Yeah, so last week I was in Romania for a conference on insurances for accidents in the agricultural workplace. Exciting stuff, I assure you. There are no direct flights there from Sweden, so we reached Bucharest via Zurich, Switzerland. My impressions from the summer of ’06 when I drove through Europe still hold true – Swiss toll/passport control staff are the rudest – ever. But that’s a whole other story…
We arrived in Bucharest at 1 pm, and the conference was to start at 3:30 pm, after a light lunch. Well, this is where things started to go wrong – before we’d even left the airport. Which we didn’t until about 3:30 pm. After having stood at the airport for 2,5 hrs. Very hungry (flying SAS means no food). And was there any lunch for us when we finally arrived? Nope. They were just clearing the tables, but we managed to land ourselves a bit of fruit and a tiny sandwich each (I travelled with a colleague).
And what a good thing that was, seeing as we kept going until 8 pm, at which point we rushed down and hurriedly checked in so as to have a super quick shower before dinner at 8:30 pm. Sigh. After having got up at 5 am, after a mere 3-4 hrs of restless sleep, this had been a looong day, so at 10 pm we settled for bed.
The following day the conference was to start at 8:00 am according to the program, but instead the chairman asked us to be there for 7:45. Good grief! The coffee in Romania is, essentially, chewable, but also never served warm. It’s lukewarm at its best. Oh well, plenty was gulped down before the headphones were put back on, and the English translation yet again streamed into our heads…
We kept going with the conference until about 3:45 pm, as a bus was to pick us up at 4 pm for our field trip. We were to head west, to the city of Craiova, for one night, and one day of farm visits. It took five hours to get there.
Leaving the city of Bucharest was…an expereince. Not only was traffic heavy, but the areas we drove through…they were a real eye-opener. The Soviet Union fell in 1991, but it seems Romania hasn’t come all that far from that moment in time, in terms of housing at least. The big blocks that line the streets, are just…horrid. However people manage to come out of buildings like that looking, well – nice, is beyond me. They look so depressing, as if they’re to fall down any second. I comfort myself by saying it must look entirely different on the inside, but have no proof to support this thought. The fact remains, that Romania has a very long road ahead of them if they’re to share the living standard of Western Europe. The Rin Grand, our hotel in Bucharest, provided a stark contrast – being Europe’s largest hotel with almost 1 400 rooms…
We’d had lunch at 12:30, so again, our stomachs were growling, and we were completely over food by the time we sat down for a traditional meal in the presence of the Craiova mayor at 9:30 pm. There were so many courses; cold cuts, cabbage rolls, chicken, potatoes, cottage cheese strudels…I can’t even remember, maybe 6 or 7 in total? We might even have missed some, as I at midnight asked if we could be shown to the hotel where we were staying (of course, Craiova didn’t have a hotel big enough to host us all. Sigh). And the whole time they had Tom Jones (!) blasting at full volume… An odd evening, but with pretty good food (I steered clear of the pork rinds), to say the least.
Our day of farm visits started at 8 am, and our first stop was the Domeniul Coroanei vineyard. Or more correctly – the winery. We never get to see any of the actual vines on these visits, only the wine cellars. It was most peculiar, because when we arrived at the winery we were essentially outnumbered by Romanians. I still don’t know who they all were, but our presence was obviously of some importance as we were followed by a film crew the whole time we were there. And this continued at every stop we made – more Romanians turned up at each one, with no explanation as to who they were! It was weird, I tell ya. My suspicion is that they were part of the Craiova mob 😉 they sure looked dodgy enough…
After a couple of glasses of wine (pretty good, actually!) we headed south towards Bechet, where we stopped by a farm that had received EUR 500 000 in benefits. Not entirely sure for what, because although the farm apparently had 2 000 hectares, all we got to see was two silos and a truck. And boy, was it ever cold…brr.
Our program told us that we were having lunch in Bechet, a port on the bank of the Danube (a great place to visit, downstream from Hungary, a few weeks after the Aluminum catastrophy), so when we finally reached Bechet and were told we were going on a boat we all thought it was a lunch time cruise. Well, it wasn’t. It was a barge. Without food. And walls. And it was windy, and cold, and humid… Frozen to the core, desperate for the loo (after visiting a winery!), we returned to the port after 30 mins of pointless “cruising” on a barge. Crikey. What I take with me from that excursion is seeing Bulgaria across the water.
So now we’re coming up on 4 pm, and still no lunch. And remember, we have a 4-5 hr busride back to Bucharest! After some more driving we finally come up on a community hall of some sort, and we’re greeted by girls in traditional costumes (very similar to the Ukrainian) who treated us to bread that you dip in salt, and palinka. Unfortunately there was also traditional music played, by a live ensemble of three people: a man with thick glasses and an accordion, a woman with an all but pleasant voice, and another man, trying to make the “sound” more modern by accompanying them on an electric keyboard. All on maximum volume, of course. Sweet lord!
We ate and we drank sweet red wine, then ate some more, watched our Eastern European colleagues dance, avoiding eye contact so as not to be invited to join them, all the while praying for a cup of coffee. Which never came. What instead was brought out, was a lamb grilled over an open fire for 5-6 hrs. A dude in a track suit (!) brought it in, and it was just for us to sit back down and continue eating. I’d had enough, in many ways, by this time, and I’d mentally checked out. All I wanted was to lie down on my hotel bed in Bucharest and thank the lord we’d decided to rebook our flight to an earlier departure the following day…
When we finally did get back to Bucharest after 10 pm, we were allocated smoking rooms. And there’s no way in hell I’m staying in a smoking room. Never! So after some “negotiating” we got new rooms and could finally go to bed. Apparently there was a dinner arranged for us, but we missed it. Oh well. Yeah, all this smoking man. Everywhere, all the time, everyone. It’ll be many years before Romania enforces the ‘no-smoking in public places’ law that’s present in so many of our countries…
I realize this has been a very negative post, and certainly not one that “sells” Romania, but it was just so…depressing. I’ve been to Bucharest before, in 2007, and I was far more positive after that trip. It just seems like nothing is changing for the better, for the “normal” people. We passed so many horse driven carriages, saw people doing their laundry in little streams…it was like travelling back in time. And I fear that it will be decades yet before the Romanian people get the living standard they deserve.
Opposite clau2002’s opinion, I like snow and winter sports. Last year we have a long winter with temperatures -20°C for three weeks. It was so cold! The layer of snow was so thick, and some crazy teenagers have the guts to jump from the top of the blocks. Fortunately, they don’t brake their legs. Rivers and lakes become skating rinks. All i can see was white, so white… that my eyes hurt. All the traffic was jammed, schools was closed and all of us aquire a forced vacancy. I was so content – this happend all winters in Sweden? I think i will move there!
But the language is hard, i can’t understand it. I bet you think the same thing about romanian language. A friend from Holland say to me that romanian language it seem like french mixed with spanish.
@clau2002 – thank you for your comment! Like I wrote in my post I assumed and found comfort in the thought that the housing must be very different on the inside, but that I hadn’t had the chance to find out for myself. I’m glad to have you confirm this for me!
And please, I never said anything about not liking the food! I’ve had reason to eat a lot of Ukrainian food in my days, and this reminded me very much of it 🙂 If anything, it was the mere amount of food, and the time at which it was served I had a “problem” with 😉
No, of course we all have different experiences in our past, and I’m not saying that the “Western” way of living is the right one, I just want for everyone to have a good standard of living, a salary high enough to live off etc. I’m very glad Romania and Bulgaria came to join the EU in 2007, and I hope Croatia and Turkey aren’t far behind.
And as for the cold climate in Sweden – I love it! I can’t imagine living in a place that lacks seasons again 🙂 I need my snow and ice for part of the year.
Thank you again for your comment!
If by any chance I would take a short trip to Sweden(hope will never happen since I don”t cope well with freezing climate) just like you,I would keep wondering how people manage to live in a place where winter lasts ten months.Based on the environment I am used to ,the understanding of how Sweds live their lives in that kind of place would be beyond my understanding.Those ugly communist era apartment buildings are ugly and worn off on the outside but inside ,most apartments are more comfortable and well maintained than the average I have seen in New York , Philadelphia or Milan for that matter(and I”v moved a lot while I was working there).On another note,you should be aware that we are a pretty old and conservative civilisation which has seen a lot during its history and maybe we are not all that willing to accept in a hurry that anything coming from the west is better.You might be willing to reconsider your diet once you become aware of all the chemicals and processing aditives contained in the the food you eat every day.Myself I stick with my romanian way which I know is better.By the way,while smoking is a bad habit and it has the potential to increase your chances of developing all kind of deseases,the corn syrup,sweeteners and other modern day declared safe for consumption stuff directly get you sick and dependent of all kind of legal drugs and suplements they say are good for you.Best regards from Craiova.
@Ogar: Thank you for your comment! You’re so positive, and it makes me very happy! I realize my post was very negative, but my visit just saddened me. If you’re happy and proud, who am I to say anything different?! From now on I’ll be happy and proud with, and for, you! I hope you’re having a great week Ogar!
Oh, and here’s a link Ogar sent me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrKpXQNK16A
Maybe nothing change since the integration in EU but it is no hurry. What’s the tragedy about it? It is like feeling sorry for the Australian aboriginals because they don’t have enaugh money to buy some lap-tops end comunicate with each others. Believe me, they do…
Same thing here, in Romania. So, we are backwards, we don’t drive pick-up trucks, instead we drove carts. Because my grand-parents live in the country i drove one myself. That was so cool! Nowdays the weels are made from rubber, like the same used to cars, but the carts with wooden wheels are smashing. I have more fun using a cart draught from a horse then using an ATV vehicle. Several peasants have carts with some kind of roof, like in Western movies with Cow-boys and Indiens. How pitoresque! They use it to travel across the lanscape from ancient time, in all type of weather so when the fuel will be short (and i think it will some day) the only vehicules that will still move will be those carts. Anyway, for carts is forbidden to enter into cities, so is something usual to see them in the rural region. And also is forbidden to use national roads, so i guess what you’ve seen was a trespasser.
About traditions and customs… well… you got me! Even for me some dances look strange enough, The “CALUSARII” dance for example, scares the sh*t out of me. This type of dance is pre-christian and the Church fail to interdict it. Maybe isn’t to late to do it.
Washing laundry in the rivers is something bad, especialy when they are using detergents to do it. But is hard to explain this to an 60-70th years old-lady who did this job together with his nephew and niece. They have electricity, all the villages is electrified, they have washing machines in every house but i guess is more romantic to wash their clothes in public. And is also cheap – hand made.
About that sailing: you have been in the wrong side of the river: the best places of Danube is in the Delta, near the flow in Black Sea. There you’ll have what to see: awesome number of birds from two continents (except of course in the migration period) and wild places where no one have been before you. Because of the “civilisation” phenomen you mentioned, i’m affraid this wildness will be no more.
In Romania everybody smokes. When i say everybody i say all people men or women between age 12 and 70. Over 70es lives only non-smokers, but i don’t know any. All my friends are smokers. Blame that dude, Columb who brought us tobocco about 500th years ago from America. Yes, is a bad habbit, i quit 4 times. Laws don’t have anything to do it.
I’m agree with your opinion: the big, grey concrete blocks must be demolish from our cities, and build something else. Unfortunately, the real-estate business is crushing all over now, so developers don’t want to invest their money in houses, apartments blocks or residential constructions. You wonder how is it for inhabitants? Because i’m one of them who’s living in that monstruosity build in communist era, i say it is pretty ugly. Living in my flat sorrounded by sounds and smels of others neighbors, and from my window i see another block with flats same like mine, and the buildings are so close and in the space remain is crowded parked cars. Maybe in the future we all gonna live in a nice house, with garden with trees and a lawn in front, and not into a concrete hive.
You forget to mentioned the dogs: we have alot of them, tones of them and we love them!
This definitely makes for sad reading. I really hope that this country will find a way to improve things for everyone and lighten the load of the people.