A short post about our weekend in Craiova, Romania. We found, about a month ago, very cheap flights by WizzAir . Booked hotels via Booking.com and a car via Rental Cars. This is NOT our first time in Romania so we knew , more or less what to expect.
Arrived at Craiova at around 12:00, stopped to grab something to eat at KFC (Yummm) and immediately drove (approx 2 hours) to our destination for tonight – a village on the Danube.
On the way we stopped at Manastirea St Ana.
We slept at Pensiunea Alex which is a new hotel , facing the Danube. It’s so new that there wasn’t even a sign of the hotel outside. The owners (husband and wife) were very friendly and although the owner didn’t speak English he used Google translate to communicate with us.
Strangely, there weren’t too many restaurants in this village so we decided to eat dinner (and breakfast) in our hotel. We woke up VERY early the next day and since my husband HAD to bring his camping kettle along to this trip we drank tea on the edge of the pool , meters away from the Danube.
Keep in mind that it was September and it was very COLD. I wore a long sleeve shirt + a coat and was cold (both at night and at breakfast). The view was breathtaking.
After breakfast we took a small boat cruise on the Danube that departed right from our hotel. It wasn’t a big boat but fitted perfect for us. We were the last ones to enter the boat and got the nest seats.
We passed a special cave that crosses the Mountain Big Ciucarul all the way to the village Dubova. Without special equipment you can enter only in the Columns Hall . There is a local guide that explains (in Romanian ) but the locals were so nice that without asking they translated everything to English. Please keep in mind that you will need a flashlight . It is the biggest cave in the Danube Gorges with a length of approx 1700 meters! We also passed a bat cave (Uggh).
The Statue of Decebal – it is the highest rock sculpture in Europe (55 meters) and the second on earth, measuring only 6 meters less than the Statue of Liberty.
Our travel plans for the next day was to hike in Pensiunea Dimitrios. Unfortunately, the trail was not suitable for us. It was too steepy and the small pebbles were slippery so we just took short walks near our hotel.
On the middle of the road it became suddenly crowded with lots of cars parking on the side. Apparently, there were out door thermal springs (in the middle of nowhere!!If you want to go there the coordination is 44.91770N 22.43678E).
Craiova– we arrived on Sunday , late afternoon so the town was “sleeping” so we headed to Nicolae Romanescu Park which was very beautiful and peaceful. .
Food – Frankly, when I visited Timisoara , Brashov and Sibiu the food I ate was much better than now. Maybe t’s just a matter of luck ?
Anyway, I do want to recommend the –
Shrimp soup at our hotel – Băile Herculane .
Eclairs at ECLER , Craiova – Very good and cheap!
Hamburger at 12 Doişpe , Strada Alexandru Ioan Cuza 6B, Craiova – Very hip place 🙂
We finalized our week-end, as always , in the local Auchan , buying spices and special things home .
That’s all for now, Kinneret
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