Brza Palanka Serbia to Salcia Romania - 79 km 49mi
18 October, 2023
After the previous night's near Sub Zero Camping experience, and us getting ahead of ourselves by road dodging, and a comfy night's sleep last night, we could see another opportunity to cheat the EV6 route in our favour by swapping countries and hitting Romania before Bulgaria!!
But we kinda didn't quite know where the various bridges were taking else.... some Serbian locals said Romania was upstream, and Bulgaria down, so as we headed down stream and over it we were quite surprised to end up in Romania rather than Bulgaria!... My original understanding was it would be Romania but locals with poor local geographical knowledge can easily mislead!
None the less we got over the river, and most importantly away from many of the busy Serbian roads we had ahead of us! The cultural change from Serbia to Romania was quite astonishing! Western Romania is very austere indeed! Towns with little to no shops, cafés, bars, you name it, virtually nothing at all. Hotels, BnB's, campsites also in amazingly short supply, to completely non existent! The roads were very quiet though, apart from horse drawn carts with car tyres and sheep/goat herding fellahs. As we were another hour removed from GMT, time was slipping by with no clear idea of where we'd settle that night.
Ultimately, we found a café, and small shop to eat and get coffee in the mid afternoon. We also found a bank so we were now flush with local cash too!! Town after town we looked for accommodation and found none. Finally, in Salcia, we asked for help from some locals, ultimately to no avail, and then I located a would be overnight solution in a hostel on the edge of town. So we headed that way and Paul disappeared behind me without my knowledge.... I got to the site of said hostel but found nothing of the kind, but a very worn out looking neighbourhood with dirt roads and rubbish fires burning here and there. It was then that I noticed Paul wasn't with me, and nowhere to be seen! Another local more or less indicated my colleague was back some streets, so I began retracing my steps to find him. After 3 or 4 street turns.I found Paul, and he said he had found a place for us to stay! I didn't argue, and followed him through a gate into the front garden/forecourt of a rather large house. Paul said he struck up a conversation with this man who just happened to be calling to this lady over his fence as Paul was passing! Soon Paul and I introduced ourselves to our 'would be' hosts for tonight, Iulica and Elena Lilley. Iulica, a big tall strong, and not to be trifled with man, turned out to be a local builder, construction man, builders merchant and a terrifically friendly, generous and most humble chap. Elena, aka Lilley, his wife was a gentle soul who couldn't seem to do enough for us.
We appeared to be some long lost friends to whom they'd owed a great debt, yes, us as strangers were being welcomed into their domaine like close friends or even relatives! Paul described the experience, and I couldn't agree more, to that of 'unconditional hospitality', the like of which neither of us have ever seen before.
Not fully understanding what was happening, or why, us two 'stray dogs', broached the subject of money to cover the cost of our lodgings. They mildly scoffed at the thought of it, as one might to having been offered payment for a gift you had given a friend! They soon made it abundantly clear that we were their guests, and no money would change hands.
Iulica contacted his 'anglophonic' friend Aline, who once lived, and worked picking and packing vegetables on some Essex farms near Harlow to come over to help with translation, as Google Translate was a bit cumbersome. Aline told us that Iulica does this sort of thing for people, as that's the sort of man he is! Aline lived and worked in the UK for 4 yrs, saved his money so as to return to the place of his roots to build a home for himself, his wife, and two daughters, one of which was born in England.
Whilst we were all chatting, we asked if we could prepare our dinner using the small kitchen in this self contained annex flat next to the main house. Now would you let visiting friends and/or family cook for themselves if they arrived late, or unexpectedly, and after your mealtime? No, of course you wouldn't, and neither did they! Soon we were presented with drinks, some very tastey meatball soup with bread for appetisers, and a salad and grilled pork chop steaks for our main course. We were both speechless, and grateful to our new found friends like we'd never before experienced! Both Iulica and Lilley chipped in to serve us, as fine old friends would do after your arrival from a long journey. Most incredible, and days later, we were still have trouble understanding the depth of hospitality we received from complete, and utter strangers, literally in their own home!!
Aline and his friend, recently arrived young Iulica, and Iulica and Lilley soon all retired to their own homes and left us to sleep peacefully in the security of their premises.... with a massive dog named Omar to watch for our safety!
We watched Ronnie O'Sullivan prevail in a snooker tournament and slept like logs!
Gob smacked.... our faith in humanity, if not restored, but perhaps was understood just a little bit more clearly!
Doug&Paul
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