Welcome to the home of Dracula

Before we could make it to the border between Turkey and Bulgaria, we had our first ever flat tire on a highway 100km behind Istanbul.

Fortunately, we weren`t going more than 100km/h at the time. My human, although she had no idea what was producing such a weird noise and a drastically altered driving experience, reacted calmly and pulled over on the shoulder right away.

Having been a member of the ADAC, the German road side assistance, since we started this little adventure five years ago, we called their service number and after about half an hour a service man pulled in beside us, pumped up the tire to see where the leak was, fixed it with some kind of small rubber tube thing, pumped it up again and that was that.

We were on our way again!

The last night in Turkey

The crossing into Bulgaria was quick, but there is a mandatory disinfection of all cars, which you obviously pay for.

Three hours later we were at the crossing into Romania.
There were no checkpoints at all for passport control and customs, only a little booth to pay the toll for the bridge across the Danube.

Let the brutalist building style begin!

And so, we arrived in Romania.
The acquisition of a SIM card was easy and cheap, and my human had a good time shopping at Kaufland, finding some familiar items she had missed in the past weeks in Turkey, namely bacon and salami!

After a first quiet night next to a little stream, we moved towards Bucharest.
Not to repeat the mistake we made in Ankara, though, we parked waaay outside at the end of a tram line, which then took my human into the city.

Although, it has to be said, Rumanians actually respect road signs, traffic lights and even zebra crossings. Most of the time, anyways.

Bucharest is the capital of Romania and with 1,8 million people the 8th most-populous city in the European Union.
The language is a wild mix of Latin (ora for hour), French (mersi for thank you and salut for hi), Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish and German (snitel for Schnitzel and bere for beer).

Stefan was the guide for the free walking tour and he was amazing! 
Walking around the old town, down Victory Avenue, past a few pretty churches, he managed to convey some interesting stories and transmit a good feeling for the city.



Stavropoleos, the oldest church in the city











Carturesti Carusel, one of the prettiest bookshops ever!


Justice Palace

Palace of Parliament, the 3rd largest administrative building in the world and with 4,1 million tonnes the heaviest in the world, 1100 rooms



What do you call this style?




Of course, Dracula was one of the main topics.
The story by Bram Stoker is obviously fiction, but it is based on a real character, Vlad Tepes, also known as Vlad the Impaler. Which already tells you a lot about the man.

He lived in the 15th Century and became know as Vlad Dracul after taking over power from his father and adopting his banner, which had a three-headed dragon on it. Dracul translates to dragon and is also used in modern day language for devil. 

He wasn´t really a diplomatic genius, so to seize power over new lands and riches, he invited all the noblemen of an area to a big feast and then systematically impaled them.
This happened more than once over the years, but the nobles didn`t seem to catch on.

Stefan said to proceed with caution if a Romanian invites you to a party!

The fact that beer is a favorite here these days is mainly due to one restaurant. When it opened, it gave 10 free beers to every student who had proof of 10 points in an exam. 
Suddenly, beer was very popular, but so was studying. A win win situation.

One of the most brilliant marketing strategies ever!

From Bucharest we drove north-west to the small mountain town of Sinaia.
Here stands one of the castles Romania is famous for, Castelul Peles.
It was built in the neo-renaissance style in the late 19th Century for King Carol I.

The fact that it might remind you of alpine country chic is due to its German architect, Johannes Schultz.

Today it houses a museum and can be visited from Wednesday to Sunday. 
When were we there? Monday and Tuesday.

Peles Castel


Pelisor Castle, built for King Carol`s nephew and heir, the future King Ferdinand

Sinaia


Sinaia is also one of the gateways into the Bucegi National Park, which was established in 2003.
Its main attractions are the large number of bears that live here and the Sphinx and Babele, conglomerate rocks carved by wind erosion.

On a 22km hike, my human went to see those rocks and hopefully, or not, some bears as well. 
It`s a negative on the bears and also a negative on the Sphinx, if you take the name too literally. There were rocks, though.



If you can see the Sphinx, you might want to see a doctor!


Carmelo is also wondering...


Now we were moving into Transylvania, home to Count Dracula.

Our first stop in this region was Brasov, or Kronstadt, the 6th largest city in the country, home to some 250.000 people.

Historically, the city was the center of Burzenland, once dominated by the Siebenbürger Sachsen, and a significant commercial hub on the trade roads between Austria and Turkey.

Brasov, because of its central location in the country, is a favorite with tourist who want to explore Rumania.
The city sees the most tourist arrivals after Bucharest.

Against the sun, sorry! See the Hollywood style sign up on the hill to the right?


The central square

                                                      Biserica Neagra, Black Church

One of the left over town gates

Saint Nicholas Church, one of the oldest orthodox churches in the country

View from Tampa Hill, 300m above the city, just above the Brasov sign you saw on the other photo

The central square with the Black Church to the left


Following a local`s recommendation, my human went for dinner at a traditional restaurant frequented by real people, rather than tourist.
She had a sour chicken soup, (note: in Rumania, everything is better with sour creme!) and pickled cabbage leaves filled with rice and minced meat, served with a healthy portion of polenta and some smoked pork.
Not for the faint of heart, but hearty and tasty.



























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