Stand-up Paddle in Bucharest.

I nearly didn’t make it to Bucharest.

The train to Liverpool John Lennon Airport was cancelled, and a replacement bus service was provided.

The replacement buses promptly deposited a few hundred passengers at the very next station, where there was no train and no one to tell us what was happening. After waiting around for 30 minutes, concerned about missing my flight, I decided to call a taxi.

I wasn’t the only person with that idea! There was a long wait for the taxi, and I found myself running into the airport to check in my hold baggage, arriving at the desk just as it was closing. Fortunately, the Blue Air staff were kind to me, and my Magical Mystery SUP Tour of 2018 was underway.

Or was it?

An early evening flight. ‘Buona Sera’ I heard the cabin crew announce over the tannoy.

Now I don’t speak Italian. I don’t speak any foreign languages at all. But I know enough to know that ‘Buona Sera’ is Italian for good evening.

‘Why are they speaking Italian?’ I asked myself. My internal voice began to panic!

‘Italian?’

‘This flight is supposed to be going to Romania!’

‘Am I on the wrong plane?’

‘What am I going to do?’

‘HELP!’

I was convinced I was somehow on the wrong plane. Fortunately, before panic took over completely, I recognised the word ‘Bucuresti’. ‘Bucuresti’ must be ‘Bucharest’!

And sure enough, when the announcement was repeated in English, I was able to relax, my breathing returned to normal, and the paranoia stopped whizzing around my brain at a million miles an hour. I was on the right plane after all. Quite why the first announcement seemed to be in Italian when we were on a Romanian aeroplane would remain a mystery until I had time to do some research.

I was nervous again when I woke the following morning, not because I thought I was on the wrong flight but because I was headed to Transylvania! To Dracula’s castle. And I didn’t have any garlic to ward off the vampires! And I doubt the tap water from my Bucharest Hotel was in any way holy!

I booked a day trip from Bucharest to Transylvania, stopping at Bran Castle AKA Dracula Castle.

In truth, there is no known connection between Bran Castle and Bram Stoker’s character Dracula. It was a pleasant day out, although it was a long, long drive from Bucharest. It was a long, long day made even longer when our bus broke down on the way back! It was after midnight when I returned to my hotel. And I would be up early the following morning to paddle on Lacul Morii (Lake Dambovita) before heading to the Railway Station and onwards to Moldova.

There was nothing particularly inspiring about Lake Dambovita as a SUP location. I’m sure Bucharest has much more to offer. I’m sure Romania has much more to offer. Next time I visit this part of the world, I will seek out some better places to paddle. Maybe even in Transylvania. But for this visit, I was pleased to add Romania to my list of countries paddled.

I had just enough time for a short stroll around Bucharest before heading to the train station and the most exciting train journey of my life. From Bucharest to the Moldovan capital of Chisinau. You can read about that trip here.

Dambovita River, Bucharest