Day 19 - Saturday 13th June

The Casa Levoslav Hotel is only small and so I guess you couldn't expect a lavish breakfast like we'd seen on some 5-star hotels on our trip. However, it was a good breakfast to start the day.

Alex picked us up at 9am and drove us north on another excellent motorway. the road was two lanes in each direction with good sight distances and gentle curves - well designed for the 130km/h posted speed limit. Many people travel faster than the speed limit but not at the wild speeds that you see in some countries such as Italy.

Eventually we turned off the motorway onto highways and country roads. The countryside was gentling rolling green hills with quaint towns from time to time.

The first stop was at Hunyard Castle which is described as Romania's most impressive Gothic castle. It has plenty of wow factor - nice setting near the top of a hill, tall towers with steep peaked roofs, solid stonework construction, passageways, parapets, wine cellar, banquet rooms, etc. It's got the lot.

Alex gave us a comprehensive guided tour of just about every nook and cranny of his magnificent structure. It is obviously a very popular tourist location - the security people were only allowing a certain number of people in at a time. As for other places we've visited, there were many groups of school children - which was a little surprising considering that it was a Saturday.

The building has been well maintained and restored. In some places, they've built timber staircases to take you from one level to the next. Although they have handrails in most places, there are some spots where you have to watch your step to avoid ending up in the plaza or in the valley below.

It was a photographer's paradise with so many features to capture. Once again, there was a "photo tax". Since this is an optional expense, I need to pay it each time because it is not covered by Balkan Trails. The tax here was 10 Lei (about $3) and it can vary from 5 Lei to 15 Lei depending on the site. Then again, there is no photo tax in most places.

Alex decided to take us next to a nearby Roman ruin site (Colonia Dacica Sarmizegetusa) which wasn't on our original itinerary. This site is large - probably because it was thought to be the capital of Dacia, the Roman territory in this part of the world at the time.

The site is nicely restored and well cared for. All that is left now are some of the walls, archways, etc but there is enough to get a picture of what it might have looked like.

There was a cafe near the entrance where we had lunch. Alex suggested that we try a traditional meat dish. It consisted of three pieces of meat - beef, pork and lamb. They were shaped like a sausage but were more like a rissole. I had a different draught beer, Timesoreana. It was a nice beer.

Next we drove to Densus Church which is believed to be the oldest church in Romania. It is only small - partly because some parts have not been restored. However, it is still a functioning church.

The next destination was Alba Iulia where we would be staying the night. We reached the hotel, La Maison de Caroline at about 4pm. Alex carried the bags up the stairs to our room.

Initially the WiFi wasn't giving us internet reception and so Suzy rang Alin who we'd met at reception and he rebooted the router. After that we got about 15Mb/s download and upload.

Alex then took us on a walking tour to the old town. Our hotel is not as close to the old town as we'd had for other towns. Initially Alex was planning to drive us there but he changed his mind and decided we'd walk.

At the end of our street, there was a timber bridge that took us into the city walls where we climbed up stairs within the wall leading us into the old own.

By that time I was puffing and I must have been dehydrated in the heat because I was drinking a lot of water. Alex had been having problems with blisters on his feet for a few days and so he was struggling too.

Suzy had not been feeling too well because of sinus problems. She wasn't sure what was causing the problem but we suspected it might be the smoke smell in the car - both Alex and his mother are smokers. She had been taking antihistamine but had forgotten to take one this morning.

The old town of Alba Iulia was not crowded as for previous towns. There were not many local residents and we didn't see many tourists. There are cobblestone plazas and street stalls as usual but one different feature here was the presence of street statues of normal people.

The cathedral is new by comparison with what we've seen elsewhere. It is only 100 years old and was built for the coronation of the king after WWI. It's a very impressive building. I got photos of the outside but wasn't allowed to take photos inside.

We were tired by this time and Suzy suggested we buy ice creams and sit down n the stage to recover. Close to where we sat, we noticed someone making fairy floss for the children.

We decided to have dinner in the hotel restaurant rather than walk back into the old town later. Besides, it didn't seem likely that much would be open tonight.

The hotel restaurant is very pleasant. It has dark timber beams, window frames and furnishings., Suzy admired the fancy tablecloths and serviettes. They advertise the restaurant and bar and so it was surprising that there were not many customers.

We ordered a 1L carafe of the house red. They served it chilled. It was a very enjoyable wine.