Jones

The weather forecast for the coming weeks could be summarised as “summer is over, winter is on its way.” It made us feel that we should at least be making gentle progress towards home, rather than away from it.

As has so often been the case, our Garmin Overland made a massive cluck up when leaving Razgrad. Its overland ability seems to make it think that any road, however narrow, is navigable and always the better option than taking a slightly longer route on A roads. But worse than that, it thinks that these tracks and trails allow you to leap over the armoured barrier onto the dual carriageway leading to your destination.

Brief tests this morning had showed that Apple Maps was convinced that the border to Romania at Rousse was closed, so I quickly fired up Google Maps and sent us towards Bucharest.

The border was indeed open, so the scores were Google: 1 Apple: 0 Garmin: red card.

Though, to be fair to Apple, the bridge across the Danube was pretty sketchy. Thinking that it’s about to fall apart any minute, the Bulgarians have insisted on repairing it, which meant only one lane was open, and the other offered a quick nose dive into the river.

Unfortunately the dead centre of Bucharest (as sent to Google maps) was pretty close to the parking we’d chosen as our destination so I totally forgot that we didn’t have a correct navigation at the end. That, and the massive road works closing the access roads, and the total unsuitability of the Park for Night spot I’d chosen, made for a massively stressful end to our journey. Apple deciding it couldn’t navigate, and that I needed to change my start location (!?! That’s what I’m asking you to do for me, you stupid app!) was the final straw. 

Eventually, almost at random, we came across the secured parking we’d previously dismissed as too expensive, and decided that any price was worth paying to end this nightmare.

Parked up, and Flynn walked, we set off to see the big sight, the Palace of the Parliament. 

Luckily Rog had done his homework and checked that (a) we didn’t need our passports and (b) you couldn’t book ahead so we’d have a good chance of getting in. Unluckily, he was wrong on both counts – but as the P of the P was fully booked, it didn’t matter that we didn’t have our passports. Apparently you can book in advance, just not online. You have to use a telephone or a carrier pigeon.

Trying to make the best of a bad job, we viewed Tripadvisor’s idea of the best sight in the city, Stavropoleos Monastery, built in 1724. This was good, but we’ve seen better this trip. Our monastery standards are now set ridiculously high!

We both agreed a drink would be a good idea, and collapsed for a while on a comfortable sofa while people-watching and trying to choose a spot for dinner. 

Our luck changed in the evening. We started with a drink at Caru cu Bere – a famous place whose name means “The Beer Cart.” It was built in the late 19C by an Austrian architect at the request of the beer cart owners, who decided a restaurant was a good accompaniment to said brewery / beer cart.

Very atmospheric it was too. We had a second round, and I persuaded Rog into trying the beer cart beer. It came in a lovely little dimpled mug.

We went to Lacrimi și Sfinți for dinner. It had looked quite dead when we passed earlier, though with a great menu, so we didn’t book. Despite that, luckily, we did get in, just, for an hour long slot.

We started with fish soup and polenta (me) and “The Scholar’s Chicharrones (Rog) which was goose and pork rind fried in lard. Don’t worry, I will be emailing his doctor with a detailed report.

Mains were “The Vice Squad” for me – I mean, how could you resist? This was veal sweetbreads and turkey testes with capers and mushrooms. Rog’s first choice, cat entrails with a popping candy crumb, was off the menu, so he panicked and ordered lamb chops, which did reduce the Adventure Quotient ™️ of the meal slightly. We did share though.

Then these chaps arrived. We thought they were for the big family table in the middle, but then they spotted us and on asking our nationality we got treated to “Yesterday”. I’m pleased to note that I knew more of the lyrics than anyone, but, obviously, less of the tune.

Back to our expensive guarded car park. We have promised Flynn that things will improve for him tomorrow.