I have identified at least a dozen Travelogues for this first part of a series about books about Romania -
The
most famous was Patrick Leigh Fermour whose trilogy of his walk from the English Channel to Istanbul in the 1930s was
finished only this year.
- A Time of Gifts
(1977) covered mainly his experience of
Nazi Germany;
- Between the Woods and the Water (1986) of Hungarian aristocratic houses in Transylvania; and, after a
25-year gap,
- The Broken Road (2013) dealt mainly with the Bulgarian and Greek sections of his trip.
A few years later Sacharverwell Sitwell used motorised transport and gave us Romanian Journey (1938)
In
1999 Alan Ogden published “Romania Revisited – on the trail of English travellers
1602-1941” but the same author also edited an Englishman’s description of
Romanian villages in the 1930s – “Romanian Furrow - Colourful Experiences of
Village Life”; Donald Hall (Author) and Alan Ogden (Editor) (2007). Sadly
neither of these books are currently available.
“Stealing
from a deep place” by Brian Hall (1985) recounts experiences touring by bicycle
through Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary, a two-year trip (1982-1984) made
possible by a travel fellowship. "He focuses", the blurb tells us, "on the political milieu which has
led to food shortages and inadequate housing for a growing proportion of the
population. Among the private citizens of the countries visited, he found great
warmth and curiosity coexisting with an avarice and mistrust brought about by
necessity".
Clearly
travel was easier after 1989 – although only 4 books seem to cover the 1990s -
- In another Europe - a journey to Romania Georgina Harding (1990) - see also part 2 of this post (novels)
- Transylvania and Beyond; another bicycle trip, this time by the indefatigable and great Irish writer, Dervla Murphy (1992)
- Looking for Gheorge; Love and Death in Romania; by Helena Drysdale (1992)
- Clear Waters Arising by Nicolas Crane (1997) was actually a walk over the mountains which stretch from Spain to Romania.
The
last few years have seen a little more interest –
- Moons and Aurochs;
a Romanian Journey; Alan Ogden (2007) is impossible to find
- Along the Enchanted Way by William Blacker (2010) an upper-class Englishmen who chose to live first in Maramures and then in Transylvania for a few years, conducting a couple (admitted) of love affairs with gypsies in the course of the latter - but writing beautifully before disappearing to Italian and English country houses
- To Romania, with Love by Tessa Dunlop (2012) perhaps belongs better to the memoir section which will follow shortly
- Never Mind the Balkans – here’s Romania by Mike Ormsby (2012) is difficult to categorise - amusing sketches of contemporary life in Romania written by an ex-pat
- The way of the Crosses; Peter Hurley (2013) is a genuine traveller's tale which I wrote about in my previous post
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