Petra
distance: 38.14km
duration: 5h 27min
There are no supermarkets around here - in the bigger villages they have "Magazines Mixt", but i didn't get through big villages. There's also no running water, the villagers get their "Apa"(Water) from wells. Eventually i asked a guy with a bicycle where i would find some apa for my Dromedary Bag and he guided me to a nice family who where happily helping me out. In the meanwhile the guy i had asked was talking on his phone and i overheard "bicicleta" and "austria". I later realized he had called the neighbouring village, where he was from, to tell them about my arrival.
Since we where going the same direction, i joined up with the bicycle guy and when we arrived in Petra, a couple of men where already waiting and asked me to stay for a coffee. In the end, as it was already getting dark, they persuaded me to sleep over in Petra. I was given food, hot water to wash and a room and bed for myself and overall, kindest hospitality
Perfect tentpitch in perfect nature. Can't hear the slightest artificial sound out there - it's fantastic! This is peace. 44.530, 22.848
The Magic Valley
distance: 31.57km
duration: 8h 0min
I realized i wouldn't make it out of Turnu Severin before dusk, so i bought groceries and started to look for a quiet, secluded place in the suburbs. A heavy hailstorm went down shortly before the sun disappeared(You can see it approaching in one of the last pictures of the previous logentry) but i had reacted quickly and put on my rain gear so i actually enjoyed the feel of the pressure of the falling water and ice on my back. I ended up in a run down and demolished industrial quarter of Severin. A pack of street dogs had found their home in the concrete rubble and they where howling and barking at me when i arrived. A few stones as a warning signal made them leave me alone in the end.
At a supermarket i chatted with a security guide who had worked as a cleaner in Vienna. He told me originally he had studied geography and worked as a teacher - but financially he was better of with the EUR 200.- that he was paid for guarding the parking lot of the supermarket than as a teacher - go figure!
Leaving the main street at Bistrita opened a gate to a magical place - smooth brown-yellow hills, tiny rural villages with hens, turkey and goose crossing the streets, horse-carts driven by old men and women, gravel roads, oak forests with huge trees, horses and cows grazing in mellow valleys. Quietness.
