Romania: vampires, castles and bears! Oh my!

After two months of hotel (and country) hopping we were looking forward to finally settling into some longer term accommodation again to live a “normal life”. Our chosen location was Bucharest, in part, due to the lower cost of living and because it is not part of the Schengen zone, where there is a 90 day limit for travel without a visa. Dylan was particularly relieved to get back into a routine as the travel was starting to exhaust him and keeping on top of work was a real struggle. And I had a 7,000 word research essay to write. So we really needed to be settled for a while. Bucharest is the capital of the Eastern European country of Romania. It was, until recently, communist and is now a member of the EU, but still with distinct signs of its communist history.

On our second weekend we went to Transylvania, which is the historical region of Romania that is surrounded by the Carpathian mountains. It’s a few hours drive from Bucharest so we hired a car and stayed in an Airbnb in the main town, Brasov, for two nights. On the way to Brasov on the Friday we stopped at Peleș castle. It’s a Neo-Renaissance castle that was completed in 1914, so it is not particularly old, but it is lavishly furnished and intricately decorated in unique styles in each room. In particular, the wooden carvings throughout the castle are exquisite.

The castle has one of the finest collections of art in Eastern and Central Europe, consisting of statues, paintings, furniture, arms and armour, gold, silver, stained glass, ivory, fine china, tapestries, and murano glass. The collection of arms and armour has over 4,000 pieces and is considered to be one of Europe’s finest collection of hunting and war implements, covering more than four centuries of history from the 14th to the 19th century. After our visit we finished the drive to Brașov. It was a very scenic drive, winding through the mountains and passing through small Romanian villages.

That night we went for dinner at a traditional Romanian restaurant that our Airbnb host recommended for us. Traditional Romanian food is some form of meat served with potato or polenta — the cuts of meat can be very nice, but it tends to be the same type of thing at every restaurant. It’s not particularly exciting and there are very few vegetables in sight. The vegetarians would struggle. But our meals were tasty.

I had a glass of red wine and Dylan had 50mL of palinka, which is the traditional Romanian spirit. It’s a fruit brandy that derives from the Hungarian palinka invented in the Middle Ages and is very strong. Quite frankly, it’s not enjoyable at all.

On the Saturday we drove to the town of Sighișoara, which is famous for its well-preserved walled town that is a UNESCO world heritage site. It has cobblestoned streets that are surrounded by coloured houses that are hundreds of years old. It is very picturesque. We had lunch here — again, the classic meat and potato combination.

On the way back to Brasov we decided to take the other main route for a change in scenery, without realising that this road was unsealed. It was a fairly bumpy, slow drive back along this dirt track, but we got to drive through lots of small Romanian villages and pass many horse and carts. It is incredible that outside of the cities most people are still using a traditional wooden cart pulled by horse. Sometimes the carts would be filled with hay and other times people. We didn’t see any gypsy caravans.

That evening we had booked a small group tour to see wild brown bears. The brown bears found in the Carpathian mountains is the largest population of brown bears in Europe. There is an area of the forest that has been set up as a reserve by a NGO, so it is in this area that they take you to see the bears. We drove about 45 minutes out of Brasov and into the forest and then walked through the forest for about 15 minutes to a small wooden cabin they had set up, which had a view of a small clearing in the woods below. Once inside we didn’t have to wait long until our first bear appeared.

We sat in silence for about an hour watching them come and go. It was incredible. There was a pig carcass from the day before which they returned to for good measure. Every now and then the loud crunching of teeth through bone would break the silence of the otherwise quiet forest. As the sun began to set it was time to leave the viewing hut and head back to the car. As we walked through the darkening forest, we could hear the crunching of branches around us. It was a bit disconcerting to know that there were a number of large brown bears in the trees directly around us. The guide just said, ‘stay close and if a bear comes, don’t run’.

That evening we had a nice meal at an Italian restaurant to escape the meat and potato affair. We had the most delicious mushroom bruschetta. The next day we checked out of our Airbnb and went to Bran castle.

It is commonly referred to as the home of Bram Stocker’s character, Dracula, however there is no evidence that the author knew anything about this castle. Further, the castle has only tangential links to Vlad the Impaler (Vlad Dracula), who was the tyrant ruler in the mid-1400s, and the inspiration for the Dracula character. Construction of the castle was completed in 1388, although it has been repaired many times since following various battles and sieges throughout its history. We were able to walk around inside — up winding stone staircases, through narrow corridors and secret passageways. It was like stepping back in time.

After our visit we started the drive home, which turned out to be a nightmare. For a large portion, it is mostly a single lane road until the outskirts of Bucharest, and the traffic was terrible. We barely moved for hours. On the upside, we used the time to talk to Dylan’s parents. Once we got closer to the city, the traffic moved, but it was worse in a different kind of way. The driving in Romania is terrifying. They drive at really high speeds, overtake on dual carriageways where there is no real gap, and there’s a lot of honking and generally aggressive behaviour. When we reached the city, the traffic was really bad, it was dark and there was a lot of unfamiliar intersections and road rules. Plus, I was driving on the right side of the road in a manual, which I haven’t driven for years. I copped a lot of abuse from the other drivers. By the time we reached the hire car place I was exhausted from driving all day and my nerves were shot. I had a meltdown just trying to park the car in the car park. I refused to drive again in Romania.

During one of our weekends in Bucharest we went to Dimitrie Gusti, which is the National Village Museum. It is an ethnographic museum devoted to Romanian village life, displaying hundreds of peasant farms & homes from Romania’s history in a large outdoor park.

They are real structures that have been moved from various places across the country to be located in the museum and many are hundreds of years old. It’s such a unique concept for a museum, I’m not sure if there would be something similar anywhere else in the world. It was really nice to explore the history of Romania in this park on a sunny day.

But our favourite experience while we were in Bucharest was going to Therme, the largest wellness centre in Europe. It has an indoor temperature of 30C and a water temperature of 33C, every month of the year. The thermal water makes its way from deep underground to supply 9 pools, 6 saunas, 4 wet saunas and 16 water slides. Inside, it has an incredibly beautiful setup, with palm trees all over the place, and also contains the largest botanical garden in Romania. There are three different levels, with the price increasing for access to each. We paid to access all three — the first is where all the slides are. We spent about an hour there trying all the slides. The second level has an enormous pool with a swim up bar. And the third level gives you access to all of the saunas, as well as a more intimate pool with a swim up bar. We enjoyed a cocktail in that pool.

Each of the saunas was themed and set at different temperatures. One was made entirely of Himalayan rock salt and set at a comfortable 45C. Another was a tropical rainforest, and another had a large screen displaying a wildlife documentary narrated by David Attenborough. We spent hours at Therme, going between saunas and hot pools. The definition of relaxing.

With the completion of my fourth Uni subject, I’m half way through my Masters. I’ve had a couple of weeks break before starting again next term, which I’ve used to catch up on writing blog posts, organising my photos, reading lots of books and planning our next few months of travel. We’re now 6 months into our trip and have the next 3 months planned as well. So far, we’ve been to 12 different countries. It’s been a great experience, but we’ve definitely started to miss home and we’re craving the permanency of living in one house.

We’re heading to Edinburgh this Sunday for another long-term stay of one month. We’re excited for this change and we’re looking forward to being in an English speaking country again.