Romania: Brasov - Bran - Sinaia - Bucharest

We flew to Bucharest for a three-day work-related conference but decided to use the weekend wisely and flew in a couple days earlier to discover the real Romania a bit. So we headed to the mountains to discover Brasov and Sinaia and the Dracula trails in between. 

From beautiful nature and abundant wildlife to spectacular castles and exciting history and culture, Romania has a lot in store. 

First up: Brasov!

Brasov is located in Transylvania in the middle of the Carpathian Mountains. The 7th largest city in Romania, Brasov is home to ~ 276,088 people. Somehow, the location, the tranquility and beauty of the town always made me refer to it as a 'small mountain village' which it obviously is not, but describes the vibe well. Also, Brasov is considered to be the safest city in Romania.  

It may not look the part but it was a very delicious meal. The meat was juicy and the polenta (basically a boiled cornmeal porridge) is quite interesting! Our waiter was superb and made delicious local wine recommendations. My favorite Romanian wine comes from there as well: Cuvée Nicolae White (2014). 

The best way to get to Brasov is by train. Trains depart in approximately every 2 hours, at least in the afternoon, the journey is comfortable and picturesque. 

The gothic 'Black Church' was constructed in the early 15th century and is the largest church in Romania. It boasts a 7 ton church bell, also the biggest in the country. The name comes from the blackening of the walls during the fire of 1689.

Our hostel in the middle of old town was a cosy one.

We took a Uber from Brasov to Bran (around 30 km) to save time and not hustle with buses. It cost close to nothing (generally in Romania Uber is super cheap!) The driver agreed to stay with us for a few hours and drove us to Sinaia from Bran later on as well. We paid him 100 lei for that (around 21 EUR) which divided by us 3 is basically the same as it would take by public transport. As a bonus we had a place to keep our backpacks while discovering the Dracula castle and walk around and we got to take a nap while caught up in a traffic jam on a way to Sinaia. The views at some point in the mountains were quite exceptional. Also, the local life, people with chaise carts riding past, it was serene to look at. 

Vampires are real, and they’re from Romania. This is the home of Count Dracula. Or, is it? 

Bran Castle is the only castle in Transylvania that actually fits Bram Stoker’s description of Dracula’s Castle, so nowadays, it is known throughout the world as Dracula’s Castle.

Count Dracula, first appeared in the novel “Dracula”, published in England in 1897, by Bram Stoker. But the name “Dracula”, far from being a frightening term, derives from the Crusader Order of the Dragon with what Vlad Tepes aka Vlad Dracul aka Vlad the Impaler has been associated. The rest of the Dracula myth derives from the legends and popular beliefs in ghosts and vampires prevalent throughout Transylvania.

The town of Bran is small and quaint, with the castle towering over it on a rocky precipice. The castle is cheerful inside with interesting decor and a lot of historical information. It’s a wonderful place to transport yourself back in time.

Right in front of their biggest tourist attraction there was a lovely souvenir market, and even that didn't feel that overpriced, that gives an idea how inexpensive Romania as a whole really is to travel. 

Towns in Transylvania are absolutely picture-perfect! 

Finally, Sinaia!

Sinaia is a town and a mountain resort in Prahova County. The town was named after Sinaia Monastery of 1695, around which it was built. There live around 10 000 people in Sinaia. 

Sinaia is super lovely to visit and wander around, but firstly and mainly, it is a ski resort. Would love to come back and spend a week-end snowboarding there. We took a cable car up to the mountains and had lunch at the edge of the start of the ski trails. 

Peles castle. Totally doable on foot. A lovely morning hike up. The castle is located at the end of a beautiful forest path and set atop a hill amid the mountains.

The castle was commissioned by King Carol I in 1873 and completed in 1883, the castle served as the summer residence of the royal family until 1947. 

How can you not fall in love with these mountains..

Also passed the Sinaia Monastery on the way. 

Vila Camelia! Our home when in Sinaia and I would definitely stay there again. Fun fact, it was constructed by one of the architects of the Peleş Palace. 

Finally, Bucharest. 

Bucharest is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. According to statistics it is home to 1,877,155 people. 

In Bucharest we were mainly for work, and were staying a bit away from the old town and the town centre. At Rin Grand Hotel, next to the wild wetland of Văcărești. It's a bunch of man-made lakes, that at least at the time were quite dried up. There is also a five-metre concrete embankment isolating the green space from the surrounding city. Apparently, it's an unfinished piece of urban water infrastructure abandoned in 1989. 

We still uber'ed ourselves to town to check out the old town. It had started raining but as the old town or the Centru Vechi as it is locally called, is quite small, we saw the basics. Bucharest Old Town is a probably one of the youngest 'old towns' in Europe. 

Romania is one of the most religious countries in the European Union and a majority of the country's citizens are Christian. Many of the locals we met openly asked us about our religion and were quite puzzled when we said Estonia is not that much of a religious country. The brightest memory comes from one uber driver, who made the sign of the cross before every time he got to a street crossing or turn. Also, he couldn't understand how we cannot be religious and to convince us or himself he concluded the topic with "you are just too young, when you're older you'll get there". By the end of the ride he was sure we are fbi or kgb agents and he was also very disappointed that there are no penguins or polar bears in Estonia, he still believes we have huskies, as we technically do, just conveniently left out the part that they are not the wild huskies.

The bars in the centre looked very welcoming. 

So long, Romania, I would not mind coming back and exploring a bit more, especially the rest of the countryside and why not the vineyards.