Downtime in Suceava

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Wonderful to wake up with no special program and no rush to get ready. Nonetheless I’m full of beans – “one of the all-time morning persons,” as Victor says - much before Oswaldo even wants to get out of bed, so I have a delicious breakfast by myself and then wander down the pavement-less street to a nearby mall. The sun is shining and it’s quite warm. From the hillside street I can see far across the farmland surrounding smallish provincial Suceava. It must be in the process of expansion, though, I pass two other new hotels and a couple of upscale car dealerships on my way.

The shopping center is also new and with many empty shops Those open are mainly clothes stores, where I join the local women, some in tight jeans and with straightened hair shopping for towering heels with leopard skin finish. They’d be quite happy in Brazil – except for the prices of course. More pedestrian, I end up at a supermarket where I find goodies for the dogs and for Nikita. How I miss them.

Back at the hotel Oswaldo has showered and breakfasted and we catch a cab to the 13^th century citadel, considered the main attraction of the town. It’s an impressive ruin, but quite featureless and in the early stages of being partly rebuilt and restored. I’m reminded of Brazil when we come upon workers on their breaks sleeping in the shade any which way. Across the road lies the wonderful Village Museum, a collection of authentic rural dwellings set amongst willow and beech trees. Some of them have tableaux representing traditional ceremonies, complete with sound. 

We call a cab (this is what you must do in Romania – the alternative is to be seriously ripped off) to the restaurant recommended by the hotel, Latino, where we share an excellent mushroom pizza and decide to forego our usual beer, because it’s just too hot. 

Afterwards we wander into a produce market, surprisingly like markets in both Bhutan and Mexico, 

and then find a lady in the little shop, who sells watchstraps. I’ve been meaning to replace mine and when I see the color I want, we enter the shop. Turns out this lady has a story to tell, and while she works competently on the watch, she talks rapidly in Romanian with many gestures and shows us pictures of her granddaughter (won a math competition?), her daughter (lost her husband or was it the lady’s husband), and a worn newspaper clipping (in Romanian, of course), which we gather is an article about her going to university at 47. Someone (daughter, mother, lost husband?) studied for 3 degrees – it’s really hard when you don’t understand the language at all – and even Oswaldo and I differ in our interpretations, but we smile and nod and add her to all the interesting characters we’ve come across on this trip.

The restaurant calls us a cab to get back to the hotel – the young and hip driver, who enters the street “na contramão” – the Brazilian way, doesn’t use the meter, tsk, tsk  and overcharges us– there’s just no winning this battle. We relax in the room, pack and then head down for our last dinner of smoked salmon and cucumber salad and call Marinel to arrange for the 4.30am pick-up for our 6am flight. We also call Mihael in Bucharest to come pick us up at the Bucharest airport at 7.15am. We’re getting very proficient here!  http://www.flickr.com/photos/siric/sets/72157631630194725/