On Tuesday I crossed the border from Hungary to Romania and got a very good feeling about that right from the start. Right away people I met started smiling at me and greeting me friendly when I passed by, something I haven’t encountered like that on this trip before. Also cycling the first 100km in Romania was quite fun. Sure, there’s no bike lanes like the ones that are there sometimes along major roads in Hungary – but that is not necessarily a bad thing: When you follow those it’s not unlikely that they end in the middle of nowhere. There’ll be a “end of bike lane” sign and no other alternatives than the main load which in turn has a “no bikes allowed here” sign. Makes you wonder what idiot dreamed that up. Luckily no one there will care about those signs and neither did I. Still, cycling here in Romania seems more relaxed so far.

Yes, there’s a little “snow” sometimes ;)

Cycling from the border to Timișoara there’s hardly any hills in sight. When I took that picture there was the same sight in all directions – grain fields as far as you can see. I guess that would get pretty boring soon but I found it fascinating that day. Also, it’s definitely not going to stay like that.

Timișoara center. Unfortunately the rest of the area is not very photogenic at the moment because there is construction work on most of the roads.

A pretty typical sight in the area where I’m staying in Timișoara: richly decorated facades, now in decay.

The pace where I’m staying even has swimming pools ;)