Day 38
Romania, Danube & Carpathian Mountains
We crossed into Romania this morning, and stopped in the first town: Calafat.
Once upon a time it must have been a rich place.
It's calling us to find out what happened to all these towns that were once teeming with life. The houses tell us that the people who built them and lived in them liked beauty. Here is an anthology. All of them have distinctive decorative elements in them. These houses were loved.
We took a long windy road that follows the Danube. It's difficult to imagine how wide it is before seeing it. The pictures were taken from the most disadvantageous sides of the road and of the car. Imagine me holding the phone through the window above the van and shooting blindly :)
We stopped in the Carpathian mountains, before being caught by the menacing weather in the smallest camping place ever, made for vans or cars (not for huge camper-vans, nor for tents), and equipped just right.
Incidentally the town has been a thermal station for a very long time, and one can still contemplate hotels from the 70s and before.
One can also reflect on the reasons why people with a vision didn't carry on with their project.
Clearly, we know what tourism ends up with. Versailles in the Carpathians?!!
Why do people keep falling into the trap?
This place used to be a thermal resort. We couldn't access any of the paying facilities: already closed until next holidays, or next year... So we went where the locals go, free of charge :)
