timisoara

the 'yellow' road between deva and lugoj

the drive to timisoara was arduous. tom tom took us on a shorter route than that recommended by via michelin and now we know why! a picturesque road but a yellow one on the map and pretty badly paved in places. it was very hot and there were lots of villages to slow down for and several railway crossings that needed to be passed at about 10 miles an hour to avoid your teeth rattling never mind the cups and plates!

i had thought that deva with its castle on the hill and the only funicular in romania would make a pretty lunch stop. wrong! we ate our ham sarnies and decided against going up. the scenery before deva had been industrialised and probably wouldn't look any better from another viewpoint.

heading on we made timisoara by about four in the afternoon and took an instant dislike to the campsite. spoilt by saliste? the ground was hard and bumpy but the pitches were surrounded by low shrubs with a raised flowerbed in the middle. an inspection of the 'facilities' proved to better than average, hot water, soap, paper towels and loo rolls albiet the nasty scratchy pink stuff! :) the evening meal of steak and chips at the empty restaurant was ok even if the wine was decidedly 'off'. but music started somewhere unseen beyond the boundary and continued until one in the morning. our camping hours are different from home. bed by ten and awake by seven so the music was a big no no!
despite having paid for two nights we couldn't face another sleepless night so left in the morning. we noticed that the only other two campers jumped ship as well.

before leaving timisoara we drove into the 'centrum' and eventually found somewhere to park helped by a charming policeman (who 'loved' my english accent) and who pointed out where we were on my lonely planet map. a short walk into the partly crumbling and faded piata irinii to take photos and gawp at the church interiors, roman catholic, smelt of floor cleaner and serbian orthodox, stuffed with icons. coffees after an abortive attempt to find the ethnographic museum-'moved upstairs and not open yet' i was told by a girl in a travel agency and so off to budapest...again.
but now on plan 'c'