Romania. Transylvania. Day 72

 Day 72:

Dracula's Castle

I woke up at 8:30 but once switched on the TV I realized that actually was 7:30! Yeah, clock had been put back one hour, pretty news for lazy boys. After a few kilometers by car, and a quick breakfast in a petrol-station, we were the first visitors of the day at Bran Castle, Dracula’s home!!! Interesting place, with its particular beauty and strategically erected in a mountain pass. But we expected a different thing. All those legends about Dracula and the vampires… we thought we would see something scary and bloody! In fact, we visited the whole castle (is a museum now), with lots of things from Princess Ileana (the real owner), and saw very few mentions to the Romanian’s hero who inspired Bram Stoker to write “Dracula”: Vlad Tepes, also known as “The Impaler”. 

Fortified Church in Rasnov

Hordes of tourists were coming when we decided to leave and drive back to the nearby Rasnov. My friend Casar had recommended me to stop here and walk to the upper village, an ancient fortified church from where we could see the entire region in such a cloudless day. 

In the top of the fortified church

Our route

It was time to take the road to the west, parallel to the Carpathians. We arrived to the city of Făgăraş very hungry, so we stopped in the centre and bought 2 kebabs each one. Yeah, nice ones! We visited the fortress there, which has a museum inside with lots of ancient objects, coins, documents, weapons... Interesting.

Fortress in Fagaras

Sibiu

The road continues to the west, always with the magnificent presence of the mountains on our left side. We arrived to Sibiu, a beautiful city with charming old houses, streets and cathedrals. We took a walk –with a fresh beer in the hand- until it got dark, which was the moment to look for the booked hostel. It wasn’t easy, but we finally found it: Flying time!! The name is quite appropriate for this nice hostel, with its own bar and discotheque (10 € per night).

Southern Carpathians

Flying Time

We drank several beers in the bar while playing chess (at a very low level), expecting some party that night. We tried it after having dinner, but it was impossible… everything was closed, except our discotheque! We went there for a while, but it's not funny at all being only we and the waiter! 

Tomorrow will be very, very hard. Now --> BED.

Romania. From Bucharest to Transylvania. Day 71

Day 71:
 

Romanian Orthodox Church

CEC Palace, built in 1900

After taking a shower by turns, we had breakfast in a bakery and took the metro to go to the historic centre. Interesting buildings there, some big museum (that we DIDN’T visit) and orthodox cathedrals in which we listened that inspiring -and quite funny- monk chants. But the most surprising thing was the HUGE Palace of the Parliament: the world's largest civilian administrative building, most expensive administrative building, and heaviest building. Not less surprising was to see shacks in the middle of the city, surrounded by all that big and luxurious buildings. That’s the Romania that we probably expected, not the renewed and modern that we found in most of our trip. Anyway, a big contrast.

Palace of the Parliament. Bucharest

Later, we took our time to get out the city (just the opposite that when we arrived) and get lost in the suburbs. We stopped at 15:00 in Sinaia (125 km from Bucharest) to have lunch. Lots of laughs... And after that we tried to find Sinaia’s castle, which was the reason to stop there. It’s up in the hill, hidden in the forest, like the little wonders have to be. Peles Castle, a marvelous construction with more than 100 years (and 170 rooms), was the residence of King Carol I of Romania. Unfortunately, we couldn’t visit the museum because we arrived later and was closed! Anyway, we all get amazed by this castle. Absolutely recommended!

Finally!! We found the castle... hidden in the forest

San Nicolas Church. Brasov

Peles Castle. Sinaia

Sinaia is surrounded by Bucegi Mountains (they are part of the Southern Carpathians), which are full of huge forests and nice peaks –I’ve to came here again to do some hiking!-. The road continues through this spot until it arrives to Brasov, city of the mythical Transylvanian region. We didn’t have so many time to see the Black Church and San Nicolas’ Church, but the city looked nice. A comfortable little hotel in the nearby village of Christian was our accommodation that night. 12 € per person and nice private rooms with TV, bathroom and... Jacuzzi!! Superb. We returned to Brasov centre in my car (6 on board, Monroy in the boot, someone had to sacrifice) and watched the Real Madrid match in a pub, while eating some pizza... so nice! After some beers I decided to come back to the Hotel, but the rest continued partying until late... and had problems with a cheater taxi driver when returning to the Hotel... fortunately, things didn’t become serious.

Other pics...:

The other face of Bucharest city centre

 

Monroy sacrificing himself :D

Mad Mollo and the mad lion!

La Jandarmería !!!