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

So I got the overnight train from Budapest to Sighisoara which was possibly the most terrifying experience of my life. The guards spoke no English and the departure boards made absolutely no sense...in the end it was simply a case of get on and hope. Luckily I managed to get on the right train, the right carriage and the right cabin (though someone had already stolen my bed) and the night went ok until we were first woken up by the Hungarian border patrol to check passports at about 2.30 am and then about an hour later by the Romanian border patrol. No why anyone would want to smuggle themselves into Romania is beyond me but the fact that they couldn't just both plan to do it at the same time and not keep waking us ... read more

Today we visited Sighisoara, home of Dracula, a Romanian folk hero. NOT the Disney Dracula! The castle dates back to the middle ages, although the settlement is probably older. Dracula pushed back the Turks who continually invaded Romania. We went there via train; a forty minute ride. Today was Peter's birthday, although we celebrated last night already with Peter, Hailey, Gerrit, Jane, Ed and I while the young people were at the youth group in Lunca. Tonight we had children's ministry in Cenade again. They are meeting with about twenty-five kids in a tiny home made out of cow dung and mud. Tomorrow we'll be at the Center of Hope in the morning and then going to church in Lunca in the afternoon. On Monday we hope to visit Copsa Mica, the polluted city. Although we ... read more

SIGHISOARA - TRANSILVANYA Aca nacio realmente Vlad Tepes AKA - "DRACULA". Sighisoara esta como a 4 horas de Bucharest tomando el tren rapido pero para ahorrarme unos pesos tome el tren lento y dure como 6 horas para regresar luego a Bucharest hehehehe....Los trenes si son un poco caros, este cuesta aproximadamente 40 LEI = $16 una sola via y el rapido 55 LEI. El pueblo medieval de Sighisoara es super pintoresco y tiene la particularidad que todas sus casas estan pintadas con diferentes colores como lo pueden ver en las fotos. Las colonias Saxons se establecieron en este pueblo en el siglo 12 para convertirlo en en una ciudad de comercio y artesanias, actualmente habitan menos de 500 Alemanes en el pueblo. De la estacion del tren me fui directo caminando al mercado y la ... read more

Read this article on Roadjunky at http://www.roadjunky.com/article/1771/halloween-in-transylvania-bring-your-own-blood The Romanians just don’t know how to build a Dracula theme park. Communism took all the initiative out of them. I hurried along the dusty, cobbled streets of Sighisoara, trying to find my way back to the empty hotel near the train tracks. Around every corner, I had to dodge open graves and the leers from men standing inside them with shovels. The story ran through my mind about a 15th century prince who was captured by Vlad Tepes not far from here and forced to read his own funeral oration as he knelt before an open grave. It was dusk, last Halloween day. I had expected to arrive in town alongside thousands of tourists on a pilgrimage because apart from a little town in Mexico, where pumpkins are ... read more

Vlad Tepes Drakula iz dinastije Basaraba, rodjen je u Sigisoari - Transilvanija 1431. godine. Bio je vladar Vlaske oblasti u Rumuniji. Po rodjenju prorocice su predvidele da ce Vlad biti pravedan, ali surov vladar i da ce sve svoje protivnike nabijati na kolac, zbog cega je i dobio ime Cepes (Tepes), sto na Madjarskom znaci kolac. Naziv 'Drakula' je nasledio od viteske titule svoga oca. Zapravo, negov otac Vlad je pripadao viteskom redu Dragon. Kada se vratio sa viteskom titulom i zastavom u Rumuniju, neki grlati Rumun pogresno procitao Dragon i nazvao ga Drakul, sto se Vladu svidelo i to je zadrzao. Tako se to prenelo i na njegovog sina, samo je pridodato i slovo 'a', te je nasledio Drakula. Kada je dosao na vlast Vlad je bio surov vladar, pa su se u nekim izvestajima ... read more