On Sunday we visited Peles Castle in Sinaia. It was built by King Carol of Romania in the 1870’s as a summer residence to escape the heat of Bucharest. He and his family loved the wild countryside surrounded by mountains. Local materials and workers were used, along with the Viennese architect and many craftsmen from abroad. The Castle was built with central heating, although huge ceramic heaters were included for looks.

The courtyard of the castle was crowded with hundreds of visitors waiting in line. A group of 25 or so were admitted every 20 minutes with a guide, so our wait was expected to be 2-3 hours. We asked Carmen if it was possible to go without a guide, so she went back to the ticket office to ask. When she returned, she escorted us to a side door and rang a doorbell. We were admitted and shown to the grand hall, where we were provided with blue plastic booties to cover our shoes and we began our own tour, reading the same information placards that the guides used. Sometimes going in the opposite direction from the guides, sometimes listening in on the more informative English guides, we made our way through the splendid rooms. Carved walnut paneling, stained glass, portraits and carpets, room after room and suite after opulent suite. We were awestruck. Carmen had paid for special tickets to the second floor, so we proceeded up the beautiful staircase. When we started down the first hall, an attendant asked Carmen where our guide was. After listening to the explanation of the situation where, because Carmen was a local and we were foreigners, we had been allowed to go on our own, and discovering that they were practically neighbors, Greta became our private guide. Making sure we understood the importance of different displays, encouraging us to take photos in spite of restrictions and to touch furniture that was clearly marked off limits, she led us through the rooms. As we proceeded along a hall paneled in beautifully carved wood, she looked around to make sure nobody else was looking and quickly opened a secret door which led to the Queen’s private bedchamber. Motioning Steve to enter the doorway, she encouraged us to quickly take a picture! Feeling incredibly lucky, we eventually concluded our very special tour of the Castle.

From the Castle we proceeded by car up a winding road into the mountains. Carmen had mentioned that there had been a month or more of hard rains that might have affected the road to the Royal Retreat, Stana Regala. She was not wrong. Turning off the main road, Bogdan, to my horror, followed a washed out series of switchbacks, up and up and up. We finally came to a beautiful mountain pasture, which Carmen called a sheep yard. On foot we climbed up a path through the trees until we reached an outcropping of rock with a small platform that overlooked the whole mountain range. Wow!

Safely back down the mountain, we visited a beautiful monastery and an ancient absolutely stunning church, then lunched at a Serbian restaurant. We continued back through more mountains to a dam and reservoir near Carmen’s country farmhouse. Then we visited her family place, which is a couple houses down from Bogdan’s place. They have large gardens, with grapevines, vegetables, fruit trees and more, producing fresh produce to consume and preserve. Carmen even keeps chickens and their dog there, and her neighbor goes daily to take care of them.

Finally returning to Campina to pick up our luggage and say goodbye and make the trip back into Bucharest.

Our friend Carmen met us at the train station. This was the only day in our trip where we had rain. Since Carmen doesn’t drive, her friend Bogdan had offered to be our chauffeur for the weekend. After a glimpse of Bucharest, we headed north to Carmen’s hometown of Campina. Her mother and 18 year old daughter live in their apartment there. Carmen keeps an apartment in Bucharest where she works, going home to Campina on the weekends. They also have a rough country house that belonged to Carmen’s grandparents.

Because of the traffic, the trip took a couple hours, but in spite of the late hour, Carmen’s mother had a delicious dinner waiting for us. The daughter, Andrea, speaks beautiful English.

Bogdan returned bright and early the next morning and we headed north into the Carpathian Mountains. First stop Bran Castle, in Wallachia, eastern Transylvania. Built in 1388, it was an important military and political location and was passed around to princes of Wallachia. Vlad Tepes was the prince 3 times in his life, a Romanian hero for fighting the Ottomans and the Saxons. His father was Vlad Dracul or Vlad the Dragon (after receiving the Order of the Dragon). Dracula means son of Dracul. In modern Romanian, dracul means “the devil”, which contributed to Vlad’s reputation along with his brutal tactics.

We were in the countryside, and it was the weekend, and many Budapest residents drive out to guest houses to have barbecues with friends. After a lunch of typical Romanian dishes at a restaurant, Steve was befriended by a group of men who were just firing up the BBQ, standing around drinking tuica (tswee-ka), a homemade alcoholic drink that everyone seems to make and consume regularly.

Next stop, the ruins of an old citadel built in the early 1200’s, Râșnov Fortress. Our friend Carmen was horrified by the condition of the ruins, which had gone downhill significantly since she last visited a few years ago. What was especially upsetting to her was that there was a lot of advertising that indicated that millions of Romanian leu (currency) had been spent on it. She pointed out several displays that had fallen apart and a painting dated 1863 that was displayed outside.

On to the city of Brasov, which was a lovely old city, still in Transylvania, with medieval Saxon walls, a Gothic-style Black Church and lively cafes. Piata Sfatului (Council Square) in the old town is surrounded by baroque buildings. We walked along the narrowest street in Europe and then had a profiterole (Carmen and Allane) and a beer (Steve and Bogdan) in a cafe on the square.

Our last, long day in Istanbul spilled over into the next adventure. We gathered up our luggage at about 8pm and walked to the Sultanahmet tram stop. Took the tram to the train station. We “asked” where the bus stop was and were pointed to the waiting salon. As we hesitated, an Aussie voice said “You wait just in that room over there.” So we met Kim and Ron, an intrepid couple from Perth, who were embarking on the same adventure we were.

With no announcements or checking of tickets, we simply waited until a bus pulled up at the appropriate time, put our luggage underneath and got on. After about an hour’s ride along the Golden Horn (European side), the bus stopped at the side of the highway. Everybody piled out, so we did too. Collecting our bags on the traffic side of the bus was a little scary, as was following the people who seemed to know what they were doing and heading down a very dark, dirty side road. But shortly we could see the train station and we were guided onto the train and shown our berths by Mustafah, who finally checked our tickets and also brought us sheets, towels, water, juice and crackers. We made up our berths and settled in as the train left the station.

We did sleep a couple hours before reaching the border of Bulgaria, where we had to get out of the train, cross the tracks and proceed to a bare room where our passports were processed for leaving Turkey. Thunder and lightning and a bit of rain made it a little ominous, but we were soon back on the train. A short while later, the Bulgarian border security took our passports for processing into Bulgaria. At about 4:15 am we arrived at Dimitrovgrad. We made our way to the ticket office. However, the lady could not accept a credit card or any other currency than Bulgarian lev. There was no exchange or ATM. The lady shrugged and said, “On train.” So when the train came, we boarded and it started off. After awhile, a conductor came by to check tickets. We showed him Ukrainian hryvnia, Turkish lira and US dollars, and he was having none of it. He finally took a US bill and went away, but came back shaking his head. Visions of being escorted off at the next station ran through our heads. Happily a young man who spoke beautiful English was nearby and took the dollars and paid the conductor in Bulgarian lev. Whew!

Dozed and watched the scenery for another 4 1/2 hours to the next stop, Gorna Orjahovitsa. Off the train, and, praise be! an ATM!. Bought tickets to the next stop, Ruse.

Crossing the Danube River meant leaving Bulgaria and entering Romania. A grand bridge, as we were told, the bridge is the longest steel girder bridge in the world. The Romanian Border Guards came in and took our passports off the train, always an unnerving experience. They brought them back, all stamped. We strapped in for our last train to Bucharest!

Our last day in Istanbul was a long one. We began by packing up and then we visited the Topkapı Palace, constructed between 1459 and 1478 by Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror. It is a huge complex with courtyards and gates, kitchens and buildings for official meetings, as well as an enormous harem area, and verandas and pavilions, a library, mint and imperial treasury.

We stopped for lunch at a restaurant where we sat on large cushions at a low table, enjoying typical Turkish dishes in Turkish style.

We wound our way back to our hotel, charging our phones and ourselves up for the next adventure. On the way back we caught a glimpse of a tried and true method used to dry out carpets, drape them over your car.

Today (Wednesday) we walked our normal route to the Sultanahmet Park, between the Blue Mosque and the Haghia Sophia. We crossed to the German Fountain and had tea at a little cafe as we waited for our guide, Kadir, to arrive. The roadway around the Mosque was the same track (Hippodrome) where chariot races were held during the Constantinople period, many, many years ago.

The Blue Mosque was commissioned by Sultan Ahmet I in 1609. It has six minarets, apparently a big deal since the mosque in Mecca only also had six. It’s rumored that this was a misunderstanding as the Sultan had instructed his architect to make gold (altin) minarets which his architect understood as six (alti) minarets. This caused controversy to the extent that Sultan Ahmet I decided to send his architect to Mecca to add a seventh minaret to the Haram Mosque.

Unfortunately, a good part of the interior of the Blue Mosque was under renovation. In this part of the world, they put up massive fabric covers to disguise the construction, totally obstructing any view. We did see the beautiful blue and white tiles that give the Mosque its name.

At the other end of the Park, we visited the Haghia Sophia, which is over 1,400 years old and was built by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in 537, over the ruins of two older churches. In the 15th century after the Ottomans took over, it was turned into a Mosque. But Sultan Mehmet was so confident in his religion and his rule, that he did not destroy all of the Christian mosaics and paintings. It is now a museum.

There are cats everywhere in Istanbul. People feed them outside, not really claiming the cats as their own, but the cats return each day. There are two cats (sisters) who stay in the Haghia Sophia, the museum even made a burlap cover on the Dias for them.

After the Ottoman takeover, when Haghia Sophia became a mosque, people from other religions would ask the imams for a small souvenir, and paid for a bit of mosaic tile from the Christian artwork.

It’s clear that through Istanbul’s long history as the Western terminus of the Silk Road, linking Asia and Europe, this city’s culture and traditions were built on the art of selling and trading. On our second day in Istanbul we did a bit of exploring in the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar is an immense place like a mall, but it has been in operation since 1453. Thousands of shops whose wares spill out into the walkway with shopkeepers who can spot a tourist from any land. The Spice Bazaar is closer to the harbor, and the shops sell all kinds of spices and special spice blends as well as teas of all sorts. In our travels we learned that shopkeepers love to invite people into their shops. They produce tea in seconds and sit and chat. It was explained to us that having tea with a Turk means 40 years of friendship! It also usually means that they hope we would buy a carpet or three, but they are very genial about accepting no for an answer.

Dinner was in a hotel restaurant atop the Arcadia Hotel. A Turkish meal often begins with a selection of starters known as mezes. Ours included butter beans, a humus of sorts, a spiced yogurt, a spiced red pepper salsa, a chicken and a fish dish and other things we don’t know but did enjoy. Panoramic views of the Golden Horn waterway and the Bosporus Strait and the mosque-covered hills of Istanbul. As usual, the ezan, or Muslim call to prayers, resounded across the city.

Two short flights brought us to Istanbul’s brand new airport where we sailed through customs and were met by a driver that we had arranged online. The trip into the city took about 40 minutes. Heaven knows how long it would have taken if he had been driving at a normal rate of speed…much, much longer!

Our hotel, The Kaftan, is in the center of the old city. The first comparison that came to mind was San Francisco, because of the steep hills. Narrow cobblestone streets with small hotels and businesses crammed in tightly. Our hotel arranged a ride for us to a fish restaurant located under one of the bridges that crosses the Golden Horn waterway, an estuary that flows the Bosporus Straight.

We decided on a whim to start our exploration of Istanbul with a food tour. Brilliant! Getting there presented a challenge. We had signed up for a Secret Food Tour, but the meeting place and tour were on the Asian side of Istanbul, across the Bosporus Straight. The hotel staff are very nice and helpful, but a bit vague with directions. We needed to walk to a tram station, purchase an Istanbul card which, happily, serves for all modes of transportation. Then we needed to find the appropriate metro station where the metro crosses under the Straight, change lines and travel to Kadikoy. We had assistance from two nice people, who in the end both wanted to sell us carpets, but hey… So, crossing from Europe to Asia, we began our food tour with a Turkish breakfast.

We moved on to some regional specialties. Our guide, Nusret, is Turkish, married to a Canadian. He explained the food traditions, many aspects of the culture and was very genial and informative.

The Asian side is more residential and youthful. Since it is Ramadan, the Muslim religious month where people fast from sunup to sundown, the streets and restaurants were not full to overflowing, for which we were grateful.

Our last stop was for dessert, but our guide had us try “just one more special soup,” which was incredible. The dessert was a thin pastry filled with clotted cream and pistachios and fried. Amazing.

We made our way, groaning and waddling, to the ferry and crossed back to Europe in the late afternoon sunshine. We managed to find the correct tram to take us back to our hotel area. Thank goodness it was another 22,000 step day.

After a short rest, we ventured out again to see a religious ceremony of the Sufi sect, the whirling dervishes. We were not allowed to photograph the ceremony.

On our return stroll through the square between The Hague Sophia and the Blue Mosque, the sunset call to prayers and breaking of the fast began. Hard to find words to describe how exotic that experience felt.

Odessa is a very interesting city. It was established by Catherine the Great’s favorite General in the late 1700’s, so it is a young city. It is a port on the Black Sea once belonging to the Turks. The city’s founders were very forward-looking, but some of the styles were created to give the impression of a rich historical background, which they did not have. All buildings here are constructed of brick or stone or concrete. A series of mining tunnels was developed to provide limestone blocks as building material. They are called the catacombs and their length is estimated at 1,553 miles.

In the morning we sauntered to the nearest cafe called Gogel Mogel for an outdoor breakfast and then walked around the old city. We descended the Potemkin Stairs, both a route to the shore and an impressive welcome for those arriving by sea. Going down, you can’t see the steps, it looks like a smooth slope with several landings.

We then took a harbor boat tour.

In the afternoon we met a local guide, Leonid, who showed us around Odessa and into the catacombs.

This sign post is like the one in South China…tells the direction and mileage to important cities!

Odessa is rich in history and wears its title of being Ukraine’s “hedonist capital” well. It’s geography lends itself to welcoming and entertaining travelers and traders. Over time, Odessa has survived and kept its identity. Our guide, Leonid, told us that Odessa remains known for three things; corruption, humor, and trade.

I love that the city celebrates Humorina, Humor Day, on April 1st, as a holiday. This is not celebrated by other cities in Ukraine. City government offices and schools are closed and there’s a day-long festival that attracts humorists, satirists, and anyone looking for a laugh.

Today was Vlodimir’s birthday, and we went to a restaurant which specializes in Ukrainian food and decor and even music. We tried a fabulous cabbage soup in a special bread bowl.

Several special appetizers, Chicken Kiev and a mixed meat platter, a bottle of vodka and two traditional drinks later, we celebrated with a cake with a metal sparkler candle.

We had part of a day in Kiev, visiting the National Botanical Garden and a huge monastery complex called the Lavra. In 1051, followers of the Orthodox Church came and lived in caves to escape persecution. Eventually a large Cathedral was built above ground. We toured the caves with the remains of the early saints. Passing by the Parliament building we witnessed a large protest over the attempts by President Perochinko and his followers to block the timely inauguration of the newly elected president.

We then traveled by car to our hosts’ dacha, or country house. The vast farmland is very flat, the earth a rich black, the growing hay a deep green, and the main feed crop (not sure what it is, maybe rapeseed) beautiful yellow flowers. With the blue sky above, we can see where the Ukrainian flag colors came from.

After a dinner at about 10 pm, with homemade vodka and a homemade liqueur from sea-buckthorne, we slept well to the sounds of silence and frogs.

Up early, we headed by car to Odessa with two stops. Both at beautiful dendrological parks.

Arriving in Odessa, we found our boutique hotel in the center of the city. Undergoing renovations, but we are the only guests in beautifully appointed rooms.

We began our day with a ride on the Metro to central Kiev. The history of the city goes back over 1500 years! First stop, the Golden Gates, built in the 11th century under the reign of Yaroslav the Wise, a combination defensive fortress and main gate to the city. Passing by the National Opera House, we continued to St. Vladimir Cathedral. Decades in the building, it was completed in 1882, and 10 more years for the interior. During the first third of the 1900’s, it was closed and turned into the Museum of Antireligious Propaganda, but it was revived during the German occupation. We were very lucky with timing, because a special ceremony was occurring, with the retired Patriarch of Ukrainian Orthodox Church celebrating the birth/death of St. Makary.

Construction of our next stop, the Saint Sophia Cathedral, began in 1037, commissioned by Yaroslav the Wise. It was a social and political center, housing the first school and the first library. Damaged by the Mongolian Tartars in 1240, it has since been reconstructed. The bell tower’s bell weighs 13 tons.

We strolled a hillside walkway in Old Kiev, along what was originally the defensive protections of the city. It is called Landscape Alley and is filled with sculptures, playgrounds, benches, all overlooking the Podol, the lower and oldest historical district of Kiev.

Last stop on the hillside was St Andrew’s Church, built for the Russian Empress Elizabeth on the site where Andrew the Apostle supposedly built a cross. From there we wound down the Andriyivsky Descent, through the artists’ district to the Podol.

This city is streets and squares are tree-lined and wide, some cobblestoned, many for pedestrians only. The chestnut trees and lilacs are in bloom and beautiful. In stark contrast to the warm spring sunshine, our next stop was at the Chernobyl Museum. It contains powerful exhibits commemorating such things as the 76 “dead” settlements abandoned after the disaster, icons from a church in the forbidden zone, a model of the exclusion zone, 19 miles in all directions from the reactor site, and a ceiling map of the world with lights portraying all atomic power plants.

We had lunch in a restaurant with the name that translates to Big Belly Restaurant, offering traditional Ukrainian dishes. We shared salads, pelmeni dumplings, a delicious soup, and verenyky dumplings with a sour cherry filling (not dessert).

We were thankful that the trip back up the hill was by funicular. We strolled through another beautiful green park called Vladimir Hill Park, with terraces overlooking the Dneiper River. In ancient times it was called Michael’s Mount, after St Michael’s Monastery built in 1108, now known as St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral, a magnificent, sky-blue Orthodox temple.

After stopping at a pastry/candy store Roshen, the business built by and belonging to the Ukrainian ex-president Peroshenko, for a traditional Kiev cake, we made our way back to the apartment. Our step counters showed close to 22,000 steps!