A Drive in the Country

The weather here has been cold and dreary, with lots of fog in the mornings and overcast days.  The temps have been in the low 40’s during the nights, warming up to the upper 50’s, low 60’s – nothing that inspires outdoor activities, until this past weekend.  Saturday started out like the rest of the mornings – fog – but the temps were warmer and it started clearing out around 10a.  So Dennis and I hit the road for some fall colors and shopping.

We left Targu-Mures with a destination of Corund.  This town has a clay mine that they use for pottery.  Dennis was also thinking that this was the place where the lady hand-knitted wool sweaters (the cost for a hand-knitted wool sweater: 80 lei = $25).  With a deal like that waiting for us, we were excited to leave the apartment.

Being the adventurous couple that we are, we decided to try a new route.  Yes, I know, a new route doesn’t always mean the best route, but hey, we’re in a new country so let’s see what’s out there :)  I’m including a copy of the road map so you can see exactly the path that we took…and believe me, there were many kilometers that were nothing more than a path.

So, from TM we took Hwy 135 headed east towards Miercurea Nirajului.  It was a beautiful drive, with little traffic.  We continued on 135 to Drojdii before turning south on 34, thru Abud to Ghindari.  In Ghindari, we hit 45 to Solocma.  At the fork in the road, we veered left headed towards Siclod, then on to Praid.  We drove about 7 or 8 kilometers past the fork when we decided this wasn’t the right road (it became gravel right before the fork).  So we turned around and headed back into town for directions.  After inquiring from a local, he advised us to go back to Ghindari and head southwest to Sangeorgiu de Padure.  So we did just that.  Then Dennis got the atlas out again to look at alternate routes.  Hwy 135A looked like a pretty good road, so off we went again.  And it was a good road……..for about 10 kilometers, then it was gravel….again.  At least it was 2 lane gravel, and in decent condition, so we continued to drive.  Along the way we found Lake Bezidu…..what a surprise!!! 

We stopped for pictures and to get out and stretch (by now we’ve been in the car for about 3 hours).  The water was still, with a few people fishing.  We continued around the  lake, stopping on the other side for more pictures.  At the end of the lake was Bezidu Nou (which was nothing more than a few houses along the other side of the lake).  At the turn in the road stood a wall with a statue in front.  Dennis was sure that this was some type of memorial to WWI.  He took some pictures of the engraving so that we could ask later (found out today that the memorial was for the town that was consumed by the lake). 

The drive from here to Criseni was quiet….just a gravel road to travel down.  But it was at Criseni that our real adventure began.  As we left town, the road dropped down to a bridge was wasn’t much wider than our car.  Again, we wondered whether we were on the right road, but there was the road marker and it said 135A.  Across the bridge we went, then waved hello to the man and woman tending cattle on the other side.  They were the last people, or living thing, we saw until we reached Atid.  That was the longest, and loneliest, 8 kilometers we ever drove!  There were no cattle, sheep, goats, snakes, mice, buzzards, or birds to be seen.  The road, and I use that term VERY loosely, wasn’t much more than a wagon trail. 

We definitely took our vehicle “off-roading”.  What a blessing it was to see Atid.  But the excitement didn’t last long, as the town took about 3 minutes to drive through (and that was because we could only drive about 20 kmh).  Ok, the road from here to the main road (13A) had to be better, right?  Wrong!  Although there were places in the road where 2 cars could pass, the condition of the road wasn’t any better, in fact, I think it was worse.  Now we were driving on gravel that had, at one time, been paved.  Every now and then, a chunk of pavement would come forth, surrounded by potholes and more gravel.  The scenery was wonderful.  We continued to climb on the drive, so the hills were splattered with color.  Just another 12 kilometers and we’ll be at the main highway.  Oh, did I forget to tell you that the 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) took almost an hour.  Before we hit the main road, we did find some blueberry bushes along the path.  We were excited to stop and pick some.  I was excited to stop and find a bush (my bladder was full and the bouncing around on the rough terrain wasn’t helping the situation).

As Dennis tried one of the blueberries, he informed me that they weren’t ready for picking.  What?  Blueberries should have already been picked.  So I tried one too…..bitter!!!!  Don’t worry, I told him, nothing that a pound or so of sugar won’t fix :)J  So we picked about a quart of the berries and then kept going.  We figured that if I could make the blueberry jelly taste good, then we’d go back for more (only the next trip wouldn’t include any “sightseeing”).

Woohoo!!  We finally hit the main road – all paved, with 2 lanes.  Now south to Corund.  We hit the town around 4p and did a little shopping.  No sweater for Dennis, but we did find an indoor kurtos kolache grill.  Kurtos is a Hungarian pastry that is roasted over coals.  Everytime we’ve seen them being grilled, they are over a large pit.  The set that we bought has 4 skewers and the grill pan sits on the stove.  Can’t wait to try it out!!!  After an exhausting 20 minutes of shopping, we looked for a restaurant (we hadn’t eaten since 9a).  Nothing satisfies the hunger like some good old snitel de pui with cartofi pureed.  Dennis feasted on porc gratar with cartofi pureed.  The young man who was our waiter, spoke English, so we enjoyed visiting with him.  He shared with us his plans to move to either the US or Canada (he has family in the eastern part of Canada and NY area).

We’ve now filled our bellies, and we’re tired.  Let’s go home.  If you look at the map, you can see that there are no direct routes from Corund back to Targu-Mures.  So, we go north to Praid (pronounced Pride), then to Sovata (about another 8 kilometers north).  In Sovata, we hit 13A again and head back to Ghindari and Sangeorgiu de Padure.  Turn north on 135A to Miercurea Nirajului, then west on 135.  By the time we headed west, the sun was just below the window visors.  Ugh!!!  The only good thing about the trip back was when we passed some type of Hungarian processional.  My thoughts were a wedding party.  Anyway, we passed them and then stopped to wait on them for pictures.  As we waited, Dennis thought they stopped, so we loaded back into the car and turned around.  As we got near them, we realized that they were still moving – now in the opposite direction from us.  So we turned around again, passed them again, stopped again and waited on them, again.  This time we were patient and it paid off.  Dennis reminded me that I had dropped the flip camera in my purse, so I pulled it out and handed him the Canon.  As the folks galloped near, they saw us taking pictures, and were very accommodating.  Enjoy the short video.

After that, the rest of the ride home was pretty calm.  What a day it had been.  The celebration that we had just witnessed was like the cherry on top of a sweet sundae.  Thank you God for allowing us to live in this beautiful country!!!