Romania: Oct. 25 - 28

Sighisoara: Tuesday Oct. 25, 2005

It was an early start to a long day. The landlady came ahead of schedule at 7:15 am to collect our keys and we were off to the metro station. Sierra was more nervous about getting on the escalator than usual because of the addition of the large backpack. Brian took her by hand and sort of pulled her onto the step. She didn’t have much choice but to follow and managed to get to the train station in one piece. We ended up having a very long wait as the train was late arriving from Prague.

Eventually it pulled into the platform and we started walking looking for our car. It wasn’t there. Not sure when the train was going to pull away, we headed for the only first class car and found people in the seat numbers reserved for us. After much hand waving and broken English from the 20-something men in the seats, we determined that our car for international travelers should be at the front of the train near the engine. So off we went dragging our suitcases (because the aisles were too narrow to wear the bags as backpacks) and groceries in search of our car and cabin. It turned out that more cars had been linked to the train when we were inside it. So we settled down in our seats, passing many Hungarians smoking in the non-smoking cabins. We hoped that nobody was going to claim the remaining two seats in our cabin.

Our 10 hour trip became an 11 hour trip because of many delays. At one point four people got on the train before the border. They had at least 30 large bags crammed full of groceries, sundries etc. It took them at least 10 minutes to load everything on the train. I guess that they were stocking up for winter or bringing in stuff to sell in Romania. They stacked all the bags very neatly on the overhead racks so I imagine that they have done this before. However there was a lot of animated discussion between all of them during this process. We had many passport checks by both the Hungarian and Romanian border officials. There were numerous arguments between the conductor and other passengers and between squabbling couples. We just kept our heads inside the cabin and closed the door. At every stop, we pulled across the curtains on the windows and door to the aisle hoping to dissuade anyone from joining us.

The countryside was mostly flat plains, home of the famous Hungarian cowboys. They were supposed to be some of the best horse riders in the world. Now the land was covered in late harvest crops with many farmers out in their fields preparing for winter. On the Hungarian side the farmers were all mechanized. On the Romanian side, we saw many horses pulling various wagons and tractors. As well the towns we saw from the train were quite dilapidated and dirty. It wasn’t a very pretty introduction to the country. Farther into Romania we started to see rolling hills. Brennan was relieved because all the stories about Transylvania and Dracula took place in the mountains.

At about hour 8 into the trip, Brian was looking a little concerned. The route we were taking didn’t seem to be jiving with what he expected it to be or with the map. He wasn’t sure if we should have gotten off at the last stop and transferred trains. At this point we turned right instead of left as Brian thought we should. Now he was up to worried! As well, the sun was setting and it was pitch black outside. It was impossible to see anything. Now we were hurtling forward into the darkness of the Romanian countryside without any idea of where we were, surrounded by yelling, smoking and unsavoury looking individuals. Even the kids were quiet and tense. It was not one of our more pleasant travel experiences. Brian with map in hand, went in search of the conductor. It took a lot of hunting but eventually we found out that we were okay and Sighisoara was only two stops away. Whew!

The train station at Sighisoara was tiny and DARK. Visions of Dracula flitted through our heads as we walked out into the misty night. Vampires were not our biggest problem however. We had not been able to purchase Romanian currency in Hungary and there wasn’t any place to get money in the small shack that constituted a station. The taxi drivers accepted euros but we didn’t have any small bills and any change back was going to be in Romanian leu. We knew we were hooped but we didn’t have any choice as our hotel was too far away. The driver converted the currency in his favour but he didn’t rip us off as much as he could have. As he dropped us off, a young beggar approached us for money. It wasn’t good timing on his part. We were all glad to be in our hotel and crashed early.

Wednesday October 26, 2005: Sighisoara, Romania

As morning came we finally saw what Transylvania really looked like. It sure improved our opinion of Romania. It was beautiful. Our hotel was in the center of the small medieval town of Sighisoara; in fact it had been the town hall at one time. We were surrounded by cobblestone streets, pretty buildings and amazing fall colours throughout the town and on the nearby gentle hills.

After a hearty breakfast because we didn’t get any dinner the night before, we set out to explore the town. We passed an interesting building with 2 drawings of a stag that met at the corner of the structure and a set of antlers protruded where the heads joined. Yup we were in Transylvania. Just a few buildings down the road, we found the birthplace of Vlad Teres Dracul (or more commonly known as Count Dracula). He lived there from 1431 to 1435. Both the kids were unnerved to know that our hotel was only half a block away. We passed under the large clock tower and through one of the main gates of the old city wall to go down to the new town. We were still in search of Romanian money!

We easily found an ATM but we were very perplexed when asked how many groups of “5 ran” we wanted. We had learned that 30,000 lei was equal to $1 US dollar. Where the heck did ran fit in? So we gave up on that machine and then headed to another one across the street. After two more attempts we managed to withdraw about $180 US worth of Romanian currency. We didn’t want too much because it was useless outside of this country. What made life so difficult (especially for me) was that Romania was going through a currency change since July 2005. The government was phasing out the bills with large numbers, so 10,000 lei was also equal to 1 leu. We kept getting combinations of old bills and new bills. It was hard to tell the difference between the old and new bills and made for chaos for everyone. I finally figured it out and then it was time to leave Romania!

Before returning to the old town, we found a place to get tickets for a train trip to Brasov, home of Bran Castle associated with Count Dracula. During our search, Sierra spotted a local home with odd shaped windows in the roof. They looked like eyes and it felt like the house was watching us. It had a supernatural feel to it and spooked her. I think her imagination was working over time here.

Next we headed back up to the old town with Brian complaining, “Why do we always have a hotel at the top of a hill?” This area was settled for thousands of years by Bronze Age peoples, Turks, Romans and Germans before the formation of the medieval town in 1191. The walls surrounding the old city were 930m long with 14 defense towers and 5 artillery bastions. What I found interesting was that each tower was built and defended by a particular guild in the city. The towers were then named after these guilds; Tinkers’ Tower, Goldsmiths’ Tower, Shoemakers’ Tower for example. The only exception to this was the Clock Tower which was built to house the council, the treasury and the archives and to protect the main gate of the town. The roof of this tower was covered with brightly coloured tiles, onion domes, spires and balconies. We were able to walk up to the main balcony through the local museum and get a great view of the town. Around the railings were markers showing direction and distance to major cities around the world. The kids had to check out each one and determined that Sydney was the farthest at 15,000+ kms. From the balcony, we spotted some interesting architecture further up the hill. So in keeping with Brian’s philosophy, (if there is a hill we must climb it), that was our next destination.

We got waylaid by a small sign advertising local fruit brandies and schnapps. As we entered the courtyard, the kids were just about knocked over by the fumes coming from all the distilling vats. A pleasant Romanian lady took us into her sampling room. I thought the plum brandy sounded good and took a sip from the shot glass. It took my breath away!!!! Not because it was tasty but because I have never had so much raw alcohol pass down my throat. I couldn’t even taste the plum. Brian at least didn’t gag and cough but he didn’t like it either. We felt bad not buying something from the lady but it just wasn’t palatable. Later Brian commented that Romanian palinca wasn’t as bad as Turkish raki. I’m not sure about that however as I didn’t gag on raki.

To get up to the top of the hill, we had to pass through a long covered black wooden stairway. It had been built in the 1800’s to make the climb easier for the students of The School on the Hill (built 1607). It might have been the palinca or at the atmosphere of the area but Brian called them the Devil’s Steps. He quickly determined that the steps were arranged in 6 large groups of 6 sets each with each small set consisting of 6 steps. As well as checking out the area’s oldest church and school, we found an old cemetery. It was locked but we saw many old gravestones from the gate. Very cool---a graveyard in Transylvania.

By this point, we were hungry. Brian and I had some great soup but the kids were tired of eastern European fare and opted for some pizzas instead. They were so large that we all ended up sharing them. Brennan commented that he preferred them to most of the ones in Italy. We stayed away from chicken products because of the bird flu scare; the only concession we made to the disease. We were surprised not to see or hear anything about it in the country. As we traveled by train, we certainly saw lots of free roaming fowl.

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing in the hotel room. We were still so full from lunch that we didn’t go out for dinner. AGAIN!!!!!! Brian was happily rubbing his hands together thinking about all the money he was saving on the food budget. At this rate, we were running at about $15 US total per day for food in Romania! ( NEXT PAGE )