The trouble with transylvania

After i had finished the last blog the heavans opened and the rain that had been threatening all day arrived. This pretty much wrote off the rest of the day apart from a trip to the best restaurant in town. The food which essentially consisted of smoked meat and cheese wrapped in smoked meat served with smoked sausage was not the best when still suffering from last night. Early night ready for the next town in the whistelstop tour of romania.

Next day up at 6 to get the train to Sighisoara which famously featured on micheal palins eastern europe as the birth place of Dracula otherwise known as Vlad Tepes (vlad the impaler). The town itself was really nice with a citadel right in the middle. The weather had picked up and it was a pleasant walk around for a couple of hours. The hostel was still empty when i got back so had a few drinks with the hostel owner and his english mate who lived in the town. It seems that the last two years but especially this year most hostels are on the point of closing as very few travellers compared to previous years are moving throught the area. As i have found most hostels are either full or empty. The couple of drinks turned into a session and took care of the nothing to do for the evening.

When is was planning the trip most places you would be like i can spend two days or something but when you get there often an afternoon is more than enough. So again i moved on to Brasov this time which is the main hub for seeing things in transylvania. I walked to the hostel which took an hour and a half as the map in the guide book was so inaccurate. Blatantly not 2km. But despite its location kismet dao hostel was pretty much full. I headed out to see Brasovs one or two attractions the sign, the main park and the two watchtowers that overlook the centre and the biggest cathedral in eastern europe that dominates the town. The food has been pretty good so far and again in brasov the local specialities place has soup for 50p and gulash for 2 quid. Its gonna be a struggle coming back to pay 15 quid for an everage meal.

Next day after what seemed like my first lie in in god knows how long i went to Draculas castle in Bran. Not knowing what to expect the initial drive up to it with the transylcania hill on each side was quite cool and the sight of it on the hill was also pretty good but thats where it ended. The bus dropped me off in the middle of some souvenir market full of people hawking tat and the castles tiny hallways were packed with tour groups. Absolute nightmare. I spent maybe thirty minuted before i had had enough. Everything about the place is pretty rubbish as Vlad tepes never even lived there and the only connection it has is that Bram Stoker drove past and thought it looked spooky. The whole money machine is based purely on the loosest connections. Transylvanian foke lore doesnt even mention vampires its all a new creation. Disappointed i went back to Brasov for my last game of football for a while. Again the atmosphere was pretty cool as everyone was having a party on the last day of the season. This time the though the people letting off flares got dragged out by the police much to everyones chagrin. At the hostel i had met Roy and Danielle who were heading to Bulgaria to Veliko Tarnovo so we headed there after a night in Bucharest. By the time we had got to Bucharest everything was pretty much closed so saw the palace which is now only the second biggest building in the world before getting back to the safety of the hostel away from the prowling dogs.