In one of her
\nsleepless nights Christine Th\u03cbrmer learnt about Via Transilvanica and set out on
\nthis journey alone, as she’s always done boldly and fearlessly. And instead of
\nlearning how to ask for things in Romanian or to thank she chose to learn only
\ntwo words, ‘singura’ the Romanian for ‘alone’ and ‘urs’, which is ‘bear’ in
\nRomanian. She hiked through the area while the road wasn’t marked yet and
\nbefriended Alin over a pint of the local plum brandy called ‘palinca’. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Christine: When I came here first I couldn’t speak a single word. I believe
\nthat any route teaches you something, you may learn things on the way. So, in
\nRomania I learnt the word ‘singura’, alone because the lady who welcomed me
\nwhen I arrived had cooked a meal for four persons and I had to say pas. Had to
\ntell her that I was alone and can eat for two people but not for four. The
\nsecond word was ‘urs’ the Romanian for bear because there is still this danger.
\nSo, this is what my Romanian sounds like, ‘alone, bla,bla, bla, urs, urs. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Alin U\u015feriu,
\ncoordinator of the T\u0103\u015fuleasa Social Association, initiator of the Via
\nTransilvanica project, also known as the road you cannot get lost on, recalled
\nhow happy he was when he met Christine: <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Alin Useriu: I
\nhave fallen in love with Christine forever because the project we coordinated
\nand implemented in the past five years needed an ambassador like someone from
\nheaven and Christine proved to be that very ambassador. She is actually the
\nfirst woman to have finished Via Transilvanica because she walked over 60
\nthousand kilometers around the world. Then she dedicated an entire chapter to
\nVia Transilvanica in the book she wrote. We couldn’t get a better international
\nambassador for this route and because she reaches out exactly to the people who
\nmust come to Via Transilvanica she is also very present here. We are glad that
\nshe liked it and that she keeps pointing this hiking route to her very numerous
\nreadership. Furthermore, she is also very generous. She presented us with her
\nfirst book, which we have translated because we wish to build this social category
\nof hikers who can found themselves on such picturesque roads like Via
\nTransilvanica. So we are going to launch a book by Christine shortly!<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Alin U\u015feriu told
\nus why Christine’s book is worth reading<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Alin Useriu: Christine
\nhas just come back from Japan and she says that our route has a correspondent
\nin Japan now. I can say there was no better decision in my life than to set out
\non a long journey. I went to Camino de Santiago, but after I had met Christine
\nI realized that I wasn’t actually prepared for that trip. I was carrying a 17
\nkilo backpack and I was trying to reach the destination before everybody on
\nthat way. Christine came and told me, ‘your backpack should not weigh more than
\n5-6 kilos. You have to leave at home all the unnecessary things, including
\nthose in your head.’ That was my first right step so to say, and the moment
\nzero of my becoming a real rambler on Via Transilvanica. It was a true deep
\nspiritual experience for me.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Meeting you is
\nthe most important thing, Alin went on to say adding: <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Alin Useriu: This
\nis what a long-distance walk does: it allows one to meet oneself, at a certain
\npoint. I arrived in Cara\u015f Severin and at a certain time I realized that ivy is
\nmy favourite plant because unless it had a tree, a building or other structure
\nto climb on, it would grow on the ground like other plants. And I believe that
\nthis credo of ours, Via Transilvanica, made this route possible in five years.
\nAnd I was in good health to cover all these 14 hundred kilometers and meet
\npeople who said, ‘how wonderful it was for this to happen in our location!’
\nChristine has her own stone in the town of Cugir. It’s a very pretty stone
\ncarved by a Bulgarian, Ivan Ivanov and features a woman standing on the globe,
\nas she actually is, a globetrotter who surrounded the earth one and a half
\ntimes! I believe the most important word here is cooperation. Because if we
\nwant to have a better world we need to cooperate with each other and find
\nsolutions. And this is what we are so beautifully doing here at Via
\nTransilvanica, a project, which has even attracted such an experienced hiker as
\nChristine. The Road that Unites People’ is a slogan we took very seriously and
\nhave been cooperating to have a journey and road we cannot get stranded
\non. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Christine Th\u03cbrmer wants to
\nencourage women to set out on this adventure because they are those who are
\nwaiting for the right time: to get ready, get money and all or get fit and in
\nthis way they become unable to enjoy the trip altogether. Her message is that
\nif she, who is neither fit nor slim, who is actually overweight, wears glasses
\nand has flat feet can, we all can. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(bill)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Christine Th\u03cbrmer is a travel enthusiast who as soon as she learnt about Via Transilvanica she immediately linked her name to this project to which she even dedicated a book: \u201cLong Distance Hiking. Christine Th\u03cbrmer and Alin U\u015feriu have had a talk about<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":585621,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42520],"tags":[116822,36330,116821,72396,43994,42934,40927],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-624225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inside-romania","tag-alina-useriu","tag-bear","tag-christine-thurmer","tag-globetrotter","tag-hiking","tag-route","tag-via-transilvanica"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n