A Castle Pretty Enough to Go on a Beer Label!

what every vampire hunter needs, wooden sword and shield.

Today from Brasov we took a train to Sinaia to see the local castle most recommended by Helena, the hostess in our hostel, Kismet Dao.  What was supposed to be a twenty-minute walk from the train station in Sinaia to the castle, called Peles, turned into a couple hours trek uphill through a lovely town when we were too stubborn to stop at the tourist info booth in town and ask for a map.

a lovely portrait taken by a passing tourist

When we finally found the castle, it was very pretty, but we were pretty tired and too disenchanted to do the 45-minute tour of the rooms, so we took some pictures around the castle grounds and then headed back through Sinaia (via the designated twenty-minute tourist pathway, stopping for souvenirs along the way) and back to the train station so we could get back to Brasov and reserve the next leg of our journey, an overnight train to Budapest. 

We are very lucky because there were no more first-class sleeper berths available except for one super-extra-first-class, which cost 120 euros to reserve and will have a WC and a shower in our berth! We are very excited about experiencing all of what 120 euros gets you (above and beyond what we already paid for our Eurail pass) on an overnight train from Brasov to Budapest.

mmm, cement grapes...

On our way back to the hostel, we stopped in at a little shop to buy a pair of hiking trousers for Vince since his ones from Carrefour broke (though they did survive our Nepal trip so not bad for a pair of ten dollar trousers) and we ended up having a long chat with the owner of the shop, Louis.  He told us a lot about the history of Romania and of Brasov in particular, and about the local people and culture, and some of the differences between Transylvania and Northern Romania.

Now we are on our way to our next country, so stay tuned for tales of being hungry in Hungary!

Out the Train Window

We boarded a train in Sighisoara for Brasov, a three-hour ride in the train we chose, which we were lucky enough to find was possibly Romania's oldest train, a relic from probably the 1920s or 30s.  Looking out the window, we could see that for some Romanians (not just the ones who ride this train), life doesn't seem to have changed very much during modern times.  We saw a horse munching on delicious hay in a villager's yard, and another horse pulling his cart into a petrol station.  We also saw a flock of fluffy sheep being herded by shepherds and sheepdogs. The landscape is similar to southern Alberta except the farms are smaller and there are many tiny multi-coloured plots of various crops growing everywhere in the villages, sometimes with black and white cranes foraging in the fields.  The village houses look like they are made of wood and plaster, with terracotta tile roofs, which makes each village very pretty.  There are moo cows and concrete blocks and hay bales and roads like in Alberta, but there are also haystacks on wood tripods like in 1950s Dick and Jane readers and also other traditional farming implements like you can only see at heritage museums in Canada and US America.  Also, in the parts of the landscape that are not being farmed and all along the track, there are all colours of wildflowers.  Romania is a beautiful and friendly country to visit.

I Want to Suck Your Blood!

Vlad Tepes's birth house, now a cafe / restaurant

Dracula Iced Tea

We spent our first day in Sighisoara piecing together Vlad the Impaler's history by seeing the house where he was born and the type of environment he grew up in, which is very beautiful to say the least. Little homes dot Sighisora, adding a warm charm to this beautiful village. It looks to have changed a lot over the past six hundred years since Vlad the Impaler was born, and has come a long way while still retaining its rich and vibrant history. With not many modern amenities, the people who once lived here dedicated their lives to God, family and the church, which is plain to see when you look up at the giant church at the top of the hill that this town is built upon. It is also plain to see that they were firm believers in taking the Bible literally by their affinity for torture and capital punishment. Long ago, witchcraft was one such offense deserving of torture and finally death, as were fighting and adultery. 

Our hosts got a new puppy

A painting we got for Keeana
in front of the subject of the painting

The way to the church at the top of the hill

Brains.... brains.......

We thought we were unlucky when we arrived in Sighisoara to find that the hostel that had been recommended to us was full, but they suggested we go look up at the citadel, where we found a little home that seemed to be just in the process of becoming a hostel.  We were welcomed there in a lovely bedroom with an attached bathroom, very homey and an excellent value in an excellent location because we found that we were right where we needed to be to enjoy the best of Sighisoara -- namely high tea at Vlad's house, great views from the old clock tower, and a nice look around a neat museum.  We also met our hosts' many doggies and pigeons, as well as a parrot who greeted us in many languages.

Brains.... brains......

There are many dogs here who spend their nights barking to ward off the loneliness and boredom of being a watch dog. The people here are very friendly and made us feel welcome at every turn. With fair prices for food, entertainment and lodgings we had no trouble enjoying ourselves without going over our budget. The museums were great and they have converted an old clock tower built in the 12th century into a walk-through town history museum with something amazing to see on each and every floor. After Shigishora we are heading off to Brasov to track down some more of Vlad the Impaler's past and we will let you know what we find... Over and out! :)

Mostly photos... More Walking in Bucharest

Taking photo number eight zillion-ish

One of the many old Dracula-houses 
we have seen--and we're not 
even in Transylvania yet!

Today started with our favourite part of backpacking, the hostel's free breakfast.

Afterwards we went walking to see if we could find some of the more interesting things described in our travel guidebook.  We also saw a lot of bizarre public art, so it became an impromptu abuse-public-art day.  

Who is this guy? And what's wrong with his dog?

We took more rides on public transit, saw more community dogs, and ate another delicious healthy lunch, this time in the local fast-food restaurant, which was right across the street from McDonalds and makes us wonder how McD's could possibly stay in business here.

This is a bank. Why is it so ornate and beautiful? We
don't know. But we would keep our money here.

I am crossing a little river on a dyke.

Bucharest is amazing and we would love to live here some day.

Vince loves art...

...to play with!

This is the Parliament Palace, the second largest building in the world.

There are beautiful buildings like this one everywhere we
look, but we didn't want to clutter up our blog with photos,
so we posted the rest on flickr. 

Go and look at our flickr site for more of our pictures from this lovely city:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/kayayebee/

Bucharest is hot in the summer, but was kind enough to provide
public misters.  Aaahhh...

Blah blah blah... Blah blah?  Blah blah BLAH!! Blah blah.

Check back tomorrow as we visit the Peasant museum and board a train for Sighisoara, home of Dracula.

Romanian Dances

Getting on the metro train

Today we arrived in Bucharest at the delightful hour of 0730, rolling in clackity-clack with just enough time to pack our bags between discovering we had entered the city and arriving at the station.  The station was abuzz with life including farmers, children, aunts, uncles, grammas, pigeons, and dogs.  Everyone was really excited and seemed happy to be there because they were traveling.

We joined the other backpackers in McDonalds and ate a delicious breakfast of McCrepes and McLattes while we pored over our guidebook and free wifi looking for a hostel and planning our Bucharest adventure.  Then Vince had his first ever underground Metro ride as we took line one and then line two to East Hostel.  The metro was clean, nice, safe, and well-organized, with many directions and fast, reliable trains.  With security checkpoints and no more than five minutes to wait for each train, it is a far cry from anything Calgary Transit has ever offered.

See it? See our hostel?

Our hostel welcomed us with free food, free wifi, a nice clean spacious room and friendly staff.  Luckily, we had bought a ten-ride pass to the metro because as soon as we had checked in, we realized we had to go back to the train station to reserve the next leg of our journey.  The first part of our Bucharest adventure was taken up with Train Station Adventures, but finally we had our Eurail pass sorted and were on our way to explore the city.

This is the Ministry of Agriculture building.

We decided to walk through the historic center, from one end of Calea Victoriei to the other, passing historic buildings, museums, plazas, monuments, and shops along the way.  We stopped in at the art museum and saw lots of religious pieces from the middle ages and early Renaissance, which was spectacular, and then we had late lunch at a nice little restaurant.  Everybody we see here appears fit and healthy and after our lunch we thought it might be partly because the food here is so wholesome and fresh, and not filled with any processed ingredients.  Also, we see people everywhere, walking on their ways to wherever, and not too many cars around, so people must be getting their daily exercise on their daily excursions.

We had lunch here. 

After free dinner back at our hostel, we discovered a free music show at the small plaza near our metro station, a string quartet who played everything from the Beer Barrel Polka to Hava Nagila.  We also had a special treat, because a guy who must have been a famous Romanian ballet dancer was practicing his art to the music being played, dancing on the pathway behind the stage.  That was a lucky find and a fantastic way to finish a great day in Bucharest.

A gargoyle shouted at us from up there.

Touchdown in Serbia

Touchdown in Serbia

Our lucky find in the Doha duty-free shop!

After realizing that you just can't sleep on a plane when you're 6'1 and strung out on excitement, you tend to appreciate saying "no" to the warm and inviting flavors of java and "yes" to the liquor-filled chocolates that you sometimes buy at the duty free store. It was 12 hours of combined travel via  midnight plane plus a stopover in Abu Dhabi and then 6 hours of getting settled into our hostel and finding out where the train station was before we succumbed to the sweet slumbers of sleep. We were very tired to say the least.

One neat thing was that we randomly ran into my old friend Bruce and his family at the airport in Dubai.  Since there is nothing to do in the transit terminal in the airport in Dubai, it was a nice way to pass the time between flights.

Next morning we awoke refreshed and ready to enjoy the wonders of Belgrade.  First we walked to a big park where we saw the old fortress and the military museum.  The fortress was built on the foundations of ancient Roman ruins.  We saw lots of little lizards and also a little creature that we couldn't figure out whether it was a tiny hummingbird or a bird-like butterfly. 


I really liked the way the military museum was set up, because the displays were very aesthetic, and they were put together with artworks done in styles from the corresponding historic period, starting with mosaics for the Ancient Roman period.  It was neat. 

brutal weapons

The brutality of fighting in ancient times was eye-opening when considering that there were no quick deaths on those battlefields, only slow and agonizing pain followed by infection and finally death. Serbia has a long history of warfare and has been at war with many different peoples who have tried to conquer its land.  The suits of armor were shiny and reminiscent of what you would see in a Hollywood film such as Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

It will probably not fit.

 Outside of the military museum were rows upon rows of every artillery cannon imaginable, ranging from pirate ship cannons to world war two cannons and beyond. There were also tanks, torpedoes, anti-aircraft guns and lots of other things for killing people with. It was a plethora of madness and potential bloodshed. I am glad to know that Serbia is finally at peace and her people are thriving and able to put that behind them by displaying their violent past in a military museum where it belongs.

Stuffed mushrooms stuffed us!

Serbia has yummy food.   We ate stuffed mushrooms, stuffed peppers, cheese, and salad and we were stuffed. 

Finally we are on our way to Romania.  We bought train tickets from Belgrade to Bucharest, but took a bus to the border, apparently because Serbia uses a different gauge track than Romania, then got on a slow train for Timisoara, and now we are on a slow sleeper train for Bucharest.  We upgraded the sleeper-portion of our ticket to first-class, and got lots of great train stuff, like our own train toothbrushes and toothpastes, train refreshing towelettes, train shoe-shine towelettes, train disposable picnic blankets, and train water bottles.  Time to go to sleep and continue our adventure tomorrow!

Our free first-class sleeper carriage train stuff