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Visiting Romania, Part 5: Brasov and Bran Castle

After visiting Pele’s Castle, we were heading for Brasov for a short stop to do a little bit of sightseeing and walking around. We spent the time taking some photos, did some shopping, and ate some ice cream.

The famous “Brasov” sign, just like the Hollywood one. The Rasnov area has also its own sign, which we’ll be visiting next time.

Then, we were off to our final stop: Bran Castle, also known as the (unofficial) Dracula’s castle. This is not a very long trip from Brasov, so we were there shortly afterwards. Before coming over to the castle, there were loads of souvenir shops which we wished we’d had more time to explore, but due to the time limit we had to focus mostly on the castle, the main reason we came there. And it was so fun to finally see the Dracula castle, made famous by Bram Stoker’s novel. In the real life Dracula just spent some nights in the castle, while his real home Poenari Castle, which is now in ruins, is located on a mountain 60 km south/east from Bran. The place was not open for tourists during our visit, but we’ll definitely check it out sometime.

Bran Castle, seen from the park area.

Some interior photos.

From the courtyard.

A pretty cool “do not smoke” sign in the park area.

Outside one of the secret passageways to the castle.

So, all in all the “2 castles in 1 day” trip with TravelMaker was excellent, and we were able to get so much done in just 1 day. Both the guide and the driver made the trip truly enjoyable. Highly recommended if you’re wanting to make the most out of your day while visiting some castles near Bucharest!

And that was Romania for now.

Some final thoughts: Great country, great people, great food, and Bucharest was a surprisingly clean place in spite of being in a relatively poor country. There are police everywhere to make the streets safe. Easy access to Taxis which also is very cheap. And of course a lot to see, and we haven’t checked everything off our list yet, so we’re definitely going back sometime. Here’s some of the souvenirs we brought back home:

One of the Romanian traditional masks which is used in some customs, rituals and traditional dances, depending on the time of year. It’s also handmade, and really big.

Visiting Romania, Part 4: Peles Castle

In order to visit “Bran Castle”, we did some research before we took our trip to Bucharest. There are multiple ways to go there, including several tours, and we wanted to try the “2 Castles in 1 day” tour with TravelMaker, which also included visiting Peles Castle and stopping shortly in Brasov. So, early in the morning we went to the Romanian Athenaeum which was the meeting place (and just a few minutes walk from our hotel), and in a small group of 16 people we were soon on our new adventure!

Carpathian Mountains are starting to show as we’re driving through the Transylvanian countryside.

A fun trivia: The Kazakhstan scenes from “Borat” was filmed in one of these villages.

Aside from a short stop at a café, Peles Castle was the first place we visited. And the castle, its interior and the surroundings were just breathtaking. If you’re ever going to Romania to visit some castles, make sure to have this one on your list!

The Cowardly Lion, what happened to you..?

Visiting Romania, Part 3: Exploring Bucharest, Part 2

Let’s have a look at the nicer surroundings of Bucharest.

The Romanian Athenaeum.

The Illuminati Headquarters of Romania. Just kidding. It’s just a hospital.

Some old churches in The Old Town.

Some rich bastard’s residence, I guess. Cool vines, though..

The Old Town with Nipples.

The Old Town provides most of your needs: a dozen of restaurants, pubs, souvenir shops, casinos, brothels and strip clubs in every corners.

The Cărturești Carusel Bookstore, Old Town. Go down the stairs to look for CD’s, vinyls and maybe some obscure DVD’s.

An Italian Flying Umbrella Restaurant not so far from the hotel.

Top from left: CEC Palace (first two), A Random Street, Odeon Theatre, A Random Building (hotel maybe), Central University Library

Saray Restaurant serves the best beef ever. I don’t remember the name, but its mixed with cheese, and it’s so delicious that even Gordon Ramsay would have an orgasm.

Someone said beef with cheese?

The iDracula Restaurant in The Old Town. While this restaurant had some dishes for vegetarians, just be advised that Romania is not the greatest place for vegetarians, especially if you’re entering a restaurant on the countryside where the closest to vegetarian you can get is a steak. As our “Travelmaker: 2 castles in 1 day” tour guide advised us (a post about this coming later): the best vegetarian dish in Romania is pork chop. If that’s not vegetarian enough for you, you’ll just be served a beer instead.

Cișmigiu Gardens.