Hotel Pestera Targoviste

... de a exploata bogatiile ce zaceau sub acesta. Iar dealungul timpului, dupa cum a fost vrerea Domnului si puterea marilor natiuni, mai mult decat vointa noastra, proprietatea asupra acestor companii impreuna cu imensele lor proprietati imobiliare a trecut de la germani la franco-britanici si apoi la sovietici. Sa nu ne intrebam deci peste poate despre privatizarea Petrom sau vanzarea Rompetrol dupa cum sa nu ne maniem degeaba citind concesiunea Sterling Resourses.

... and research capability. Now a large amount of the teaching team are taken directly from the graduating student pool, Marinela being 1 example. As a result the University is very young, dynamic, and keen to grow and progress. This is reflected that Valahia University is currently ranked 7th in Romania out of 45 State and approx 24 Private Universities. Our first meeting was with the Dean of the Economics Faculty, a ...

... too. We started the tour in the the real-life twig collage, at the private art school, Centrul Createi Populare, where Mihai holds studio classes for students of all ages. He is keen to differentiate between the 'studio' and 'crochiu' styles, i.e.: long studies and sketches; and also between sculptural, pictorial and graphic styles, which you can see depicted in one of the pictures. Coming from a graphic ...

... the puppies who with their Mum have taken residence on the waste ground outside the block. There are many stray dogs in Romania, who greet every car arrival as there is the, unlikely, possibility of food. Our first stop was the restaurant, Taverna Daciler where we had dined last night and breakfast was taken. I had omelette and coffee. Back to the bus and onto the market - this is mainly a covered market, on the way we ...

... apparently) - so it looks like the worst is over. For now. I decided to make a daytrip out of town today rather than hang around Bucharest more. Although I didn't do pretty much anything yesterday other than take it easy, I thought I'd check out something new. Besides, if I did so, I'd be closer to the mountains, just in case it didn't get that much better weather-wise. So this morning I tracked down a maxitaxi bound for the city of Tārgovişte ...

... Count Dracula. No matter the criticism of Bram Stoker's book, I have to admit that I really like it and it draws the atmosphere of these places very well. At a decent hour we got ourselves to the road again. We planned to see the Bran castle and Brasov (the city). But the Romanians make sure that you never get bored on the road. That minute as we drove away from the parking lot of the guest house, there was a barrier on ...

... learning the art of impalement. Vlad would impale his enemies and people who just angered him by sticking a huge wooden stake through the body and letting him or her rot in the sun. Oh we also headed over to the birth town of Vlad Dracul or Dracula. Deciding to eat in his old home. You'll never guess our secret visitor. find out now, by going to photos and watching the video. Neall

... thick slices of 'fat' with paprika (??slaleena), 'fresh from the cow' milk. A big difference in the wealth of this area compared with the north west of the country (definitely more of a tourist destination, but also landscape wise). Due to snow, snow, low cloud, snow, we did not see the impressive Carpathian mountains at all in this first week we spent in Romania - lucky for us, we returned after Bulgaria and saw their splendor, or else this entry ...

... It was built in 1382 and isnt at all what you would think upon hearing the name Dracula since it has these Mediterranean whitewashed walls and fairytale-like castle turrets. The castle is surrounded by a preserved Romanian village and we strolled through it and enjoyed trapsing around the castles interiors and secret passageways. Later in the afternoon we caught a public bus to Rasnov with ...

... of the old staircase. After that, we walked around town some more, then went back to our hostel to indulge in another session of National Geographic and Animal Planet. This morning we took the milk run (i.e. local train) to Brasov -- it stopped at every cow crossing on the way! We were on the top deck of a double-decker car, which was a new experience. The view is much better from up there! It's too bad the scenery isn't as pretty ...