Mountain Tops and Bran Castle

The team saw many beautiful sights while driving on the Transfagarasan, which is the highest road in Romania. It was sunny and beautiful, it rained, it hailed, but most of all it was an experience of God's handiwork. The following day they took a tour of the Bran Castle. This is such an interesting historical sight. The grand finale after lunch was papanache. This is a fried dough, similar to a doughnut covered in a sweet sour cream sauce and fruit preserves. The close-up photo of panache is served without the cream sauce. However, the apricot preserves were excellent as the sole accompaniment! 

Adventure on the Danube Delta!

We had an exciting opportunity to take a boat ride down several channels and through four lakes in the Danube Delta.  This is a massive wet land where there are many many bird species.  It was a three hour tour and we had sun, wind, and rain.  But we also had black cormerants, swans, and pelicans!  By the dozens!  You will enjoy these pictures and few short videos!



               

Our boats and guides

At times we were covered by an arch of trees

Beautiful willows were everywhere

This is a wild dog that one of our guides has befriended
and knows the sound of his engine and
ran along the shore for a very long way with us

White Heron

Unknown bird enjoying his catch!

Black Cormorant Baby in the bamboo

White Cormorant in flight

One of the four lakes we explored

The other boat goofing around

The sea of lily pads were unbelievable!

These yellow lily pads are protected as are the white.
That might explain why they spread as far as you can see.

Our guides got us up close and personal

Here is an expanse of the white lilies.  

And a few shots closer up

All the vegetation in the water kept binding the outboard motors.
They had to keep cleaning them off.

As we made our way out of this lake we followed the channel between the lily pads.
It was quite a sight.

We ran into a rain storm.  It was a good one!

One of the boats used a tarp to keep us dry.
The other used a canopy.

But we all got significant wet!  But it
was definitely worth it.

Ducks flying in V formation

A bamboo fork in the channel.
We picked the right channel.

These are Black Cormorants

Here are a few still photos of our God given encounter
with the Pelicans.
 

Photo Credits go to: Amy and Matthew Walker and Daphne Edmonston

Șiria Fortress And Cookout With Friends

Team at the top of an arch in the ruins

The team was invited to a great day of adventure and fellowship.  We drove out into Arad County near the ruins of the Șiria Fortress and then we had a wonderful cookout with some of our friends from Betel Baptist in Arad.

The picture above is of our team on top of an arch in the ruins.  It is amazing to be that close to a building that is that old.  If you continue with this post you will see some stunning pictures of the hike up - and I mean UP!  As well as more of our time with our friends.

This is the wonderful group of friends
that have kept us well fed.  We love you!

We want to thank George and Aurelia for their hospitality at their wonderful cabin and for George’s great cooking.  We also thank Florica and Florica for being so faithful in helping to cook and serve us so many wonderful meals.

This is probably also a really good place to thank our hosts and friends the Zaharia family.  Pastor John and his wife Mariana and Cristian and Alina!  We are so happy God has brought us all together.




Here are a few pictures from our hike, exploration and visitation!

Tabitha finds a friend

George answering plant questions