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Even though I left the hostel well in advance, I still saw the TWO different buses I could take passing by, ahead of schedule, while I was stuck at a traffic light. Erf. I take the next one, however I quickly realized that the bus 32 and 32B had little in common, so I dropped off at next stop. I waited almost 10 min for another bus that never came, so I walked quite furiously to the station. Not a great way to start the 70th day of the trip!

I said it yesterday, but Romania has some serious progress to do with ecology. Most trains aren’t electric, and the one that was starting its engines on the other platform was producing a thick diesel smoke that polluted the entire station’s air. Talking of smoking, it’s also apparently legal on the platform here. I even saw a controller smoking at the open door of the train.

Thankfully, the ride was comfortable, and the girl sitting next to me gave me the window seat. Which was fantastic, considering today’s only train will last no less than 8 h and 47 min!

I soon understood why it takes so long to go from Cluj-Napoca to Iași. Not only the train is slow by nature, but we were most of the time winding through the wonderful Carpathians mountains. Oh the views! While not as sharp and steep as the Austrian Alps, the Carpathians gave vast, green forested views. The slopes are covered in tall pine trees, with fine trunks straighter than your average pop-rapper. It was a wonderful scenic ride. The mountains later ceded their places to rolling hills on immense distances.

Sadly, I finished to read Le monde différent de Vincent by Kévin Bernard yesterday, so I had to find alternatives. I like long rides, but this one start to be a bit extreme.

It was late afternoon when we reached Iași. After making sure that the night train to Moldova was leaving from the same station (the late afternoon one leaves from the Socola station!), I hit the streets. After all, I had now eight hours to kill before the 2:33 AM train to Chișinău… I could have taken an hostel room and leave it at 1 AM, but why waste that money while I can spend it at a restaurant and at a bar until the train comes? Carpe Diem Baby!

I must say, my first impressions of Iași were quite negative. The area around the station is just horribly soviet. Pure ugliness. But if you walk towards the Palace, you find yourself on a pedestrian street that feel like you’re walking in an open-air architecture museum. In just a few hundred meters, there are on both sides buildings and churches from all kind of style and time periods. It was lovely! And in front, the massive Palace, straight up from a fairy tale.

I went to the mall to eat and have a table for myself without being forced to order more, until it closed at 10 PM. This is the new Easternmost point of the trip btw. I went back in town and sat at a bar for a couple hours more.

The night is gonna be long…