After a hearty breakfast we set off for the Budapest Airport via a shuttle that cost the group 40 euros. The driver told us about the Hungarian referendum the previous day on immigration. The country voted 90% against the EU quota of 2000 Syrian refugees that Hungary must accept. Unfortunately, less than half of the people voted. Its hard to know the will of the people. I guess Hungary's history of being invaded and occupied has made them wary of newcomers.
Arriving at the airport car rental counters we realized our rental were with Usave Hungary (Thrifty) not Europcar as Pedro told us. USave's counter was off site so we had to call for a pickup. No car rental counter would let us place the local call, nor even help us figure out how to use the pay phone! Eventually, I used my cell phone to call for a pick up. We were amazed at how unhelpful many of the Hungarians in the service industry were!
Once the car rentals were arranged we set off for the 3 hour drive to Glogowatz (which is now called Vladimirescu, Romania). The Hungarian motorways are smooth and fast. The speed limit is 130km/h! We arrived at the Romanian border and had to go through customs. After a 15 minute wait we next had to purchase a Romian road toll pass from some unfriendly officials who preferred Euros to the Romanian currency.
The drive through Arad featured roads in bad shape, lots of industry and obvious poverty. Since we arrived near 4:00 PM, the traffic was snarled for about 10 km. Finally, we arrived at Glogowatz, parked and explored the town on foot. We found a church that mentioned Glogowatz and the sign entering town had a blurb about Glogowatz: (Translation from Google Translate)
This village was inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans and was colonized in the years 1724-1756. Out of respect for their livelihood, peace and goodwill are wished by the Romanians. It is reminded that until 1945 this town was called Glogowatz.
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| The group looks for Gologwatz clues at the church |
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| A plaque on the statue outside the church |
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| A plaque above the door to the church |
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| Marilyn and Carl look for German names on monuments around the town, |
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| A sign entering the town acknowledges the history of Glogowatz |
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| The history in Romanian is translated above |
We tried to find the railway station without success. Also, a trip to the cemetery did not yield any tombstones from before world war II. The Catholic cemetery was locked so we could not check it out either.
Since we were running out of daylight, we set out for the Continental Hotel in Timisoara. The GPS failed us in the convoluted city streets of Timisoara but Google maps on my phone rescued us. Rick and Cheryl with their built in GPS had better luck. A tired group enjoyed a nice late dinner in the hotel dining room and turned in after a long day.
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| Interesting geometry of the central lobby in the Continental Hotel |
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| We tried the local Ursus beer at dinner |
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