destinations!
PREJMER FORTRESS
I’ve never been to Prejmer.
Seeing that it is not far from Brasov, I climb into my car and set off, in a not at all friendly weather. I say that because we’re in May and I’m wearing a winter jacket.
I have a strange feeling: it’s like I’ve crossed a border, even though people speak Romanian.
I came out of a closed area and now I have entered an area where people do not have masks, gloves, and they walk free, so to speak.
I take a tour of the village, I admire the live and painted storks, as well as other works of the locals. Then I go around the wall of the fortress – which I find out was built in the 15th century and has a diameter of about 72 meters. The 3-4 meters thick and 10-12 meters high destroy my willingness to climb it to see what is “inside”. Entering the fortress gate, like normal people, it is not an option, because it’s closed. I’ll be back someday to visit this.
Although I’m not a fan of driving at all (especially when I’m alone), I venture another day away from Brasov. I get supplies for the road – some good salted sticks from a store in Brasov, water and… the bag of masks, because still, we are in the middle of a pandemic.
I’m not speeding, because I don’t have to. Anyway, I can’t do it, because I meet several teams of workers repairing the national roads. Let the roads be good, I’d say!
I don’t know how far I will go, but I already have a few places on the list where I definitely want to stop.
RUPEA FORTRESS
From the road I see the Fortress and I start to take pictures while driving, so as not to miss it…
I see something moving up in the Fortress and I don’t know if it’s a human being, an animal or a simple optical illusion. I drive all the way to the top of the hill, until…
STOP! Access is allowed up to here. (Well, nothing is allowed now, given that we are in an emergency state.)
I stop the car and… thank God for wikipedia, because I can read, quietly (and how quiet it all is!), about this place: Rupea Fortress is one of the oldest archeological vestiges in Romania! Cool, right? It seems that the first human settlements date from the Paleolithic and the Early Neolithic, that is, from the years 5,500-3,500 BC!
It first appears in documents in 1324. A little later it became an important commercial and craft center.
Its location was always considered strategic, being at the junction of the roads that connected Transylvania, Moldova and Wallachia.
When I was enjoying some sun in my eyes, I heard a noise in the back. What do you know, what I saw from the car up in the fortress was really a man!
Accompanied by a wife and a barely walking child, the three seem to belong to the place, considering that they are coming slowly from the fortress, wearing slippers…
I find out from the guard of the place, who also appears seeing someone new around (me), that the three of them have been here since Romania closed, on March 16, 2020. So for almost 2 months!
They are from Galati and they came here by caravan. They settled on the top of the hill, right next to the fortress, and live their lives in peace, away from viruses.
I let them continue their evening walk and leave.
VISCRI
I heard so much about Viscri that I couldn’t miss the place!
I parked the car on the main alley, making the workers on the roof of a house under renovation look at me in a strange way. I am not part of the landscape, considering that they have not seen any tourist here since the COVID crisis.
I see on a plaque that Viscri, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has the German name Weißkirch, meaning the White Church. So… there must be a white church around here :).
But, beyond the church, I’m more interested in finding out which Prince Charles’ house is (update 2023: King Charles III).
I photograph all the houses in the village. Some already transformed into tourist guesthouses, others still not renovated, but with a special charm.
Some villagers stare at me a bit, but they quickly abandon me.
The village sees to its life, probably after a long time, in peace. Even the fire truck seems to have taken a well-deserved vacation.
I don’t know if the locals enjoy these times or, on the contrary, they miss the tourist cohorts.
A black cat is clearly happy with the guests (the guest), as she leaves all her hair and dust on my pants…
She comes with me as a good guide, up to the Viscri Fortress.
I take advantage of the fact that the gate is open and I enter. I can’t take too many steps through the inner courtyard, because a man appears I don’t know from where and, annoyed, he asks me to go out, because it’s closed and he’s not allowed to let me in there. He says it more for fear of being held accountable, than out of conviction, but I go out so as not to give him palpitations.
I go back down the main alley and a smell pulls me like a thread to a yard: people bake bread! My God, what a bread!!! It’s homemade bread, well beaten after it’s done, to remove the black crust. And they get such a beautiful bread!
Of course, I can’t wait to get to Brasov, to enjoy it with bacon, some salami or something… I eat it on the go. It’s sensational!!!
Fresh hot bread with fresh cold water – and I don’t need anything else!
The grass has already grown in the trash bin. I am the only one to use the straw one.
Then I go in search of the villagers, to ask them about the Prince’s house.
I had missed it, although it was in front of me…
It’s right at the entrance to the village. A tractor driver showed it to me, while a villager came out of his house to see who was spying on Uncle Charles’ house. Because I didn’t give in either: I “measured” it, I analyzed it, as if I were from the Cadastre and Tabulation Department.
Arriving at Viscri, I gained the courage to go further by car. You know what they say, it’s hard until you start, but when you start, it’s hard to stop 🙂
SIGHISOARA
I found Sighisoara as closed as other places, but the advantage here is that you can walk through the fortress. And since the weather is perfect for something like this, I set off up the hill.
It’s so weird to find everything closed, to see the empty streets, no tourists! At the same time, I must admit that I felt privileged!
Sighisoara is the only inhabited medieval fortress in Europe, only now it really seems uninhabited…
THE CLOCK TOWER
Visible from many central places of the city, this tower has become a brand of Sighisoara.
Initially it was the main gate of the fortress. Until the 16th century it was the seat of the City Hall, then it had other destinations, and today it houses the History Museum.
It’s so deserted that I take pictures enough for 3 pandemics!
I drink some cold water from the nearby fountain, then I sit down to read: the Tower is 64 meters high and was built in the 14th century to protect the main gate of the fortress.
The clock – which always reminds me of the one in Prague – was added at the beginning of the 17th century.
The clock has 7 linden wood figurines, depicting the pagan gods who personify the days of the week: Diana – Monday; Mars – Tuesday; Mercury – Wednesday; Jupiter – Thursday; Venus – Friday; Saturn – Saturday and the Sun – Sunday.
I’m waiting for 5 pm sharp, hoping that the statuettes will come out on a parade (I think I saw this in Prague, not here…), but none come out. I came back one hour later, still no one showed up…
THE CHURCH ON THE HILL
I know very well that if I want to go to the Gothic church on the hill – the construction of which began in 1345 – I have to climb the covered staircase, built in 1642.
173 wooden steps. Easy for those fit, hard for me. But I won’t give up.
I take an optimistic look from below, I see the light at the end of the tunnel – literally! – I hear an uncle playing the guitar and I gather my guts to go up.
Victory!!! I can’t breathe anymore, but I’m up on the hill.
On the last steps a man sings… to no one. But he feels good doing that and I make him understand that I also enjoy listening to him.
Here, next to the church, is the School on the Hill, one of the oldest schools in Transylvania, documented in 1522!
Every time I came here in normal times, I admired the students who climbed the 173 steps to school. Do you realize how fit they are, doing this on a daily basis? Not to tell you that, if they want a donut or something for their lunch break, they have to go down the stairs to the shops and then go up again…
The thought of a warm donut made me go down, to look for something to chew on. I head back to the “base camp”, in Brasov, making plans for the next day.
FAGARAS. SAMBATA DE SUS.
No sign of a cop on my way. When I left Bucharest, I was scared, now I totally relaxed and drove on other beautiful roads!
I’m going to Sambata de Sus. I’ve only been there once, many years ago, and I only remember the Fagaras Mountains on the road.
In the villages I pass through, I don’t see any mask on the mouth or at least on the beard :). Two girls at the door of a house tell stories that make them laugh. They don’t wear masks. So are some old people on the porch of another household. A few men at the bar also have their teeth in sight.
Compared to the stress in Bucharest, these places seem like places of maximum relaxation!
I park at the monastery, at Sambata de Sus,right next to the forest. In this silence, I hear all the noises, from the branches to the breeze. And the songs of some birds that I don’t know how to identify. I’m thinking of using the Shazam app, maybe I’ll get a hit 🙂
I see the gate wide open, which gives me the courage to enter. Shy, I admit.
I quickly take a selfie thinking that, from one moment to the next, someone might chase me. Nobody comes…
I read at the entrance that it is not called Sambata de Sus, but Brancoveanu Monastery. It was founded in 1696 by Constantin Brancoveanu!
The church is open, which makes me very happy! I sit and look at all the walls, light a few candles, I reflect a bit and then take some pictures.
I also see the shop with religious objects, located in the yard, open. I go in, of course, because I haven’t seen a store open in almost two months hihi.
There’s no one there… I start looking at everything out there – and there are many things, really!
“Christ is risen!” – I hear suddenly. A monk enters the store from behind me.
“He is risen indeed! Is it open?…”, I ask a little confused.
“Now, if you’ve come in, it is.” – he answers me warmly.
I buy everything I think is a souvenir to keep or offer. A full bag of things! Even postcards I take. Sendingpostcards in lockdown seems to me a big arrogance. I hope the Romanian Post does not alert the police…
The monk gives me a bundle of bookmarks with prayers. And, with God help, I’m going back to Brasov.
We have a beautiful country!
How was that? “We have a beautiful country, it’s a pity it’s inhabited…” Well, it’s like uninhabited now! The pandemic seems to have emptied it.
On the way to “my house” in Brasov I stop a bit at the Fagaras Fortress. Only to take photos of it from the outside, as there’s nothing open here either.
Then, as a self-respecting escapee, I return to my 4 walls in Bucharest. Where there is no dust, since there is no life in the city.
LOOKING BACK NOW…
What we all experienced in the lockdown seems unreal to me!
How unreal the Romania I saw then seemed to me. On the one hand, unbelievably beautiful and “mine, only mine”, on the other hand, unbelievably strange without people.
As soon as I was able to travel abroad, I did it! With the same feeling of “escaping”.
I saw what Paris looks like during a pandemic, Venice during a pandemic, Rome in pandemic times, Istanbul during the pandemic, Amsterdam in pandemic times, Florence during a pandemic, Milan during a pandemic. A unique experience!
