Hungary – Romania
Slovakia is a relatively narrow country, so we quickly get through and into Hungary.
We drive out into the countryside and sunflowers grow everywhere in the fields. Yellow flowers as far as the eye can see.
They all turn the same way, there is not a single autonomous sunflower that turns the flower the other way.
We stop to take a picture and the sunflowers are as tall as ourselves. Johnny goes out into the field to take a picture and ducks when a car comes. We didn't want to be discovered out in the farmer's field. It looks pretty funny when a head pops up and then hides.
It turns out that there is a lot of swamp out in the field. At least they don't lack water. So the result is pretty muddy shoes that have to go back into the car.
We really enjoy seeing the landscape, but in the evening there will be a wild cloudburst. We have been looking for a good place to camp without success and now the rain is pouring down. Fortunately, there is a small motel next to the road, and we are not many seconds away from deciding to spend the night there.
Drenchingly wet, we enter the reception and ask if there is a free room. They have. DKK 140 for one night. So it can be overcome.
They say the kitchen has actually closed now, but the chef is still there. So if we are hungry, he wants to conjure up some dinner for us. We are actually quite hungry and accept the offer. While we unpack, the chef cooks.
When we get down to the small cozy restaurant, the chef comes with 2 bowls of Hungarian goulash soup with bread. It is just what we need and thank you many times. For food and drink for both of us, the price is about DKK 40. It is clearly the cheapest country we have yet traveled to.
The next day, the trip continues to the Romanian border. There is a passport control, so bring your passport. It goes like clockwork and we are allowed to drive on.
We immediately notice that we have come to a country that is a few steps lower on the welfare ladder. The houses are worn, the cars are old and ooze, there are donkey-drawn loved ones and the world is just different.
But here is also a beautiful landscape and nice people. The villages are often built up with a main street and then the houses on either side of the road with plank or masonry between the houses, so that you cannot walk between the houses. Out in front of the houses, the older generation sits and chats from the chairs and benches set up and looks a bit at the traffic that slides by.
We wave nicely and they greet happily. Apparently it is not every day that tourists come through the small villages.
We have found a campsite on our APP that we are driving to. When we arrive, however, it turns out that it has been closed down. The couple who live there would like to let us spend the night for a small shilling. We pay with a banknote and get some money back, which later turns out to have expired. The wise fools the less wise.
We find a good place to camp among the trees.
Having arrived in the early afternoon, we set off on a walking tour of the village. We pass the local police station, which has probably seen better days. There is also a small local grocery store where we can stock up.
