Ocna Sibiului Spa

... which is not in keeping with the exterior but is still interesting. The castle as many places in Transylvania attempt to make a connection with Dracula or Vlad Tepes, an inspiration behind the character. Most connections are a stretch as is the case with this castle in which he may have visited once. <br><br>Museums are very cheap, generally, $1-8 entry. But, photos can only be taken if a special photo ticket is bought in addition to the entry, as is the case with Bran. This has been on ...

Sibiu is a delightful city, small - about 250 000 people, but ready to make your staying one of the best in Romania.<br>The city, on its German name Hermannstadt, was founded in the 12 century and in 2007 was Cultural European Capital.<br>The Bruckenthal Palace in the Big Plaza, today an art museum and the Evangelic Cathedral are worth a 2-3 hour visit. <br>Also, climbing all the way up in the Council Tower , the 12 century gate of SIbiu, let us see the city from above.<br>Great place!

... taste: the more local it is, the stronger it tastes and the more like rubbing alcohol it smells. But I'm a trooper and I try to take my share.<br><br>The next day we came to Sibiu, a larger city on the way to Brasov. The town square here is also really nice, and we did some standard tourist fare on the first day-- museums, clocktower, churches. Today was a full day of activities in surrounding towns, starting with a ...

... from 1601. walked around all afternoon, this afterall was the birthplace of vlad the impaler, the original count dracula. looked for bats or creeping mist at night, but it seems to me the place is clear of vampires. The coolest thing is that people go on about their normal lives living in these incredibly old houses and you can walk down the main street in the modern part of town and you see 5 gypsy painted horse carts in a row ...

Sunday, September 3, 2006 Crossing into Transylvania 11:00pm Sibiu Time Dear Readers: That cup of strong coffee with dinner last night was a mistake. I have a hard time going to sleep even with a sleeping pill, and the alarm rouses me way before I am ready to get started. Breakfast is enormous and delicious, and the double espresso helps to get me moving. The day begins with a visit to the Palace of the People. Parts of the building are being used as ...

... on the horizon. A storm had decided to bring our walk to a rousing conclusion. We were tired and dirty. Sweat had soaked through my shirt, then dried, then soaked through again. We had been walking for about 6 or 7 hours, and somehow, someway we found the strength to run. And run we did, fast and hard. The thunderclaps grew louder in the distance. Suddenly we saw a road ahead, and even an occasional car driving by. As we got within 100 yards, there was even a bus that passed on the ...

... for more identification. I gave her my Virginia driver's license, which I'm sure she's seen before, at least if she'd ever been a bouncer in a Richmond bar that is. Finally, she just wrote down all of my information, including my pants size which seemed a little out of bounds, and the train pulled away moments later. But into the country we had made it, and it was just before mid-day on a nice Monday morning. As we left the train station, hoping to walk into the town ...

I was hitchhiking in Romania when two guys picked me up. From the outside, their car had looked like a little tuttering low-rider that an old countryside man would've driven twenty miles and hour in during the 1930's. From the backseat of the inside, the interior seemed as wide as it was long. Sharp edges gave the interior the shape of a flattened cube. Thus, my knees pushed into the over-sized soft ...

Slightly hungover (it was Romania day the night before, it would have been rude not to go out and celebrate!), and therefore setting off a little later than planned, I intended to visit Sighisoara for a few hours and head on to Cluj-Napoca. This didn't quite occur as intended. Myles and I arrived at Sighisoara mid-afternoon, and after a few minor complications with train times and items left at the previous hostel, we set out to have a quick look around ...

... morning I walked to the train station, bought an overnight ticket to Bucharest, Romania, and then wandered around all day killing time until the 7pm train. Sofia is pleasant and all, but there's not a whole lot to do once you've walked around the city once. Mostly I sat online freaking myself out by reading true-ish horror stories about A) travelers being gassed and robbed on overnight trains in Eastern Europe B) travelers being assaulted and robbed on the streets of Romania ...