Friday, June 13 – Alt Letz – Werschetz

Friday the thirteenth. What could go wrong?

We made a short stop in Karlsdorf and drove through Pantschowa. It is too large a city to do any of the exploring that we do in the small villages. We pressed on for a quick tour in Belgrade. Stasa has been suggesting that we tour the capital since our first trip in 2006. I finally relented that we could squeeze in a short visit since we were already so close. We found some bus parking at the foot of the old city fortress and split into two groups. One group climbed the hill and explored the fortress and the other took cabs to the nearby shopping district.

We made a fuel stop leaving the city and pressed on to Banat Brestowatz. About 45 minutes out, one of our group realized that she had left her wallet behind in the gas station washroom. A phone call confirmed that an employee had found it there. We were pretty close to our next stop, so we carried on, dropped off half the group for a cemetery search, and sent the rest back for the wallet. An hour and a half later, we were back on course, crisis averted.

Next stop was Ploschitz, where Schusters had identified some houses of ancestors, then Skorenowatz, a mostly Hungarian village with a fairly large, but well-kept cemetery, making it quite easy to cover. At Weisskirchen we toured the cemetery. It is not as bad as many cemeteries we have seen, but still quite a jungle. The situation is worsened by the fact that most of the old stones have vines growing near their bottoms that grow up to cover them in massive green tangles. We went on to the church and arrived just as a lady also arrived to open the church. We had the same good luck on our previous visit here several years ago when the priest arrived just as we did.

From there it was on to Werschetz, where we arrived about 8 PM, only a half hour behind schedule. Our hotel there is a small establishment with only seven rooms, each of which is a small apartment. After settling in, Stasa led us to a nearby restaurant. We took a table near the entrance of this small and cozy looking place. Only as we were leaving did we discover that we had just scratched the surface. It extended quite  far to the back and had a large deck outside. The basement was also developed. Each large area was spilt into cozy little nooks. The overall feeling was rustic, and intimate. The food was good and inexpensive. We finally returned to the hotel about 11 after a long and eventful day.

Another hot one today. Good WiFi at this place, but will we have any time to use it? We are here for two nights, but I am sure our days will be full.