Romania

I was surprised by Bulgaria, and when I saw Brasov, Romania, I was very excited. I had heard that the mountains in Romania were the stuff of a little known legend. As I sat in a meadow deep within the mountains, staring out at the view before me, I knew this was true. Michael and I had endeavored to go on a hike through the woods. We stumbled across a staggering view. The forest suddenly opened up to a rolling meadow giving a clear line of sight to the mountains ahead. At this moment for me, I was in paradise. Away from the sounds and distractions of the city, away from the hard concrete walkways, and deep within nature, where I realized I had not been in a long time.

We took the overnight train from Sofia to Brasov. At this point we developed a fondness for overnight trains and sleeper cars. Going to sleep in one country and waking up in another seemed like the way to go. We had a few hiccups on the train with the workers because neither of us spoke a common language, but it was quickly resolved when a man who did speak a common language helped out. As was the theme with most every trip I have been on I had no idea what to expect and was excited for the adventure. 

After spending some time sitting in the meadow I decided that I should stop sitting around and actually get some pictures. I spent an inordinate amount of time taking the pictures because I really wasn't feeling in the mood to leave. 

When we got to Brasov, there was fog, low clouds and rain. Not my ideal weather. We traipsed through the city following the directions I had made. Problem was that I found them on Google Maps and it had taken the liberty of translating everything into English. None of the street signs matched and soon we found ourselves wandering aimlessly through a new city, in the rain. We found a bus stop with a map on it but apparently the street we were looking for was too small to be on the map. Later discoveries would tell me that I was just looking in the wrong spot. So we found an area with free wifi and I looked up the address on my map and dropped a pin so I could navigate there. Something I should have done in the first place. Life lessons don't always come when its sunny and dry. After taking what we found out later to be the longest route to our hostel from where we were, we made it.

The meadow was nice, but now I needed to move on. I packed up my tripod, left my camera around my neck, and continued on. Every new step had a new angle and a new view. But sometimes it is better to not take the picture and just enjoy the view for yourself. It makes it that much more special. By this time Michael had wandered a bit farther down the meadow so I really did seem to have this view all to myself. We met up at an abandoned house that upon closer inspection found out that it was not worth closer inspection. So we headed back off into the woods, the ski area as our goal.

At the hostel we dropped our things off, showered and prepared to head back out. After walking through the city, we went up the hill that promised a "staggering view of the city". I felt that seemed worth it. We climbed to the Hollywood style sign of Brasov. Where indeed the view was breathtaking. It turned out to be more breathtaking on a day when there weren't low clouds and fog. That evening we planned the next day. An all day tour of the surrounding castles. This was an excellent plan to me. I love castles and we would be able to visit the famed Dracula castle.   

Back in the woods and out of the forest our journey took us over some hills and through some dips that were wishing to someday be valleys when they got bigger. It abruptly spat us out onto the road. This road we had been somewhat following so that we didn't get lost. Not always did we have a trail to follow. Our ultimate goal  was the ski area. 

The castle tour was great. We had our own private taxi that the hostel had arranged. The man took us to the castles and really wherever we wanted in the general vicinity. Good thing for him we all just wanted the next castle. There was an Australian on this trip with us. He had signed up the night before also, making it a three man trip. Yes, there was an Australian in my last blog, yes there are millions of them traveling everywhere. I have seen them at every city. The castles were awesome. My favorite was the Peles castle. The Dracula castle was cool, but the Peles castle was extremely ornate. Designed right around the time of Neuschwanstein, it was everything Neuschwanstein wasn't. Because Peles was a lot smaller, it could be completed. At the time it was the most modern castle, it even had an electric elevator. Many of the amenities it was built with are still used. The Dracula castle had a macabre feeling to it that had its own appeal. The third and final castle was more like a fortress. There wasn't' a "castle" on it. It was the remains of an old walled city fortress. It was clearly very old because there was not a whole lot of it left. It was cool to see such an old fortress though. The view from it was amazing. I looked out and had a perfect 360 degree view. I saw a ski resort in the distance. 

After walking on the road for about ten minutes, we made it to the ski resort. Had I thought about it, I would have tried to look out and see the fortress that we were on just two days before. But I didn't think about it. We walked around, at this point very hungry from our hike. We knew we didn't want to have to walk back so we decided to catch a bus. Because it was just too expensive to eat there we dismissed our hunger and waited until the city.

After the castle day we decided to stay two more days. The advantage to this was the hostel offered a stay three nights get the fourth one free. We knew we wanted a day to just rest and not have to walk anywhere. This has been a good plan that we developed on our longer trips. Since we got a fourth day free we figured we weren't wasting any money sitting around in a hostel all day. The next day, our fourth, we decided to go on a hike through the woods to see where it would lead. We ended up at a ski resort some eight to ten miles away. The hike was everything I could have wanted and more.

After the hike, we found a fantastic döner shop and bought some remarkably good priced dinner. No longer will I be satisfied with the reasonably sized döners in the rest of Europe. These things were massive and it made my day. We sat out on a bench in the city when an old lady came up to us and started talking. We are used to beggars coming up so we just ignored her at first. After we made it very clear we didn't speak Romanian she persisted still. From what I gathered, she was telling us a story of someone who died falling off the cliff near the Hollywood style Brasov sign. A tear started in her eye and she left. About an hour later. Michael and I were in another part of town munching on our pastries we had procured for dessert and the same lady finds us again. Still chatting as if we spoke Romanian. At this point I had no idea what she was saying. So we just nodded. She eventually got what she wanted to say out and then just left. 

Because we take overnight trains, we had a part day to fill before heading to Budapest. We decided hiking was the best way to do this. So we hiked in some other hills and eventually found another amazing lookout. (As it turns out it was about 20 meters from the Brasov sign.) I didn't find any reason to leave quickly from here either so I sat and looked out over the city. It was a great way to end the trip to a really cool region.

Now we are in Hungary, the train is almost to Budapest and our adventure there will begin soon. Of course, since there is no internet on the train, I will actually be in my hostel by the time this is posted. I am excited though, Budapest looks like a fun city. The exchange rate isn't too bad either.