Hello everyone,
Here we are in Romania after spending 3 nights in Brasov.
Brasov was a 13th century medieval town with city plazas, old churches, and
winding backalleys with secret gardens. From Brasov, we went on day trips to see Dracula's castle
Rasnov fortress and Peles Castle. Dracula's castle (Bran Castle) where Vlad Tepes entertained himself by impaling prisoners of war. Who needs reality TV? Apparently, Dracula was quite small (judging by
the size of the doors) and so maybe all the violence was just another
example of a Napoleon complex (so, this should be called the Vlad complex?
Historians might want to re-examine this important question). Plenty of
gypsies begging you to buy any kind of Dracula paraphernalia - from ashtrays
to beer steins. Lots of typical Halloween decorations too. So, that's what
happens to all those stores in the malls when it's not the month before
Halloween. We also saw Rasnov fortress - a work-in-progress that was fully
funded by some Italian guy until it started making money and then the
Romanian government decided to take-over. "That's the Romanian gov't" as
our Romanian tour guide would disgruntley say. Peles castle in Sinai was
absolutely gorgeous! It was funny that they made us wear felt slippers to
preserve the wood floors and carpeting inside. I wonder how many tourists
have wiped-out on the marble stairs in several of the rooms. We only got to
see the first floor because apparently the weight of all the tourists who
visit the castle (about 3000 per day) would collapse the upper stories. So
much for the "Eastern European diet" which consists of eating meat, meat,
and more meat.

These three tourist sites were easily done by organizing a one day tour with the Kismet Dao Villa hostel in Brasov. Kismet arranged a minivan and an English speaking guide to transport tourist to the three sites. It was a great deal for the price of about $25. We stayed at the Hotel Postavarul for the convenience of a private bath but the Kismet tours were available for all tourist.

Just a comment about Romanian money.......how much more confusing could
it be to have two kinds of currency circulating at the same time!!
Something is either listed as 30,000 lei (which is about $1) or 3 lei (also
$1) so if something is listed at 900 is this old or new (ie for old it's
$0.003 and new its $3). ARRRRGGG!! Like math and numbers are not hard
enough already


Happy July 4th
Sarah, Jen and Mark Journal Entry Brasov, Romania Posted On: 7/4/2005