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Published: September 20th 2008
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Our smugness at our decision to come to Eastern Europe in September (less crowds, cheaper prices, still decent weather) came to an abrupt end when the rains started. Our first rain day was the one I mentioned in the last blog, in Belgrade. The temperature went from really quite hot to freezing cold overnight, and the clouds gathered and poured rain all day. Since then it has continued in the same way.
Our overnight train pulled into Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria at 9am, and we instantly hopped a bus to Veliko Tarnovo three hours away. It didn't live up to expectations as the fortress we had read about sounded great but the guidebook forgot to mention one slight detail: it was in ruins! After Croatia and Montenegro it just couldn't compare. We did find an excellent but cheap restaurant in which to celebrate our wedding anniversary though.
Next stop was Bucharest, capital of Romania. Again, it didn't really impress us as it was just a big city AND it was
still raining! Even the second largest building in the world (after the US Pentagon) failed miserably to impress. The guided tour gave some more insight, revealing the emormous
ego of Nicolae Ceausescu. After a morning of exploring, we packed up our things and headed into Transylvania, home of the infamous Count Dracula. Instantly, we could tell we were going to like Brasov town. It was cute and quaint and clean, a well-needed change from the recent cities.
Unfortunately, our first day was rainy all day. We made breakfast in the hostel but, due to the absence of a toaster, took a lesson we learned in Africa and toasted the bread by frying it in a dry frying pan. It actually works quite well and is much quicker than a conventional toaster, just don't try it anywhere with a smoke alarm! For most of the day we just hung around town and went shopping for flip flops for me. Mine had just broken, and I hate to be without them, even if it is raining! The problem is, we are miles from the beach and it is coming into winter - not optimal flip flop shopping conditions! I managed to find an OK pair, which was a good job as we wore flip flops the next day to explore Bran Castle (Dracula's Castle) due to the fact that
our shoes were still soaking wet. We were the only ones I saw in flip flops all day and we got some strange looks! I think we had frostbitten toes by the end of the day!
Although touted as Dracula's Castle, Dracula himself only really stayed in the castle for a few nights. The "real" Dracula Castle is way up in the mountains, unreachable by public transport. When they say Dracula, they are actually referring to Vlad Tepes, otherwise known as "Vlad the Impaler" for his habit of impaling Turks on a stake from the rectum through to their armpits - nice guy! Bram Stoker based his scary character on this equally scary real man. On the way back, we jumped off the bus at Rasnov to see the ruined 13th century fortress. It looked as if they were trying to restore it, but about 50% is still in ruins.
Next on the Transylvania circuit was Sighisoara, birthplace of Dracula/Vlad. It was a really cute little walled town. Dracula's childhood home is now an over-priced restaurant. We stopped by to take a look but didn't stop to eat. The nicest part of town was the clock tower with
it's fancy chiming cuckoo-style clock.
Last stop in Romania was Peles Castle in Sinaia. It was raining (yet again!) as we walked there from the train station but we were lucky to get straight onto a tour. It was very impressive inside, with intricate wood carvings and lots of outrageous splendour.
It's been a week since we saw the sun, so we plan to head south pretty soon in order to chase some warmth at least...we're hoping!
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Patricia Somewhere
Patricia MC
hey guys
Super cold and you guys are wearing sandals!!!!! A tropical Brazilian can't comprehend that. Love your blogs as always. Keep in touch. Patricia