In June 2025, I visited Romania. This wasn't for the usual tourist purposes (increasingly popular these days in this beautiful country), nor was it to one of the regular destinations by the sea or in the Carpathians. The city - Romania's seventh or eight largest - where I spent most of my time was Galaţi, a riverport on the Danube, situated in the east of the country, close to the Moldovan and Ukrainian borders.

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     Most of its inhabitants would think of it as an ordinary working city, with its large steelworks  and other industries. To me, it has different resonances. I think of my visit in June, 2025 as a late substitute (a quarter-of-a-century late!) for the one I was going to make in the Millennium Year, but in the event couldn't because of a series of dramatic events.

 

     This preamble to my travelogue is not about these. If  you want to know more about the start of these, see Lightning Strikes Twice. 

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     But, in 2025, I made it!

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     I should confess that this travelogue is written mainly for my own benefit, before the details evaporate into thin air. It may be of some interest to those who are thinking of visiting Romania themselves (a thing I'd highly recommend), even if the planned visit is to a more regular tourist destination. 

 

    This wasn't, in fact, my first time in Romania. My wife Suki and I visited in 1988, together with our young family. That year was the last complete one of the oppressive regime of Nicolae Ceauşescu. His government deteriorated into one of the worst in the former Soviet Bloc. What do they say? 'Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.'

 

       But that is a matter of a history brought to an end in a hail of bullets on Christmas Day, 1989. Since that time, Romania has been trying to shake itself free of that history. This is not an easy task, especially in view of what is now happening in neighboring parts of the World, but my personal impression after my necessarily short visit is that it it is making good progress in this difficult task.

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     To the travelogue itself!

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Wednesday 4th June

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I left my home in South Wales at 07:00 for Cardiff (Wales) Airport. This is not really in Cardiff, but within a reasonably short taxi-ride along a B-road from my home. I'd checked in online with KLM on the day before, but couldn't honestly see a great deal of benefit in doing this. 

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Because I'd had to rise early, I had an unhurried breakfast supplement before going to the airport gate to await my first flight to Amsterdam (Schipol). CWL is a small airport and I knew there'd be no problem in finding the gate.

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The flight to Amsterdam was on time at 09:50, arriving at 12:05 - this is a flying time of 1hr  15m, because of the +1 hour time difference. Although the flight was short, we were served with a cheese roll snack.

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Schipol is a large airport, and there was a lot of walking to the Flight Transfer area, followed by long queues at the first check in. I think the latter was because of a fault in the self-service scanner, but the zealotry of the security staff didn’t help.

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The KLM flight to Bucharest was on time at 13:35-17:20 - there was a further +1 hour time difference. We were served with an identical cheese roll during the flight.

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Bucharest OTP is a much smaller airport than Schipol, and I was able to find my way around quite easily. My passport wasn't even looked at as I left! I couldn't help but compare this experience with that of my 1988 arrival for my family's 1988 visit. Then, we found ourselves being questioned around midnight by a tired-eyed security official in uniform, who insisted on rifling through our luggage in search of non-existent bibles. This time, I was met my host in Romania at the exit.

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Here I must pay tribute to my host, Dr Petru Iamandi.                          W   We first got in touch in 1991, when Romania was struggling to emerge from                                     effects of the 1989 revolution. At the time, Petru was a schoolteacher, but                              was doing a great deal of private translation work. We soon became friends and                              collaborators. Initially this was by correspondence, but soon Petru was able to see                               my family and I. During the 1990s, Petru was able to visit us three  times. In the                                     Millennium year, I was in turn going to visit him in Romania, but in the event could not. Petru has had his own more recent difficulties, but I'm pleased to say that he now appears to be emerging from them.

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Suffice it to say that he proved to be a superb host, and kept us both very busy during my fascinating short visit. This is what this travelogue is all about!

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Anyway, we were able to catch the 18:00 minibus to Galaţi – were even on this bus 20 minutes early. I hadn't been looking forward to the 4-hour road journey after a long day of travelling, but it was much better than I'd expected and even included a 20-minute break in journey at Buzău. On our arrival close to Petru's home in the northern part of the city, I couldn't help but feel again the difference  in atmosphere between 2025 and 1988. Then it was one where it felt as if there was a storm waiting to break. This despite my more immediate concern with the difficulties I found from my faulty night vision in walking through the streets in semi-darkness and even identifying my luggage (I was travelling light) in the back of the minibus. Thankfully, the walk to Petru's flat was a short one!

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Petru's home was small but comfortable and well-decorated. We had a glass of wine , a brief chat, exchanged gifts, and then I was glad to go to bed. I slept well after a long day of travel. 

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Thursday 5th June

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After a larger breakfast than I'm normally used to (I'd told Petru that I wanted to eat local food as much as I could) we had a walk through Petru's  local part of town, then  down to what is known as 'The Danube Promenade' It was much better to see the town in daylight. I was surprised at the number of barber's shops there are. One of them has the wonderful name of 'Barber Battle'. Much use of the English language is made in shops.

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The steps down to to river level were steep and slightly rickety, presenting something of a challenge to me with my vision problems, but I managed OK by taking it slowly. After a long walk along the promenade, we had a superb lunch, centered on carp. Danube caught carp had been my only culinary request before my visit. It was a kind of echo of the meal I remembered from my 1988 visit to Romania .

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Romania is best known for its red wine but, in Peru's flat in the evening, I tried some Cotnari white wine. For anyone who hasn't tried this wine (I hadn't before), I'd recommend it. 

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Friday 6th June

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Our day started with a fascinating visit to Casa ‘Cuza Vodă’ (Cuza Vodă Memorial House). we were lucky in that we had a private tour and presentation from the Museum’s Director, Professor Cristian Căldăraru, a very pleasant and courteous gentleman. Petru translated for me. 

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The focus of the presentation – and of the museum itself – was the man who became the first ruler of the Romanian Principalities in 1859, Alexandru Ioan Cuza. He was elected as domnitor (Prince) of Moldavia on 5th January 1859, and of Wallachia on 24th of the same month. The two provinces were formally united in 1862, when they achieved unity as the Romanian United Principalities, with a single government and capital at Bucharest. I knew a little about this, although not in anything like the detail, but was not aware that Alexandru Ioan Cuzu’s birthplace was in Bârlad, in the adjacent county to the north of Galați. Transylvania and other provinces of the Romania we know today were not part of the country until 1918.

 

After a necessary to call to an optician - I'd had a some minor damage to my glasses earlier -  we had a walk through the local area, seeing among other things the monument to the dead in the 1989 revolution and the university where Petru used to teach - Dunarea de Jos, or University of the Lower Danube.

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Lunch was an excellent 3-course meal consisting of a rich pork soup before the main course of Tochitura (a traditional Romanian and Moldovan dish, consisting mainly of pork cubes). This was followed by pancakes after it. I've always been a big fan of pancakes, both sweet and savoury.

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After such a meal, we needed to adjourn to Petru's flat for a siesta.

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In the evening, we'd arranged to go to a jazz concert but, when we arrived, we discovered that the start time had been put back from 19:00 to 21:00. Instead, we went to the Public Gardens. Petru is one of those recorded in the Writers' Avenue situated in the Gardens.

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In the Gardens, we had a simple light supper and beer in the open air - I couldn't have managed more after our big lunch. Among the the things I saw was the Republic of Moldova in the not-too-far distance. This newish country seems to be high on Vladimir Putin's infamous shopping list.

 

And the evening ended with two of the three lottery tickets I bought on impulse from a passing seller being winners. I didn't get too excited - the combined value of the win was less than £1!  

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Saturday 7th June 

 

IIn the morning we had a tour of Muzeul de Artă Vizuală Galați, the city's visual arts museum. Petru and I chose a self-conducted tour, centered on the painting galleries upstairs, rather than anything more formal. I looked for but didn't find any work by Constantin Calafateanu, an artist from the Dobrudja whose work I had discovered and admired in in 1988. There was, though, the work of a number of other interesting artists, both from the Dobrudja and more locally, on display. 

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Petru wanted me to to try something different for lunch, so we went to the Central Market. There I had something he called with a great air of mystery 'Little Johns' and a beer. These turned out to be nothing more than splendidly tasty and tender sausages. After lunch, Petru bought me some cherries from the central market. There was a huge bag of them but he told me I'd have to eat all of them on that day. He was right. By the time we reached his flat they'd been well ripened in the heat. So I did eat all of them!

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In the afternoon we went to the city's street festival. This was large and very lively and I enjoyed walking through the streets, eating a wrap whilst watching the many performances.

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We had dinner at the side of the Danube, a tasty meal with a dish of cod roe as its centrepiece. While we were waiting to be served, two of Petru's former students approached, and I was introduced. I should record that they were both friendly towards and highly respectful of their former Professor. I met other former students during my stay and this applied to every one of them.

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Sunday 8th June 

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On the Sunday. we were up early for a boat trip on the Danube. This was very different from my previous cruises on Europe's greatest river. In 1988, one of the things my family and I did was go into the Delta itself. I thought of it at the time and still think of the Delta as one of Europe's last natural wonderlands. With the pressures of tourism since 1988, it will be less so now, so perhaps this visit is best preserved in a quiet corner of my memory. Perhaps 'quiet' is the wrong word for some of it - Delta, one of the stories in Infidel, is a fictional version of real events. Early in the present Millennium, Suki and I took a cruise from near Munich all the way to Budapest, visiting places like Vienna and Bratislava on the way. As for Petru, although he was the local leader of the 'Blue Danube' project in the 1990s. this was the first time he'd actually cruised along the river.

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This shorter trip was entirely different in character from the two I'd made earlier. Here, the river is heavily urbanised and industrial. Common riverside sights are heavy cranes and large warehouses. Moreover, national boundaries are complex here. Moldova occupies  both banks of the river in some places (where the river itself is international waters) and a few miles upstream of Galați is Ukraine. Our boat's pilot told us that within the last 48 hours missile silos were being installed in the area. You might have some idea of the effect his words had on our party. Myself, I wondered especially about the thoughts of the family of Ukrainian refugees who were with us.

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After the cruise and our lunch, I need a long siesta!

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In the evening a light prawn salad supper in Petru's 'local' was enough for me​.

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Monday 9th June 

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My last full day in Galați was  indeed full, although this time everything was entirely pleasurable.​ It began at the offices of the newspaper Viata Liberă ('Free Life') where I was interviewed by Anca Spânu, a pleasant and capable young woman who moreover speaks excellent English. The essential thing about the interview was my literary links with Romania, especially the long friendship Petru and I have shared. Later, Anca turned this into an impressive feature for the newspaper.

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Afterwards, Petru and I made a brief visit to the city's main Roman Catholic Cathedral. Petru is not a Catholic, and I'm certainly not. He is in fact a devout member of the Romanian Orthodox Church. This is just one of the ways in which our beliefs and outlooks differ. It doesn't seem to matter. If only people would be more tolerant of the views of others...

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Later we paid a visit to 'the French Library’, or Bibliothèque Française Eugène Ionesco. It takes its name from its founder. It does indeed have a good collection of French books but, as the librarian, Dorina Moisă, a former student of Petru's was keen to point out in her presentation, it stocks many British books as well as French, including some of my own. Later, Ciprian Moisă, another  former student of Petru's, now a high school teacher, came along to meet  us. Ciprian is a young man with strong opinions, particularly on the phenomena we know loosely as 'artificial intelligence. Ciprian naturally sees things from the point of view of an an educationalist, but his point of view is not out of accord with my own.

 

Most see only the undoubted short term efficiency benefits but, trying to look beyond them, I believe that 'AI' carries within it the tendency to homogenise thought. Are we even seeing the sunset of Homo Sapiens as a fully ‘Thinking Man’ as he passes the responsibility for genuine thinking over to machines?

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In the evening, we went to an Italian Restaurant within easy walking distance of Petru's home. On this occasion, I had a more familiar Pizza Funghi to eat.

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Tuesday 10th June

 

Today, we needed to  be up early for the four-hour rail journey to Bucharest. Gina, the sister of Petru's beloved Mara, kindly gave us a lift to Galaţi station, where we boarded an old but very comfortable train the the capital.

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Our overnight stay was to be in Hotel Sir Gara de Nord and we had lunch in a Lebanese resaurant adjacent to it. I have to say the dish wasn't much like my idea of Lebanese food, which I've always enjoyed. Perhaps the 'Feng Sui' of the restaurant didn't suit me.

 

After a short siesta, all we did was take a stroll around the local area, with a light Cheese Omelette along the way for me. It was necessary to be up around 04:00 to get to Bucharest OTP Airport on time. At he Departures Entrance, I said my farewells to Petru.

 

I hadn't been able to do an online check-in this time (my first flight was to be with the Romanian national airline, TAROM to Paris CDG, where I'd have to change) but the woman who looked after the general check-in was helpful and friendly. Far more attractive than a computer screen, too! This time, I was hauled out by Security, but have to say that the guard was friendly and polite about it all. He was keen to tell me all about his time working in London a few years ago.

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Afterwards, I enjoyed a extraordinarily healthy second breakfast of berry, granola, and yoghourt cômpote, with fruit Juice. It was as well I did, because no kind of refershment was served on the TAROM flight to Paris at 08:40. It did arrive twenty or so minutes early in Paris CDG and the connection to Schipol was speedy, so I had plenty of time for a leisurely meal in Amsterdam, where I had lunch.

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The automatic gate system didn't work on departure from Schipol (I think this was because my passport was one of the last of the British-issued EU ones). Instead, a helpful Dutch security man took me quickly through manual entry. He joked ‘Haven’t I seen you on TV, teaching British people how to be Posh?’ I played along with his joke and answered ‘Yes, of course. Don't you recognise me?'

 

Of the three flights I took that day, the KLM flight to Cardiff  was the only one that was late running! It took off and landed only 20 minutes behind schedule, to be fair.

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My overall impressions of the country? Well, the change in atmosphere over 1988 was obvious from the outset. The old Romania used to be one of the clearest examples of what we can expect if we attach too much importance to politicians and political systems, be they of left or right. This time, I was still impressed by the natural courtesy of Romanian people. This was something that was evident in 1988, once you were able to scratch below any level of officialdom. Public transport, at least in this city, and some other public services, put those in the UK in the shade.

 

More negatively, I couldn't help but notice that, although Romania is not, statistically, a wealthy country, the number of cars on the roads has increased enormously. There has been a good degree of improvement in infrastructure to compensate for this, but I couldn't help wondering how long it will be before Romanians start to experience more of the downsides to material growth.

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