Blogs from Transilvania, Romania, Europe - page 6

Our epic night the other night definitely meant that I slept well last night, though not for long enough. I had to repack and such, so I didn’t get to sleep until after midnight, and I had to be up to catch the train at five. Gross, but I think I’m on track with this whole time zone thing now. I’ll be totally flattened when I get back though! So my adventures yesterday. Let’s see. We went and bought our train tickets so that we didn’t have to do that super early in the morning. It was a very good idea, as I was barely functioning when I woke up today. Then we went for a little walk to Ste. Elizabeth’s Cathedral. Those buildings are so beautiful. This one was a fairly small cathedral, for a ... read more

Romania, Romania, Romania.... Just B-E-A-UTIFUL! We have had the most amazing time there. It is a shame we had not booked to stay longer as the country was gorgeous! We got up to get the 5:45am taxi from Ruse, crossing the Danube and travelled to Bucharest. Arriving at about 8am, we wandered through the town to find our hostel. We felt like we were back in London. It was lovely. Grand buildings, malls, monuments, fountains... was a nice change from what we were used to. I was excpecting something similar to Sofia, but it was so much nicer! We stayed at Butterfly Villa Hostel in the North of Bucharest which was a really nice hostel. Managed to get a room to ourselves, on the top bunks and got organised. We then went out to explore Bucharest, ... read more

I have learned the bartering rate in a village in Transylvania: my life and hand in marriage is worth four goats or one 10year old horse. I have been in this small farming village of Idicel for a few hours, and already my WWOOF host (Graham) has been asked by the locals if he would trade me for livestock so I can marry a drunk, toothless, peasant farmer.. I can’t believe Graham turned down an offer like that!.. According to the elderly village members, I wouldn’t be very good for breeding- like the Aussie volunteer, Annie- but I would be good for milking, and I could use more work. Why, you may ask, am I now being sold off as a working slave wife in a Romanian village? Alright, let me explain... As my spontaneous-self has ... read more

Romania's got beauty, indeed. I think I've never denied it, but I've never embraced the idea, either. But ROMANIA HAS GOT BEAUTY. Beauty we do not promote or capitalise on, but nevertheless Romania's got tremendous natural and man-made beauty. History. Culture. Despite the horrible weather, I went into raptures about the historical monuments, cathedrals and sites we visited this past weekend. Amazed, delighted, mesmerised, bewitched. In addition, the German influence has definitely left its mark on the level of culture, civilisation and people's life-style. 'Thank you', 'sorry' and 'pardon' are just as often heard here as anywhere else in the civilised world. Amen to that! SIBIU, formerly known as the European capital of culture is a little paradise where everything old remains untouched and keeps on telling ... read more

So I arrived in Bucharest at 6am after a somewhat uncomfortable overnight train from Sofia (there weren’t any couchettes and didn’t want to pay extra for a bed, and was woken up about 4 times for passport checks) but felt ok when I arrived. I dropped my bag at the station as I was taking a 1pm train to Brasov. Bucharest isn’t as bad as what people say, but I suppose its hit and miss with everyone, but I think 7 hours is enough to see the important bits. After a quick bite at McDonalds I started walking around the city, checking out the massive Parliament building, and next to it what seemed like the biggest playground in the world (just underneath was a nuclear bunker). I then went to Revolutionary Square, where the revolution of ... read more

Sighisoara is a cool place. I spent the early morning avoiding the cold by attending a mass at a very nice Roman Orthodox church. I think that this was the first Roman Orthodox church mass that I sat through from beginning to end and it really was an interesting experience, as well as a toe thawing one. After that I walked around for a bit and checked out what is a beautifully set city. Sighisoara has only been a part of Romania since the end of World War 1 when it was transferred from the Austro-Hungarian empire. It still has a heavy German influence. The first people to settle there were the Saxons, having been invited by the King of Hungary during the 12th century to settle in Transylvania with the mind of defending his realm. ... read more

Having arranged accomodation through couchsurfing again, I found myself in Sibiu's main sqaure waiting for my host to come pick me up after finishing work. Alexander was his name and sales was his game. He was also a fairly high standing member of the Romanian Orthodox church as I was to soon find out. Unfortunately due to committments I had only one night and day in Sibiu. As Europe's cultural capital in 2007 you should probably allocate more time to the place than I did. However through good fortune god, the universal power, luck whatever you want to call it sent me Alexander along, who had been responsible for hosting European dignataries when they came en masse during 2007 to visit Sibiu. Thus having walked around the city during the day myself, trying to take in ... read more

So, having arranged accomodation through couchsurfing again, I arrived in Brasov with an address scribbled down on a piece of paper, that thankfully the third taxi driver recognised. Soon there after, I found myself on a student campus in a dormitory with my English host Sophie, a nice English girl from Weymouth. Her Romanian roommates had gone home for the university break so she had decided she wanted some english speaking company and through couchsurfing, me and two Austrailan guys were to fill the beds vacated by her roommates. The first day I was there I took a walk around the old town of Brasov and climbed the little mountain next to it. A very nice walk. The next few days I slept in Brasov, but spent most of my time venturing further afield.... ... read more