Īn Ceasescu's footsteps: Switzerland, Serbia and Romania via SQ346/345

[RedEyeflight]

I arrived in Sibiu to a packed railway station just before dark after a 5.5 hour train ride from Arad. The train blew its horn and off it went to Brasov.

I checked into Poet Pastior Hotel which wasn't that great and headed to a restaurant around the corner - Hochmeister Delikat'essen.

Beef dumpling soup.



Boneless ribs.

[RedEyeflight]

Back at the station, I am confused by the signs. My train number says the train is going to Cluj, but my understanding is Cluj and Sibiu are in different directions. I try to sort this out by speaking Spanish to the ticket attendant but unfortunately this does not help. I show my ticket to her and she says 'Da! da! da!'. Romanian is a romance language but the language is also heavily influenced by Slavic, German and Turkish.

I am back on the train, this time a Hungarian carriage pulled from Budapest.





The train eventually comes to a halt. And the carriages are split with one half going to Cluj and the other half going to Brasov (Via Sibiu). We are hooked onto a diesel locomotive as the line to Sibiu is not electrified. This was why I was confused.





The scenery becomes more mountainous as we approach Sibiu.

[RedEyeflight]

I had 4 hours to kill in Arad. I headed out of the station and to a building I saw on a youtube channel by a controversial British YouTuber who travels to the Eastern Bloc and ex-communist world.

A communist mosaic on a building across the street from the station. Part of it is covered with an advertisement. As I was crossing the street, a random stranger approached me and spoke Romanian and sounded quite crossed. I can imagine locals not being happy with this kind of advertising of their local area.


I must clarify I did not come to Arad to see this. I am in town because this was the connection the train company sold to me.

I call an Uber and head into town. Had lunch at Restaurant Transylvania.

Asparagus cream soup.


Wien Schnitzel.


Walked around Arad.

[RedEyeflight]

The next day it was onto the train. Trains in Romania are pretty bad and I was told that Romanians often avoid taking them. Alas, I could not travel to Romania without at least giving them a chance.

These trains are a far cry from the trains in Switzerland. Zero information.

I boarded my first train to Arad, 57km to the north, where I would connect to a mainline train going east to the town of Sibiu.



Timisoara railway station was really run down. Had to ask a conductor on the platform where my train was departing as there was no information whatsoever.



The journey itself was slow. The track was in terrible condition and intermediate stations were in bad shape.







Here's a shot of the cabin again.



Soon I arrived in Arad. This was our train to Arad. An electric locomotive and two carriages.

[RedEyeflight]

Pasta and roasted root vegetables at Calia Restaurant.

[RedEyeflight]

Victory Square. Overlooked by the Metropolitan Cathedral, built in 1940.



Inside the Metropolitan Cathedral.



On the other side of the square is the National Theatre in Timisoara that opened in 1945.







Monument to those who died in protests against Ceasescu in 1989.

[RedEyeflight]

Blue Reghina Hotel īn Timișoara.



Timișoara is off the beaten tourist track. But still decided to stay one night.

[RedEyeflight]

It was a wet day the next morning. I went to a nearby bakery for some Bourek and to stock up on supplies for the 3 hour car ride to Timisoara, a gateway into Romania from the Serbian border.



My taxi promptly arrived 10 minutes before 10 am. I was a bit worried the day before that nothing would show up given that the company arranged to have me pay cash on the day of service, so there really is no guarantee it will happen. There are several taxi companies based in Serbia that offer taxi services to the neighbouring countries and within Serbia. I'm not sure if they all collude with one another but I did a search on tripadvisor for reviews to select the company I chose. Prices were all about the same and most companies offered the same range of vehicles. I made the booking in March via email and was emailed a pdf confirmation but with no driver details, which was supposed to be confirmed the day before. All companies have WhatsApp numbers so I WhatsApped the company the day before as I had not received any information. Within minutes I was given a WhatsApp number for my driver who contacted me within seconds of me receiving this information. When he arrived, he promptly asked for payment and I handed him the amount. It was all smooth sailing from there and I had a good conversation with my driver at various points during the journey. I was banking on my taxi booking being legitimate. If It had not been for the taxi the only way to travel into Romania would have been to rent a car from Belgrade airport or to rely on a van shuttle that I was also not certain was legitimate. There has been no train service to Romania since 2017, which is interesting considering that Romania is generally in good standing with the Serbs, while the country has connections to other neighbouring countries despite poorer relations. It is possible, however, to travel by train in the opposite direction from Romania into Serbia. This involves taking a train from Timisoara to the border and then walking across the border and taking a bus or train on the Serbian side. However, the train and bus timings do not make this possible in the other direction.

The car was a new Skoda sedan and it was clean and more than spacious enough for one person.



The drive to the Romanian border from Belgrade is about 1.5 hours. There is no expressway connecting the two countries, so the drive takes place along country roads. We pass by bucolic towns on the Serbian side, many of which looked like in moderately poor shape compared to the Romanian side.



An hour into journey we stop at a gas station for my driver to fill the car tyres with air and to use the bathroom.



Interestingly, someone was filling jerry cans directly from the station pump.



We were stopped in a small village.



Spotted a Yugo, which were a brand of communist cars made in Yugoslavia.




The journey to the border took place mainly north of Belgrade in the province of Vojvodina. This part of the country was an autonomous region of the Republic of Serbia during the era of SFR Yugoslavia and continues to enjoy autonomy in present-day independent Serbia. Most of the population in the towns we passed through were Hungarian and signs were in both Serbian, Cyrillic script, and Hungarian, Latin script.

We passed through many small towns and the surrounding countryside was as flat as the eye could see. Vojvodina is extremely flat and is perfect for cultivation.





We passed villages and towns that were somewhat shabby. Old tractors plyed the roads and local businesses were few and far between. We reached the border crossing point in Serbia of Jasa Tomic. The border official asked what my last name was. No further questions asked but he glanced at me several times. Then he stamped my passport on a random page and off we were into Romania, and back into Schengen.

Exit stamp for Serbia.



On the Romanian side, there was a short queue. The officer asked me a few questions took my passport and when inside a booth. He returned a few minutes later with mine and my driver's passport.

Stamped back into Schengen, albeit on the observations page, the wrong page.

[RedEyeflight]

Hopped back on the tram to Skadarjila, a hip neighbourhood in the city, referred to as the city's Bohemian area.









Dinner at a local restaurant in Skadarlija consisting of a tomato salad and lamb.







It was time to say goodbye to Serbia and Belgrade. The next day I would board a taxi bound for Romania.

[RedEyeflight]

Nikola Tesla Museum.





The museum starts off with a guided tour that includes some of his more famous experiments.


It also includes some of his lesser known inventions and an urn carrying his ashes.



The museum is located in a quiet residential area close to Tasmadjan (Tas) park.

[RedEyeflight]

Next, headed to Tas, a famous park in the city.

The park's main fountains, turned off that day.



Bronze figure of Heydar Aliyev, the third president of Azerbaijan, who helped build the country in the immediate post-Soviet era. The Azerbaijani government helped fund the restoration of the park in the 2000s.



Monument dedicated to children who passed away during Nato bombing in Yugoslavia. This continues to be a sore point and a point of contention of further integration with the west.



The park also has an orthodox cathedral, St Mark's church.





A piece of art at the park.


Headed to the Nikola Tesla Museum. Passed by this piece of art.

[RedEyeflight]

Back on the tram, this time headed to the Hotel Moscow, for the famous Hotel Moscow cake.



The Hotel Moscow cafe.



The Hotel Moscow cake is a famous treat around the Balkans but it originated during the socialist Yugoslav era in the pastry kitchen of the hotel in 1974 by pastry chef Anica Dzepina.

The cake has been served to international figures like Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India and Pavarotti, the famous Italian opera singer.

Dzepina created the layer cake with cherries, pineapples, almonds and a cream filling. Where else better to enjoy it then in the very Hotel Moscow?

Hotel Moscow cake and strawberry juice at the Hotel Moscow.

[RedEyeflight]

Kafana SFRJ was bopping with people. It has an open air concept. There are no windows in the restaurant, and instead has open-air ventilation. It was a beautiful day, hence the crowd. And there was only one waiter, so it was a long wait for my food.

Cucumber salad.



Cevapi again.

[RedEyeflight]

Rode tram number 2 to lunch at Kafana SFRJ, a communist themed restaurant.

And of course, what a wonderful piece of transport history to get there. The Tatra KT4 build by Czechoslovak company CKD Tatra in the 1970s and 1980s. The first of these trams appeared in East Germany and were later exported to the SFR Yugoslavia.



These trams are, unfortunately, not in great shape. I guess a good way to experience what they might have been like back in the days of socialism? These Tatra KT4s are the workhorse of the system. There are a few modern low-floor trams built by Spanish rolling stock builder CAF but I did not see any during my trip to Belgrade.

There are still some Eastern bloc trams running in Bucharest, but they are in much better condition as you will see, and furthermore many have been phased out. So it doesn't really feel like you're going back in time and it's harder to catch one.

[RedEyeflight]

Also included an arms display as a military museum is also located within the fortress compound.