Probably the best city in the world
Trip Start
Apr 05, 2009
1
28
36
Trip End
Jul 16, 2009
Brasov, Transylvania, Romania
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
I love Brasov because it is beautiful and has a sense of humor about itself. In addition to the amazing slogan, the city also has a Hollywood-style sign on a surrounding mountain, put up a few years ago. We arrived mid-day and spent the day checking off our list of sites-- white and black lookout towers (both actually colored white), bastions built by various guilds, white and black churches (also both white. wtf?), cable car to the top of the mountain with a view of the valley and Brasov. The viewing platform was also right behind the Brasov hollywood sign, which had me incredibly excited. I mean, have any of you ever been behind the Hollywood sign? I haven't!
That night our tour guide brought his wife to dinner since they live in Brasov, and it was a real treat and honor to have dinner with both of them. We went to a restaurant that was Romanian, Italian, and... Mexican. Interesting combination. But you can guess that our local Brasovians ordered the fajitas, which really should be spread around the world. We had some good local wine and learned a lot from them about Brasov and Romania.
The next day, my roommate Sharyn and I commenced a Cafe Tour of Brasov. We started our morning with breakfast sandwiches at a cafe, then joined our group to go to Bran Castle (more on that later). After the castle, we had beers at another cafe, then moved to a third cafe for a little food. We took a break from our intensive cafe schedule to visit a Romanian orthodox church, a real treat with beautiful paintings on the walls, and then headed toward the hills for a shaded cafe for yet another beer. We rejoined the rest of the group at 4:30, feeling satisfied with our Brasov cafe experience.
That morning we visited Rasnov fortress and Bran Castle, which most people associate with Vlad Dracul, or Dracula. We've learned that Vlad (we're on a first-name basis now, since I've spent the last week in Transylvania) only spent one night here, in a prison, as a political pawn of the Hungarian government. The castle's decoration was added only in the 19th century by the Romanian royal family, who came to rule Romania only around 1880. Despite that, the entrance to the castle was surrounded by Dracula souvenirs. In Bucharest, I will get to see some sites where Vlad spent more than one night.
Sinaia, where I am now, is sort of a mountain resort town. It's small and in a beautiful setting, and has a castle my guidebook accurately describes as demonstrating "jaw-dropping excess" as well as a much more appealing Art Nouveau-style residence designed by Queen Maria in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I love art nouveau, and I LOVED Pelisor Palace. It was so tastefully decorated and had some Klimt and Mucha paintings as well as the art nouveau touches.
I've also made a big decision to leave my tour early in order to go see a friend of Nathan's, Christine, in Vienna. I'm excited about planning my own route again for 2 weeks instead of just one and hopefully visiting Slovenia and Croatia and probably Italy. I can't believe I'll be home in just a month and am already starting to worry about practical stuff again, but I'm trying to distract myself with cafe tours and the like.
Two days left in Romania, and I'll see you in Bulgaria.
Comments
hi there
were there any ligers in Brasov? That's probably my favorite animal.
CROATIA!!!!! WOO HOO!!! Again, jealous ;-) You can take a bus to Montenegro from Dubrovnik, Croatia and both places are supposed to be really nice.
Croatia and Montenegro
Hi Sara,
when will you be in Croatia? I'll be in Montenegro for work from July 7-10, in case you're free to drop by for a visit. An added incentive: you can stay with me in a really nice hotel room--no hard beds there :-)
Love the stories!
Sonja