The Ensemble of the Evangelical Church and the Historic Center of Prejmer Village

Another UNESCO World Heritage Site, this fortified church was considered to be the most powerful peasant fortification in medieval Transylvania. It was built in the early 1200s with the blessings of the Teutonic Knights after being attacked by the Turks by Saxon peasants.

This one is remarkably intact with the iron spikes still on the gates. They were serious about their safety here. See all the portals for arrows. There are so many of these fortified villages dotting the landscape that it is obvious that these early Saxons lived on the frontier border between Europe and the marauding Turks and Mongols who, according to the stories, were constantly attacking and trying to move westward. These Saxon peasants just wanted peace to live in their homes and work the land.

We also stopped to see the Konigberger fortified church that is nearby. The lives of the peasants centered around the Church which is at the center of the fortified village. With a well inside, they could hold out quite some time. Many Saxons settled in Transylvania and still remain. There were many residents here and the Church is well maintained even today. This one is a Lutheran Church. I have seen so many Romanian Orthodox churches that when I walked in, I was surprised to see the familiar arrangement of choir loft, raised pulpit and pews.

Brasov

We stopped in Brasov for the night. This is a fine Austrian city. Many of the town's buildings were built during the time when Transylvania was a part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. The buildings on the square are very tall. Most of them were homes initially. It is hard to imagine the amount of money that must have flowed through here. We did not get into any of them but they must be very large rooms with very high ceilings, judging from the exteriors. We would have liked to have seen the inside of the Black Church, but it seems taht it is seldom open and so we were not able to.

We had no reservations and so when we left the train station we found a cab whose driver knew of a wonderful pensiune where we could stay. The owner was a Japanese man who had married a Romanian woman and later was divorced. From the stories he tells it created quite a stir when he married her. He stayed o in the town and refurbished the Samurai Pensiune. It is clean, warm and inexpensive which was all we wanted.

He gave us directions to Terasa Ceasu'Rau, a traditional restaurant down the street. It was essentially an outdoor restaurant with a small bar where we ate. Many people ate at tables outside but we had had enough cold for one day. The food was grilled outside at a huge fire pit.

The morning was clear and crisp with icy temperatures. We spent the day visiting Bran and Rasnov and then headed back to the square to enjoy the early evening before our train left. There are ski resorts here and so there were people in ski attire, carrying their equipment here and there. We had dinner at a quaint Romanian restaurant and finally walked took a taxi back to the train station to head back to Gura Humorului. The train was cold this evening, even though we were in the number five car which is the one that is closest to the heater. We had a two hour layover in a freezing train station way in the north of Romania and finally arrived home at nine in the morning. I am used to the midnight trains but I don't think the boys found it interesting at all. They were cold and uncomfortable. I am tall and it is hard to get comfortable in a full car, but they are a head taller than I am and a full car was just miserable for them.

Bran Castle in the winter

It is freezing outside on this cold winter day with wind and blowing snow. Imagine that you have been trudging through mud and snow for days along the valley floor until you come to a bend in the path. Looking up into the mountains you see the imposing outline of Bran Castle against a cold, wintry sky. The ground is already covered with six inches of packed, slippery snow and you are heading up to siege Bran Castle. You would probably have chosen a bright, sunny, summer day when at least it was warm, but you are not in charge. Today your orders are to climb the slippery, steep stone path which is covered with six inches of mud and ice to the front door of Bran Castle and then you are to storm your way into the castle. Several hundred others are pushing you from behind as you trudge up the steep hill and woe to he who trips and falls. When you finally reach the castle entrance, you find a steep set of steps leading to a narrow doorway where there is barely room for two to stand. They are very steep and there are archer holes facing you. You must run the gauntlet amidst flying arrows and boiling oil being poured on you from the ramparts. Those sluice gates look to be well used and so they must be very effective. When you reach the top of the steps, there is a heavy iron and oak door that you must beat down. The steps are narrow and slippery well-worn stone. It is hard to keepyour balance on the tiny steps in the snow, but you must push a battering ram through the narrow doorway. There is no possible way to get any momentum and so you pound at the door. The castle is warm from the fire in the royal soba. Jon has managed to get into the castle and is standing next to the well in the center of the courtyard. At least it looks like a well – it even has a rope and a bucket, but it you climb down into it, you will find a tunnel leading to escape on the next mountain in the Carpathians. Bad enough that you should have to abandon your stronghold, but at least you are spared the indignities of torture at your enemy's hands.

Christmas presents

I realize there is a need for security and that everyone has to abide by the same rules. Generally, I think that is a good plan. Unfortunately, sometimes the rules are impossible. I have received a few packages from the US since I have been here. The process of actually getting them is interesting. The post office is not always open even if it is supposed to be. I am not talking about a few minutes early, they don't seem to open the village post office at all in the afternoon. Packages from the States stop in Suceava and a tiny notice is sent out. I have 48 hours to arrive at the post office in Suceava to pick up the package. The customs officer is only there from 8 to noon. I have classes from 8 to at least noon on three days. The other two days I have classes until 11. I then have to walk down to the hitching corner and wait for a ride. Each car takes four passengers. I always seem to be the first passenger and so I must wait for three more people. Then we drive to Suceava which takes about 45 minutes on a good day. Then I have to get a cab to the post office as there is not enugh time to walk. I finally walk in to pick up my package. The customs officer is standing at the counter and tells me it is after noon and he can not give me the package. It is 12:08 when he says this. I ask him what I am supposed to do as I have to be in class and can not just take off a day so that I can come pick up a Christmas present. He adamantly refuses to give me the package. Finally, I tell him to send it back as I will not be able to retrieve it within his guidelines. I left, rather disgruntled.

A few weeks later, I ran into Bogdan whose house I had been living in the first semester. He had gone to the post office to pick up another package and they gave him my Christmas present. They charged him ten dollars for storage and this is what it looked like when it got to me…

My new digs

January brought many changes to my Romanian life. I moved to town first of all. I had been living in the village of Manastirea Humor, but it had become increasingly more difficult to get out as it got colder and winter settled in. The maxitaxi was grand at school hours, but otherwise, it was never consistent. It waited in town unti lit was full and then made the run. It was horrible to wait for an hour before it came by. In balmy weather that is not such a problem. In freezing weather, standing outside is just not fun. When I called for a taxi, they came about half the time. I am sure the girl taking the call was not sure what I was saying, but nevertheless, it was cold standing outside waiting to flag one down. I finally decided to move to town and so I made the move in mid-January. I now have a room in a house with a tailor and his wife. I can now walk anywhere and make plans to go out for a cup of tea if I want at a moment's notice.

The road to my new place is a bit rustic. I am not sure yet whether it is dirt or pavement. It is covered in ice and snow. I have to cross the railroad tracks to get to town. Trains come through rather often. It is an interesting sound as they are electric. I hear the whistle from the station at the other end of town and soon I can feel the train appproaching. The engine is attached to a power cable above and so there is no engine sound. Only the sound of the metal wheels singing on the metal tracks. It gets louder and louder and then the ground seems to tremble. They rumble by every hour or so. It is not loud so much as it is a sound of motion. Some days I wait for the train to pass. It seems to snow a bit every day…

Good Bye Greece!!

Anafiotika

This is an interesting area near the Acropolis. In 1830 the ruler of Athens decided that he wanted the best Greek builders in the realm to build his palace. The residents of the island of Analfi were chosen and promptly moved with all of their possessions to Athens. When they realized they were not going to return to their beloved island, they recreated it in their new home in Athens. The area is very steep as it is at the base of the Acropolis hill. The houses form a little village just as they had left on the island. The steep slopes of Acropolis hill were much like the rocky island they came from. The houses are mostly white-washed with narrow paths between them. It hasn't changed very much since then. The streets are still narrow and wind about. These people built most of the major buildings in Athens today.

The village is still intact and filled with delightful little restaurants. As we ascended the steps into the village, the owners of each of the restaurants tried to usher us in. We finally settled on a pretty little one called Aneka's. It was a bit chilly so we opted to sit inside at the fireplace. Dinner was excellent and the company was great fun. It was a wonderful evening. And wonder of wonders – we ran into the Tower of the Winds on our way home. The only time I remember going downhill is after eating dinner here. It was quite steep.

This is where we decided to spend our last night in Greece. It was the perfect choice. The Acropolis gleamed above us as we meandered back to the hotel. It seems to change color every night. Tonight it was colorful. What a great time we had here.

New Year's at the Acropolis

I am willing to bet that this is simply a bad picture technically, but I really like it. Looks like a Monet of the Acropolis. I took this one early on New Year's Day.

New Year’s in Athens

I am simply posting the images of a lovely sky lit up by fireworks and the morning sky of the Acropolis. It is magical.

And then the brass band paraded in front of our hotel at 9AM. I enjoyed it but I heard grumbling behind me. I suspect they weren't the only ones groaning at that hour on New Year's Day. And during the night this is what the Acropols liiked like.

The Tower of the Winds

I have been looking for the Tower of the Winds every day since we arrived. There is no address anywhere that I can find. Of course, if I could speak or read Greek, I would probably be able to find it easily. I have finally given up finding it as this is our last day in Athens. We fly out at an early hour in the morning. I know it is in the Monastriki area but that is about it. We have wandered all over this area. We have gone in search of it several times to no avail. Today we are enjoying what the street vendors have to offer.

I considered one of these rugs but there is not a chance it will fit in the suitcase. The balalaika was wonderful to listen to. We listened for quite a while. Then we wandered among the vendors. Nick found a sweater he liked. Jon was being Joe Cool for the afternoon. We wandered up the streets toward the little village area of Anifiotika and on past some tiny streets and quaint, well-kept houses.

We passed a few restaurants and had a wonderful afternoon. We found a wonderful statue of Lord Byron who, in addition to being a fabulous poet, came to Greece to fight against the Ottoman Empire in the Greek War of Independence. He is a national hero in the eyes of the Greeks.

We kept walking up the hill. Suddenly, there it was – the Tower of the Winds. It has the faces of the eight winds carved on its eight sides around the crown of the building. It stands in the midst of rubble from other buildings which did not survive. It was used by a priest in medieval times and so was saved the wrecking ball that seems to have demolished all else around it. It was built by an astronomer in the first century BCE.

Athens traffic

The traffic in Greece is quite civilized. There are more yellow cabs and buses than anything else it seems. And there is more traffic at 3AM than at 9AM. The streets were brimming with cars and motorcycles last night. This morning there is almost no traffic at all. It seems that most of Europe lives by a different clocks than we Americans do.. I get up at four or five every morning, no matter what continent I am on, no matter the season. It is bedtime that changes. When it gets dark I get sleepy unless I have something to keep me busy.

We have mastered the subway system now. We know which line goes where and which one we want. The subways are very clean. It is nice not to have to look down at where you are going in case of presents or missing pavement. There has been a live band at one of the popular interchanges underground for the past few days. I am betting it is just for the holidays, but you never know. It is wonderful to stop and listen to the music though.

Temple of Olympian Zeus

Today we took the subway to where we thought we would find the Temple of the Olympian Zeus. As we have come to expect, it was not where it seemed like it ought to be on the map. The guidebooks all say that none of the ancient sites here are marked very well. That is so true. The street signs are in Greek of course. There are few pictographs to help the tourist. There is no Map of the Stars such as we have in Hollywood. And so, we head out each morning with a destination in mind and are happy if we find it and find something else to enjoy if we can't find it.

From the Acropolis, the Temple of Olympian Zeus is visible. It must be huge as we can easily see the columns from where we stood on the Likovitos Hill where the Pantheon stands. It would seem that you could see these gigantic monuments from a distance as they are mammoth, but you can't. As the city has grown up around them, the perspective is out of whack and something always seems to be in my line of vision.

We have been walking for ages and have decided to look for a place to eat when we spy the Arch of Hadrian. It is an interesting archway with another, more delicate archway on top of it. On the side which faces Athens, it is inscribed with This is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus. On the other side, it says This is the city of Hadrian, not of Theseus. This park separates ancient city from the new Athens of Hadrian. Talk about an ego…

It is of interest that the columns are not one big pieces of marble as I imagined, but sections. This particular column fell during a thunderstorm in a recent century. The sections all fell in a nice row.
Peisistratos began construction of the temple in the sixth century BCE, but it was not completed until Hadrian's time. He dedicated it to Zeus in 132 ADE at the Panhellenic Festival. It is the largest temple in Athens, larger than the Pantheon. One corner of the building remains. Much of the rest of the building was scavenged for subsequent building projects. The columns are 56 feet in height. The building was 130 feet wide. Standing next to them makes you wonder how they ever managed to put it all together. The lines are very clean as you look through the columns to the blue sky. Kudos to the architect.

The complex includes a huge series of baths, both men's and women's. This carving is set at the base of the women's baths.

An Afternoon by the Sea

Today we decided that we should go to the Sea. After all, who knows when I will get back here again? It would be a crime to be as close as this and not dip my toe into the Mediterranean, even if it is cold. Although I brought a bathing suit to go for a swim, I have no desire to join the Polar Bear Club. The water is not frozen but it is not warm either. The weather is 50 degrees warmer than it is in GH, but it is still not hot.

Walking to the Metro, we see Athena everywhere. She is certainly the patron of Athens. Scattered amongst the new and restored buildings are piles of restorations in progress. They are everywhere. I am surprised that there is so much still here. I would have thought that the building material would have been long ago used in some newer project. Mr Jon Cool is having a grand time.

We took the metro to Piraeus and looked around. This is the working port of Athens. It is where we will begin our trip today. No matter where you look there are ruins of something or other – some are labeled and some are not. It is going to take a long time and a lot of money to get them all restored. By the time we make our plan, we are all starving. There is something about the sea breeze that makes us hungry. We walked along the quay for a bit and considered the street vendors offerings. We looked in several restaurants and finally decided that we wanted to go farther down the coast to see the Sea where it wasn't so congested. For only the second time since I have arrived in Romania, I went to a McDonalds. It was a familiar port, so to speak, and so we didn't have to figure out the menu. This one is decorated in a nautical theme with life rings on the walls. The front was entirely glassed in so that we can see the water while we scarf down those familiar quarter-pounders.
A few dollars lighter, we walked farther down the quay until we found a bus that would take us down the coast. We found a delightful restaurant and sat by the window and watched the activity. There was still no beach to speak of – only a dock that went all the way to Piraeus in one directions and who knows where at the other end. It was simply lovely. We watched ships sailing by. There are huge freighters and cruise ships plying the waters. More interesting are the smaller boats that are probably locals out for a day in the sun.