Ro - Hostel Brasov

... resort town. It's small and in a beautiful setting, and has a castle my guidebook accurately describes as demonstrating "jaw-dropping excess" as well as a much more appealing Art Nouveau-style residence designed by Queen Maria in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I love art nouveau, and I LOVED Pelisor Palace. It was so tastefully decorated and had some Klimt and Mucha paintings as well as the art nouveau touches.

I've also made a big ...

... of people around me. Brasov has a nice square with people just chilling out around it and a really nice relax vibe much better than Bucharest thats for sure. I took the cable car up to the near by mountain, I was going to walk it but was warned not to because apparently there are bears in the woods. The view from the top was nice looking down on the old town and it also has a Hollywood sign saying Brasov over it bit cheesy but it is a good sign to know where you ...

... But I'm not slamming Brasov. In fact the central square is nice and it's a great place to start hunting for vampires and the like. The town itself just needs a bit of exploring. And a coat of paint. I did walk up and down the narrowest street in eastern Europe, which happens to be in Brasov. Although it's more like a lane as in my opinion a street should be able to take motorized traffic of some sort. But I guess a scooter or small motorbike could squeeze through the lane, so ...

... make sure I was able to see them all. The first of the castles was Peles Castle, the home of the Romanian King Carol I. Built in the late 1800's the King spared no expense to beautify and majestify his home with all the modern comforts of the time. After the 1 hour tour of the castle I was headed back to Brasov to catch a bus to the city of Bran to visit the second castle of the day, Bran Castle a.k.a. Dracula's Castle. As with all carefully planned excursions ...

... main square. Under a bed of snow it looks just as nature intended. The gigantic black church is even less ominous with icicles zig-zagging off the roof and white caps atop the chimney. The place is famed exclusively for being home to Dracula's Bran Castle. Other than this, there is not a great deal to attract the tourists. We, like everyone else, had visited to learn all about Vlad the Impaler (the real-life Dracula); keen to be dazzled by the fake blood ...

... creo Dracula y que nunca fue residencia de Vlad Tepes sino de la Reina Maria de Rumania. En el castillo no hay ninguna referencia a Dracula o Tepes, ni es creepy ni nada de nada, aparte de por las similitudes con el George Hotel! Es muy pequenito y cuco y esta totalmente dedicado a la reina. Me parece que es mucho mas correcto asi y me temo que los amantes de Dracula tendremos que resignarnos al pasaje del terror... La ...

... Bran Castle was beautiful yet not at all bloody. It is barely even realted to Vald the Impaler, but still it brings in the tourists. Also there was a collection of historic Romania village buildings which was a nice touch as well. We had a bus ride home and made grilled sandwiches after ascenting to the peak of the mountian behind Brasov in a cable car. We walked something like 15 miles in the day which is just outrageous. (*Daracula is a hoax.)

... be easy enough, right? Well, aside from the fact that he was cooped up in a very unobvious booth wedged underneath a staircase, there was no missing this Dave. Turns out Dave from California was more specifically from Hayward, and he screamed it. Literally. He was sporting a custom-made shirt with "Hayward" emblazened on the front, and I knew when I saw the Raiders cap that we were going to get along just fine. Dave directed me towards a cab that took me to the hostel, and I ...

We arrived in the early evening in Brasov and made it to our hostel and then Kenny and Tyler showed up a few hours later. There ended up being three Canadians at the hostel that Tyler went to school with walk around, which was pretty amazing considering he comes from Prince George, a small city a few hours north of Vancouver. The most interesting aspects of Brasov, besides its proximity to Bran and Rasnov (see next entry) are the women. Both Kenny and Will ...

Brasov is where all the tourists go in Romania, in the heart of Transylvania, Dracula country. So I spend a day doing that, walking through the old castle and all. But the real attraction for me was just seeing a country in the heart of Europe that is still village-based and peasant-based, with lots of arts and crafts ...