Bună ziua from the Dacia, the international train linking Bucharest with Vienna. It's not too crowded, air-con is working. Perfect train for another little domestic trip, as I will get off before we reach the Hungarian border.
After all these years living & travelling to/from 🇷🇴 I finally have the pleasure of a proper CFR @_DiningCar added to my train. Friendly service, fresh salad, filling mixed grill cooked in the kitchen. By no means haute cuisine but I approve! Bottle of white for €6 is nice too.
Great scenery, Boney M.'s 'Rasputin' playing on the dining wagon radio. The proper way to travel, really.
Crossing the Carpathian Mountains..
Arriving at Predeal station..
Rolling into Braşov while 'Walking on Sunshine' is playing on the train radio. Proper 1980s retro vibes from both the song and Braşov's North Korean style station.
The Transylvanian countryside between Braşov and Sighişoara.
It's a slow but certainly a quite pleasant journey.
Approaching Sighişoara..
In the distance you can see the walled old town of Sighişoara on the hilltop. The birthplace of Vlad Tepeş, better known as Vlad the Impaler.. the legend of Dracula was based on him! Wonderful town to visit, but this time I'm staying on the train for one more stop.
I really should revisit this gem of a town once again. Visited many times before, and had an overnight here as recently as last autumn on a road trip, but that just didn't do it any justice.
We are now fully in the land of the Saxon fortified churches. This is the church at Şaroş pe Târnave (Scharosch). The huge, famous fortified church at Biertan is only a few miles away.
Mediaş station is nicely renovated. In fact, the entire railway line here has been upgraded to modern standards. I'm getting off here, ready to explore the 2nd largest city on the province (județ) of Sibiu after the city of the same name.
Walking to my apartment for the night. First impression: this town is absolutely cute. Like a smaller, even more sedated version of Sibiu!
My apartment oozes tons of charm. An absolute gem.
Let's find a place for dinner here. And not get distracted too much by the prettiness of this town as there will be more time for sightseeing tomorrow.
This place under the umbrellas will do, I think!
Passage bistro: Roasted red pepper soup, duck with red cabbage, pancakes with chocolate sauce and crushed biscuits. Perfect.
Mediaş at night. Such a quiet, peaceful and gorgeous town. Really love it so far. Time to sleep now, will explore more around tomorrow during daylight!
Goodmorning from Mediaş! A nice breakfast on the main square before I start to explore this city.
From the main market square I follow the cat up on the stairs to the hilltop fortified church.
A walk around the fortified church, which reportedly has the 2nd largest tower of all Romanian medieval churches after Bistriţa.
Inside the evangelical church, which has three altarpieces and several historical carpets. A minor entrance fee of 2 euro includes a free tour by enthusiastic young girls working/volunteering for the church.
Walking to one of the old towers, the Steingasser Tower.
From the walled old town you almost walk immediately to the foot of the green hills surrounding Mediaş. Short climb up for a panoramic picture - and back again to cool down with a tasty lemonade.
The municipal museum (4 lei - about 0.80 euro entrance fee) has signs in Romanian only and nothing too special, but it's not too bad for a quick visit if you have time. The scale model of medieval Mediaş is cool, and there are some decent archaeological artefacts.
From the museum, it's back to the main square by walking through some cute little streets.
From the central square along the abandoned synagogue uphill to a newly renovated part of the old city wall.
Under the blackmith's tower there is a nice café with book exchange/library.
And back down into town for a tasty pizza before my train back to Bucharest.
Across the ugly communist part of town to the train station..
Top tip: the small train station café might be the cheapest in all of Romania. Glass of wine? One (!!) lei (0.20 EUR). A beer at 2.5 lei (50 eurocent) is not bad either.
And there it is, the late afternoon IR train from Cluj to Bucharest. Three carriages only!
Views from the long ride back. Six hours and ten minutes travel time. Plus a five minute delay departing Braşov.
And as the train arrived on time, I still made it to the last bus home.
With Pixie the cat doing her normal welcome home routine by rolling around demandinf belly rubs.
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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.
Time for the first trip with my brand new passport! Bit of planespotting and tracking of the inbound flight on Flightradar while I quietly sip my gin tonic.. You need some booze to make Bucharest Otopeni Airport bearable!
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!