Advertisement
Published: July 20th 2010
Streets of Sibiu
HDR style. This is the kind of photo I was hoping to make on this trip - old streets, colorful buildings, interesting composition.So Evi and I flew from Vienna to Bucharest, spent only one night in Bucharest, then took the 2 hour train (which took 3 hours) to the beautiful city of Brasov, spent 2 lovely days there walking through the old and interesting streets. We climbed the hill above the city to see the sights, and watched the World Cup final game being televised in numerous outdoor cafes.
Then we took the 2 hour train (which took 3 hours) up to the mysterious medieval walled town (Unesco World Heritage Sight) of Sighisoara (home of Vlad the Impaler) for 3 nights, where we felt like we had gone back in time about 500 years. From there we took a side trip to Sibiu, which had been designated a European Capital of Culture for the year 2007 because of its impressive architecture, still intact, upgraded after the fall of Communism.
After all this, we took the 5 hour train (which took 7 hours) back to Bucharest, a beautiful large city known as the Paris of the East, because of its impressive, sophisticated, and elegant large buildings (including the Parliament building, 2nd largest in the world after the Pentagon).
Now about Dracula.
Dracula atmosphere
This photo is the closest I could come to creating the atmosphere of Dracula. This is what Wikipedia says: The name Dracula was the family name of the descendants of Vlad II of Wallachia, who took the name "Dracul" after being invested in the Order of the Dragon in 1431. In the Romanian language, the word dracul can mean either "the dragon" or, especially in the present day, "the devil."
As far as I can tell, there is no real connection between the fictional Dracula and Vlad Tepes, the Impaler, known as one of the most notorious rulers in history. The Romanians consider him a hero, as he fought against the Turks. He was so ruthless and bloody that Bram Stoker used him as the inspiration for the Dracula stories, although Stoker never traveled from his home in Ireland to Transylvania, where he based the stories. Frankly we expected Transylvania to be much more mysterious and foreboding than the reality displayed by its beautiful scenery and comfortable towns. However Romania cashes in on the Dracula connection - they must get millions of dollars each year from tourists visiting Dracula's various castles and homes.
Now about Michael Jackson, he was always a hero to the Romanians, and his music is constantly playing on
Center of Brasov
View from the nearby mountain. the television and videos in that country. In fact, sitting in the lobby of a Bucharest hotel we saw, playing on the big screen TV, a video of the Jackson five on the Ed Sullivan show. Small world!
Anyway, I took a lot of photos, so here are some of them. The most colorful ones are HDR style, my newest hobby. Enjoy! Howie R.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.26s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 11; qc: 75; dbt: 0.1028s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
G-$
non-member comment
Y'all don't bucha-rest do you?
Very classy. HDR shots are great (a little trippy sometimes), and the panoramas are AWESOME. Looks like a fun time.