Roundtrip in Romania march 2013 part 1

Roundtrip in Romania march 2013

Hello everybody,

Last month I went with a good friend on a holliday in Romania. We made a big roundtrip; First by Wizzair from Eindhoven to București.
And form there: București - Constanța - Tulcea - Brăila - Iași - Vatra Dornei - Alba Iulia- Sibiu - Timișoara.
Most of the route's we did by train, but also some busses.

Here is a picture of our roundtrip:

The red lines, we did by train, and the purple by bus.

It was a very nice trip, I love the Romanian scenery and the people are really friendly.

The pictures of the trip:


IR 1632 to Constanta.


Dunărea, the train driver get's a paper to pass a red signal.


Beautifull bridge.


With 105 minutes delay, we arrived at Constanta. Some pessengers were very mad of the delay's, but the CFR staff on the train couldn't do something, so they only listentened to all the complains.


Malaxa


An IR back to Bucuresti Nord. This type of coaches we have also had a few years in Olanda where I live.
They were called ICL here. ICL NS


It is sad to see that there were only 100 passengers on board of the train.


A ship in front of the station.


Nice modern bus, we took this bus to Maritimo. I thought that would be soms place at the sea, because of the name Maritimo.
But it turns out to be a big shopping area. Not the kind of thing we were looking for. So we drive back to the old center with the same bus.


Outside of the bus is very modern, but the interior looks a bit old fashioned.


Nice old Casino. We had a hotel near this place, and from the restaurant of it, we could see the sea.
It's good to see that the old city is in a metamorphose, old buildings are repainted etc. But there were still a lot of homeless people there, which live in the streets.


2 trains in Constanta.





From Constanta we took a bus to Tulcea. I prefer trains, but there are not so many between Constanta and Tulcea, so we decided to take a bus.


It was this one. Here a pause in Babadag.


We crossed M804 several times.


Station in Tulcea





An old 2nd hand bus from Tilburg/ Olanda.


Ferry to Tudor Vladimirescu.


View from the water.


The captain. He invited us in his cabin. I was also captain for a minute


Station Tulcea.


Train from Medgidia.


After a couple of minutes the train got back from the station, to the Remiza.



From Tulcea we took a bus to Braila.


Between Smardan and Braila, the bus took the ferry. That was a long trip. Waiting for a place on the ferry, going onboard, passing the Danube, going offboard took one hour.


Gara Braila.


Modernisation works.


Nice new facade.




We buy some tickets for the tram. I saw that there was a tramline going far outside the city to Lacul Sărat. The friend who was joining me is a passionate of tram's, so we had a afternoon full of trams.


Tram near halta Remiza.




I saw also modernization works of the tramway in Brăila, when I see this, I think that modernization is not just a luxury.




Lacu Sărat.


The stop near Lacu Sărat.


Remiza, with some old Rotterdam trams.



We asked if it was possible to take a look in the Remiza, but unfortunately that was forbidden.
But shortly after that, a tramdriver invited us at his cabin, to drive the route with him in his cabin.


Ex Rotterdam tram.


Cabin of the ex- Vienna tram.


Nice old city center in Brăila. Here I've tried some local dishes in a restaurant like ciorba de burta. I've also tried some very good Romanian wines from Murfatlar and offcourse soms Romanian beers and a Palinka during the trip.

Next day we go from Brăila to Iaşi by train, via Buzau.


This train took us from Brăila to Faurei. There were some CFR staff which were observing the normal CFR personal for doing their job correct. They had never seen our FIP card, which is an International railway employers reduction card. 50% reduction by CFR.
They took a very long look at it.


Change trains in Faurei for Buzau.




This is me, buying a train ticket to Buzau.


We took this train, R5108.


Interior of the modernized train.


Arrival in Buzau.




We took IR 1661 to Iaşi.


In Focsani.









Changing the loc electric---> diesel in Tecuci.

Between Tecuci and Iasi:








We loved the city of Iasi, there was a lot to see for us tourists.

This is part 1, more to come!

Greetings from Olanda, Caspar

It's pleasant to see foreigners writing nice things about Romania. Which route did you liked the most?

Great stuff you posted here .. Really great you have had a good time ... But i believe that your ICL wagons are similar with our 22-76/96 wagons,also ex-DB.
Mori info here
http://www.forumtrenuri.com/t2689-vagoane-seria-22-7630-7684-76-si-84-83
...Also hope you have more pictures from Transilvania .. Cluj-Alba-Sibiu-Deva-Timisoara

It's good to see that Romania atracts rail enthusiasts from other countries. Where els in the EU you see trains pass signals with written order (because the signal's components are stolen)?

We are waiting part 2.

Citat :

An IR back to Bucuresti Nord. This type of coaches we have also had a few years in Olanda where I live.
They were called ICL here. ICL NS

The 20-83 cars are made from 20-50 cars (see link).

Citat :

Outside of the bus is very modern, but the interior looks a bit old fashioned.

MAZ buses made in Belarus... 2 were in flames at only a few weeks after they were delivered. One is still in the bus yard in that condition.

Citat :

Nice old Casino.

Unfortunately abandoned... the interior is in a very bad condition.

Citat :

There were some CFR staff which were observing the normal CFR personal for doing their job correct. They had never seen our FIP card, which is an International railway employers reduction card. 50% reduction by CFR.

The CFR employees no longer have free tickets (only 6 trips/year at IR train, but these are taxable at 56 RON), they only have free trips between their home and workplace (but with movement order and other papers)... however they know each others and the conductors let them travel for free... that's why they sometimes send different staff to prevent this.

cortexedge a scris:

It's pleasant to see foreigners writing nice things about Romania. Which route did you liked the most?

The scenery between Tulcea and Braila was very nice, the low mountains overthere are beautiful. I wan to come back again there with my mountainbike, if thats possible. Further, the route from Suceava- Vatra Dornei- Salva is nice, with the bridges and tunnels.
City's which we liked most were Sibiu, Iasi and Cluj Napoca.

Thanks for the replys.

cortexedge a scris:

It's pleasant to see foreigners writing nice things about Romania. Which route did you liked the most?

The scenery between Tulcea and Braila was very nice, the low mountains overthere are beautiful. I wan to come back again there with my mountainbike, if thats possible. Further, the route from Suceava- Vatra Dornei- Salva is nice, with the bridges and tunnels.
City's which we liked most were Sibiu, Iasi and Cluj Napoca.

Citat :

It's good to see that Romania atracts rail enthusiasts from other countries. Where els in the EU you see trains pass signals with written order (because the signal's components are stolen)?

We have also sometimes stolen components in Netherlands. The signals are also red, and the traffic control has to call the driver for a order. And the bariere's for the roads passing the railway tracks aren't functionning then, so they stay closed with long line's of cars behind them.
It's a problem all over Europe I think. The difference between Olanda and Romania is that it's fixed within a few hours.

Thanks for the replys.