Sausages and Sighisoara

Hi Everyone,

So following the extravaganza that was Lavinia and Horatiu's wedding, things quietened down. Iain Blackwood, Sue Riley and Gwyneth Venables got on with their work for the project - Iain and Sue reviewing the Training Strategy and Gwyneth looking at Performance Management in the Romanian Customs. See we really do work sometimes. Things returned to normal. And then I had an invitation by e-mail.

The invite was from an organisation that wants to promote locally produced food and drink and fight against the fast food culture that is seeping into Romania. One of the most celebrated foods in Romania is the Plescoi sausage (no jokes please, keep it clean).

The Plescoi sausages, named after the village where they are produced, are made out of a combination of half-dried, half smoked meats. So basically the meat is raw! Traditionally it is made from goats meat. So basically they are raw goats flesh sausages!! Mmmm, that got my mouth watering.

A sculptor, Adrian Ilfoveanu, had made a statue out of the sausages. It was called "Eve lived at Plescoi" and was on display at the Romanian Peasant Museum. (By the way, the peasant museum is not a place where you go to look at some very old Romanian Peasants, poke them with your finger, laugh at them and comment on how smelly they are. Virtually the whole of Romania outside of Bucharest is set aside for that!!) The museum celebrates the history and culture of the Romanian people. So it was a fitting place for them to launch the promotion of Romanian food and drink. But the statue was not only to "promote the food" but also celebrate the ladies who still hand make the sausages today. During the Communist era, the home-based production of food was forbidden and there were cases when the women (the "Eves") in Plescoi were sent to jail simply for preserving a tradition. So next to the sculpture was a photo gallery by Nicu Ilfoveanu (Adrian’s brother), on the same theme - “Eves of Plescoi” showing the faces of the women who make the sausages.

How could we turn down such an invitation. I mean, how often do you get to see a statue made out of sausages. For that matter how often do you want to see such a thing?! Anyway we went along - and what an evening it turned out to be.

Firstly the statue was impressive. I have no idea if Mr Ilfoveanu had actually used a model for it but either the model or his imagination had a few serious problems. The statue had no head, only one arm and half its leg missing. We did wonder if this was due to people hacking bits off because they were hungry, but it appeared that this was the intention of the sculptor. There was a passing resemblance to Dolly Parton (come on, the scultor was a Romanian man, what can you expect). Having looked at this for a few minutes and looked at the photos around the room for a couple more minutes, that seemed to be the extent of the whole event. It was only just 7.00pm so we decided to all go and have a meal. Then it was announced there was free sausages and free wine.

So we left the Peasants Museum around midnight!! It was amazing how the raw goats flesh sausages got tastier as the evening progressed. Just when we thought we really could not get away with having another bottle of free wine, the organiser of the event turned up at our table. He wanted to talk to us about what the event meant, about the symbolism of the sculpture and how all of us whoever we are can help promote and preserve local food. But he also brought with him some more bottles of wine! So we kept talking to him while he kept shouting for more wine for our table.

When I say talking, it was more like an arguement for some of the time. The organiser (I have no idea what his name was but let's call him Bogdan) was talking of the history of Romania and for some reason both Tony and Iain had decided that they knew Romanian history better than Bogdan. So they are correcting him and telling him he is wrong about dates etc. At one point Bogdan said:
"With the greatest respect I am Romanian. I know my country's history."
"But that happened in the early 1400s" said Tony not letting the point go.
"No, it was the early 1600s" said Bogdan.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes"
"Oh what's 200 years between friends?" said Tony and the dicussion continued.

Bogdan then asked if Sue would like to go for a walk. I think he felt she needed some fresh air because her eyes appeared to be revolving in different directions and her speech distinctly incoherent. It transpired that he did not think she needed some air, but instead needed his tongue down her throat! Once out of sight from us he launched at her. Sue, still being the polite British person, thanked him for the attention but said that really she should be getting back to her friends as they are waiting for her.
"You are speaking like a teenager" said Bogdan "saying your friends are waiting for you".
"No I really must go"
"But you have lips like velvet" he said in his best Romanian chat up voice.
"Now I really must get back" said Sue sobering up very quickly.
They rejoined us and despite numerous other attempts to lure Sue away, Bogdan had to accept that he would have to go home to his wife!

Following this "cultural extravaganza" Tony and I decided that we needed to experience some real Romanian culture, so we spent the weekend in Sighisoara. Now those of you who saw Michael Palin's Sunday evening programme will recall that he visited here. This is the problem - wherever I go others follow. I am such a trend setter! I really wanted Tony to see Sighisoara because it is a beautiful place and I had not been there since about 1988.

Founded by Transylvanian Saxons during the 12th century, Sighisoara is one of the most beautiful and best-preserved medieval towns in Europe. Designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, this perfectly intact 16th century town with nine towers, cobbled streets, burgher houses and ornate churches rivals the historic streets of Old Prague or Vienna for atmospheric magic. It is also the birthplace of Vlad Dracula, also known as Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler), ruler of the province of Walachia from 1456 to 1462.

Its unique atmosphere and charm was somewhat undermined by the fact that the whole town's drainage system was being renovated while we were there. So most of the streets resembled the trenches from the Somme. Thankfully the weather was gorgeous while we were there, clean skies and constant sunshine. If it had rained I daren't think of the Glastonbury like mud bath that would have resulted.

Rather than driving up (car hire is surprisingly expensive in Romania) we decided to go by train. It takes around 5 hours. However bear in mind that this journey is part of the Bucuresti to Oradea service that takes a total of 11 hours. Last time we took a 5 hour train journey it cost us 60 lei each (about 12 pounds) - first class of course! This time, going first class again, it cost over 350 lei! Yes about 70 pounds! I had heard that the train prices had increased a lot but I had no idea that Richard Branson was now operating in Romania.

When we got on the train I had another shock - it was really nice! The seats were big and comfortable. They had a restaurant on board (admittedly it was at the other end of the train, we were in coach 25 and the restaurant in the first coach so it took half the 5 hour journey getting to and from it.) And it was exactly on time both going there and coming back. In fact it arrived back in Bucharest on the Sunday 15 minutes early. When you consider that the train had started in Oradea eleven and a half hours earlier and managed to arrive in Bucharest 15 minutes early I think that is not bad.

We took a little bit of a risk in booking our accommodation over the internet. It looked lovely on their website. When we arrived in Sighisoara it took us a little time to find it but when we did we found it even nicer than the site suggested! It was a quaint old place with huge rooms, lovely bathroom and everything done out beautifully. And for 20 pounds a night for the two of us it was incredibly good value.

Old Sighisoara is a walled town but is not very big. Armed with a map laying out the 12 main sights to see, Tony and I set off on a lovely Saturday morning at 11.00am. By 12.30 we had completed all 12 sights, having taken our time, sat and had a couple of chats, finished 5 crosswords, had lunch, assisted in laying 200 metres of drainage pipes and been for a nap. The place is very interesting, very beautiful but also very compact. This really left us with no alternative but to eat and drink through the rest of Saturday and most of Sunday.

On Sunday afternoon we were in the main square enjoying a snack and beer in the lovely autumnal sun, when onto a make shift stage came a Brass Band. It was like being back in Saddleworth (except this lot were quite good as compared to some really ropey bands like Boarshurst - and they were sober which is something else we never see in Saddleworth!). It did make for an extremely pleasant afternoon.

Sighisoara is well worth a visit. But as well as the town being lovely it sits in beautiful Transylvanian countryside. So a walking holiday would be perfect and would make the journey there worth while.

All too soon we were on the train trundling back to Bucuresti at break neck speed (35kph).

Must go now. I have to go and endure the comments from my Romanian colleagues that Romania have just qualified for Euro 2008 at the same time it looks like England will not. Don't for a moment think that they are gloating. Oh no. Gloating does not even go 1 centimetre towards describing their attitude. Glad the project finishes soon!!

Take care

Andrew.