Arrived this afternoon in Budapest and it feels good to be back in civilsation again. I didnt think I was such a city person but three days in the wilderness was plenty for me.

We hired a car in Oradea, near the romanian-hungarian border and drove it up to the Maramures region, near the Romanian-Ukranian border. The border was literally only a kilometre away and we could see the next town in the distance. Alas we were not able to cross.

Travelling through this region was like time travel. Horse and cart is the usual mode of transport there. We got strange looks in our car. The roads were mostly gravel or potholed and even though the region is less than 200 km long it took about 6 hours to drive through it. We spent the first night in the town of Sapanta. Which is famous for its cemetary. This is because all the graves are ornately painted with the story of the persons life and how they died.

For example, there were pictures of men plowing the fields, a barber, women sewing or baking etc. There was even a barman.

One interesting story was a young farmer making hay in the field a couple of years ago when he was struck by lightening and died. His grave was painted with a pic of god striking him down.

Anyway, graveyard aside, Sapanta was a wierd town. it felt like you were walking into some sort of cult. All the men wore funny little black hats, and all the women, young and old wore the peasant fashion of a ruffled skirt and a headscarfe. But worst of all was the cold hard stares they would give you as you drove by. We would wave and smile in vain. with not even a twitch in return. we camped the night in someones backyard next to a giant smelly hay stack.

The next town, Botiza was amazing. It was completely off the main road and people there live a very remote life. Everything is done by hand. We soon realised that people were a lot more friendlier when we were out of our car. We got lots of greetings and smiles, even a wave or two from them as they drove their carts by.

We found this great little guest house by luck and stayed the night in the attic of a cottage. All this including dinner and breaky for a 10 euros. Dinner was tasty but strange as it consisted of five different types of carbs. Potato soup, followed by cabbage leaves stuffed with rice, served with polenta and cream, and bread, followed by donuts. needless to say it was welcomed with much relief because we were expecting to be served tripe soup ( the national dish) or donkeys brains.

We are on the home run now. Will be home in about two weeks time. Looking forward to catching up with Marika and Lukas in Bratislava on Sunday, and everyone else making it to the Szeigets festival back in Budapest next week. Pack your woolies and raincoat people because its cold here and apparently there has been strange weather all week.