2020-03-11 Day 486 Wed

The corona virus is on our minds. We really don’t think going to a capital city is a very good idea. Also we are thinking to drive to Slovakia and put the heater in for service if it takes 2 or 3 days to fix then we can go back to Hungary and see Budapest.

I emailed our Webasto contact in Slovakia and asked if he could look at heater tomorrow and to please answer quickly as we would drive right through Hungary without stopping.

Will be a first for us in and out of a country in the one day the same day.

We assumed would be a fast transit but not quite to plan. 

 A message back from Webasto saying " you can come tomorrow"

At the border which were both sides in the one spot. We were held up a bit. One official indicated that with corona virus would be hard ot get into EU. They queried our car rego and did not like it. Wanted to see our drivers license and did not like the date on the international one as dated Jan 2020 which had past I tried to explain it is for the next 12 months. One guy was happy to accept the other took the documents and disappeared for 30mins. He came back happy and with a stamp we were into the EU again. They did not want the piece of paper we had received leaving Greece. All crossings of borders are very different.

At the exit gate we needed to go across to a window and pay for road tax. About €20. At least nice and easy.

 

 

A long flat uninteresting drives although lots of buildings mostly churches to photograph and a few interesting signs.

An hour behind time, then this sign. Yep limited to 80 on the free way. It will be a long day. We need to get across the Danube to be within a few hours of Trnava and webasto

The drive went well but when we were near Budapest on freeway there was so much traffic it made us not want to come back and visit.

Finally, late in the day, we crossed the Danube once again but on a bridge this time. We stopped at a gas station to buy a toll for the roads but the system does not have Australia listed so cannot buy. Was informed to go to a bigger place. Will tomorrow.

Found a camp out of town a few km’s and beside a small tributary. Nice and wooded.

As we pulled up I noticed this little headless bird….. He let me walk right up to him and take pictures. He flew off a while later.

407km  Camp site  153m alt.

2020-03-10 Day 485 Tue

We are surrounded by castles, but we have seen enough and are in a bit of a hurry so we decided to just stop in and see Corvins castle.

All the architecture changed as we arrived in Hunedoara. 

The roofs were well amazing, not sure what other word to use.

Corvins castle was amazing and had a long drawbridge over the creek. As most old buildings hereabouts it had been rebuilt a few times and added to many more. It is a bit of a hodge podge…. It was burnt and in late 1800 was rebuilt once again to today's roof line.

Parts were being renovated and could not be visited.

The Western end was a fortress and only accessible by a drawbridge from main buildings.

Really interesting.

The courtyard surrounded by these massive stone buildings.

A huge hall with double columns was used as a meeting hall there is also an identical one down stairs. 

 The Chapel

One of the area's had an art display. John kinda liked them.

Not the normal Gargoyle on the spouting

This guy was playing music which added to the feel of the castle.

A very cold day and we needed a bit more warmth in our feet. Back to EC for a defrost and to find a camp. Another castle we just drove by. One cannot see them all.

One potential campsite was foiled by this bridge. A bit small for us!! Finally at the back of a gravel pit by the river we found a site on some cleared river bank. A bit muddy but not soft or sticky.

313km  Camp site   164m alt.

2020-03-09 Day 484 Mon

We are still heading for Budapest… But the Corona virus is making us reconsider time in a big city.

We drove around to Bran and Dracula's Castle. Basic and older than Peles castle, much more what I’d expect a castle to look & feel like.

We visited the torture museum for an extra cost. Horrified to realise that some of these torture instruments may have been used…..

The added cost was the technological multimedia display. We descended in a lift which had bats etc on each "floor" and when we exited there were photos of some of the inhabitants who moved their heads. In a group photo we were then inserted so we looked at ourselves. We did not buy the photo.... That was a bit of a non event.

 

At Fagaras on the Olt river, we drove around the castle. It had a complete moat and draw bridge. An interesting place sadly it was after 16:00 there for too late to go inside.

We continued along the Olt towards our track from 01/11/2018. we camped just below one of the Olt dams beside the canal at the end of a wettish day.

155km  Camp site  413m alt.