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The duty of remembering

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We had learned about it in history class, watched films and documentaries, and heard or read testimonies—but none of that could truly prepare us for visiting the Auschwitz camp. We both hesitated before making the visit, knowing it would deeply affect us. Is it really necessary to see all of this? Should such a place become a tourist attraction? Why willingly expose ourselves to the pain of the past when, in the present, the goal is rather to feel good? For us, the duty of remembrance answers all of these questions. We simply could not come so close without stopping to honor the memory of the 1.3 million people who died behind those walls, to see with our own eyes what human beings are capable of. Even though we can never come close to the suffering, fear, and misery they endured, standing ourselves behind those walls and barbed wire remains, in our view, a human duty toward those who were (and still are) treated inhumanely. One of the things that struck us most during this visit w...
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Hungarian Wine and Multiple Emotions in Krakow

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Hungary being a great wine-producing country, there was no way wine lovers like us were going to miss the chance to discover it 馃構. Wine is made all over the country, so we had to choose which region to explore—a decision that would also shape the geography of the rest of our journey. With the current fuel price situation, we’ve had to rethink how we travel, planning our route more carefully, limiting the number of kilometers, and inevitably leaving some beautiful places aside. So we decided to head east again, first stopping in Eger, where the vineyards even made their way into our bedroom 馃槀. It’s a very charming town, dominated by its castle, where a major battle took place in the 16th century between the Hungarian and Ottoman armies.  Led by Istv谩n Dob贸 (he’s the guy on the statue), the Hungarians managed to repel a much larger army; the ratio ranging from 2 to 17 to 1 depending on the source… It all depends on which side the historian is on 馃槈. Needless to say, this historica...
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Transylvania part 2 and reunions in Budapest

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Spring has arrived! 馃尭 The sun is out, temperatures are rising, and nature is slowly but surely waking up—to our greatest delight 馃尀. It actually inspired us to do a bit of decorating in the van.  J茅r么me named her Rosalie. He talks to her every day and, so far, she’s proving to be a very good travel companion 馃槉. So it was in this springtime atmosphere that we continued our exploration of Transylvania, stopping in charming towns and villages, going on a few hikes, and visiting several sites—including one that’s quite out of the ordinary: the Turda Salt Mine (Salina Turda). It’s a former salt mine that was exploited from the Middle Ages until 1932. There are several salt deposits in the region, believed to have formed 13.5 million years ago when the area was covered by a shallow sea in a tropical climate. In Turda, the salt layer can reach a thickness of up to 1,200 meters 馃槻. Over the centuries, people kept digging and digging to extract this precious resource, creating an impressi...
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The not Black Sea, the not blue Danube and Transylvania

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After leaving Turkey, we headed north along the Black Sea coast and quickly made a first observation: the Black Sea isn’t black!! So why is it called the Black Sea? There seem to be several hypotheses. One of them is that for the Turks, each cardinal point was associated with a color, and black represented the north. Since the sea is indeed located to the north of Turkey geographically, that explanation works fine for us, sold 馃憤. So we followed the coast toward the black/north, crossing Bulgaria fairly quickly. Not that there’s nothing to see there, but since it’s impossible to go everywhere, we chose to focus more on Romania. Shortly after crossing the border shortly after noon, we stopped to eat and had a feeling there was a good restaurant nearby. How did we know? By seeing families getting out of their cars with Granny and Grandpa. Some signs never lie, if you take your elderly parents out, surely it's in a good place 馃槀. And we were absolutely not disappointed by this HUGE r...
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