Brasov and area AKA Strange bedfellows AKA Too many pictures of me being happy
Sibiu, did I recommend Sibiu? Scratch that! If you only have time for one Romanian town make it Brasov.
It was wet out. Too wet, I decided, to go on a hike - and the forecast was rain rain rain - so instead I chose to go to Brasov for a break. I booked an 8 am ticket, got up early and hoofed it to the train station, only to be told that the train was over 2 hours late.
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| Jane, Lucas, and I - temporary travelling companions. |
I, of course, was not the only one to have arrived to catch the same train. The woman beside me turned to me and said, 'Shall we go on a last walk round Sibiu?', and the young man beside her said, 'I'll come too.' and just like that an alliance was formed. We reminded me of a logic problem; there are three people, each from a different continent, none from the continent they are on, they each speak two languages, none of them speak the same languages as each other or the language of the country they are in...
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| Me being happy on a last walk round Sibiu. |
We toured Sibiu together on foot one last time then rode the train to Brasov sharing our eclectic lunches. Jane desperately wanted to visit Bran Castle that afternoon and I was sceptical wrt wether we'd have enough time what with the train having been late and all but we stumbled across a fantastic private guide right at the train station who was willing to take us there for almost nothing, and then we rounded out the day with a 3 hour "free walking tour" of Brasov.
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| One of the towers at Bran Castle. |
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| Bran Castle - most amazing thin about this place was the many many tourists packed in like sardines. The castle has been incredibly well advertised as 'Dracula's Castle' despite no real connection to either the historical figure or the literary one. |
Following days we took a side trip to Sinaia to see the Peles Castle and the monastery in the same town, hiked up a canyon called the 7 steps because it has ladders leading up the trickier bits, and went to a concert in the main town square. And, of course, having as one of our motley crew a person of Chinese descent we took way too many pictures of each other.
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| Me being happy at the Peles Castle, summer home of Charles I of Romania and full of spectacularly lavishly decorated rooms and extensive collections of artworks, weapons, and the like. |
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| Detail of door from of monestary in Sinaia. |
Both Brasov and Sinaia are in the mountains and have huge ski resorts that start right in the towns. In the summer you can hike up and take the gondola down or take the gondola up and mountain-bike down or set off on a hike in the hills on trails that lead to a series of different huts for a couple of hours or a couple weeks. Given the almost constant rain and the very low cloud cover any or all of these seemed like something to save for next time.
I think, if I were making a serious recommendation, I'd suggest staying in Sinaia and visiting Brasov rather than the other way round... but both work. It's a great area; local foods include huge beaver tails covered with lots of cheese and garlic, zip-lining is less than 20$ for a set of 12 lines down from the 7 steps canyon and if you're prepared to walk back up with your helmet and harness you can go a second time for free, the place is stepped in history, a nature lovers dream, and the locals are the happiest most helpful bunch I have ever met!
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| 7 steps canyon. |
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| Me being happy in the canyon. |
Yup. Just another fantastic few days bumming around Romania.
