Transylvania, Romania (11-13 Aug 2009)

I am skipping a travel post on Bucharest because, there were nothing much to see there except the parliament plus Transylvania is a much more interesting place to write about. We reached Bucharest before dawn after taking a long and interesting bus journey. It was real funny to see my travelmate, being the only Asian guy in the bus (anyway we are the only tourists in the bus) to be drag out and dance in the bus..yes..they, the Romanians like to dance in the bus. Imagine our surprise, after passing the Bulgaria border and they invite us to dance. It was such a cool experience and the Romanians are super friendly people eventhough with their limited English. We had to resort using sign language but nevertheless, travelling to Romania is once in a lifetime experience.

Bucharest

Anyway, from Bucharest, we travel to the Transylvania county to a town called Brasov. Before Twilight and Vampire Diaries and the whole lot of vampire romantic stories started, the vampire Dracula legend actually started from Transylvania. Bram Stoker wrote his book on Dracula based on a prince from the Bran's castle (which is also the location for Dracula's lair). The whole Brasov town is very interesting to explore on foot with a giant Black church right in the middle of the old town.

the Dracula's legend

Bran's castle

Climb up to the Tampa panaromic for a view of the old town or travel to Bran for the infamous Dracula's castle. The bus to Bran leaves from the second main bus station and it was not expensive to travel there. The Bran town itself is quite small and the only main attraction is the Bran's castle aka Dracula's castle.

Brasov old town






















The Black Church











view from Tampa panaromic