Holidays in Transylvania. Discover the country where Vlad Dracula is a hero

When we talked about Romania at high school, we projected photos of carriages with horses and cars just before the collapse. And as it usually happens when a person traveling, ideas rarely coincide with reality. I saw carriage with horses only once during the whole trip.

Brasov

But by horses, my imagines about Romania it did not end. Several years ago, I read Stoker's Dracula, and like many other tourists, I went to Transylvania, especially to Dracula's Bran Castle, with the idea of a dark, romantic atmosphere and stormy weather. In the end, I had to settle for a little drizzle and crowds of tourists. However, the castle still had a certain atmosphere*.

Castle Bran

"We take the story of Dracula as it is, like a fictional book. But its prototype Vlad III. we all love here," the lady in the information center told me. Of course, I went to Romania with the necessary information, like Vlad III. was three times the Wallachian prince, who enjoyed skewering people at stake and who, according to legends, had reduce the number of poor people by burning them. So, of course, I could not tell anything but Really?

However, the lady from the Botanical Garden in Cluj confirmed this opinion. "Yes, we really appreciate him here. He did what he had to do, but it was always to enemy. "

Brasov´s main square

In Brasov, which is just a short journey from Bran Castle, I made a reservation at The evil Clown. The hostel by coincidence laid close to the cemetery. Despite the doubts and distrust of the clowns who are pretty scary, the hostel eventually turned out to be a nice place with lots of interesting people.

Probably the most expressive of them was the young Indian who told me about her life in the Emirates and Mumbai. "A lot of people in India travel for work for several hours, getting on the train in the morning looks like a huge human tsunami. Sometimes it happens that people pull someone out of the train. Such a death is not unusual in India." I had a shocked expression on my face and could not ask whether the offenders are at least punished. The girl told me that, because the mass of people, there is no such thing, of course. "My friend came to work all crying. I asked what had happened, and she told me that she had just seen one woman push another woman out of the train." She added a few minutes later in the afternoon the train on the contrary has a great atmosphere. "Women on the train save time, and while riding, peel, roast and otherwise cut the vegetables from which they prepare dinner at home."

Castle Rasnov

We also talked about the amount of rubbish that India is plaguing. "Indians tend to be very clean at home, but they throw the rubbish on the streets. My mom always wonders why I keep the rubbish and throw it at home to bin instead of throwing it out on a pile."

I also had the luck to run into an Israeli who served in the army. "I'm Asaf, that's such a typical name for us," he said to me after an hour and a half-long discussion of women in the army, university life and shooting in the streets of Tel Aviv. "Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are safe cities, the situation in Israel is not as it often shows in the media. The shooting does not really happen to the day. Sometimes it happens, but maybe once every four years. "

The next morning I went to the nearby ski center. My goal was to reach the mountain lake to find out after two and a half hours that it was more of a pond with a tarpaulin and a fence around it. But the view was still nice.

Poiana

In the afternoon I ran on the train to Sighisoara. By the way, trains are in Romania as fast as in Serbia. It's quicker to go on foot or just take the carriages with horses.

Sighisoara

As you may know, sometimes I'm losing on the road, and I'm rarely surprised. Still, when the blue dot on the maps for three seconds showed Bucharest instead of a town with a historic center on the UNESCO list, my heart missed the beat for at least three seconds. Fortunately, it turned out that this time the mistake was not in me.

Sighisoara

After a tour of the really beautiful historic center I stopped at the door of the house where Vlad III. or Mr. Impaler was born. Already from the sign that attracted tourists to visit, it was clear to me that a tour for less than thirty crowns would be the worst spent money for my entire Romanian journey. The artificial spider that started from the ceiling, the witch figure, the coffin, and the strange music could do nothing else but confirm the thought.

Yellow house is born place of Vlad III.

In Sighisoara, I also encountered a restaurant that provoked me with offer of probably the best beer in the world. And it has to be said that the Transylvanian beer I got into a white mug maybe could reach this best beer title.

Transylvanian beer

The next day I decided to visit Cluj and its botanical gardens. I went to the bus station ahead according to schedule, which I found on the internet. "There is no direct bus to Cluj," the lady at the window ruined my imagines. On my request that something should go before the eleventh she told me she knew nothing about such a thing. With a pleasant mood that this time I was definitely going to end up somewhere I did not want to go, I had got on the minibus that was driving at least a bit from the intended route.

Cluj

A few hours later and two buses later, I finally managed to arrive in Cluj and another hostel. Although I do not like to share my room and privacy, the hostels and chatting with random travelers at bedtime are my weakness. The room for the two, which I was supposed to have that night just for me, did not make me happy, but I was rather sad because of the absence of other guests.

In Cluj, as mentioned, on the recommendation of one English guy from the previous hostel I went to the botanical garden. Normally, such a visit would probably not even have occurred to me. To my surprise, it was not just three flower-beds, but a real forest, a Japanese garden, and a pile of currants I tasted.

Botanic garden in Cluj

From Cluj I continued to Oradea, which has a really picturesque square and Timisoara, where I was able to get my bed again in the basement as in Istanbul and a window to the second bathroom. It is important to note that I really do not have to see everything on the road. Timisoara welcomed me with chanting and banners, which said Communists we do not want here.

Oradea

The next morning I had decided to look at the local square with lot of green. On the way to the bus station to Arad, one seventy years old man shouted at me three times Gara! only to be sure I understood where I was.

Timisoara

My most interesting memory from Arad is vending maschine for books.. I promised myself that if I had any banknotes left before my departure to Hungary, I would buy only English book that offered the machine. That's what I did in the end. And if there is anyone who's interested in Cold Mountain in a fully Romanian edition, please let me know.

I tried to give the book to one Romanian, who supplied me with pretzels all the way and saved me from an irritated mood caused by hunger. Referring to the bad eyes I understood from her gesturing, she refused my offer.

In other words, if you have a weakness to vampire, let see a movie. Otherwise, Transylvania is beautiful, rich in history and nature and its visit can only be recommended.

The article was originally published on server Lidovky.cz in czech language.

*Tip for a trip
If you are considering visiting Transylvania and you are a fan of autumn travel, Bran Castle offers pre-sales Halloween party tickets along with a castle tour. Tickets are available only on 27 October 2018. Bran Castle runs buses at regular intervals from Braşov, one way cost around 1,75 EUR. On the way back or forth it pays to take a stop in Rasnov and see the local castle.

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