Europe by van Day 8

We had a peaceful night and left at 9 for the 76 mile drive to our campsite at Babou Maramures in Breb. The route took us along main roads in a flat area but they were very slow. All the villages and towns are strung out beside the road with traffic lights, zebra crossings and speed restrictions. It reminded us of driving in France to avoid the motorway charges - took ages. Next we climbed up steep wooded mountainsides with many hairpin bends. Despite the road surface being good it was slow with lorries, tractors and tight bends. We went through a ski village then over the top to a wide open agricultural valley. As we went on we saw many hay ricks and fruit farms. In one women were picking blueberries. There were a few horses and carts just before we saw our village in the valley.

We read we should not listen to google but instead follow the green signs to Babou. They took some spotting as we wended our way round narrow leafy stones tracks (not streets as no shops - and the houses were spread out in a maze of lanes with bits of small holding/garden/cows/orchards round them, eventually reaching a gravel track with many storey side-turns. One was ours. The owner is Dutch with a Romanian wife who was very welcoming. We were directed up a track to a field with hayricks and a great view to high hills, beyond which lies Ukraine.

We had a salad lunch then headed out for 4.25 mile walk around the area. It was very hot, especially going uphill. We saw an old wooden church built in 1622 though the tower is dated 1530, giving it the status of the church with the oldest tower in Romania. Unfortunately it was padlocked. Further on we came to a larger church which we entered. It had frescoes all over, floor to ceiling and was Orthodox. We got overtaken by men driving horses and carts, some with older women passengers coming back from a day in the fields. There were apple orchards, old wooden houses with peppers and onions hanging outside to dry and small fields with hayricks. Houses have large carved wooden archways at the drive entrances.

If you want to see the old Breb, come soon as there are many new palatial concrete houses being built, and lots of pensions and B&Bs.