Romania Day 1 – Brasov and Bran Castle

The bear is back!

This time, my trip is to Romania in Eastern Europe, a little-known destination for most travellers, famous mostly for Dracula, Transylvania and spooky castles. After a short overnight in the capital Bucharest (more about this in a later post) I drove north by hired car to the city of Brasov, to find an interesting warning sign on the street outside of my Airbnb flat. It appears that bears are common in Romania but sadly not welcomed by the human population. Maybe I will be lucky enough to meet one of my fellow species!

My first morning was spent visiting the city, which sits in a valley surrounded by steep green mountains, and which has a very pleasant historic centre with lots of outdoor cafés.

Having explored Brasov itself, I set off to visit a remote Romanian village, which my guidebook said was still locked in the past, with horse drawn carriages and people in traditional costume.  I found it that had now become a place for the second homes of people earning their living in Bucharest. BMWs were more common than horses. This was to be a recurrent theme of my trip – the parts of Romania I visited were much more modern and developed than I had expected. I got over the slight disappointment of not seeing a traditional village and instead made a pleasant walk through some pretty Transylvanian countryside.

Next, I headed on to the town of Bran, home to Romania’s most visited castle. Although heavily marketed as “Dracula’s castle”, Vlad Tepes (the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s vampiric count) probably never lived here. It was originally built in the 14^th century by Saxon knights who had been invited by the local rulers to settle in the area and build protective fortifications. For over five hundred years the castle served a purely military purpose until it became a royal residence in 1920 and the favourite home for Queen Marie, who had the place extensively renovated. Despite the lack of a historical link to the real Dracula, Bran Castle certainly looks the part from the outside, and would not be out of place in a vampire movie. Inside, it was a pleasant – if crowded – place to visit, with lots of elegant towers surrounding a quaint interior courtyard.

From Bran, I returned to Brasov to enjoy dinner on the terrace of my flat, which was surprisingly well-appointed and had a terrace overlooking the town. I tried some rather good Romanian wine with dinner as I watched the sunset. Good accommodation, good food, good wine……I like Romania already even if it is not the wild frontier destination I had been expecting.

Next Post: Transylvania – Libearty Bear Sanctuary, Harman, Viscri and Saschiz