Saturday tourism

Today we took a break from work and headed northeast to see some local craftspeople in the ancient capital of Romania, Albajulia. Fr Tim and Ian stayed in Lupeni to search for a soccer jersey and spend time with the Bates. Adi drove us through spectacular scenery, past ancient Dacian fortresses and wide fields until we arrived in Albajulia. 

The crafts were within an 18th century Vauban styles fortress built on what had once been a Roman town.  The hillside was surrounded by massive brick walls shaped defensively as a 7 pointed star. 

Adi sampling a crepe 

Since this had been a Hungarian area there were both a Catholic Church and an Orthodox Church nearly side by side. 

On our way back to Lupeni we stopped at the Castel Corvinilor which was originally built as a defensive fortress in the 14th century, but became a Renaissance dwelling in the 15th century with continued renovation after that. For four of the five students this was their first real castle 

We discovered the unique style of gypsy architecture 

We picked up a watermelon on the way to have dinner at the Bates.