Hungary & Romania Road Trip 2024 – The Synagogue & Subterranean Tour

Highlights From This Trip

• 13 Days
• 37 Locations Explored
• ~1300 miles driven around Hungary, ~850 miles in Romania
• ~500 photographs
• Explored Romania synagogues and orthodox churches, as well as communist-era locations
• Explored bunkers and powerplants in Hungary

Cross-border road trip in central/eastern Europe

Sometimes, I have to ask myself “why are you like this?”. This trip definitely started out this way! The Romania trip was planned, and it was time to book flights. The map was stuffed full of pins across the length and breadth of Romania, a tour stuffed full of adventures and long drives lay ahead.

The best/cheaper option was not Bucharest this time, but Cluj. Looking at the airport’s location on the map, I realised that it wasn’t far from the Hungarian border. A small, fleeting idea entered my head almost instantly. There was something just on the other side of the border that I was desperately wanting to see, and until now I had sort of accepted that I would likely miss out. Rapidly, the idea evolved into a plan; I would fly into Cluj and have a Romanian tour as planned, then drive cross-border to tag on a little Hungarian adventure, then fly back from Budapest! One trip becomes two, it seemed so perfect!

I made the long drive to Budapest over night, stoked on coffee and loud metal music, without a hitch. I slept in the car just outside Budapest, managing to get a couple of hours of rest before the second part of the tour kicked off.

Remnants of the Romanian communist regime

Time for a little history aside! Backed by the Soviet Union, the Romanian Communist Party took control in 1947. In the immediate aftermath, similar to other Soviet Bloc countries, Romania underwent a period of harsh repression. Political opponents were purged, and the economy was nationalised. In 1965, Nicolae Ceaușescu became leader. nitially, he distanced Romania somewhat from Soviet influence. However, his rule became increasingly dictatorial and his policies more brutal. A cult of personality was built around him, his secret police enabled him to enforce strict control. By the late 1980s, public discontent with economic hardship and repression grew. In 1989, a revolution erupted, overthrowing Ceaușescu’s regime and marking the end of communist rule in Romania.

I explored some Romanian communist-era locations with ties to Ceaușescu on this tour; an auditorium that was used by him, as well as a prison where he was detained as a teenager

Beautiful Romanian synagogues and churches

The first half of the trip was filled synagogues, something Romania has in abundance. Usually, gaining entry to these involved searching nearby houses for a keyholder. I was lucky enough to get into many beautiful synagogues, as well as learn a little about their sad history in the process. Romania’s Jewish population was decimated during the Holocaust, their congregations rounded up and shipped off to concentration camps never to return. These beautiful buildings were left behind, painful reminders of a dark chapter in human history.

There are also many old abandoned churches (biserică) in Romania, many of these were built by the Transylvanian Saxon community. This German-speaking group arrived in Romania in the 12th and 13th Century, but the population has been in steady decline since World War 2 and the re-unification of Germany. Nowadays the Transylvanian Saxon population is small, and many of their once-cherished churches have been left to fall into ruin.

The communist era under Nicolae Ceaușescu also undeniably played a role in leaving so many religious buildings abandoned. Communism often suppresses religion, so many religious families would have emigrated at this time. Additionally, Ceaușescu forcibly consolidated villages as part of his policies. As smaller villages were merged to create larger ones, some religious buildings would have been left without a congregation.

A plethora of gorgous Powerplants

I was amazed by the powerplants I visited on this trip! I managed to sneak my way into four of them, including a third re-visit to one of my all-time favourites, Special K.

Powerplants are often one of the more challenging (and exciting) types of abandoned places to sneak into. These were no exception! One location necessitated watching and carefully timing a rapid entry in between cars and buses of workers moving. Another required confidence, followed by some climbing and little bit of stealth for the final approach. The third required tactical movements and dynamic route planning, avoiding guards moving cunningly around on bicycles. The fourth involved avoiding a rather large and loud dog!

Going hunderground in Hungary

Recently, I have developed a bunker obsession! After many long nights of researching and scouring maps/Google Street View I had a fair few bunkers pinned to my tour map.

Sadly, not enough time to try them all on the short Hungarian portion of this trip! However, I did visit five awesome bunkers across the length and breadth of the country. Each one offered a fascinating subterranean adventure, with each hatch popped and ladder descended.

Another fun adventure for some Film cameras

I brought my trusty Zenit-E on this trip (of course!). This time, fitted with my newest lens; a 20mm Mir-20. This lens is perfect for shooting indoor spaces, with some caveats. The anti-flare coating is pretty much nonexistent on this USSR lens, so it is prone to some pretty horrendous flare. Hopefully I managed to position myself to avoid strong side illumination from windows, which are my usual downfall with this lens. Fingers crossed, I will have rolls of beautiful photos!

I also brought along my Moskva-5 as well, to allow me to shoot some selected shots in medium format.

Now that I developed my film at home, I have decided to shoot more film rolls on my trips. I snapped through three rolls of Kodak Gold on my Zenit, and a roll of Portra 160 and Lomography Colour Negative 400 on the Moskva-5.

Other highlights from this tour

• A grand Transylvanian castle, dating back to the early 20th century and built in neogothic and neoromanesque style
• A rusty car by the roadside, always a welcome surprise!
• The mad dash to catch sunset at a 1:6 scale Eiffel Tower replica (successfully)
• Shooting inside a disused 1920s crematorium
• Wandering the tall pastel-coloured corridors of a decaying mountain thermal spa
• A brief visit to a police training academy with sports halls and a huge auditorium
• Re-visit the Red Star Train Graveyard, shooting the 2nd Red Star train I missed on my first visit
• Steel workers bath house, with two large octagonal baths and shower corridor
• A retro hotel with 1970s décor
• Soviet-era military towns. Revisiting a castle-like Army Barracks, shooting this time in summer with green foliage! I also scoured the corridors of a second barracks, looking for murals
• A relaxing shooting session at an old coal loader, from the nearby riverbank
• A Hungarian townhouse with beautiful spiral staircase

More behind-the-scenes photos from my Hungary Romania Road Trip

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this road trip blog! Here are the rest of the behind-the-scenes snaps and preview photos from this trip, see you next time <3.