We woke up this morning at 8:30 a.m. easily. I felt that I had enough sleep for the first time on the trip. Thus we prepared, we wear our motorcycle suits and we were almost ready to depart, as regards our stuff. We sat and waited, therefore, to prepare our breakfast. The owner of the guesthouse, we had already prepared our coffee which we enjoyed in the living room. The place was decked folklore. The decoration consisted of dishes, pots, table cloths and all sorts of other little things about the area, to the point sometimes verging on exaggeration. Nevertheless, it was annoying...
Eventually he brought us our breakfast containing eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, salami, chicken, cheese, eggplant, butter, jam, honey and others that I cannot remember right now... very rich and filling, to the point we wanted to go back to sleep to digest it...!
Afterwards, he was willing to show us a traditional room in the house which is characteristic of almost all houses in the village. In particular, this is a traditionally decorated room that opens to special events and festivals or sorrows of the house, eg weddings, funerals, baptisms, Christmas, etc. The walls were painted with the characteristic-and-official color of the village, which is blue. The whole wall was painted-handmade-flower. At the top of the dishes were placed back-to-hand drawings. The rack was placed, as we said, was sculpture by famous artist Ioan Stan area "Patras" (the «Patras» is nicknamed). Also in this room had pictures of saints over 100 years. The carpets and some rugs were made in the loom from her grandmother.
We welcomed the owner of the guesthouse and depart for the church located near. Locals proudly reported that is the highest wooden construction in Europe around 75m high. Passing through a small forest, we arrived in front of the imposing church! Really impressive!
The time was 11a.m. when we departed in the direction of Alba Iulia. We followed the western route following the signs to Satu Mare. The route passed through a green field ... it's very nice to start your day with these pictures. They make you another human being. They make you feel, so full, so happy, so self...
After the village Remeti we entered a small dense forest. Terribly impressive! We made a short stop to enjoy the colors and the scents...
Shortly after we left the Maramures region and entered in Satu Mare area. In the village Orasul Nou we left road 19 and entered a side street to get quicker to Baia Mare. From there we followed the signs to Dej & Cluj-Napoca. The condition of the road with some improvements in some points was moderate.
The highlight of this route was from the village Semcuta Mare to the village of Glod. This is a wonderful, green route with moderate state road. In Cluj we encountered traffic. The road works of the ring road has not been completed and we had to move in the city. The traffic jam delayed us. The marking is medium.
We left the Cluj for the city of Turda located about 25km away. We had to visit some salt mines, but the driver wrote that the time we arrived it was out of hours visit. Without wasting time, the sun began to fall, and the cold is intense, we continued to Alba Iulia (about 60 km.), making only one stop for petrol and relaxation.
Arriving in Alba Iulia, the city does not predispose you with what it has. This is also a characteristic of Romanian cities. The square bloc houses are overdoing most often the beauty of cities. Anyway, following the signs for «Citate» and with a little patience we reached the downtown. There lies the impressive castle.
After asking some policemen they informed us of the existence of a hotel near the castle, called «hotel Citate». The price does not correspond to those offered by the old hotel, recently renovated.
What we mainly wanted to do was to make a ride to the castle. So we started after I went to a nearby bookstore and bought a guidebook and wandered into the castle. The buildings which include churches, palaces, universities and 3 gates are impressive! The night started to fall and the floodlights that illuminate the castle give the beauty and charm of the landscape.
The time had come for dinner. I asked the hotel and I had referred to «Pub 13», which was near the gates. We found it relatively easy. At first we thought it was closed because of the low light outside. Eventually when we enter the heavy wooden door, we were inside the walls, the bastion of the cavalry. This space previously used as a workshop for manufacturing weapons and today had turned into a restaurant with a medieval style. The food is pretty good...
During 10.30mm we shot dead in the hotel ... As we discussed the program for the next day we went to sleep...
