After a tiring work week, let's make a little day trip out of the city again. This time I'm on a little Transferoviar train to Slanic, which seems relatively empty compared to the packed trains going to the coast.
We have departed!
The first 50 minutes or so is the railway line to Ploieşti, the main south-north axis out of Bucharest on which I have travelled too many times for it being anyway near exciting. Let's just pretend It's Tuscany and my yuk Starbucks coffee is Italian, and it gets a bit better.
Ploieşti, Romania's oil city. Basically the local equivalent of Houston or Aberdeen! This train is unusual because it stops at both the southern station of Ploieşti Sud (where it reverses) and then back to Ploieşti Vest on the mainline north to Braşov.
Just after the station of Buda, we get off the main Ploieşti-Braşov line and on the branch line to Slanic.. never travelled on this part before!
Sunflower fields, rolling hills, dense vegetation taking over the railway track like it's the Malaysian jungle line.. Lovely ride!
Approaching Plopeni station..
Plopeni Sat. Ten minute delay while we wait for the train in the other direction to pass on this single track railway.
There it is..!
And off we go again!
Some more snaps from my carriage (ex-Dutch 'wadloper' train).
The foothills of the Carpathians.
Arrival at Slanic - the last stop of this train and the end of the line!
The main sight here in town is the salt mine. Pretty cool sight! You enter by minibus, going deeper and deeper under the ground by tunnel through endless twists and turns until you reach the mine which is open for tourists.
Some more pictures of this underground Moria.
Some more impressions. Cool communist hammer and sickle still visible up high! There is a small cafe (for those who like 7 Days croissants and bake rolls..), sports fields (football, basketball), miniature golf and a bouncing castle for kids underground.
Out of the mine! Time for a proper Romanian lunch at a local restaurant. Staro for 1.1 EUR/pint will certainly do on a hot day like this.. the food at 4.7 EUR isn't bad either. Add in 7.7 EUR for a return train ticket from Bucharest and you have an a great, affordable day trip!
Let's hike off some of the calories and climb to the top of the hill!
Not bad, not bad!
This town is also famous for its natural pools. Unfortunately I don't have time for a swim, so another refreshing beer it is before I need to head back to the railway station.
Slanic. The only station in the world where you can buy a plastic swimming pool?
In this bloody hot weather it's quite tempting I have to say, certainly because the station has a free water tap. If I would have missed my train I might have bought one to kill the time! But here is the train for my ride back - on time.
Here we go for the ride back to Ploiesti Sud, where this train terminates.
I'm now facing the other (eastern) side of the line for a change of view. The train is getting close to capacity with currently some 70 percent of the seats taken. A remarkable difference compared to the outbound journey!
View from the train! Open windows to hang out from, lots of honking and general noises of the rickety railway track. Train travel at its best.
Arriving at Plopeni Sat. Even small stations like these have a statiom chief who exchanges paperwork with the train driver!
And we are joining the mainline again at Buda station. Not as grand as Keleti Palyaudvar, but for a simple countryside junction station it's not bad.
Arriving at Ploieşti Vest. One stop more to go to Ploieşti Sud.
And that's Ploieşti Sud, where I have about 30 mins to change trains and to buy some much-needed fanta and water..
As it's on the railway line to the north east (Moldavia), this is Ploieşti's most important and historic station. Ploieşti Vest (on the line to Braşov) was historically less important as only after WW1 did Transylvania join the (then) Romanian kingdom!
The last train ride, in another ex NS (Dutch Railways) 'wadloper' to Bucharest. As the train came from Buzau, it was already quite full when it arrived at Ploieşti. And it's HOT inside. Half of the older female passengers brought a fan with them. Smart.
And back in Bucharest after another fun day trip!
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In Putin's Russia, you don't travel to the border, but the Russian border travels to you. I'm on the Curonian Spit at the Lithuanian-Russian border, one of Europe's most geographically unusual and beautiful border regions, and I'll be exploring the Lithuanian half of the spit..
If you missed the previous updates detailing my overland trip by train from Romania to Lithuanian, as well as visits to Kaunas, Vilnius, Trakai, and Klaipeda, then check the thread below 👇
First a little map to actually show where I am. The Curonian Spit is a 98-kilometre (61 miles) long, thin sand-dune spit that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. The northern half is Lithuanian, the southern half is part of the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad..
High-speed trains, Saudi Arabia style! Today I'll be travelling on the Mecca-Jeddah-Medina Haraiman High Speed Railway, a 453-kilometre-long line linking the two holiest cities in Islam.
The railway is operated by a Saudi-Spanish consortium, which includes Spanish rail company Renfe and infrastructure company Adif. Unsurprisingly, Spanish Talgo trains are used on this high-speed line. In my Uber on the way to Jeddah's station I get my first glimpses of the line..
Jeddah Al-Sulaymaniyah Station, located quite a distance out of the city centre, looks impressive from the outside..
Back at Bucharest Gara de Nord for my second travel adventure this summer month. I'm heading to Bratislava, Slovakia. By train on the outbound journey, flying on the way back. So let's do a comparison in price, comfort and travel time!
Gorgeous sunset colours on this hot day..
I'm booked on the IRN 78 'Muntenia' night train to Budapest. Its advantage over the 2 other night trains from Bucharest to Hungary (Ister to Budapest, Dacia to Budapest & Vienna) is the late departure at 9.46pm, which still allowed me a full day of work and dinner at home.
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On an Air France Airbus A319 towards Paris CDG..
Neat little upgrade to business class for today's flights. Good meal, friendly service. Wanted to keep it to only 2 glasses of champagne but the FA insisted I had 2 more glasses of Joseph Perrier. Who am I to say no?!
With 2 weeks validity left on my 3-month Interrail pass it's time for one last trip this summer: From Romania to Scotland by train! Am a bit sad kissing the kitties goodbye, but here we go for the first leg, which can only be the Dacia night train to Vienna..
There she is! Naturally, I managed to get one of the few en-suite compartments in this sleeper wagon..
As I travel this route frequently (and Tweeted quite a lot about it in the past) I will take a short Twitter break and just enjoy the ride. Check the thread below for my previous experience on the Dacia train if you want to learn more about the route..
The main reason why I bought my Interrail pass is that I had 2 trips planned this summer (wedding and family visit) and I wanted to do them all the way by train. Today is the first! Sad to kiss the cats goodbye, but they are in good hands and this will be a fun trip hopefully..
So let's travel from the Danubian lands to the Rhineland! Train number one on this trip is of course the Dacia sleeper train from Bucharest Gara de Nord to Vienna.. Here you can see the train being shunted into the terminus station, also having some through cars to Cluj added..
I'm booked in a private sleeper for the ride to Vienna - one of the few in this carriage which also features an en-suite bathroom with shower!