March 24th-27th-Romania

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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 1999 took place to get rid of (and eventually kill on Christmas day) the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife. There was a park nearby which I spent drinking coffee and people watching as it was an awesome day outside.

I took a very slow train to Brasov (3 hours for 140km) and checked into the hostel, where I met 3 Kiwis from London, a couple of Aussies travelling around for a few months, a Norwegian, a couple of Spaniards and a Brit teaching in Switzerland. We decided to go out for the night as we had a good crowd and most of us were leaving the next day. We started at a bar for a couple of drinks then on to a restaurant which served local food and wine glasses with no bottoms so you have to drink up quick! We then went on to Club Casual, a place recommended by the hostel. We were all pretty merry by then, and convinced the cab driver to stay rather than make a night’s earnings. All of us almost got it, the Norwegian grabbed the metal detector and the bouncer (who wasn’t someone you’d want to mess with) said “you too drunk to come in” so he had to go home. We got in and after convincing the hostesses we were important people we got a table and a couple of drinks (at least that’s what I thought happened). It ended up being a good night out mingling with the locals.

The next day the people who didn’t go on the tour the day before went today, which was about 5 of us. It included the main sites of Brasov, the summer residence of King Carol 1, Rasnov Fortress, and of course Dracula’s castle. Dracula’s castle wasn’t spectacular (there so much fact/fiction about it that you don’t know what is true and what isn’t) but it fulfilled my boyhood dream so I was still pretty excited to go. King Carol’s house was amazing and very detailed, but the fortress was a bit of a letdown compared to the others I’ve seen on my trip. We got back to the hostel and chilled for a bit, I grabbed some dinner and afterwards went to have a quick snooze but ended up having a 12 hour sleep, which I guess I needed.

In the morning I said goodbye to everyone and took a train to Sibiu, which was the cultural capital of Europe in 2007 (pretty random place if you ask me). Again I took in the sites for most of the day and went back to the hostel and had an early night as I was taking an 8am train to Budapest the next day. I knew about the time change and got everything ready for it, set my alarm from my phone and turned the time back just in case it wasn’t. The alarm went off and saw it was 6:30 so I had another 45 minutes to sleep as my watch said the time was 7:30. For some reason in my waking haze I thought I’d set my watch back an hour! So the next time I woke up it was 8:30 so I missed my train. So now instead of a 7 hour train ride getting in at 5pm I know get in at 5:30am the next morning after a 4 hour train ride backwards then a 13 hour night train which is a complete bust but there’s nothing you can do about it. One less day in Hungary I suppose!

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Comments

[Simion Alb]

Thank you for your feedback
Hello Sam, Thank you for your feedback regarding you recent visit to Romania. I hope that you have enjoyed your short stay in my country. Feel free to contact me if you have additional feedback or if you would like to make us suggestions on how to make Bucharest a better place to visit. Enjoy your travels! Simion Alb Romanian Tourist Office - New York www.RomaniaTourism.com