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.
See also:
- Visiting Romania, Part 4: Peles Castle
- Visiting Romania, Part 3: Exploring Bucharest, Part 2
- Visiting Romania, Part 2: Exploring Bucharest, Part 1
- Visiting Romania, Part 1: Grand Hotel Continental, Bucharest
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..?
See also:
- Visiting Romania, Part 3: Exploring Bucharest, Part 2
- Visiting Romania, Part 2: Exploring Bucharest, Part 1
- Visiting Romania, Part 1: Grand Hotel Continental, Bucharest
To be continued..
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.
So what to choose… A heart container or a stamina vessel?
A mall in Bucharest called “AFI Cotroceni”. With a roller coaster…
… a dragon…
… and your trulys, having some fun in the “Museum of Senses”.
See also:
- Visiting Romania, Part 2: Exploring Bucharest, Part 1
- Visiting Romania, Part 1: Grand Hotel Continental, Bucharest
To be continued..
So, the next day we explored some of the streets and alleys of the city. Bucharest is the capital of Romania, located at the south of the Transylvanian region, with 2 082 000 inhabitants. The city is called “Little Paris”, so let’s grab a taxi and take a look around.
Mega Image is the regular grocery store chain where you can buy bread, goat cheese, beer, Jack Daniels, and of course the best red wine I’ve ever tasted. And I’m of course talking about Romanian Wine. Whisky is usually my thing, but the Romanians sure know how to make their wine. And everything labeled with “dark” and “stout” is a win(e) for me.
There’s a lot of abandoned and damaged buildings in Bucharest that’s clearly seen better days. Many of them are so decayed and dilapidated that they seem to be on the verge of collapsing. This one above is an enormous, unfinished shell of a building that’s been abandoned for 30 years. The plan was that this should be a historical museum, but after the fall of the communist regime in the late 80s, the project was tossed over to the Romanian Radio Company, which had no money to complete it. Since then, it has been empty.
One of the hundreds of churches and chapels.
Romania is a hardcore Christian country, and this taxi driver will make sure you know it.
Some more urban decay. What we found quite fascinating, was the mix of “rich” and “poor” surroundings so close by each other. There were areas with old abandoned buildings and clean, renovated ones right beside them.
See also:
To be continued..
A week ago Vanja and I came home after a 7-day trip to Bucharest, Romania. You know, the country that’s most known for a certain guy with a cape who loves to put his fangs into young ladies necks. And as the Horror Ghouls we are, we have wanted to visit Romania for many years now, and finally made the trip. We were not disappointed. We’re glad we didn’t spend any fewer days, because there is too much to see in Bucharest and the outskirts, if you are interested in old architecture, history and overall ancient, obscure surroundings.
In other words, this is not the last time we have been there, as there is still a lot of things we want to see.
After having landed in Amsterdam from Norway, the plane used about three hours further to the Henri Coanda airport in Bucharest. The currency in Romania is Leu (plural: Lei) and it’s recommended that you use some of the ATM’s in the airport to get some cash. After getting into a Taxi where the driver welcomed us with “Welcome to Romania” with the familiar thick accent we’ve heard in dozens of vampire movies, we instantly knew we’d come to the right place. Then we were ahead to the hotel, the Grand Hotel Continental, after a half-hour drive. One thing is to see the picture of the hotel on a screen, another thing is to stand outside and wonder if there is a dress code or something in order to enter. The hotel was built in 1898.
Okay. Let’s have a look inside..
Our room (a Junior Suite)
And of course, a phone right beside the toilet, just in case you’re taking a dump in a hurry without realizing you’re out of paper. Just call for some roomservice, I guess..
Some of the view. And as you can see, in Bucharest there are cars literally everywhere. The global warming and climate change hysteria doesn’t seem to affect many of the people around here. And as a Scandinavian, that makes me a little jealous.
To be continued..
