Romania | tripacross

Her View

Romania - Caywood's perspective

Brasov/ Transylvania

One of the things I regret in planning our trip so far: only spending a day in Transylvania. We planned to arrive at 9:30am after a night train from Budapest, and to depart that evening at 8:45pm on an overnight train to Sofia. What we didn’t realize was that we lost an hour on the train there, so we really were arriving at 10:30am. After we figured out the ticket reservation to leave that evening and get some local currency, it was after 11. Our first stop was the biggest one, an hour bus ride to Bran to see Vllad The Impaler’s Castle. Bran Castle, about an hour away from Brasov, was the person and castle that inspired the story of Dracula the Vampire. The castle was beautiful inside and out, and it was neat to read the stories inside of who lived in the castle and learn more about the inspiration for Dracula. Oh, and there was snow on the ground outside!!! We didn’t expect this so I was really excited. Normal admission was about 30 lei (which was a little over $7), but we got to pay student price which was only $2.75. We met a really nice fellow traveler Karen from Australia and we did the tour of the castle with her. It was her first time ever seeing snow, so I also let her throw a snowball at me :)

After the castle, we had about an hour and twenty minute bus ride back into the city center of Brasov, in which our bus did not come resulting in an hour delay. After sitting in the cold for about an hour, we hopped a different bus and headed to the Tampa mountain. Fun fact: Brasov has a sign on a mountain just like the Hollywood. It’s even the same white font for the letters. We snapped a few photos of that and took a walk up the mountain through some beautiful forest past two ice skating rinks, and along the Tampa Promenade of ruins from the Medieval city. We walked up to a tram that takes you to the top of the Tampa mountain for a great view, but unfortunately arrived just as they were closing and not sending any more trams up. Darn you, time change! Also on the way to the tram we walked through Strada Sforii, the narrowest street in Europe at 1.3 meters wide.

After this, we walked through Town Hall Square, which was the current home to a beautiful Christmas tree and their Christmas market. We also walked past the Black Church, the most famous church in Brasov and home to the largest church bell in Romania (which weights 7 tons). It was time for an early dinner around 5:30 since we didn’t have lunch, so Feliks, Karen, and I headed to Taverna Sarbului for some local Romanian food. Since we are all travelers and on a budget we didn’t get one of the fancy traditional meals, but rather got a few different small plate items. Our dinner consisted of seriously some of the best food I’ve ever had: fried cabbage, pork schnitzel, vegetable cream soup, mashed potatoes, warm bread straight from the oven, and local beer and wine. Such simple food but so delicious. I’m full all over again just thinking about it.

Back to my first point, I wish we could have stayed in Transylvania longer. Even just a day would have given us more time to see quite a few things that we did not have time for. We also met a really nice lady on the way back to the train station who told us that Brasov has an amazing ski resort, and so much else to offer that we weren’t able to see. Then once we got on the train to leave Romania and enter Bulgaria, we met a very nice young man who told us about his city of Brasov and a lot that the country has to offer. Only nice people here, seriously. This is definitely a place that both of us want to come back to one day. Beautiful city, unique architecture, nice people. A+.

His View

Romania - Feliks' perspective

Brasov/ Translyvania

A small city in Romania and our only stop in this country. Our main reason for stopping was that Brasov is in the Transylvania area and this is where Dracula was “born.” We had planned to do everything in one day so that's all the time we had.

As soon as we arrived, we hopped on a bus and headed for Bran. A castle was waiting there, the castle of Dracula. Before I get to that part, I have to comment on the Brasov train station. If you ever visit, do not judge the city by the train station condition as you will get the wrong impression.

It was a quick ride on the city bus to another station where we caught a coach bus out to the castle. The 45 minute ride was one of the best bus rides yet. No, it was not comfortable, it was the view of the country side. Amazing!

This was not our first castle, I think number 3 or 4 at least. We’ve seen some really big castles on top pf hills that look like they are from Game of Thrones. Some castles we’ve seen, I would not call castles. This was a castle. It wasn’t very big but big enough to be called a castle. It was on a hill, somewhat surrounded by woods. It had all the features that you would expect from a castle but it wasn't overbearing. Inside was just as you would expect: small doors and small corridors, wooden doors with lots of iron accents. It was really cool. The best part was reading about the people that lived there, including the guy that Dracula was based on, Vlad the Impaler. This dude apparently had a thing for violence, and he looked like it too. I would really recommend checking this place out. It was definitely worth the trip.

Just outside the castle walls were some tourist shops, street food, and some stray dogs. After a short look, we headed back to Brasov. We got really lucky and found some English speaking locals that directed us all the way back to city center. They were even kind enough to give us a small tour of the city. We saw the Christmas market, the narrowest street in Europe, and walked all the way to the tram that takes you to the hill with their version of the Hollywood sign. Unfortunately the tram was just closing so we didn’t get to go up the hill.

It was about dinner time so we found a nice little pub to get some grub. Caywood had some veggie soup and I the lemon schnitzel, we got a side of mashed potatoes and fried cabbage. Everything was delicious but the mashed potatoes were unforgettable.

Overall, again, if you visit and come in by train, don’t worry, the city is awesome. I really wish that we had another day in Brasov. It was a small town but it seemed like a really good place to kick your feet up and relax. We also heard that a lot of Europeans come here for the skiing. All the people we met were really nice, even the bus driver went out of his way to make sure we got off at the right stop. Amazing city and I would definitely return for more.

Snowman outside Bran Castle	Outside Bran Castle
Brasov city center	Brasov, smallest street in Europe
Brasov, Tampa Mountain	Brasov, Black Church
Brasov, Tampa Promenade of ruins	Brasov, Christmas tree
Traditional Romanian food