A long train ride.
After three days spent in the heart of Romania, going around by car, today I will go to Iași in the north-east of the Country, in a region called Moldova not to be confused with the nearby independent Republic of Moldova. I will go by train even if there are planes from Bucharest taking about one hour of flight. I’ve considered that in the end taking into account all other related tasks: reaching the airport, doing check-in, several queues and controls, go from the airport to town, would mean not less than 4-5 hours. Train instead will take 7 hours that is not a huge difference and it will be more comfortable. By the way is also much cheaper: only 16 Euro. I have things to do before taking the train and in order to avoid any trouble I need to plan carefully all of them: First of all I get out early from the apartment I rent in Bucharest to avoid a possible fine for the parked car, then I return the car but before I have to fill the tank, afterward I go by taxi to the station and here I find the ‘perfect’ place where to eat, while “perfect” means having the chance to recharge the laptop and use the wifi. I was good enough to fulfil the entire plan without any exception and I have to say that this gave me a certain kind of satisfaction. 🙂
Train is quite full. Of course I booked in advance so I have my own sit. Train is arranged as open space and it is quite modern.
Around me there are two girls, probably students in Bucharest, one of them is reading a study book about law. In front of me instead there is a lady alternatively talking to the phone and coughing, doing both things with a certain degree of discretion. When the controller comes to check my ticket, seeing the Id card, calls me “Italiano vero”. What to say? Toto Cutugno was here! 
Outside the window the landscape is more or less the same I saw during last days driving in Transylvania including an incredible amount of storks. They are really wonderful and so big. A lot of them are on their nests usually setup on top of poles but there are as well in the fields collecting nesting material. More or less every hour we stop in some bigger town but there’s not significant turnover of passengers. It seems that who starts the trip in Bucharest is going to end it in Iași as I do. Only when we are in Iași, since there are two stations, someone get down at the first one called Iași-Nicolina, after it there is the final station.
Time for a quick tour and dinner.
My hotel is not so close to the centre this time but public transport works pretty good in Iași and with a bus ride I can get at a walkable distance from Palace Square, a monumental square facing the palace of culture.
I didn’t know anything about this place. I came here just because I was looking for a Lebanese restaurant that I’ve identified as a potential good location to eat tonight. 
Square is fabulous, there are beautiful lights, music all around and an incredible amount of cafes and restaurants mostly serving international cuisine. Lebanese one is not bad but neither great. I’m tired and hungry so everything would have been ok. This way ends a day aimed mostly to moving close to border between Romania and Moldova. But there are still days here in Romania. Tomorrow I will start the visit of Iași.This was a short post. Not much to say. And not even pics of the train trip apart those ones you see inline. Here below however you find the gallery of my days in Iași.
