Today we packed our bags, had lunch, and went to the airport in Istanbul to fly out to Bucharest. This took up a lot of the day, and we didn’t end up getting into the airport in Bucharest until late afternoon. We found our hostel, rung the doorbell, and waited. After a few more rings, a guest came and opened the door for us, but didn’t know where the owners were. We rang another inside doorbell, with no response. Then, we called the hostel, and heard the phone ringing – no one picked up. We finally called the other phone number, and got through to the owner, who told us her daughter would be here in half an hour to show us our room. The room is by far the worst we have seen yet. You can almost see the mould moving in the shower, and there are hairs in the bed. the door barely shuts, and the bathroom deserves a HAZMAT sign. It smells bad. There are flies. After securing our belongings (while remembering the advice re burning/hiding belongings in bodily cavities in Eurotrip), we went out to get a quick dinner, and ended up at McDonald’s in the train station, a fine establishment. On the way back to the hostel, we were chased by a pack of wild dogs. I’m not even kidding. A pack of wild dogs chased us.

August 24 – Day 41

We checked out first thing in the morning to get our train to Brasov. We were glad to be leaving, and hoping for better things. Sadly, we had a bit more to endure before reaching Brasov – a four hour train trip next to a broken toilet. No further details required. The train passed through some beautiful areas though, with lovely mountain views. We got to Brasov at about 1pm, and got a taxi to the hostel. The taxis in Romania are ridiculously cheap, we ended up using them a lot. 5 Lei (2 AUD) seemed to be enough to get us almost anywhere. We checked in at our hostel, and got a lot of good tips from Daniel, one of the hosts. He mentioned in not going into the forests at night, as there are small bears. ‘Bears?!?’ says Simone. ‘Just small rubbish bears’ he says, before continuing on with his itinerary. We were looking, but never spotted any. The place we stayed in was perfect. Big, clean, very friendly staff, and about 20 minutes walk (or 5 minute taxi) from the center of town. It is called LaDespani – definitely stay there if you visit Brasov. With a map and Daniel’s itinerary, we headed into the town center to have a look around. The old Brasov town is amazing, streets of beautiful old buildings, and none of the horrible new ones that are on the outskirts. We spent the afternoon wandering around Brasov, before heading back for dinner in a local restaurant near the hostel, Casa Tudor. The food was delicious and cheap, but the staff were rude.

August 25 – Day 42

Today we got the bus to see the famous Bran castle. Lots of people call it the fake Dracula castle, and it has a bit of a bad reputation because they use the Dracula story to promote it. I didn’t really care, I just wanted to have a look at it. To get to the entrance, you walk down a street that looks like a market. All the stalls are selling vampire junk, which doesn’t really help the castle (or Bran’s) reputation. From the outside, it is not very impressive, a bit of a let down. On the inside though, it was quite pretty, and had some nice views. On the way back to the bus stop we got some sweet bread, one of Daniel’s recommendations, which was delicious and filling (and cheap!). Once back in Brasov, we went back to the town center and got the cable car up the range to see Brasov from above (the viewing platform is right next to the Hollywood style ‘BRASOV’ sign). The view was great, definitely worth it. We went back down to the Black Church (Biserica Neagra), so called because of the fire that discoloured it. They had an an organ recital, which we went to. It went for a bit long, but it was impressive – the organ has 4000 pipes. Next we went to Auld Scots Pub, apparently a Brasov landmark. It was a nice old pub, with a good selection of beers from the UK. They recommended Copper Dragon, so I had a Black Gold – delicious! I must admit, I didn’t have high hopes for Romanian beer, but they do pretty well. Silva and Ursus (Self-proclaimed ‘King of beer in Romania’) both make pretty good dark beers. If you want to drink like a local though, its a Pilsner from a 2L PET bottle, which I bought more for novelty value than anything else. I tried a few of them, and they are actually ok – certainly better than Australia’s budget beers. They sell for 5-6 Lei (About 1 AUD / L). For dinner, we had Italian for dinner, and it was delicious. Better than some of the food we had in Italy. There are a few Italian restaurants to choose from in Brasov, the ones we went to were all good.

August 26 – Day 43

Today we walked into the town center, and figured out where to walk to see some of the interesting points marked on the map. We started by walking to the outside of the city walls, to Canalul Si Bastionul Graft (The Graft Canal & Bastion), which is just down the hill from Turnul Alb (The White Tower). We climbed the steps up to the tower, which had a great view over Brasov. A little bit further along the road is Turnal Negru (The Black Tower), which we didn’t visit, as it sounded like it is just a cafe now. A few more minutes of walking got us to a corner of the old wall, where we walked to Porta Ecaternei (Catherine’s Gate), which is beautiful. It is like a little castle, complete with mini towers, and used to be an entrance to the city. From the gate, we headed for Strada Sforii (The Rope Street), one of Europe’s narrowest streets at 1.32m by 83m. After walking down it (or through it – it is almost a tunnel) we visited Bastionul Tesatorilor (The Weaver’s Bastion), which is on another corner of the old walls. Our next stop was Biserica SF. Nicolae (Saint Nicholas’ Church), which was quite different to most of the other churches we have seen. It is beautiful from the outside, but the inside was also quite pretty, particularly the decorated ceiling. From Saint Nicholas’, we got a taxi to Cetatuia (The Citadel), which was nothing too special, just a few restaurants. From here, we were able to walk back to the hostel for a hard earned beer. On checking in, we had been told that the owners had some German friends coming, that they were planning to fire up the sauna, and that we should come. Tonight was the night. By about 9pm it was ready, and we were soon invited in. When we first walked in, the room was at about 80 degrees Celsius, but after a few spoons of water, it got to around 95. It was amazing, in a nostril-stinging, sweaty way. After about 10 minutes, I was ready to go out and jump in the pool, have a beer and a chat, then get back in the Sauna. After doing this a few times, with the Sauna getting hotter each time, it felt like walking into a warm room. The sweat was still pouring off me though :) I had a really great night, and was so grateful to be included in the Sauna Session. Daniel and Anu are great hosts, we felt like part of the family. I definitely recommend staying here. If you ever go to Romania, go to Brasov, and look them up. After a final rinse in the shower, we packed our bags, ready for the train to Budapest tomorrow.