Adventures in Transylvania (and beyond!)

With my spunky rental car I travelled far and wide through the Transylvanian countryside. I spent a morning in old town Brasov, a quaint medieval city with picturesque churches and buildings that begged to be photographed. Looming high above the city was a large imitation of the Hollywood sign announcing Brasov to the world. It was a bit of an oddity and I was so surprised and amused when I spotted it while driving into the city. Realising that time was slipping away, I headed back to the car and headed to another quaint city, Sibiu. 

I arrived and drove around looking for a car park. It was virtually impossible! Small lanes don't make for easy parking and pay parking seemed astronomically expensive. The best I could do was to drive around and see what I could, then I parked illegally down a side street and had a 5 minute glance around the block. I retreated to the car and studied the map. Unfortunately, since I always had to consider the car and the time, there were several things that I missed out on exploring properly. Sibiu was one, the other was Dracula's castle - in fact, I didn't get to go inside any of the castles in Romania, however I really can't complain because I had other wonderful experiences. 

I left Sibiu and headed through the countryside to Sighisoara (and no, when pronounced correctly it does not sound like a kind of dinosaur!). The motorways in Romania are curious, cars going 120kms stream passed villagers riding on horse and carts. Romania goes from extreme to extreme. There is a wealthy upper class who build gleaming buildings and houses, drive expensive cars and dine at flash restaurants - then there are the villagers who almost live in a parallel universe 50 years behind them. They live in rough little houses - some without running water; they grow their own food and use horses or donkeys to get around. Case in point: a sandwich at the airport cost 15 times what it would cost in a supermarket - I am not exaggerating - it was 15 times more expensive. I had only looked at the price for interest's sake, but even so, I nearly had a heart attack. I arrived in Sighisoara and stopped at a supermarket to collect groceries for the next couple of days. I loved Romanian supermarkets - I would always stop to use their bathrooms, and I was always thrilled at how far I could stretch my money. I was in Romania for three days so my total budget (not including the car) was €30 - and that had to cover my accommodation expenses as well. It was amazing - I paid for 2 nights of accommodation, and all my food for three days and still had a bit left over. 

When I arrived in town I had not booked a place to stay, so I bowled up to a hostel and checked in. I had some very interesting conversations with the other guests! The next morning I loaded the car, checked out, then took a walk to the old town. Apparently it was where Vlad the impaler had grown up. Vlad the impaler was the inspiration for the Dracula story - or so I was told. Despite the brutality of its former residents, the town was stunning. Cobbled paths, olde world architecture dripping with charm. Another photographer's dream! I explored the whole town and arrived back at the car just before the rain hit. I had a long drive back to Bucharest ahead of me. I wanted to have a bit of time to look around before flying out the next morning. Along the way back, I made things more interesting for myself by taking small side roads and going through small rural villages. The villages were fascinating and beautiful. It was like stepping back in time. I laughed out loud while driving through one village because I spotted some young teenage boys acting all cool and showing off to their friends because they were driving a horse and cart. Can you imagine, a couple of kids acting like gangsters while riding on a horse cart. 

In another village I nearly got stuck in the mud! The village was 10km away from the nearest paved road, it was all gravel and mud. When I reached the village, I had been driving around a little, then I turned down side street which I figured would head back to the main path, but instead it suddenly turned into a narrow, muddy, donkey track! The wheels were struggling to get free from the mud so I started praying and used a bit of maneuvering, then whacked the car in reverse and reversed for about 20m until I had room to safely turn around. I was thankful that my dad had taught me to be an expert reverser! I did feel for the car - it was brand new, and now it was absolutely filthy and caked in mud! I headed back to the motorway and continued on, singing along with the radio. 

I knew I had made it to Bucharest when I hit a huge traffic jam! Getting anywhere in Bucharest is extremely slow because of the intense traffic. And parking was just impossible. So I took a driving tour of the city, then headed out to the suburb beside the airport and checked in at a hostel there. I walked to the local supermarket and spent as much of my remaining currency as possible. I walked out with a bag full of food - I love the prices in Romania! The next morning I filled the car's tank - it nearly killed me when I saw how much it cost (it seems Romania has very high petrol costs!), but I couldn't complain because the car had been invaluable to me- and very fuel efficient too, I did over 800kms on one tank. I dropped it back to the airport, checked in to my flight and flew on to Athens, Greece! I was pleased to be leaving the cold - Romania was starting to get very cold and I wasn't about to hang around while it got colder!