The first wee place I came to today was the tiny wee village of Ady Andre – famous as where the Hungarian poet Andre Ady came from – his statue that I’d seen in Debrecen had stuck in my mind as it was unusual and I’d meant to read up about him but had failed to do so, so far.
So by chance I pass through the village he is from which has a wee museum – now by luck there is a bus load of children visiting today – and I say lucky as the museum would not have been open otherwise – one of teachers is their English teacher and she translates for me while the kids a I are shown round the wee house where he used to live – I had not realised that this area of Romania used to be part of Hungary – I’m told that it used to be quite tense between the 2 countries but much better since the European Union – I’m also told that Andre Ady wasn’t very good looking but the ladies liked him – I don’t think the school kids were told this bit of information. Tine for the kids and teachers to move on – I was glad I arrived not long after they did and must look up some of his work – I was also very grateful for the teacher who translated for me.
Now heading towards the town of Satu Mare – farm tracks linking up some of wee villages and then busy road the rest of the way.
Stopped about 7k outside Satu Mare for a bite to eat at a restaurant – not very busy, partly because I can’t tell the time and it was only about 11am – I’m blaming that I’m now in a different time zone – anyway they were serving food and that was the main thing. The lady at the table next to me indicated that she would get the waitress to come out and I was to sit down. At first l thought she might have worked there or even possibly run it – the first bit was kind of right. So armed with Google translate on my phone and my phrase book it was practice Romanian day 2 – I manage to order unu coke & unu omleta cu carnati (omlette with sausage) – I failed on the chips and got bread instead. The lady next to me finished her meal and then walked to the road end and came back a short time after and started chatting – we managed to establish where I’d come from this morning and where I was going to with the help of sign language and Google maps and I learnt a few more words which I’ve promptly forgotten except for – “sunt o prostituata” – now I didn’t need any help translating this but I obviously paused long enough as I could not think of a response (in English far less Romanian) for her to mime what she meant – she also told me she wasn’t married but had 5 children, 3 of which were grown up – and I figured out she hadn’t walked to the road end to stretch her legs but was looking for business, which was a bit quiet today. So a new phrase learnt but not sure I’ll have the opportunity to use it.
I giggled the next bit of the journey thinking about the conversation but also wondered what kind of life she had??
Next stop was to find the the tourist information office in Satu Mare – I was in 2 minds whether to do this or not – the last time I looked for the tourist information office was in Budapest and despite my best efforts never found it – research and Google maps and streets signs all took me to the open topped bus tour office and they were only interested in selling me one of their tickets. Anyway I found the right place in Satu Mare and lots of helpful information from the lassie that served me – things to look out for in the town itself and the surrounding area and also reccomended a campsite for tomorrow night – she was so enthusiastic I think she would have given me a guided tour herself if she could. With all my new information I feel I’m better prepared for the next couple of days, as long as i can conquer the hills!
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