Hello again,
We have moved around so much I guess it is pretty hard keeping up with us, but we are now in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Since the last update we have done a whirlwind tour of Romania and then spent a day relaxing in Varna, Bulgaria, to recuperate. Haha, I suppose I'm not gonna get much sympathy for needing a holiday from my holiday am I? It's a tough life :)
The Romania trip started in Oradea where we visited an orphanage called 'Caminul Felix', which I had heard about. What a change, from wandering the beautiful streets of the capitals of Europe, to spending a day with loads of Romanian orphans. Here is me doing some colouring with Luci, left, and Anna, right.
The inspiring thing is, is that this is no ordinary orphanage. When a child comes to Caminul Felix they join a family, that's to say, parents (a 'Mum' and 'Dad'), and approximately 17 other siblings! The idea is similar to adoption, just on a much bigger scale. They are officially a charity, and exist mostly from donations. If you are looking for something to support, I can definitely recommend them, because it works! I met people who had grown up there and can vouch for how well it functions and treats everybody involved.
Check out their website, they have even set up another one in Thailand and are in the process of setting another up in Zambia(?!):
http://www.caminulfelix.ro/index.php?hl=en
We spent the day with two families, just playing games with kids. And along the way we learnt a ton of Romanian vocabulary; mostly colours although we did master the numbers from 1 to 10.:)
On the right is the first family; the hungriest small children I have ever met in my life. You wouldn't have any trouble getting these kids to finish their plates! One little girl admitted to having eaten 2 corn on the cobs and 5 peaches, before eating dinner! And the Dad said they normally say fewer than they have actually eaten! I was utterly gobsmacked.
On the left are Gill and I with the second family (not even all of them!) worn out after an afternoon of running around and ball games.
Next stop, Brasov in the infamous Transylvania - for none other but Dracula's Castle! (below left)
We also visited Peles Castle (above) with our hostel friends Yo Jin, Tamara and Tom, an art nouveau (ish) extravaganza of very tasteful decoration and furniture.
To the left is a ruinous castle, Rasnov, -Twilight anyone??! (-Mum - that is a film about vampires and the scenery looks like that in the film:) )
After moving further east we arrived in Mahmudia (officially the middle of nowhere), to get a glimpse of the incredible Danube Delta.
Here are a few snapshots of the breath taking scenery that awaited us, including a flock of pelicans that we drove through in the boat (don't worry they all scattered!)
An extremely complicated and stressful bus journey later and we were in Varna, Bulgaria.
Thankfully in Varna, there is no castle, fortress, cathedral, old town, market, shopping centre, nothing. Ok maybe I lied about about the shopping centre. But the point is there was pretty much nothing to see, which suited us just fine as by this time we were feeling rather 'castled-out', as you can probably imagine. We therefore enjoyed an entire day lounging on the beach, and taking a dip in the Black Sea (and guilt free, as there really was nothing else to do!) Here is a photo of some other hostel friends paddling:
Admittedly, we did see a little bit of traditional folk dancing, so we didn't do exactly nothing. There were representatives from Bosnia Hercegovina, Turkey, Slovakia, Ukraine and Bulgaria. I'll put in a photo of the Bulgarians as they were the ones we were there to see, but honestly, I have to admit that it was the Ukrainians that were the stars of the show!I would put a video up, but having tried 77 times already with computers all around Europe, I am finally giving up. Never mind, I'm sure you have a fair idea of some cool Ukrainian dancing!
The Bulgarians, waving their flag :)
The train from Varna to Sofia was highlighted in the Rail map for having nice scenery, and quite right too. Here are some pictures of the journey:
(this was my 'I'm feeling arty' one)
And in case you were all wondering, following on from the last post regarding the crooked Romanian ticket inspectors, we did make it to Oradea fine in the end. Although we were then told at the train station that our train the next day which left at 23:00 was apparently not a sleeper train! Having been told horror stories of Romanian trains with carriages with only wooden benches, we were rather worried.... Fortunately it turned out that it WAS a sleeper train, only you weren't able to BOOK it in advance. Ah all was lost in translation, as usual :)
So for clarification, I am now an expert in speaking English to people who don't speak English, and understanding languages I don't speak at all, such as Romanian and Bulgarian. Plus, did you know that in Bulgaria, a shake of the head means yes, whilst a nod means no?! Could this get more confusing??!
Until next time :)
xxxxxx
We have moved around so much I guess it is pretty hard keeping up with us, but we are now in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Since the last update we have done a whirlwind tour of Romania and then spent a day relaxing in Varna, Bulgaria, to recuperate. Haha, I suppose I'm not gonna get much sympathy for needing a holiday from my holiday am I? It's a tough life :)
Orphanage
The Romania trip started in Oradea where we visited an orphanage called 'Caminul Felix', which I had heard about. What a change, from wandering the beautiful streets of the capitals of Europe, to spending a day with loads of Romanian orphans. Here is me doing some colouring with Luci, left, and Anna, right.
Check out their website, they have even set up another one in Thailand and are in the process of setting another up in Zambia(?!):
http://www.caminulfelix.ro/index.php?hl=en
On the right is the first family; the hungriest small children I have ever met in my life. You wouldn't have any trouble getting these kids to finish their plates! One little girl admitted to having eaten 2 corn on the cobs and 5 peaches, before eating dinner! And the Dad said they normally say fewer than they have actually eaten! I was utterly gobsmacked.
On the left are Gill and I with the second family (not even all of them!) worn out after an afternoon of running around and ball games.
Castles
To the left is a ruinous castle, Rasnov, -Twilight anyone??! (-Mum - that is a film about vampires and the scenery looks like that in the film:) )
Danube Delta
After moving further east we arrived in Mahmudia (officially the middle of nowhere), to get a glimpse of the incredible Danube Delta.
Here are a few snapshots of the breath taking scenery that awaited us, including a flock of pelicans that we drove through in the boat (don't worry they all scattered!)
Beach day!
An extremely complicated and stressful bus journey later and we were in Varna, Bulgaria.
Thankfully in Varna, there is no castle, fortress, cathedral, old town, market, shopping centre, nothing. Ok maybe I lied about about the shopping centre. But the point is there was pretty much nothing to see, which suited us just fine as by this time we were feeling rather 'castled-out', as you can probably imagine. We therefore enjoyed an entire day lounging on the beach, and taking a dip in the Black Sea (and guilt free, as there really was nothing else to do!) Here is a photo of some other hostel friends paddling:
Admittedly, we did see a little bit of traditional folk dancing, so we didn't do exactly nothing. There were representatives from Bosnia Hercegovina, Turkey, Slovakia, Ukraine and Bulgaria. I'll put in a photo of the Bulgarians as they were the ones we were there to see, but honestly, I have to admit that it was the Ukrainians that were the stars of the show!I would put a video up, but having tried 77 times already with computers all around Europe, I am finally giving up. Never mind, I'm sure you have a fair idea of some cool Ukrainian dancing!
Trains, trains and more trains
The train from Varna to Sofia was highlighted in the Rail map for having nice scenery, and quite right too. Here are some pictures of the journey:
(this was my 'I'm feeling arty' one)So for clarification, I am now an expert in speaking English to people who don't speak English, and understanding languages I don't speak at all, such as Romanian and Bulgarian. Plus, did you know that in Bulgaria, a shake of the head means yes, whilst a nod means no?! Could this get more confusing??!
Until next time :)
xxxxxx
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