Hotel Mara Sinaia

You have seen most of Bucharest in two days. My intention was to head to Constanta and the Black Sea Coast, 100 km to the East of town, but everyone I asked recommended rather to cross the Karpatian mountains north of town and visit Transsylvania. That's a much more typical place for Romania they said. So I took off two days more to go there.

Two hours north of town in Sinaia ...

... check myself into a backpackers and head over to the train station to by my ticket to Bulgaria and also sort out my day trip to Sinaia. I got to Sinaia around mid day, the ride on the train was lovely going through the snow capped mountains which is stunning. I really like this part of Romania it is really nice and beautiful much better than the capital. Sinaia is a really beautiful alpine kind of town which is a hub for skiing it was a small place but ...

... further into the middle of nowhere. However, you can't quite drop that nagging hope that somehow, you'll circle back to something familiar. It's uncomfortable. Emily and I took 335 to the end, where the driver politely kicked us off on the edge of town. The good news is that Bucharest taxis are metered and we made it 8 km (yes, we were very lost) back to the hostel for $5. Saturday morning, we set off for Sinaia and its Peles Castle. Up in the mountains ...

... mom gave us a big bowl of gulash-red potato soup to divy. Then, we dove into thin pancakes wrapped around jam or chocolate spread or blue poppy seeds. In the meantime, the parents of thirty-year-old Benedetto created ceramic bowls and cups in their workshop. Their small-town, big house contained a piano and other fine-wood furniture. The thin-boned, pale family's features and expressions were well-meaning and jolly. Benedetto even applauded me for not ...

"There are times in life when you want lemonade, then life hands you oranges. Well, you just have to buck up and make orange juice, which really is a pretty good alternative." --Leonardo Da Vinci First of all, I got to spend an hour in a Romanian train station today, which is about as fun as sitting in a Romanian train station. I get to do the same thing on Thursday, so I am already getting psyched up about that. Second, I finished Memoirs of a Geisha, and I no longer want to ...

... trek toward Bran. I wanted to make a whole bunch of bran muffin jokes... but nobody spoke English. Poor them, missing out on incredible comic genius. I had to change buses three times, and the second one was the most noteworthy. The driver pulled up and looked like he had just gotten out of suicide counseling...er on his way to suicide counseling, I couldn't tell. Anyways, this guys was THRILLED to be at work today and driving that bus, it was ...

... the castle was very pretty, although a bit dissapointing. I thought it would be more gothic and dark then it actually was, but it was rather pleasant and serene. The castle itself was kind of small, but had lots of cool stuff inside it where I got some great photos. They had some secret passages which were cool, and they kept his living room completely intact. Afterwards I hiked the mountain next to the castle ...

... were alabaster carvings, laid wood mosaics and then French tapestries on every single column. I wish I'd taken a picture of it. This was the castle of Josef of Romania I think. It's actually privately owned, and I heard that the owner wants to close down either this one or the little sister Peleia castle. Either way, a fine gallery is going to close so I knew I had to visit.

... Hrad Bran - ten v ktorom v rokoch 1437-1470 byval grof Drakula bol postaveny este v roku 1320 ako hrad na obranu priesmyku medzi dvoma karpatskymi udoliami. Neskor sa tu vyberalo myto z kazdeho preneseneho tovaru (3% z hodnoty tovaru). Nakoniec sme to vsetko prezili - ale bola to zabava tam byt. :-)

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 ...