We awoke to grey skies. No worries though because we had packed for cold, warm, and wet weather. We got dressed, packed and then went down to eat in the hotel. After breakfast we went into the small attached shopping area and bought a general map of Romania. We were hoping that this would keep us from getting *too* lost in Romania. We checked out of the hotel and then headed out to Brasov. Well, again, no street signs and a grey sky, I knew Brasov was to the north, but heaven knows which way that was.
We started driving and were fascinated by the old communist apartments. Laundry hung on the balconies and there were no real distinguishing characteristics of the apartments. We also noticed that green spaces seemed to be important, for there were parks all over, all overrun with stray dogs. Newspaper stands and stands selling fresh flowers dotted the corners. Public trains seemed to be very well utilized, being crammed full of people, yet the streets were still filled with traffic. The city did not seem to have a real presence of it’s own.
As we drove it soon became apparent that we were lost in Bucharest and had taken the wrong turn to get outside it to head to Brasov. We confirmed this when Teresa pulled out the hand held GPS (Yes, I brought one, but it was more for geocaching as it only had major highways and no city maps. But, it had a compass and we were definitely going the wrong way) and the paper map. We turned around and found the right road, past the airport.
Once out of Bucharest, the traffic thinned considerably. We passed small villages, many had road side shops selling refreshments (Coke or Pepsi) or baskets or fresh flowers, fruits, bread, or honey. According to the guide books and the rough maps we had, were heading to Bram and Bram’s castle, the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”.
The countryside was beautiful. Spotted with little villages, we saw that horse driven wagons were more a norm here than an exception. As we drove, the countryside became more hilly and we were soon up in the mountains. Women still wore the traditional head scarfs and manual work outside in the country appeared to be an important way of life. Children dotted the small villages streets, playing outside with balls and dolls. People appeared to be very happy.
We got into another city, Ploiesti and traffic picked back up some, but it felt like normal US type of traffic. Houses lined the road, each with a small yard and fence. The houses were brightly colored in pastels and the outside appeared to be either stucco or plaster. We drove through, our planned first stop was to be Sinaia.
Sinaia is home to a castle and a monastery. Still not seeing street signs or being able to read the road signs too well, we turned looking at a sign that looked like it was pointing to a castle (it had a picture of a castle on it). It lead past a lovely “Palace Hotel” and up to the Sinaia monastery. We continued past that but never found the castle. Disappointed, we managed to turn around and went back to the monastery where we were awed by its beauty and simplicity.
Sinaia monastery was built in between 1690-1695 and had a double function. First was defense and surveillance of the Prahova valley commercial route. The second function was charity, providing shelter for the needy. The castle and city came into being after Mihail Cantacuzino (1650-1716) returned with his family from a pilgrimage. He had reached the old 4th century Orthodox monastery Sf. Ecaterina on Mount Sinaia was so inspired that he wanted to duplicate the offerings at home.
After about an hour, we left the monastery and continued our trek to Bram. We stopped at a cemetary to take some photos and Teresa made friends with the local dogs. We didn’t stay too long because it was a newer cemetery.
Teresa was reading in the car from a guidebook the directions to the castle and we found the town without a problem. The town itself was charming, with an open market at the base of the castle grounds. Vendors were peddling cheese, wine, and hand crafts. We thought we were doing well on time and parked, with a parking stewart asking us how long we were going to be there. Thinking this would take several hours, we told him to give us the “all day” rate. He scratched something on a piece of paper and placed it under our wiper. Teresa was cheery, skipping to the castle, excited about being able to see it.
The castle sat high above the grounds, on a cliff, looking ominous upon the town below. We went to the ticket counter and no one was there. No one appeared to speak English around there as well. Teresa had seen in the guide book that it was to close at 1800, and it was only 1630 hours. Hmm.. Spotting a sign, we saw that the ticket counter was closed at 1600. We later found out that many museums, castles, etc. close their ticket counters 2 hours before they closed the attraction, thinking that it will take 2 hours to get through the attraction. This was a real bummer, for we had wanted to see the inside of a castle while we were here. So, we looked around the shops which were in the open market. Neither Teresa or myself are real souvenir people, however Teresa does try to get a label pin from places we’ve been. We looked for one but didn’t see anything she liked. She does like unusual boxes though, and she found a puzzle box that she decided to purchase. After browsing the market, we walked around the town, and then took some photos of the outside of the castle. This was going to be as close as we were going to get to the “Dracula’s Castle” which was written about.
Once back on the road, there had been a castle I had seen in my rear view mirror right after we had turned to Bram and it was on the route to Brasov. Teresa played with her puzzle box as we made the decision to head over there with the hopes of getting into at least one castle in Romania.
As we approached the town, the sign said Rasnov. The castle was built into the hill overlooking the town. I saw a sign with a picture of a tower and a wall said “fortăreaţă” and pointed into town. We followed the signs which lead to a parking area which was relatively empty.
Again, we found ourselves on the wrong side of the clock. As we walked up the gravel path to the front, a woman that spoke no English but had a small box that looked like it was for making change, motioned that it was closed. We decided to proceed to the front and saw an English sign stating that this fortress closed at 1700 and it was 1710. At least, we were able to walk around the outside and take some photos. And Teresa made friends with a pack of stray puppies in the parking lot.
the people following the first Tartar invasion of 1241. Rasnov Fortress is one of these peasant fortresses. This castle differs from some in that it was meant to be a place of refuge for the commoners from sieges over extended periods of time. As such it had at least 30 houses, a school, a chapel, and other buildings more commonly associated with a village.
The black church is not really black, but the stones were darkened or blackened by a fire, hence it’s name. It was closed, but the outside was stunning. It was built beginning in the 1384 by the German community of the city and stands as the main Gothic style monument in the country. It sits tucked away right off the town square.
After a full day of exploring the countryside with no real food since breakfast, we walked around and finally found a place for dinner. The service was slow and the food was ok. We decided to called it a night after that, walking back to the hotel. Hopefully, tomorrow will bring us better castles on the way to Sighişoara, Romania.