Øyungen … gone!

My goal for the weekend was to sit by a peaceful beautiful lake, on a nice sunny day with great friends, eating yummy food on a barbecue. To achieve this, I arranged a cycling trip with Nora, Ingvild and Live to Øyungen. It was raining, the barbecue wouldn’t work, the lake had been drained for repairs and there was a bunch of earth moving equipment making a racquet as it repaired the dam. The good company was nice at least 🙂

Live and Ingvild in the fog

Drained Øyungen

Drained Øyungen

The remaining water left in Øyungen.

The remaining water left in Øyungen.

The remaining water left in Øyungen.

Peleș Castle

I visited Peleș Castle, an incredibly beautiful castle in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania. It is on the route linking Transylvania and Wallachia. Interestingly, it was the first castle to be built with central heating pre-installed. Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to take photos of the stunning interior, so I only have exterior shots of the building, but suffice to say that no expense was spared on the interior of this thing. It is truly spectacular and well worth visiting if you are ever in the area.

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Me (Ryan Hellyer) at Peles castle

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Peles castle

Rustic Romania

There are a lot of abandoned buildings dotted around the Transylvanian countryside. Combinations of factories, mills, farm houses and empty apartment blocks falling to pieces are a common site whilst travelling through the countryside.

Building in Transylvania

Building in Transylvania

Factories in Transylvania

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Cluj-Napoca

I stayed in Cluj-Napoca for a few days following the WordCamp Transylvania conference. I had a great time in Cluj. It was terrific meeting up with Ivelina who was visiting from Bulgaria, Remkus from the Netherlands, Scribu in his homeland and making new friends including the delightful Anda, one of the local WordPress geeks who can you see a pic of below.

Cluj-Napoca in all of it's rustic charm :)

Cluj-Napoca in all of it’s rustic charm 🙂

Anda at the hack day

Anda at the hack day

Scribu, Remkus and me

Scribu, Remkus and me

Ivelina and I

Ivelina and I

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Ivelina

Cluj river

My cute little hotel

I stayed in a rather eccentric little hotel called Pension Déjà Vu.

Ivelina and I

Anda and I

Anda and I

Thanks to Ivelina for some of the photos.