Pensiunea Zorba Sibiu

... br>We had heard that the castle was closed a few days ago because of a rockslide but we still wanted to see the outside. The area that slid is part of the castle wall. A door leading to some room remains attached at the top, opening now onto a cliff below. Walls were OK. It would have been really nice to see the old town inside.

Bran is a castle near Brasov. Originally from the 14th c., it has been modernized. Gorgeous exterior up on a hill. The interior dates from the early ...

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

... on my face, watching a foal cozy up to her mom's behind, but then mom's tail started to move. The baby was looking down and never saw it coming. One drop of poo, then several, and my poor foal had **** all over her face. Poor baby! Before then I thought the horses were sooooo pretty...

Our next stop was the Brancoveanu Monastery, the only monastery in Transylvania, which is rumored to have a role in major events ...

... mills, homesteads and every other building you could imagine. You couldn't walk in the rooms, but you could peer inside where they had it decorated with old beds, tables, clothes and linens. The place was pretty empty and it was nice strolling the grounds to myself. The weather still is crazy hot and I kept ducking into the shade for a little bit here and there to cool down. After around 3 hours I still never saw everything, but I think I ...

... deprived myself of a lot of water as I was scared what the washrooms were like. It is so incredibly hot and humid here (no air conditioning) that I stood in the hallway of the train with my head out the window. However, I saw so much incredible scenery and a slice of rural living! I swear I saw the very same village they filmed Borat in! I think I saw "Number 2 prostitute in all of Kazakhstan". I wonder if I would be #3? There are these ...

... service going on there as well. Took another look around the area and then went down to the creek to take a look around. Our cabbie lost his sandal briefly in the water and kept us laghing as he ran after it. We all joined in to help him and soon his sandal was back. He drove us back into town where we thanked him for giving up his day (he had the afternoon off and had plans to go the lake before our mishap) and said goodbye. I went into town and grabbed a salad and ...

... the old palace from the time when Vlad the Impaler ruled over Wallachia. By 12:30pm we are heading north out of town to cross the Carpathian Mountains into the Transylvania region. We know it is going to be a long day on the road, and we opt to stop at a service station to grab pre-made sandwiches and drinks to eat while driving. We reach a point where our guide tells us we must make a decision-to carry on driving the main road to Sibiu and follow ...

I did not wake up until almost 1 pm the next day. Oop! Of course, I still hadn't got over it. I still could not get over that fact that, I just lost my camera and DV, together with the memory card with hundreds of pictures (and the memories they represents), merely a day ago. I really needed a few more days' rest before I could move on to continue my journey. Now I was in Sighisoara, a city near the geographical center of Romania. With only about 36,000 ...

... it. This was only part of our problem though. After asking a local, we found out that indeed the bus to Medias had already passed, and we were seemingly stuck. While on the stoop contemplating our next move, a beaten up old Dacha drove up with three young travelers crowded inside. They exited the car, two girls led by one guy driver. They appeared to be in their 20's, and were certainly Eastern European of some sort. (Of course, who else besides Eastern Europeans would be in a ...

... Since I'm now summing up my first days in Romania in this fun-filled highlights package, I'll gloss over the rest of the Timi visitations, including a church, a market, and a synagogue, all of which are recurring themes in European travel. We only stayed one night there, preferring to move on to a more tourist friendly location. To be fair, our itinerary was hardly set in stone. Besides in Budapest, we never booked a place to stay in advance, and always just ...