Transylvania!

Saturday, June 14, 2014
Brasov, Transylvania, Romania
The train didn't travel at a great speed - at some stages a push bike would have overtaken us easily. It ambled along, rocking and shaking, and tooting. Fabulous for looking out the window and watching what was going on.

At first light we spotted 2 men hoeing in between rows of corn with hand held hoes . Then there was a group of sheep with a man watching them. Men cutting the hay with reaping hooks; throwing it onto a haystack wigwam, or onto the back of a cart which was drawn by a horse. I saw 5 horses and carts, 2 of which were on the road with cars. Actually when the traffic was halted because of the train, the driver of the first vehicle was on his mobile phone, and the third one was a horse and cart. I also saw 5 tractors, and some of the farms were prosperous with hay rolled into bails like at home. These farmers had new houses. But some houses were badly in need of attention; and one group of new houses were extremely small.

It was exciting to watch all the action, and the countryside was fascinating. And lots of rail construction going on. In some places the bridges must have been bought in - they stood alone with nothing going on around them.

We went through Sighisoara at 7.20 Romanian time (6.20 by my watch as I hadn't changed it) . This is where I'd planned to get off and stay for a few hours - I didn't know the conductor would have our Eurail ticket though!

For breakfast we had our orange juice, paninis, ham and cheese (and some Dijon mustard). Too full for the muffins. Not long after, the conductor bought us our breakfast in a plastic bag. Wow - I didn't know we'd get any breakfast. We got 2 bottles of Iced tea, 2 bottles of water, 2 plastic cups & spoons, 2 packets of 'petit beurre' biscuits (like 1 packet of Arnot's arrowroot), 2 sachets of jam, 2 sachets of coffee and 2 sachets of sugar. I'm not sure what we were supposed to do with the coffee! The iced tea was really nice - I drank it much later.

We got our passports back about 30 minutes before we got to Brasov - that's 10 minutes before we were due to arrive and the conductor no where in sight before that. I was feeling a bit panicky.

The station at Brasov was very noisy . We reserved a seat on the train to Bucuresti Nord for 14.20 tomorrow; changed $50 to lei; couldn't find a decent tourist map so used Bryan's notes from Mr Google (and a map in a bus shelter further on) to get to our hotel. Only 10 minutes from the station.

It was about 11 am by now. The man at the hotel (probably the owner) spoke very good English. We asked about getting to Bran to see Bran Castle (aka Dracula's Castle). He said a taxi wasn't much more than a bus to get to the main bus station for Bran. He called a cab for us about 11.30 and it was 6 lei (including a tip) - that's less than $A2. The cab driver showed us the right bus, which was due to leave at 12. The bus cost 7 lei each, each way. Cheap, very cheap! Bus took 45 minutes to Bran. Couldn't see much out of the windows as there was heaps of condensation between the double glazing. Bus was packed. There was an Italian guy who had a Romanian girlfriend 2 seats in front of us. He spoke good English and was talking to 2 Chinese looking girls who spoke upper crust English - I think they'd run into each other elsewhere . One of the girls looked like an actress I'd seen on Jonathon Creek - and since she told the guy she'd only lived in England for 6 months she could be (incognito!). The Italian guy hopes to come to Australia to work later this year.

The castle was great - worth the trip out. It's all a tourist thing - the Dracula's castle part; but it was still a castle with lots of old furnishings. And lots of history written in English. We used our Senior's cards and got in for 15 lei each (instead of 25) - used Visa. Very touristy around the entrance - hope some of the locals are making the money.

We had dinner at Hot Pizza or Pizza Hot about 100 metres from the hotel. Very nice too. A locally owned place, and frequented by the locals. The staff worked their butts off - practically running at times.

Very impressed with the city, the hotel and everything so far.
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