Landscape...stunning...some of the most amazing country sides I have ever seen. I'm not quite sure how to describe it, it's as if the land was grasping between a state of bursting life and acceptance of complete death. The grass was growing, very tall in most places, and some parts the grass was a pale green, but much of it was brown, and occasionally even grey. Amongst this white and yellow flowers, or possibly weeds of some sort, grew, adding to the array of colour. The trees seemed to follow suit. Something about the scene felt like a memory, something I had forgotten and very familiar but couldn't grasp. I found myself staring out the window for most of the drive completely stunned by the fields of grass alone. The colours of the sunset only added to seducing me into its trance.
The buildings and architecture also grabbed my attention. The walls of the houses were painted, but with odd colours. Each small village we passed through bursted with yellow, blue, green, and orange, or just about any colour the person chose. Our first night we stayed with locals in a small town. Arriving very late, we all separated to different families. I ended up in a group with three other guys in the group and our driver. Sitting down our driver noted the transparent yellowish liquid on the table, and poured it for us before our meal, which was of course Palinka (we had been warned, or rather informed with great excitement, that this would be available), and all took a shot. It was warm. Having never taken a straight shot of a spirit before, it was very noticeable, and quite the experience. I might have coughed some. We were served soup (having been informed ahead of time to expect a vegetarian they had set some soup aside without meat for me).The driver explained that the Palinka we had was weaker, obviously because of its colour, and probably had some sugar or something else in it. Having discovered none of us had had straight Palinka before, he talked to our hosts and they brought out a clear liquid. He smelled it, and smiled excitedly, and told us it was probably about 60% alcohol. We then took a shot of this before the real meal. This was warmer. I definitely coughed. And was bitter. I could feel it go all the way down. We then ate the meal (fried cheese with potatoes for me), and then people wanted another shot, but I decided to only have half this time. Then desert came, and again, I partook in half a shot. And so the evening proceeded until bed.
Most of what I remember involved looking at churches. Which was nice, but soon they blended together in my mind, and a lot of the churches seemed the same. Pews, then special carved pews on the side for, a pulpit, usually in the center of the church, raised, and carved from stone. An alter at the end. Some churches have smaller little alters around the side. They were all very old.
We also spent a short time at a gypsy/Roma community. We were only able to stay for about five minutes, which was a little disconcerting, because we arrived on a bus, got out, walked around in this somewhat poverty stricken place, and left. The way it was organized was not very well done. Their situation as an ethnic group is filled with history and rather sad, which spins in a circle of very confusing circumstances, which ends up with them being underclass more or less for the mere fact of their ethnicity and are seen more and more by governments as a problem. As such they are also often outcastes in society, pushing them further into poverty. My research to such things is still quite limited, but hopefully will expand as my girlfriend, Abby, will be doing more extensive research on the subject as helping them has been for quite some time a passions of hers, and from this I will probably become more acquainted with parts of the story I’m still missing.
Our last day in Transylvania a group of us hiked up a mountain near where we stayed. The rocks become gradually looser, as we moved up over the piles of large stones. We reached as high as we could without risking the potential sliding and tumbling rocks which could be disastrous. It was a good source of exercise, and the view of the small Saxon town could be seen below us.
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