Blogs from Brasov, Brasov, Transilvania, Romania, Europe - page 4

So Rachel and I got up at 5:45am to head to Heathrow airport for our 820am flight. Had breakfast at the airport and then got served the same breakfast on the flight, which Rachel woke me up for so I started the trip grumpy. No problems at immigration both entering on our NZ passports - no need for a visa Now we wanted to go to Brasov. So we asked at information but because my Romanian accent is shit they didn't know where we wanted to go (its pronounced Brashov sort of) so they said get the bus downstairs to the main train station. We bought tickets (around 30 Lie each) and the driver kindly helped us validated them. Which was fortunate because 3 stops later a ticket inspector got on. We were fine but there ... read more

Romania was very pretty. I went skiing for the first time and fell a little. We also went on tubes. It was very fun. We also went to Dracula's fake castle. It was very nice. We also went into a palace. I saw cute dogs and cats at the hostel and it was very fun. - Sofia ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ After flight from Miami to NYC, a 1/2 day in NYC spent with Lady Liberty, overnight flight to London and then another plane and we finally arrived in Bucharest, Romania. We immediately got our rental car and drove 3+ hours to Brasov. While the first part of the drive was boring, we then passed through cool mountains and SNOW!! I was so excited. When we arrived at the Rolling Stone Hostel daddy was a bit tired, but I ... read more

After crossing the busy Romanian border crossing, (busy for lorries - not for us fortunately ) we headed north for a stopover in Romania’s Capital Bucharest. The guide books didn’t say too much to write home about Bucharest but we had to go through it anyway, so seemed sensible to stop. Bucharest is a clash of old and new. Ceauşescu the last communist dictator, raised a lot of Bucharest to the ground, to not only build his Parisian type boulevards, but also the second largest building in the world, the Parliament building with its 6000 rooms. They don’t make it easy for tourists with no information at bus stops where buses go and the Underground stations that don’t have maps where the trains go, apparently they don’t go anywhere they were only designed to take workers ... read more

A day with no Florin means we got to sleep late. Still up by 8:30am, and hit the road at 10am. I did not do any yoga this day. The plan was to take a cab to St. Bartholomew's church, then walk to the nearby bus station to catch the number 20 bus to Poina Brasov. We found a very friendly cab driver who spoke English. He said he would wait for us while we were at the church, then would take us to Poina Brasov for 30 lei. We decided to take him up on that plan. No sign of life at the cable car, so we thought our plan was not going to work out. Enjoyed a very tasty lunch on a deck at the base of the ski slopes, gorgeous views. Noticed a ... read more

I slept very well; woke up a few times, but only enough to check the time then right back to sleep. I got up at 7:00 and did some yoga in my room; room is a bit cramped for the yoga mat, but workable. Leslie went to the supermarket, I wrote for a bit (yesterday's journal entry), and Linda and Carrie followed their usual morning travel routine; now that it is 9am, it is time to head out for another Brasov day! We walked to the old town, about a ½ hour walk --- it was already getting very warm even though it was still so early. None of us expected it to be so warm on this trip; beginning to realize I won't need those long-sleeve shirts and sweatshirts. The sun is strong; the temperature ... read more