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Blogs from Romania, Europe - page 9
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September 10th 2011
Three of us departed from Dulles at 8:45pm on Sept 9th ... flew through Heathrow, and arrived in Bucharest at 4:45pm Romanian time. We had very smooth flights; I slept many hours, and arrived feeling very refreshed. We got through customs easily and quickly, and Carrie and I were checked into our hotel by 5:30, with a 7 hour time difference. Door to door from Rob's house to the hotel was 17 hours. The taxi ride from the airport to the hotel InterContinental was very pretty, past parks, bike lanes, and many picturesque buildings. We drove down Bucharest's version of Champs-Élysées - complete with an Arc de Triomphe built after World War I. Our hotel is rather fancy, especially for the price. Every room has a balcony, all with great views. Our rooms are on the ... read more
September 9th 2011
September is here. The tourists are gone, the hostels have died down, and most of my cohorts are now closer to my age (everyone else is back in school. Suckers). Things are now proceeding as much more of a 'do what I feel' scenario. I typically don't even have to book my hostels until the day before. It's nice. On the other hand, a whole bunch of those off-season annoyances have popped back up: nothing ever being open, people constantly hounding me for sales, and everyone else generally being more perturbed and annoyed by tourists. That last one might just be my current proximity. Who knows? So where was I? Ahh, Hvar. Going back two weeks, I had a blast there. Harry, Matt, Roz, Lucy, and I rented a boat and toured the nearby islands. Kind ... read more
September 9th 2011
Announcing the 2011 destination of the Literary Drinking and Travel Guild (LDTG) ---- Romania! Literary Itinerary: The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova The Dean's December, by Saul Bellow The Balkan Trilogy, by Olivia Manning They Were Counted, by Miklós Bánffy Embers, by Sandor Marai Kitty and Virgil, by Paul Bailey The Dead Travel Fast, by Eric Nuzum The Keep, by Paul Wilson Drinking Itinerary: Romanian beer Transilvanian wine Ţuică Travel Itinerary: Bucureşti Braşov ---> with many side trips Guild Itinerary: Weaver's Bastion in Braşov Guild Museum in Sighişoara ... read more
the best of Bucuresti
Published: November 27th 2011Europe » Romania » Muntenia » Bucharest » Centru Civic
August 26th 2011
Then – Bucharest. We made our way, gingerly, down the fantastically bad Romanian road system, marvelling at the only length of motorway in the country. A decent part of the road this, and it really didn’t go anywhere. We had decided to live it up a little in Bucharest after a few months of camping – we booked a pretty flash room at the NH Hotel Bucharest. A bathroom, aircon and telly – it even had tea and coffee making facilities. Fighting through the Bucharest traffic was easier than I had anticipated. Or perhaps I had simply grown used to the peculiarities of Romanian driving. Romanians, I had discovered, were really pretty ordinary drivers. Sure, they made it a matter of pride that they can pass on a blind corner, or aiming straight at the Tatra ... read more
as Romanian as berry pie.
Published: November 20th 2011Europe » Romania » Transilvania » Brasov » Brasov
August 24th 2011
We headed south. Then east. Then West. Camping is free in Romania. This means if you want to find an actual campsite you have to know where one is. A six year old Lonely Planet is probably not the best source of information, and this is what we had. We drove through Sibiu – couldn’t find the campsite. Couldn't find the campsite in Curtea de Arges either, and the campsite another 50ks down the road looked truly ordinary. A brief stop at a random servo for diesel and beer. We bought some dark beer which is dangerous – a lot of it had turned out to be sickly sweet malt based stuff. In the lolly section at the same servo though - truly excellent liquid rum centred chocolates. These would have to wait until the evening ... read more
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Don’t Ever ask a Romanian for directions…
Published: September 21st 2011Europe » Romania » Muntenia » Bucharest
August 23rd 2011
No matter how good their English is don’t whatever you do ask a Romanian for directions. It was 9pm and the taxi driver explained that this is Unirii Square our agreed stop off so I could save 5euros instead of my hostel. A large square built during the dictator Ceausescu days that’s not far from my accommodation. The street I need to ask for is only one street away from the square. I see a church, which was a landmark, but in Romania churches are really not a landmark as there are so many. I ask a restaurant and they point a different direction to the taxi driver… Both are not the right way. I walk around back streets and main streets and end up at the same spot as before near a subway exit. There ... read more
August 19th 2011
Haystacks, grazing cows, organic corn, fruit trees. Fields against a backdrop of mountains. Horse carts share the road with cars and both have to watch out for cows on the side of the road. We ate fruit straight from the trees and drank milk right after it came from the cow. ... read more
Bucharest - Days 13-14
Published: August 28th 2011Europe » Romania » Muntenia » Bucharest » Centru Civic
August 17th 2011
I arrived in Bucharest early in the evening so I went out for a couple of drinks and a meal before heading back to the hostel. I was surprised to find out that when I got back to there a party going on in its grounds. From what I could gather (as I had myself had a few drinks by then) it was a France appreciation society and they had invited lots of French expats for the evening. They didn't mind me gatecrashing!! I spent the following day wandering around Bucharest, it has the second largest building in the world (behind the Pentagon) - the palace of the parliament. It measures 270 m (890 ft) by 240 m (790 ft), 86 m (282 ft) high, and 92 m (302 ft) underground. It has 1,100 rooms, 2 ... read more
August 15th 2011
Brasov is located in virtually the centre of Romania, 176km north of Bucharest. The city is in Transylvania and surrounded by the Carpathian mountains and as a result it provides a mix of amazing mountain scenery and German Medieval history in the old town. Brasov is the most visited town in Transylvania and it was packed when I was there in August, as a result it is a little more expensive than other cities but compared to most of Europe it was a bit cheaper. The following day I decided to climb the 900 metre Tampa mountain that offers great views over Brasov. At the top you can stand beside the Hollywoodesque Brasov sign that is lit up at night. Brasov has a huge Black Church next to the town square and from there the pedestrianised ... read more
August 1st 2011
I went up to the north of Romania to see the famous painted monasteries. I was lucky enough to run into the nicest family who invited me to tag along with them to see the monasteries, saving me some very long walks and/or taxi fares. Back in Bucharest, I visited the outdoor village museum which is located right on a lake. It has buildings and other structures (like a windmill and waterwheel) from all over Romania. There are some beautiful parts of this city among the concrete slabs. I also saw for the first time here Hello Kitty toilet paper in the Carrefour hypermart. How cute! ... read more
