on to timisoara

A fairly slow start to our eleventh day. Sunny again and with the place to ourselves we took time emptying and filling tanks and doing some household chores. I'd even done some washing the day we'd arrived! alexandre had told us that julian had some local hooch, plum brandy, called tuica. Before we left he sat us down to try it. Not his mother's this time he said but a friend's, about 50%. it came in a water bottle just as does our local eau de vie back home.

He is also involved in an conservation group for the storks and we bought various bits made by them to raise funds for a sanctuary that is being built in christian, the next village. i asked him about local crafts and he regretted not having talked to us more about what to see in the area. We assured him it is only our first visit and we can only see so much in one week. He showed us a small carpet typical of local tapestry and then dashed into the next room and came back with a bookmark sized piece and gave it to me, telling me to keep it as a souvenir and that it was made by his cousin.

So it was fond farewells when we left and knowing we were going to timisoara he warned us the campsite was noisy. That's ok, we gaily replied, we've had traffic noise before. If only we'd known what lay ahead !

the river that runs through saliste