Very helpful information indeed. Thanks! I'm looking for connections with people in the countryside as you describe, yet need exposure to "civilization" (pubs, restaurants, etc.) as well. That's an apt quote about how some Eastern Europeans and others view cyclists from the West.

When biking up the Nile Valley years ago, we were sometimes accosted by hordes of children running toward us, hands out, screaming "baksheesh!" (money, bribe). A few times they even tried to steal gear bungied to our rear racks, resulting in some adult whacking them with a stick! To them we must have also seemed rich, and the two blonds in our group must have looked like aliens to them.

Generally speaking, what's the climate like in Romania in April-May and September? I want to avoid the summer heat and crowds.

I found this unattributed quote years ago and liked it so much it's now taped to my computer monitor stand: "The lingua franca in these parts is Romanian mixed with blood and cash". It evokes a scene from a Kirk Douglas film in which he's forced into hand-to-hand combat with a Romanian villager for the hand - or perhaps the honor - of a young maiden while everyone else looks on as if it's just part of daily life there. And it probably was.