Blogs from Mures, Transilvania, Romania, Europe - page 3

Sighisoara and Viscri Day 5-6 (June 11-12) Train travel to Sighisoara which is a fortified town in Transylvania. Claim to fame being Dracula’s birthplace (but Vlad didn’t live here long). There was an a museum with old artefacts, especially Saxon which this area still holds a sizable population of. The museum was in a tower, and there was a great view over the area from the top, as well as being able to look at the clock mechanisms. We were glad to be sheltering here from the storm which had come over quickly. As it abated we headed up the covered stairway built to allow children to get to school out of the rain and walked around the local church. There were lovely little square where we had dinner. The following day we were collected by ... read more

It's finally that time of the year... = Yeah, yeah, I know not everybody gets into the Christmas & New Year spirit! So? What do I know? 1st of December it's always a great day for 2 reasons: - begining of winter holidays (for those who love snow, the sledges, traffic jams and so on) - and due to the fact that on 1st December we celebrate Romania's National Day (actually this year we are celebrating 90 years since the great union in Alba Iulia) ... as you guessed that means free day/no work and fortunately this year 1st of December was in a Monday = 3 days off work. During this weekend we also had elections (on Sunday - 30 November) and in my oppinion who ever thought of setting the election day then either ... read more

Okay so the last time we talked we were about to head to Romania on an overnight train. We boarded the train in Belgrade, only to be told by the conductor that there was an error with our ticket we had purchased the day before. We went to the desk and sorted it out. It turns out the error was that the date had been written as 1.11.08 instead of 11.1.08. Seriously. Big f**king deal. With that fixed we boarded the train and our compartment was next to two Aussie girls we had befriended back at our hostel. It is important to note that this train was sketchy..... the seats were gross, the washroom was grosser (the toilet flushed right onto the tracks, which amused TJ endlessly) and the lights were dim. As soon as we ... read more

Sighisoara Wednesday 13th February 2008 One week into our adventure and we’d already travelled through Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Romania. Our second day in Sighisoara was rather quiet... well some of it. We spent the morning exploring the town, seeking out medieval watchtowers and churches. Rob and I posed for a photograph outside Vlad’s house and visited an underground internet café, whilst John caught up on some much needed sleep. For tea, we ate in the Casa Vlad Dracul Restaurant, conveniently located within Vlad the Impaler’s house. I had my first experience of frog’s legs, and the tomato soup was to die for! Little did we know at this point that within a matter of hours we’d be extraordinarily drunk, singing, dancing, and talking absolute rubbish with a group of British teachers. Jo Pub is ... read more

26-08-08 Vlad’s House has chocolate cake We are in Sighisoara at present, we travelled across the north of Romania yesterday to arrive here late last night. It was a 12 hr day on the bike (for only 400 miles!), we saw some incredible winding roads, little villages, lots more horse power on the roads and lots of traffic. Back on to the subject of driving, Romania has another style all together, rules are guidelines, and guidelines only suggestions. They don’t see many motorcycles on the road here - mainly scooters and bicycles, from what I can make out a motorcycle is generally viewed as a bicycle so we were able to cut up past stationary traffic in cycle lanes with the encouragement of the locals - who where trying to fit small cars along the lanes ... read more