Chez Vlad the Impaler
Brasov, Romania, April 26
After leaving Budapest on April 24, I have spend the last few days crossing Transylvania. Which, it turns out, has a landscape that looks a lot like West Virginia, except with more snowcapped peaks. The rolling hills and forests were instantly familiar after the plains of Hungary.
The trip from Budapest into Romania was uneventful, although I certainly had some residual discomfort at the customs check. Customs officials who say "Da" take some getting used to, even if they raise no difficulties at all (as was the case with me). The only near-problem came when I forgot to reset my watch for a new time zone and almost missed my stop, in Oradea. It's a city that was part of Hungary until 1920, when the Romanians, who had picked the right side in WWI, made massive territorial gains. It has a beautiful old market square which is being renovated, and good restaurants too. I found it much easier to get along with the language in Romania, since there are many words similar to French. The Romanians really play up their linguistic connection to the Roman empire, with cars named "Dacia" and with all kinds of advertising for French and Italian-themed products and restaurants. I noticed that Romanians who speak English tend not to sound anything like Bela Lugosi (who I think was a Hungarian), having more of a quasi-French accent.
On April 25, I took a train to Sigishoara. This is a town right in the middle of Transylvania, with a well-preserved small citadel. It is also the birthplace of Vlad Tepes, aka Dracula. He only lived there until he was four years old, but his birthplace is now a restaurant, "Casa Vlad Dracul." I found the food quite good. The train ride took a surprisingly long time, due to fairly slow speeds and a circuitous path. There were lots of farmers plowing with horses and oxen, as well as some tractors, and the shepherds usually had big white hairy dogs which were sometimes hard to tell from the sheep at a distance. The Danube floods didn't reach as far north as I was, although all the rivers I crossed were high.
After reaching Brasov today I went to Bran castle a few miles away. It's a popular tourist attraction because it looks exactly like a Transylvanian castle from the movies. However, it never had much strategic significance, and there's no evidence Vlad ever visited. It was fitted out as a summer retreat for the queen of Romania in the 1920s, and she had some nice antique furniture. The views are also spectacular, at least when the weather is good, as it was for me. The whole vicinity has all kinds of construction going on for the expanding tourist trade.
Tomorrow I'll cross the Carpathians into Bucharest.
After leaving Budapest on April 24, I have spend the last few days crossing Transylvania. Which, it turns out, has a landscape that looks a lot like West Virginia, except with more snowcapped peaks. The rolling hills and forests were instantly familiar after the plains of Hungary.
The trip from Budapest into Romania was uneventful, although I certainly had some residual discomfort at the customs check. Customs officials who say "Da" take some getting used to, even if they raise no difficulties at all (as was the case with me). The only near-problem came when I forgot to reset my watch for a new time zone and almost missed my stop, in Oradea. It's a city that was part of Hungary until 1920, when the Romanians, who had picked the right side in WWI, made massive territorial gains. It has a beautiful old market square which is being renovated, and good restaurants too. I found it much easier to get along with the language in Romania, since there are many words similar to French. The Romanians really play up their linguistic connection to the Roman empire, with cars named "Dacia" and with all kinds of advertising for French and Italian-themed products and restaurants. I noticed that Romanians who speak English tend not to sound anything like Bela Lugosi (who I think was a Hungarian), having more of a quasi-French accent.
On April 25, I took a train to Sigishoara. This is a town right in the middle of Transylvania, with a well-preserved small citadel. It is also the birthplace of Vlad Tepes, aka Dracula. He only lived there until he was four years old, but his birthplace is now a restaurant, "Casa Vlad Dracul." I found the food quite good. The train ride took a surprisingly long time, due to fairly slow speeds and a circuitous path. There were lots of farmers plowing with horses and oxen, as well as some tractors, and the shepherds usually had big white hairy dogs which were sometimes hard to tell from the sheep at a distance. The Danube floods didn't reach as far north as I was, although all the rivers I crossed were high.
After reaching Brasov today I went to Bran castle a few miles away. It's a popular tourist attraction because it looks exactly like a Transylvanian castle from the movies. However, it never had much strategic significance, and there's no evidence Vlad ever visited. It was fitted out as a summer retreat for the queen of Romania in the 1920s, and she had some nice antique furniture. The views are also spectacular, at least when the weather is good, as it was for me. The whole vicinity has all kinds of construction going on for the expanding tourist trade.
Tomorrow I'll cross the Carpathians into Bucharest.
posted by jeros | 5:29 PM
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