Hunting for Dracula
I have for a long time only associated Romania with the tales of Dracula. However, on my most recent travel I had my eyes opened. Romania has an exciting cuisine, beautiful nature, abundance of historical sites and amazingly friendly people. I went for one week with a group of friends in the beginning of May.
Travel plan
Doing Romania in one week is impossible. At first we settled for a plan including many hours of driving every day, but eventually decide to stay in Brașov take day trips from there. We found a great hostel at a cost of only 10 EUR per night including breakfast. My friend Andrei, who is Romanian, had done a great job of planning our days and was an amazing driver for the whole week.
Highlights
Bran Castle
As the name of this post states Dracula was of great importance for our trip. In the hunt for Dracula, we went to the castle of Bran, which to many is closely tied to the Dracula. Popularly, the Wallachian ruler Vlad Țepeș (known as Vlad the Impaler due to brutal impalings of enemies of war) is associated with the the Dracula as he took the name Dracul as part of his role in The Order of the Dragon. However, Vlad is only known to have stayed at Bran Castle for short durations.
Despite Vlad's remote connection to Bran, the castle hosts a great museum with interesting facts about the tale of the Dracula. I learned that the Irish author Bram Stoker played a big part in popularizing the tale of the Dracula through his release of his book "Dracula" in 1897.
Libearty Bear Sanctuary
Around 50% of the European bears live in Romania and have therefore been hunted and captivated for centuries. To this day, some bears are still kept in captivity and displayed, often under harsh conditions, as a tourist attraction. The opening of the bear sanctuary outside of Brașov was a reaction to this maltreatment and seeks to bring the bears into their natural habitat.
Visiting the bear sanctuary you get to see plenty of bears and are told their stories. Part of the entrance fee goes as a direct donation to the backing foundation.
Sigișhoara
The city of Sigișhoara is on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. The old city center behind the city walls boasts of well-preserved medieval buildings. In particular, we enjoyed visiting Biserica din Deal church on top of the hill. Also, the main gate (previously the town hall) acted as a good viewpoint and contained a small museum. Sigișhoara is perfect for one day of historical indulgence!
Parc Aventura Brașov
In the adventure park we tried tree top walking. Wearing a safety harness (and attached to security lines) we moved from tree to tree by passing obstacles - these obstacles went from slacklining to rope climbing. It was so much fun and really got the adrenalin rushing. The park offered many different courses of varying difficulty, so there was something for everyone.
I was very close to completing the black course, but suddenly a thunder storm with fierce rain was above us. We were told to stay at the platform and had to rappel down from the tree. Wow, that was quite an experience! Check out their website here.
Peleș Castle
Visiting the Peleș Castle was amazing. The castle was richly adorned both on the in and outside. It was built between 1873 and 1914 and was intended to serve as a royal summer residence. The name of the castle is derived from the small Peleș river that runs nearby.
The castle's location is close to perfect - located in the middle of a spectacular mountain scenery with thick forests. The castle itself is placed in a glade in the midst of this. We visited the castle in heavy rain, but were not less impressed with the whole setting. We decided to go for the guided tour (highly recommended), which takes you through a small selection of the lushly decorated rooms.
Going back
I was impressed by what Romania has to offer. Romania has fields, forest, mountains, rivers, old historical cities, diverse wildlife, fantastic kitchen and friendly people. A big thanks to Andrei for taking care of us for the whole stay. I am definitely going back!
P.S. Food
Before rounding off, I would just like to highlight a few culinary experiences! The Romanian kitchen is its own. I can best describe it as: garlic, pork, potatoes, beans, love and more garlic.
