Luckily the 2.5 hour train ride from Bucharest to Brasov wasn't as bad as it had the potential to be. There was a lack of English signs in the Bucharest train station, and the route number of the train we wanted was not listed on the signs at any of the platforms (so it was hard to tell which train to get on). Turns out that the same train had two different route numbers, because the train split in half somewhere down the line, and went on two different directions. If you had tickets for a certain route (and train number) you got on one section of the train, and if you had the other route number, you got on a different section. The section of the train nearest the station (where I was looking) was not the route to the Brasov, so it didn't look like it was the right train. I don't know if that makes sense, but the bottom line is if you don't know that one train can have 2 route numbers, you can get left behind (and it almost happened). Luckily a nice man selling magazines noticed our confused faces and showed us to the right train, then tried to sell us magazines.
Asia joined me for a long weekend in Bucharest and Transylvania, so I wouldn't have to meet Dracula alone (but it turns out she is a vampire herself - more on that later). Cristina gave us a bunch of suggestions for the city, since she spent several years living in Brasov. It's always nice to get some tips from a local. Once we got to Brasov on the train, we took a cab to the Old Town. That's when the scandalous cab negotiations resumed. The first guy in the taxi line said it would cost 40 lei, so we walked away, Another guy offered the ride for 20 (about $6) so we went with him. We probably could have gone for 10, because it was so close, but it was cheap, and we didn't pay 40, so it seemed like a victory. It's just annoying that everyone tries to rip you off.
The hotel at Casa Albert is located on Republici, the main walking street of Brasov, in the heart of the Old Town. As you would expect from the city center of a popular tourist destination, the street is lined by many shops, bars and restaurants. The staff at the hotel was very nice, researching every question I asked - from bus schedules, tour times, and they even found a guide to take us around the castles (which was the cheapest, quickest, and most convenient option).
An easy way to see Brasov is to join the free daily walking tour. It was similar to the tour in Bucharest, so it worked out well (except for that it was a different city, there was a different guide, and they told different stories, so basically it wasn't the same, but you know what I mean). It was very informative and casual, and definitely worth more than the price. We walked around the fortified city, visiting the different sides of the walls and gates. We saw the Black Church, and found several nice views of the city, and the walls surrounding it. Brasov also has a Hollywood sign high in the hills overlooking the city (or maybe Hollywood has a Brasov sign) that makes for fun pictures.
The guide talked about the history of the city - how it was developed by Germans in the 12th century, and how it flourished because of its central location between the West and the Ottomans as a meeting place for traders. During communist times they said that because the main market square was a good place for protests, they decided to turn it into a parking lot to discourage any such malarkey.
We also learned about Vlad the Impaler, a vicious ruler back in the 15th century, who inspired Bram Stoker's 19th century story of Count Dracula. Vlad was actually called Dracula, but he wasn't a bat and didn't bite people's necks. He did, however, like to impale people when killing them. And impale doesn't just mean poking them with a sharp object. Oh no, it's about the worst thing you could do to someone. He would literally stick a sharp spear through people's butts, so it would pass through their body and out the top of their back. And he would do it so the blade avoided the main organs, and the person wouldn't die for a couple days. Seriously, how is someone like that so famous? These days if someone had that fetish, they definitely wouldn't be celebrated the way people celebrate Dracula. At least I hope not.
The hotel arranged for us to go on a tour of Bran and Peles Castles with someone from the nearby tour agency. Cristina was super friendly and nice, accommodating all of our needs. She charged only 60 Euros for the 7 hour trip and wouldn't accept any tip. Included in this price was transportation in her car between the castles, stopping anywhere we wanted along the way. She paid for gas and parking, took our pictures, and was happy to let us sleep in the car. And she had no time table; we just told her how long we wanted to visit the castles and she waited for us outside. She even bought us some post cards to commemorate the trip. This was an especially attractive option because there isn't good public transportation connecting Peles and Bran, which means that we would have spent a lot of time getting between the spots, and it might have cost close to the same amount. I can't believe tour buses haven't organized trips like this (similar to being able to visit Auschwitz and the salt mines in the same day when visiting Krakow). We saved tons of time in being able to do both in the same day, and I'd highly recommend her if you want to do a similar excursion. The only problem is that I lost her contact information. I just remember her agency is next door to Casa Albert.
Bran castle is the 14th century castle that supposedly inspired Dracula's castle in the stories. But Vlad probably only spent a couple days there in his lifetime, according to records. The castle was originally a fortress, then Queen Maria's summer residence. Romania had a royal family from Germany from the 19th century, and the royal family ruled until after WWII when they were expelled by the communist regime. Queen Maria was a British princess who married into the family and became Queen in the early 20th century. The castle had secret passages, views of the valley, and many rooms and decorations that looked nothing like something Dracula would have in his home/coffin. The audio guide was not really worth the extra fee, but it did play a lot of scary dramatic music, which was fun.
After learning more about Vlad, I'm not sure if I would want to meet the real Dracula or Vlad (maybe better just stick to Count von Count from Sesame Street). When it comes to Dracula and Transylvania, we were always taught to expect dark, creepy castles, permanent night-time, lightning and thunder, a tall pale man in a black cape with a widow's peak, flying bats and howling wolves, but in fact, Transylvania was a very beautiful and pleasant place - completely opposite of this Dracula world.
Peles castle was also a summer home of Romanian royalty, with advanced technology for its time in the early 20th century. It had electricity, vacuum cleaner tubes built in the walls, running water, an elevator, various secret passages, and a lot of nice rooms (all things that are awesome still today). We paid for the deluxe tour (worth it), getting to see more of the castle, and leaving in awe of how impressive it is. Even though the tour and castle were great, we were more obsessed with our tour guide, the vampire. He was an older man, probably 300-400 years old, with very sharp Dracula teeth. He knew so much about the history of Romania and Vlad, that he must really have been a vampire, because he was living during that time. When he walked in front of a mirror I was ready to let out a scream if I didn't see his reflection. But I saw it. So part of me thinks he's not really a vampire, but I'm sure he is. He was trying to hide his teeth when he spoke, by keeping his lips closed. But I saw them once, so I know he's a vampire. (I don't have any pictures of him because they were forbidden...probably because he is a vampire and doesn't like flash photography!)
After enjoying sarmale and polenta in Bucharest, I was looking forward to more good food. And there was a lot of it in Brasov. The first thing I had was a hot dog stuffed into a big pretzel, which was obviously very awesome. A lot of people recommended the restaurant Sergiana in Old Town, which was also really great. Other people's pork, stews and sour soups all looked delicious. The fried pork lard (crackling) was an interesting starter...I could feel my arteries clogging as the soft lard melted in my mouth (I liked the melting sensation in my mouth, so I kept eating it, even though I didn't like the actual taste - or the fact I'll have a heart attack soon because of eating it). I had a beef stew in a pastry crust, which was very rich and tasted great. Unfortunately the waiter cut open the top before I could take a picture.
Bella Muzica was another recommended place, serving Romanian and Mexican food (a natural combination), where the Romanian food is probably better than the Mexican (although I couldn't stop eating the homemade chips and salsa). I had some sort of ragout of beef, pork, bacon, egg and polenta (now THAT's a natural combination), and some really good bean soup in a bread bowl. They say that beans are the magical fruit, and indeed the soup was magic. I hear different points of view on if you're supposed to eat the entire bread bowl or not. They say that the bread could be dirty and is more of a decoration, but I always eat it. I don't pay an extra two dollars just for a bowl that I can't eat. The cool part of this restaurant is that they have buttons at each table to press to call the waiter. It's an especially good idea in Europe, where waiters spend a lot of time ignoring you after you've received your food (and where they say "imediate" when they mean that they'll attend to you when they're bored of standing around doing nothing).
Sirul Vamii was the last restaurant of the trip. It was pretty empty, which was concerning, but the decorations were cool and they were playing hits of the 80s like Toto, Tina Turner, REO Speedwagon and Journey. With a place like that, who cares about the food? And since there was polenta, I was happy (the food ended up being very good). I had to ignore the fact that the manager's 3 year old daughter fell and cut open her head when running around the restaurant. The woman was in a bit of a panic holding the little girl while talking to the other workers trying to figure out what to do. The disturbing part was that the poor girl was bleeding all over the place in plain sight for all the customers to see. Everyone understood of course, but it wasn't exactly what you want to see when eating dinner. She came back after going to the doctor and was in good spirits, so it seems that everything was fine.
And everything was fine on another successful trip to a new country. Romania is definitely worth visiting, and like most places I've been to, I'd love to go back.
Asia joined me for a long weekend in Bucharest and Transylvania, so I wouldn't have to meet Dracula alone (but it turns out she is a vampire herself - more on that later). Cristina gave us a bunch of suggestions for the city, since she spent several years living in Brasov. It's always nice to get some tips from a local. Once we got to Brasov on the train, we took a cab to the Old Town. That's when the scandalous cab negotiations resumed. The first guy in the taxi line said it would cost 40 lei, so we walked away, Another guy offered the ride for 20 (about $6) so we went with him. We probably could have gone for 10, because it was so close, but it was cheap, and we didn't pay 40, so it seemed like a victory. It's just annoying that everyone tries to rip you off.
The hotel at Casa Albert is located on Republici, the main walking street of Brasov, in the heart of the Old Town. As you would expect from the city center of a popular tourist destination, the street is lined by many shops, bars and restaurants. The staff at the hotel was very nice, researching every question I asked - from bus schedules, tour times, and they even found a guide to take us around the castles (which was the cheapest, quickest, and most convenient option).
An easy way to see Brasov is to join the free daily walking tour. It was similar to the tour in Bucharest, so it worked out well (except for that it was a different city, there was a different guide, and they told different stories, so basically it wasn't the same, but you know what I mean). It was very informative and casual, and definitely worth more than the price. We walked around the fortified city, visiting the different sides of the walls and gates. We saw the Black Church, and found several nice views of the city, and the walls surrounding it. Brasov also has a Hollywood sign high in the hills overlooking the city (or maybe Hollywood has a Brasov sign) that makes for fun pictures.
The walls around Brasov
The city at the foot of the Hollywood hills
Going up Mount Tampa in the cable car
Holding on for dear life while reaching out to take a picture of the sign
Old Town
It was much nicer and easier to stroll around the city in Brasov than it
was in Bucharest, and there was a definite drop in the number of rabid
and crazy dogs attacking me. I was able to jog a couple of the days, and
one dog even ran WITH me, rather than chasing me. He followed a few
feet behind me, minding his own business like we just happened to be
going in the same direction. Every time I looked back at him, he would
turn his head and look around the streets, as if trying to pretend he
wasn't following me. I actually felt a bit lonely after he stopped to
sniff around a lamp post and take of business, and left me to jog on my
own. I thought about waiting for him.
Polite dog using the crosswalk
The guide talked about the history of the city - how it was developed by Germans in the 12th century, and how it flourished because of its central location between the West and the Ottomans as a meeting place for traders. During communist times they said that because the main market square was a good place for protests, they decided to turn it into a parking lot to discourage any such malarkey.
The market square - no protests allowed
We also learned about Vlad the Impaler, a vicious ruler back in the 15th century, who inspired Bram Stoker's 19th century story of Count Dracula. Vlad was actually called Dracula, but he wasn't a bat and didn't bite people's necks. He did, however, like to impale people when killing them. And impale doesn't just mean poking them with a sharp object. Oh no, it's about the worst thing you could do to someone. He would literally stick a sharp spear through people's butts, so it would pass through their body and out the top of their back. And he would do it so the blade avoided the main organs, and the person wouldn't die for a couple days. Seriously, how is someone like that so famous? These days if someone had that fetish, they definitely wouldn't be celebrated the way people celebrate Dracula. At least I hope not.
The hotel arranged for us to go on a tour of Bran and Peles Castles with someone from the nearby tour agency. Cristina was super friendly and nice, accommodating all of our needs. She charged only 60 Euros for the 7 hour trip and wouldn't accept any tip. Included in this price was transportation in her car between the castles, stopping anywhere we wanted along the way. She paid for gas and parking, took our pictures, and was happy to let us sleep in the car. And she had no time table; we just told her how long we wanted to visit the castles and she waited for us outside. She even bought us some post cards to commemorate the trip. This was an especially attractive option because there isn't good public transportation connecting Peles and Bran, which means that we would have spent a lot of time getting between the spots, and it might have cost close to the same amount. I can't believe tour buses haven't organized trips like this (similar to being able to visit Auschwitz and the salt mines in the same day when visiting Krakow). We saved tons of time in being able to do both in the same day, and I'd highly recommend her if you want to do a similar excursion. The only problem is that I lost her contact information. I just remember her agency is next door to Casa Albert.
Bran castle is the 14th century castle that supposedly inspired Dracula's castle in the stories. But Vlad probably only spent a couple days there in his lifetime, according to records. The castle was originally a fortress, then Queen Maria's summer residence. Romania had a royal family from Germany from the 19th century, and the royal family ruled until after WWII when they were expelled by the communist regime. Queen Maria was a British princess who married into the family and became Queen in the early 20th century. The castle had secret passages, views of the valley, and many rooms and decorations that looked nothing like something Dracula would have in his home/coffin. The audio guide was not really worth the extra fee, but it did play a lot of scary dramatic music, which was fun.
At the foot of Bran castle
After learning more about Vlad, I'm not sure if I would want to meet the real Dracula or Vlad (maybe better just stick to Count von Count from Sesame Street). When it comes to Dracula and Transylvania, we were always taught to expect dark, creepy castles, permanent night-time, lightning and thunder, a tall pale man in a black cape with a widow's peak, flying bats and howling wolves, but in fact, Transylvania was a very beautiful and pleasant place - completely opposite of this Dracula world.
Somehow a vampire got into the car
Beautiful Transylvania country side (from Bran castle)
Peles castle was also a summer home of Romanian royalty, with advanced technology for its time in the early 20th century. It had electricity, vacuum cleaner tubes built in the walls, running water, an elevator, various secret passages, and a lot of nice rooms (all things that are awesome still today). We paid for the deluxe tour (worth it), getting to see more of the castle, and leaving in awe of how impressive it is. Even though the tour and castle were great, we were more obsessed with our tour guide, the vampire. He was an older man, probably 300-400 years old, with very sharp Dracula teeth. He knew so much about the history of Romania and Vlad, that he must really have been a vampire, because he was living during that time. When he walked in front of a mirror I was ready to let out a scream if I didn't see his reflection. But I saw it. So part of me thinks he's not really a vampire, but I'm sure he is. He was trying to hide his teeth when he spoke, by keeping his lips closed. But I saw them once, so I know he's a vampire. (I don't have any pictures of him because they were forbidden...probably because he is a vampire and doesn't like flash photography!)
Peles Castle
After enjoying sarmale and polenta in Bucharest, I was looking forward to more good food. And there was a lot of it in Brasov. The first thing I had was a hot dog stuffed into a big pretzel, which was obviously very awesome. A lot of people recommended the restaurant Sergiana in Old Town, which was also really great. Other people's pork, stews and sour soups all looked delicious. The fried pork lard (crackling) was an interesting starter...I could feel my arteries clogging as the soft lard melted in my mouth (I liked the melting sensation in my mouth, so I kept eating it, even though I didn't like the actual taste - or the fact I'll have a heart attack soon because of eating it). I had a beef stew in a pastry crust, which was very rich and tasted great. Unfortunately the waiter cut open the top before I could take a picture.
All kinds of pretzels were everywhere
Bella Muzica was another recommended place, serving Romanian and Mexican food (a natural combination), where the Romanian food is probably better than the Mexican (although I couldn't stop eating the homemade chips and salsa). I had some sort of ragout of beef, pork, bacon, egg and polenta (now THAT's a natural combination), and some really good bean soup in a bread bowl. They say that beans are the magical fruit, and indeed the soup was magic. I hear different points of view on if you're supposed to eat the entire bread bowl or not. They say that the bread could be dirty and is more of a decoration, but I always eat it. I don't pay an extra two dollars just for a bowl that I can't eat. The cool part of this restaurant is that they have buttons at each table to press to call the waiter. It's an especially good idea in Europe, where waiters spend a lot of time ignoring you after you've received your food (and where they say "imediate" when they mean that they'll attend to you when they're bored of standing around doing nothing).
Dining with a vampire (that's blood soup)
Sirul Vamii was the last restaurant of the trip. It was pretty empty, which was concerning, but the decorations were cool and they were playing hits of the 80s like Toto, Tina Turner, REO Speedwagon and Journey. With a place like that, who cares about the food? And since there was polenta, I was happy (the food ended up being very good). I had to ignore the fact that the manager's 3 year old daughter fell and cut open her head when running around the restaurant. The woman was in a bit of a panic holding the little girl while talking to the other workers trying to figure out what to do. The disturbing part was that the poor girl was bleeding all over the place in plain sight for all the customers to see. Everyone understood of course, but it wasn't exactly what you want to see when eating dinner. She came back after going to the doctor and was in good spirits, so it seems that everything was fine.
Polenta, eggs, bacon and meat.
And everything was fine on another successful trip to a new country. Romania is definitely worth visiting, and like most places I've been to, I'd love to go back.
My trip to Romania
