Bucharest Gara de Nord. Time for another train trip across the country! 
I'm on the 6.45pm overnight train to Satu Mare in the north-west of Romania in a private sleeper. The train hasn't even departed yet and the starion board already shows a 15 minute delay - quite typical for CFR in the summer and I expect more delays on the long way north!
And we have departed!
Scenery on the way to Ploieşti - the first stop on our way north.
Time for a snack! A private sleeper ticket on CFR does include the possibility to bring along your own food and drinks. Couchette tickets also have this perk, although you may have to share your charcuterie board and Moldovan bubbly with your fellow passengers in that case.
The windows are enormously dirty so proper photography is quite hard. We have now arrived at Sinaia, Romania's most famous mountain resort.
In the Carpathian Mountains between Sinaia and Busteni..
And a video of the stretch between these two stations.
Departing Busteni. Due to the cloud cover not all the Carpathian mountain peaks are visible.. still a gorgeous railway line!
Some last images before night falls as we ride through the Carpathians towards Braşov, passing by an old double deck train going into the opposite direction.
Braşov's North Korean style station. And my last update for today as I'm off to sleep soon after this glass. Next travel update tomorrow morning from Transylvania/Crișana depending on the time I wake up.
After a great night of sleep: Goodmorning from the Romanian-Hungarian borderlands! Although this train goes to Satu Mare, I will get off one stop before at Carei station in about 30 minutes from now. We seemed to have caught up our initial 20 minute delay so it's on time again!
Departing Valea lui Mihai. Next stop: Carei.
Carei station. The train continues to Satu Mare - where I will go to as well later today. But first time to explore Carei a bit. And to find some coffee!
Walking into town..
Carei and the surrounding area has always been multi-ethnic. The Hungarians (a majority here) call the city Nagykároly, the Germans Großkarol. There used to be a thriving Jewish community too. You can see it back in the great variety in the places of worship.
Of course the communists also left their legacy in Carei.
In a nice park in the centre you can find Carei's main sight, Károlyi Castle. Named after the noble and mighty Károlyi family, it was originally a baroque castle. When it got damaged by invading Ottomans, it was rebuilt in a predominently eclectic style.
Inside, there is a museum detailing the history of the castle, of Carei in general, and of the Károlyi family. There is currently also a small temporary Salvador Dalí exhibit.
Some impressions of the castle and museum. In some rooms old furniture and decorations can be seen, in others there are certain items showcased telling about the town's history (in this case of the last picture for example about local pharmacists/medicine making).
A bit out of place in the otherwise very nice museum is this smug dude (Panczel Zoltan Tibor) who felt the need to kill half of Africa's wildlife and to showcase it here in order to overcompensate for his micropenis or whatever. Classless.
If you are in a majority Hungarian area, there is of course some yummy gulash for lunch!
Some more impressions from Carei. Bit rainy weather today, unfortunately.
Definitely a Hungarian vibe and some lovely old architecture in town, although many buildings sadly abandoned or in a bad state.
Carei's railway station, in time for the 1.26pm regional train to Satu Mare.
Waiting on the platform. Note the bilingual station sign!
And there it is! R4335 to Satu Mare. Not too bad a train, quite comfortable and spacious!
5.30 RON (1.08 EUR) for the 36km ride.
Not the most exciting part of Romania when it comes to scenery. Flat, fields and farmland - that's basically it.
Arrival at Satu Mare. The river at the midway point of the video is the Someş which bisects the city.
Satu Mare station isn't bad, but lool at the communist mosaic at the abandoned bus station nextdoors!
The leafy neighbourhood around my hotel. Should I try the "porc, vin & bere" restaurant? Sounds like a good combo! Satu Mare actually has a top-rated Filipino restaurant (my Twitter/website name is Tagalog!) which would be my first choice but it's closed as they're on holiday :(
Some Satu Mare impressions. Like so many other Romanian cities a mishmash of buildings from different historical periods and styles. So basically Habsburg pretiness next to communist ugliness.
As I'm a bit tired I'll explore the city tmrw and just have dinner now. Garlic cream soup with homemade salty pita bread, and an absolutely massive pork knuckle (not visible: the mountain of fried onions behind it). Bit expensive for 🇷🇴 provincial town but huge portion and tasty!
A bit unrelated to the trip - but how awesome is this 1950s Hungarian radio in my hotel room! I want one too!
A day of sightseeing in Satu Mare! First up the Județean Museum (county museum). It may not look much from outside or even inside the foyer, but it's surprisingly large and nice! Multilingual signs and interesting historical and ethnological exhibits. Well-worth a visit!
PS. @dmdebruijn - bit of background history of Jewish life in Satu Mare.
The brutalist side of town..
Some Satu Mare impressions. It's a surprisingly pleasant city which reminds me of Cluj about a decade ago. Lots of nice cafés, restaurants, laidback vibe etc.
Satu Mare in food and drinks. Excellent brunch at ZION (Turkish style eggs in yoghurt), beer at The Line, and the typical Hungarian snack langős with sour cream, cheese and lots of garlic (pic 3-4).
View over Satu Mare from the old firemen's tower.
Catholic Satu Mare, with the main Cathedral (1-3) and the smaller Calvaria church (4).
The main Orthodox church (1) and the synagogue (2-4), which was unfortunately closed with not a soul to be seen around. Fyi @dmdebruijn.
The county art museum, which focuses on the works of Aurel Popp & his students, is also well worth a visit. If a museum seems closed, ask the guard to call the caretaker to open it for you! They often see so few visitors that the caretakers are just chilling somewhere outside!
The "Satan" communist apartment block (1), Al Bundy's shoe store (2).. you encounter funny things when walking through Satu Mare.
Satu Mare is nonetheless a pleasant city to walk through. Too bad the main hotel, the gorgeous art deco Dacia Hotel (previously known as the Pannonia) is still being renovated with its beautiful facade hidden behind a covering sheet.
Time to head back to Bucharest. No train (sleepers are unfortunately quite sold out in summer if you don't book 1-2 weeks out) but a domestic flight. At least my cats will appreciate me being back half a day earlier & the extra XP to shore up my Flying Blue status are welcomed.
Satu Mare Airport isn't much to write home about but they do have a bar selling some craft beer and lots of old-school Fishbed fighter jet pictures on the walls.
On the ATR 72-600 back to Bucharest.
Taking off from Satu Mare..
And after a short flight, Bucharest Otopeni Airport. One advantage of arriving at the domestic terminal is how quick the arrival process is at this airport. Deplaning to the 783 bus for the city centre in just 5 minutes!
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