Mountains, castles & Vlad Dracul

Brasov main square at sunrise

My hostel, in front of the Black Church

View of Brasov from the White Tower

Since we're running a few countries behind, this post (Transylvania!) will be mostly in pictures. More photos can  be found in the Picasa album (look on the right-hand sinde of this page...although I'll also try to add a link to the album in this post!). The first 3 photos are from the beautiful city of Brasov, where I stayed for 2 days.  Lots of walking, sunshine and beautiful buildings.  Since it was the weekend, families were out on the pedestrianised main street & square in force, with the children entertained (and their parents bankrupted) by many balloon-animal-making clowns.

Rasnov Fortress, after a hilly forest walk

While in Brasov, I took a day trip to Rasnov Fortress (Rasnov, City of Roses, is aiming to be Romania's top tourist destination!) and Bran Castle.  The 3 Erasmus girls who were also staying in the hostel went on to see Peles Castle but one castle a day is enough for me!  I loved Bran, with it's winding staircases, little rooms decorated with furniture from seemingly every period, and interesting history. Too long to explain here, but suffice to say that the castle was given to Regina Maria, Romania's first queen, as a present for her hard work in uniting the country.  She was originally from Kent but really embraced Romania as her country after her marriage!  It didn't all go smoothly though....

Bran Castle - lots of info about vampire myths, Bram Stoker, and many other things!

Bran Castle

Bran Castle decor

As I left Brasov, I headed up into the mountains to the fabulous Palamari Cultural Center, where I checked out their many traditional craft-making workshops (and made my own traditional Easter egg with wax & dye), beautiful wooden Maramures church, and totally delicious food.  A huge thank you to Manuela for opening the center just for me (it wasn't exactly tourist season!).

The view at Palamari

Spot the unprofessional egg...

Just one part of my amazing 3-course meal

Wooden church at Palamari

Wooden church interior - icontastic!

Next I travelled to Sighisoara, a small town with a medieval citadel (now protected by UNESCO).  It was kind of strange to walk around the (very empty) citadel at night, especially since it's the birthplace of Vlad Dracul!
The next day I took the bus to Targu Mures to meet Vanda, someone I used to work with at Au Pair in America.  She gave me a great walking tour of the (small) city, which is almost as Hungarian as it is Romanian - everything is bilingual, strange!  We also had a lovely lunch where I finally got a chance to try ciorba, a sour soup (although I didn't choose the version with added intestines!) and a warming glass of palinca (plum brandy).
The next morning I enjoyed a fantastic coffee and cake in the citadel - much less creepy in daylight - after working up an appetite climbing the tower and admiring it's "days of the week = gods = metals" clock.  I think you have to see that one for yourself to understand it.

Dracula's birthplace!

Sighisoara - looking up at the citadel

Main square inside the citadel

Palace of Culture, Targu Mures

Timisoara Opera House

I concluded my time in Romania with a long bus journey and a short stay in Timisoara, a city which was at the heart of the 1989 revolution.  The guy working at my hostel told me that the city was built on a swamp originally, but as a solution to the constant flooding they started using the water to make beer - and it was soon nice & dry!  Also, Timisoara was the first European city to have electric streetlights.  Imagine what I could've found out about the place if I'd been there for more than 6 hours (during 4 of which, I was asleep  ;-)  ).

Timisoara beer and my midnight meal