Now, *this* is a castle!

But before we get to that, I have to tell you our decision on yesterday's travel choice from Alba Iulia to Iasi. We decided to buy the first class sleeper tickets at $71 each.

After the fact, reader "iwasthere" suggested that we could fly from Cluj to Iasi for about $40 each. I looked it up, and that is partly correct. But the best I could find was actually $54 each, plus the cost of one bag at $32. So, approximately the same amount of money as the sleeper berth on the train.

Travel day...and some choices to make!

Yesterday was a travel day. We were driving 164 kms (102 miles) from Apuseni National Park to the village of Teliucu Inferior, which is located about 5 kms (3 miles) south of the famous Corvin Castle which we will be visiting at some point over the next few days.

Having a rental car has made our time here in Romania quite a lot more expensive than we originally planned, but it sure is convenient and we now think it's worth the extra expense for this particular country. We think if we had to do it all over again, we would have booked a rental for the entire month. Rentals for more than 2 weeks at a time get considerably cheaper on a "per day" basis.

It's always an adventure...

Our host here at the Cota 1000 Chalet had given us some ideas of things to do in the area, and yesterday morning we drove what was supposed to be a circular route with several stops at caves.

But the very narrow mountain road was partly covered in ice at some sections, and despite our snow tires and my Canadian winter driving skills, we had to turn around and go at it from a different direction.

The things we do to get to a waterfall...

On the road at 9:15am yesterday. Not bad.

We're on the edge of Apuseni National Park, and it's not easy driving. We didn't have a long distance to drive, only about 85 kms (53 miles), but I figured that's at least a two hour drive on these roads. Plus, we needed to stop and take photos along the way!

A perfect day in Romania!

We woke up early yesterday, had breakfast at the guest house, and hit the road by 9:30am. We headed for a nearby gorge, hoping to do a hike through the gorge.

It was looking to be a beautiful day and because it was Saturday we figured the area might be busy and we wanted to beat the crowds.

Finally...a rental car!

Wow, what a circus trying to get a rental car here. Actually, I should qualify that...if we were willing to pay 25 euros ($36 CAD, $27 USD) per day, then it would have been quick and easy. But during low season, there's no way we're paying that kind of money for a ten day rental.

So we had arranged to get a car yesterday morning at 10:00am, but shortly before that they had called to cancel, saying that the people who have the car they were expecting back were keeping it for three more days. They offered the phone number of another place that might be able to help.

And once again, our couchsurfing host Gaby came through for us!

So, maybe things were meant to happen this way...

Spent much of yesterday morning on the phone and the internet trying to organize a car rental. Lots of thanks to our couchsurfing host Valentina for all of her translation efforts! Some of the car rental websites have English, but not all.

We ended up with a pretty good deal...162 euros ($233 CAD, $173 USD) for 10 days, but we were going to have to go 100 kms north of here to the city of Cluj by bus to pick up the car. So we made plans to do that this morning.

And then, it turned out all of that effort was for nothing.

Gastronomic Adventures in Southeastern Spain: A Taste of Murcia

Traditionally when someone mentions Spain, the first things that spring to mind are the glorious, soft-sandy beaches, refreshing sangrias, colorful local festivals and of course, the wonderful Spanish cuisines native to its regions. From the popular Spanish Costas, the emerald islands of the Balearics and the Canaries and even to the leading Spanish cities of Barcelona and Madrid.

Spain has attractions galore which are sure to appeal to the preferences of visitors in Murcia.

We were due for some exercise!

I said yesterday that we were due for a more relaxing day, but I didn't expect it to be yesterday. Still, we did manage to get out for some exercise. We're trying to plan our onward travels but we're having a hard time coming up with something concrete, and part of the problem is that we're enjoying our time here in the village of Oarda de Sus.

We need to rent a car because there are several day trips we want to do from here. But the car rental places here base their daily pricing on how many days you have the car.

Now, this is a civilized way to buy wine!

It was 11:00am by the time we got out the door yesterday morning. It takes a long time to sort the photos of our activities and post the blog. I guess we have to stop doing so much stuff. We are kind of due for a relax day, but I don't see that happening any time soon...there is too much to see and do!

Our couchsurfing host Valentina was going into town, so we went along with her and she dropped us off at one of the entrances to the citadel here in central Alba Iulia.