Day 20 - Sunday 14th June

Last night we had a reasonable sleep. The air conditioning managed to reduce the room temperature and by the morning it was quite cool. At least there was a single doona. It even had a top sheet.

Breakfast in the hotel restaurant started at 8am. Once again there weren't many people there. The choice wasn't extensive but it was still a pleasant meal.

Alex picked us up at 9am and carried our bags downstairs and packed them in the car. He then backed the car out into the street through the vary narrow passage next to the hotel.

My weather app said it was only 14C when we got up - it didn't feel that cool - and they were forecasting another hot day with a maximum of 32C.

The roads were good at first. Although the roads were windy, the surface was good. It was generally only one lane in each direction.

The first destination was the salt mines at Turda. It was obviously a popular spot because there were lots of cars in the car park and down the road. By the time we left, it was even more busy.

We'd been to a salt mine near Krakow in Poland on our Insight bus tour about a week ago. The salt mine here at Turda turned out to be quite different. At Krakow there were a series of long passageways underground before we got to a few large underground caverns.

Here there were a few passageways to start with and then some stairways leading down. Shortly we came across a gigantic underground cavern. It must have been about 30m wide and probably 40m high. Just like an underground world.

The passageway had led up to the top of this giant cavern. There were walkways and balconies along the edges. We didn't venture onto the balconies suspended along the length of the cavern - we stayed on the solid ground (salt rock) near the entry.

Although I'm uncomfortable with heights, Alex is more afraid of heights than me. Luckily there are good solid steel balustrades along the edge and I was holding on tight to the handrail.

We lined up to wait for the elevator that takes you down to the bottom of the cavern. The lift has a maximum capacity of 7 people and has a glass face so you can see the cavern as you descend.

This is obviously promoted as a family area. On the floor of the cavern, there are table tennis tables, pool tables and a kid's lay area.

They have toilets on this level. When I went into the men's toilet, there were about ten young men loitering there. I eventually realised why - they were use the hand dryers to warm themselves up - not just their hands - they were trying to stand under the heaters.

When you enter the salt mines, there is a sign saying the temperature inside is 10C to 12C and so most people wear jumpers but these youths were only wearing T-shirts.

There is another level below the cavern where there is a saltwater lake with boats on it. Suzy decided we should try out the row boats and so we caught another lift down to this level. This time it was a 4-person lift. Down there, we saw a sign saying we were 112m below the surface.

The boat ride fee was 10 Lei for 3 people. Suzy and I went in the row boat while Alex stood on shore using my camera to take photos of the event.

It's a long time since I last tried to row a boat. I found out that my right arm is a lot stronger than my left arm because we were initially going around in circles and I had to row twice with my left arm for every stroke with my right arm to avoid running into the wall, other boats or other structures such as the timber bridge.

Suzy was facing the forward direction and was giving me instructions on where we were going and how to row in the right direction. She was doing a better job of backseat driving than I was doing of rowing. In the end we managed to sail around the little island and drifted back to the drop-off point.

Heading back to the surface, Suzy and I waited for the two lifts, Alex, on the other hand, decided to use the stairs - hundreds of them. It was good exercise for him - especially since he is trying to lose weight.

The destination was the city of Cluj Napoca. Alex parked in the centre of the old town near the cathedral and took us on a guided tour of parts of the old town.

On one of the cobblestone streets, we came across street stalls. The first stall was selling tablecloths like the ones that Suzy had been admiring in our hotel restaurant. She decided to buy one but we didn't have enough local currency and so Alex lent us the cash. We soon found an ATM so we could withdraw cash and repay him.

We had lunch in an open courtyard close to the cathedral where we'd parked the car. It was busy and we of course didn't have a reservation. They managed to find a table for us in the shade to escape the heat of the day. Suzy and I both had hamburgers. I had a pint glass of an Austrian draught beer called Edelweiss.

Alex had warned us that the quality of the roads would deteriorate this afternoon. Although we encountered some gravel roads, some parts had recently been sealed. There were some sections where roadworks were underway but there was no construction happening today because it was Sunday.

We stopped at a wooden church at Surdesti which is a UNESCO world heritage site. Alex had explained that timber is used for a lot of the buildings in the Maramures area including houses and churches. The church was closed and so we admired it from the outside.

On the road leasing to the church, a local resident approached the car carrying jewelry such as beads and bangles. Suzy wanted to see if they were worth buying but in the end she decided not to.


The scenery along the road was beautiful - gently rolling hills with mountains in the far distance. The hills were green grassland and farms with pretty trees and occasional farm houses. Most of the time I took photos from the car but at times Alex stopped so I could get a better shot.

Suzy had decided to sit in the back seat today because she had better control over the temperature there. She had found it too cold in the front seat when the air conditioning was blowing hard. That suited me because it made it easier for me to take photos.

For the next two nights, we are staying at a family-run guest house. We arrived at about 5:30. It is located in a small village called Vadu Izei and it is located close to the border with Ukraine.

Alex had explained that it is a tradition for houses in this area to have a timber archway and gate at the entrance to the property. The driveway went past the family's house and past other buildings and gazebos.

Our accommodation was at the top of the drive in a three-storey structure overlooking the valley. Alex carried our bags upstairs and said we could pick whichever room we wanted. Suzy decided on the room at the front with the best view.

The room had a double bed, a TV and ensuite bathroom with a separate shower and no bath.  It was quite hot. There was no air conditioning and only one window had a flyscreen. The window had an unusual handle - twist it one way to open in as an upside down awning window and twist it the other way to open it up on the vertical hinge.

There wasn't much room for our bags and I set my laptop PC on the edge of the TV table. When I sat down on the small stool, it toppled over and I ended up on the floor. Suzy solved this problem by finding me a child's seat on the veranda.

We went down the hill to meet some of the family who were busy cooking meat on the BBQ. There are three generations in the family. We met John, George, Anka, Melina, ??. Alex told us there is an another sister who is 16 and very pretty.

Dinner was served at 8am in one of the gazebos, It consisted of meatballs in soup, BBQ steak, homemade bread and a crepe dessert filled with strawberry jam. They offered us three types of local brandy.

After dinner, we sat and had a long chat with Alex about his family, his girlfriend, the church and the meaning of life.

We were in bed by about 11pm. It was still hot and so we took the cover off the doona and used it as a top sheet.