Day 4 – Bucharest

A good example of Romanian telecoms en route back to Bucuresti Nord station

Most of Bucharest has seemed strangely subdued; the station and the restaurant and bar quarter are the exceptions.

Once again the CFR sleeper is ex-Deutsche Bahn but this time it’s real wood veneer, brass fittings and the power’s on.

Crossing the River Danube in to Bulgaria over the longest steel bridge in Europe (2.5 km)

In Bulgaria the architecture takes on a more Mediterranean feel and fields of sunflowers stretch in to the distance. Unlike in Romania the mobile network supports data, which gives me the chance to check emails (and the Ashes test match score).

It’s surprising just how much more slowly the trains run east of Budapest. According to our InterRail map it is not much more than 300 miles from Bucharest to Istanbul, yet the journey time is in excess of 20 hours!

Day 3 – Bucharest

The downside of spending an evening in Budapest, and taking the later sleeper train to Bucharest, is being woken at 0200 for the border crossing, the first time our passports have been checked since leaving London.

First impressions of Romania are of sparsely populated, rolling countryside…

…and abandoned, Soviet-era industry

In Bucharest more historic buildings have survived Caeucescu’s regime than we had expected

The local roadworks are even worse than London’s! This street is home to several wedding dress shops, located on the periphery of the main bar and restaurant quarter.