It is a most important
link in the railway system of Eastern Europe. The Danube route is
frequently, indeed periodically, closed by the winter's ice, and
sometimes by the drought of summer, in which case the traveller who
wants to get to Roumania must take the train from Buda-Pest to
Kronstadt, and thence by road through the Tomoescher Pass to Ployesti.
There is a diligence service twice daily, occupying fourteen hours or
thereabouts, dependent, of course, on the state of the roads, which can
be very bad--inconceivably bad. For the sake of the excursion I took a
place in the _postwagen_ one day as far as Sinia, where there is a
modern hotel and very tolerable quarters. The scenery of the pass is
very romantic. In places the road winds round the face of the precipice,
and far below is a deep sunless glen, through which the mountain torrent
rushes noisily over its rocky bed; at other times you skirt the stream
with its green margin of meadow--a pastoral oasis amidst the wild
grandeur of bare limestone peaks and snowy summits. The autumnal
colouring on the hanging woods of oak and beech was something more
brilliant than I ever remember to have seen; the effect of being oneself
in shadow and seeing the glory of the sunlight on the foliage of the
other side of the defile, was most striking. Above this ruby mountain
rose other heights with a girdle of dark fir, and higher still were
visible yet loftier peaks, clothed in the dazzling whiteness of
fresh-fallen snow.
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