Blogs from Transilvania, Romania, Europe - page 16

We went into Vlad Tepes house where he was born and is now a restaurant. We ate there. We went up a bell tower and I found my name. - Sofia On the way to our next destination, Sighisoara, we stopped by 2 small towns on the way to our next stop Sighisoara. The towns were Prejmer and Harman and both had really cool fortified churches. These were Saxon churches that were surrounded by huge walls to protect them. They were more like fortresses. Really cool looking. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ It was now time to go to Sighisoara, the birth place of Vlad Tepes aka "Dracula". This was another medieval town. We stayed right in the center of the old town at Burg Hostel. We had planned to stay 2 nights here, but daddy heard there were a ... read more

The historical figure Vlad the Impaler was a prince from Wallachia in the 15th century, and gained a reputation as the stuff of nightmares for his hideous method of executions. He was the inspiration for Bram Stoker's famous novel Dracula set in Transylvania. The book features terrifying creatures of the night, and continues to fascinate readers and moviegoers all over the world. In fact, the very thought of a vampire swooping down to sink their fangs into the tender skin of my neck leaves me close to a state of panic. So it was with some degree of trepidation that our hostel group headed out to Transylvania, a mere two and a half hours on the train from Bucharest. We drew some comfort from the fact we were travelling during the day, but a fierce snowstorm ... read more

If you never watched Sesame street then you wont understand the title. Its Count Dracula on Sesame Street and he counts like that. It made me laugh when I wrote it so thats all that matters. Its VAMPIRE day... little cloudy but no rain...been looking forward to this day trip for a while now. Woke up ready to go.. grabbed food and caught the bus to Bran Castle known more for Dracula's Castle. It is situated in the city of Bran about 45 min bus ride from Brasov. Dracula is based on Prince Vlad Tepes also known as Vlad the Impaler. (Prince of Wallachia) His fathers nickname was Dracul and traded is two sons one being Vlad to the Ottoman Turks. Vlad was always beaten and abused since he was apparently a stubborn child. Then finally ... 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

Fuel in Satu Mare is less expensive than in Hungary. It costs us $1.50 per litre versus $2.00 per litre. Prior to leaving for Porumbesti the last known home of my fathers family we paid our speeding ticket. Ervin our former best server and now tour guide/translator takes us to a municipal office to pay the fine. Much discussion ensues with the policeman at the door and he wants to see my passport - get used to it. if travelling in Europe passport is a necessity for everything. Keep it handy and on your person always. We had to prove to the police it was paid and next took the receipt to the police station. After 90 minutes all was well and we headed on the road to Porumbesti. A vignette or pass for the autostrada ... read more