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The night train to Brasov was unpleasant as most overnight trains are unless you shell out an exorbitant amount of money on a sleeper car. Lizzy managed to sleep on and off until around 2:30 when two drunk a******s who insisted on talking loudly on their phones nonstop got on. We moved as far away as possible but could still hear their idiotic, profanity-laden conversations. The lights were on all night probably to deter theft. We had heard rumors about theft on Romanian trains and a few of the passengers looked a bit shady so it was with one eye open and hugging our day packs that we finally fell asleep sometime after 3:30. We were rudely awakened at 4:30 by two women talking loudly in order to wake us up. They had just gotten on and we were in their seats. After they made it clear whose seats they were, they said we could stay. There were plenty of open seats but they insisted on the ones next to us. What in the hell were they doing getting on a train at 4:30 in the morning anyway and why in the hell were they so cheery? They talked the entire three hours to Brasov but we were too tired to move. We arrived in Brasov at 7 a.m. and luckily a friendly guy named Nicholas with rooms to rent found us right off. He took us to the apartment of an elderly couple who spoke no english in the popular old town area. We were a bit skeptical but it turned out to be a beautiful six-room place and our room was huge, with antique furniture, cute tablecloths and doileys, interesting paintings, large shuttered windowns that opened up to a view of Tampa Mountain and the nearby Carpathian Mountains, and surrounding gardens of fruit trees and flowering vines. Plus they had a cute kitten! We're in! And for only 30 euros per night!
Grabbed a few hours of sleep and went to explore the charming old town area. Strada Republicii is the main pedestrian thoroughfaire and is lined with shops, pubs, restaurants, and beautiful old 3 and 4-story homes. The stonefaced women at the tourist information office were no help (definitely not as friendly as their brochures purport) but they did give us a pretty decent map. We wandered through the shops and sampled the local baked goods and gelato. We didn't find much in the way of traditional Romanian cuisine. It seemed that Romanians are more intent on copying other nations' cuisine instead of promoting their own. We found only giros, pizza, kabobs, salads, hot dogs, fast food, etc. So we ended up eating a lot of fruit, our old standby salami sandwiches, and cakes, croissants, eclairs, soft pretzels, and bread. Romanian baked goods are pure heaven!
Bran
Took a short bus ride to Bran to visit its famous castle built in 1377. Waded through at least 100 schmaltzy souvenir stands selling everything "Dracula" but the castle guides were quick to tell visitors that although the castle does look the part, Vlad the Impaler never spent much time there. Perched on top of a rocky mountain, the castle is foreboding from afar but up close it's pleasant and comfortable looking with stark white plaster walls, dark wood, and sunny courtyards and gardens. It was the summer residence of Romania's Queen Marie and her family for many years and she definitely left her touch on it. The surrounding mountains were green and lush, summer flowers were in bloom, and the air was fresh. Well worth the small ticket price we paid to get in. Back in town I broke down and finally got my hair cut (something I had been putting off for months in fear of ending up with something hideous due to language barriers). It turned out fine and was a bargain at $13! We didn't want to leave our cute apartment but three days pretty much does it for Brasov so we headed to the train station for the 3 hour ride to Bucharest.
Bucharest
The ride was picturesque through fields of sunflowers and corn and beautiful lush green mountains. I was determined to prove other travellers wrong about Bucharest (drab, rundown, dirty, dull). I was confident that there must be something about this city that everyone is missing. The train station was big, noisy, and smokey. Took an overpriced taxi to a hostel not far from the city center. The owner was a b****y, impatient woman who had no business running a hostel. She charged us her "July prices" even though it was the end of June and refused to budge even when Lizzy hit her up on it on her printed price list. We were stuck as we hadn't noticed any other hostels around and didn't want to spring for another taxi to hunt down another one. Sometimes arriving in a city with no reservations works out great (as it did in Brasov) but often it ends up either costing more to look for a decent place or having to settle on a bad place or a not-so-prime location. Hit the city center looking for an authentic looking place to eat but again found nothing but fast food.
Walked around a bit but saw nothing much of interest. The architecture could have been somewhat interesting if it hadn't been crumbling and dilapidated. The infrastructure was a mess with potholes that swallow cars, crumbling sidewalks, and massive knots of low-lying electrical wires strung between lightpoles. No interesting shops to speak of so we gave up for the evening.
The usually safe McDonald's turned out to be not all that safe as Lizzy ended up with food poisoning from a bad burger. She spent a miserable, hot night in the bathroom and was definitely ready to leave town by next morning. I was willing to give the city more time. We split without further exploration. I understand where the negative comments about Bucharest come from, but I've yet to visit a city with absolutely no redeeming qualities. I'll blame my lack of time and research on my current unfavorable view of the city. I'm sure it has much more to offer. Maybe another time...
- comments
Lynn Exciting Cindy! Super! Sorry to hear about Lizzy and her bad burger :( Hope you come up to better dishes! Happier trails! Take Care XO