{"id":6779,"date":"2022-05-31T15:56:41","date_gmt":"2022-05-31T13:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/?p=6779"},"modified":"2025-08-14T19:39:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T17:39:05","slug":"evadarea-din-izolare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/en\/2022\/05\/evadarea-din-izolare\/","title":{"rendered":"Escape from the lockdown!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It took me 2 years to admit this: I escaped!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ROMANIA DURING THE LOCKDOWN<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Two years have passed since the\nestablishment of the State of Emergency due to Covid19, the moment when we\nsuddenly entered another reality, in which our daily habits disappeared,\ncompletely disturbing us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#stayhome was the new world order.\nAnd I stayed home. Dude, I really stayed there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I used to fill in the document\nevery day, the paper which allowed you to go shopping or for a short walk in\nthe area around the house. Paradoxically, I think it was the period when I\nmoved the most, fueled by the ban on going out, but also by the small living\nspace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a few weeks during which I\ncleaned every inch of my house and which I made a ditch after so much walking around\nthe block, I took advantage of a professional context and I ESCAPED!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will wonder where, considering\nthat everything was closed, and to leave the country was out of the question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you know, the hotels\/inns\nwere not forbidden to be opened, but they had very strict rules of operation,\nthat’s why many preferred to take a break. Especially since no one was\ntraveling anymore\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the small and daring ones, I\nfound a welcoming place in Brasov, where, to my joy, I was going to be the only\none! So I got in the car and went on my way!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PELES CASTLE. FIRST STOP.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I admit that I embarked on this\nadventure with a lot of emotion, even with a bit of fear at times. I was\nthinking about how I would be stopped by the many police crews I saw on TV, how\nI would be asked what my business was in these bad times to drive around the\ncountry like a crazy and how I would have to make explanations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the road \u2013 no police. Hm. Could\nit be so good? Well, then let me stretch it a bit and make a stop at Peles \u2013 I\nthought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I knew it was closed, but I didn’t\nknow how much of the park was closed, so I timidly stopped the car in the\nparking lot furthest from the Castle (near the Sinaia Monastery).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I went all this way really scared. There\nwasn’t any human being there! I kept looking behind me, for fear that a police\ncrew would show up to fine me, arrest me, expel me\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I could hear all the sounds of the forest, from the branches of the wind-blown trees to all the birds on the planet \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I stepped up, thinking that if a\nbear appeared here, I would be finished, I had nowhere to take refuge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The fair on the road \u2013 closed, deserted. Only in my mind were the images of sellers who were always trying to sell all kinds of products, from traditional to kitsch \u2013 the joy of children!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If I tell you that Peles was\nreserved for me only, you will have to believe me, because I have proof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was the only person in this whole\nbig area, I went all the way to Pelisor, to Economat, I took a selfie in the\ncourtyards of the Castle, fearing that any second I will hear an authoritarian\nvoice: \u201cWhat are you doing here?? It’s forbidden!” But I didn’t hear any.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, I did not push my luck and\nI returned to my car, happy with the private tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BRASOV. MY BASE CAMP.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I got the room without meeting the hosts \u2013 something like the “find the key under the mat” system. Then I started walking around Brasov, a city that I visited many times, sometimes in transit, sometimes even stopping there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
May 2020<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But to see it like now?? Never!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A center dominated by a strange\nsilence. No tourists, no locals. From time to time, deliverers or mothers with\nchildren in strollers cross the square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pigeons are the masters of the\nwell, still running\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I sit on a bench, but after a few minutes, a guard comes and asks me not to sit there, because it is not allowed. There’s one thing to sit down for a while, to tie a lace, and another to spend your life here. I get up and walk. In all directions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n