A Salty Day

I tried a new shop this morning which was terrible but the walk was interesting. I'm not sure why there were such long queues for the cashpoints, possibly because it was the beginning of the month. I'm not sure why this has stuck in my head maybe because it shows just how poor some are in this area.

We packed up everything and boarded the bus again. We stopped at a nice viewpoint which had lots of small wooden huts with solar panels and was very windy.

We visited the salt mine in Praid which was a very strange experience. We got a shuttle bus down into the mine, then walked down lots of steps and entered a huge tunnel. There was a soft play area, swings, internet, a cafe, a church, a restaurant, people playing badminton, children on roller-skates and playing with balloons and TVs with films and art galleries. According to the information they also hold physiotherapy sessions and aerobics classes. The mine is affiliated with a local hospital and many people come down for treatment or just because it's a healthy place to be. The number of children playing in this huge underground tunnel was a little disturbing and some of them were ill.

It reminded of the mines of Moria in Lord of the Rings or a disaster film when everyone has to move underground. At the end while were were waiting in a crowd behind big wooden doors listening to the scary sounds buses make underground I did feel as if I was waiting to be let into the underground city or maybe to escape.

On the trip back to our bus we were greeted again by children trying to sell us rocks and I was reminded of India.

We then went to Sovata where we went swimming in the small lake next to Bear Lake. I had no idea what to expect and was surprised to find the water below the surface was very warm. At first I wasn't sure if everyone had relieved themselves but it's because the sun can heat up the salty water at the bottom faster which is why the lake gets warmer the deeper you go. We had great fun floating, doing forward rolls and handstands. I didn't even mind the three heart attacks I nearly had when students creeped up on me.

The walk back to the bus through the town was great as the buildings are beautiful wooden ones covered in balconies. It used to be an incredibly popular spa town and it still is.

We went to another part of the salt mine, this time above ground. We walked through more beautiful wild flower meadows to get there and again were accosted by 2 boys begging for money. The students were impressed with my tactic of saying that I was English and didn't understand them so adopted it too. The salt was great as it form lots of different patterns including a cliff of stalagmite shaped crystals and what is known as 'cauliflowers'. We also went to a mud bath which we only put our hands in. It was very salty!

We had a brief stop in Lupeni (in Hungarian it is called Wolves lock) to see the memorial to Aron Tamasi who was one of Hungary's greatest writers.

Next was Szejkefürd? where we first tried the water from the spring. If you didn't smell it the taste wasn't completely awful, maybe! We then went to the tomb of Orban Balazs which is located at the top of a hill and you have to walk through a series of beautifully carved wooden gates.

We stopped for a while in Corund which is famous for it's pottery and has lots of small shops all selling identical beautiful locally made things and a lot of tat. I bought some presents and a lot of the blueberry palinka.

Our final stop was at the town of Székelyudvarhely, we walked through the main square from which it gets its name, stopped in the arts and crafts shop as this is a hobby N neni and I both share and then went to a nice pub. We sat outside on the street and had a beer, coffee and tried another local dish that was recommended to me which was polenta and ewe's milk cheese. It was delicious but unfortunately there was a bit too much and I couldn't finish it.

Our accommodation for the night was in Szekelykeresztur and we had heard very bad things about it. We weren't sure there would be water or beds or food! Luckily when we arrived at Pisti Panzio it wasn't too bad. The outside was very pink and the inside very green and cramped but there were beds and hot water. The girls building wasn't quite as nice though but still they were OK. After a good dinner in the bar which I'm sure had curtains made of towels we went to the shop. We stopped on the way for a coffee at a lovely cafe with a big garden.

On our return we enjoyed our final evening relaxing together. One of the students gave me another heart attack with the air pump spider he had brought. I sat in a room with some students and wrote my diary. When I told them what I was doing they said that as it was a full moon and we were in Transylvania I should liven it up a bit by making it like Vampire Diaries! I think I enjoyed this evening the most, we all laughed so much. There were students from 4 different tutor groups on this trip and two of those started at the school at the same time as me. It was funny to see how we've all changed so much and I felt so proud that I had been part of their lives.

It was very very hot today!

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