By Dennis
The “Hotel California” in Nyirbator did not serve breakfast so we went to the local supermarket at 7am to purchase some yogurt, fruit, bread and cheese – our usual breakfast (and lunch too most days). The Romanian border was only an hour away and we were surprised there was a checkpoint and we had to show our passports. This was the first country we have encountered a checkpoint as most of our crossings have been on rural roads.
We stopped at the first town, Carai, and visited an ATM to get some Romanian lei, then to the local Orange store for a new SIM card. $9.00 for 50gb and 2000 minutes national and international phone calls. (Yes, 2000!)
The rest of the day was a slow climb, on mostly quiet highways, through field after field of corn and sunflowers, and into the town of Simleu Sylvaniei, our stop for the night. The hotel was a surprise, the 3 star Pensiunea Turistica Cabana Bradet, was very clean and spacious compared to what we have been staying in for the past 5 days, and only $32 CDN including breakfast. Unfortunately it was at the top of a really steep hill (20%?) of which we had to walk part way up, and this precluded any incentive to come back down and walk around the busy town. A great hotel except for the barking dog who kept Don awake for some time (I had my earplugs!)
Tallinn to Istanbul by Bike 