Day 1 Discover the Castles

Bucharest started off great! The hostel was good, the city was interesting and I was excited to be there. It gradually went downhill from that point forward. I think I was still too exhausted for such a challenging city but I feel great for having conquered it now looking back.

Day 1 I was off to the mountains to see Bran Castle! The castle used as a reference for Dracula / Vlad the Impaler. At the recommendation of the hostel my first stop would be Sinai to see two other beautiful Castles from the first King and Queen of Romania!

So I took a very slow moving train from Bucharest to Sinai and arrived at a very small town not set-up for tourists at all. My only source of direction was this map in the train station. I took a picture of it with my camera to follow as I walked in search of the Pelas Palaces.

The walk took me to this beautiful path that I assumed went to the Palace. No one I talked to could speak English or confirm this for me.

Then I was met with this splendor!

The Palace entry fee of 20 Romanian Lei includes a guided tour of the Palace. If you want to take pictures inside you have to pay 30 Lei for a camera tax. I decided it was one of those places that looks better in your head then on your camera. The tour was well worth it and had I know how good it was going to be I would have taken the extended tour!

Then back down the mountain to find a “Mini Bus” that would take me to Brasov.

Brasov was pretty but confusing. I was given wrong directions twice and ended up in the city center, in a basement, in a pub, drinking a beer, using their wifi and my iPod to find the proper directions. I needed to be at the Terminal 2 bus station to catch another minibus to Bran for Dracula’s castle.

It was very cool to be there but after seeing the grandeur of the Pelas castle, Bran castle felt pretty empty. I was still very glad to go and explore all the crazy passage ways of what was more a fortress than a castle.

Then it was more mini buses, standing for hours, bumbling through the countryside (one step away from hold my chicken and make sure my pig doesn’t hop out). Followed by more wrong directions, city busses, and a VERY slow moving train back to Bucharest by 11 pm.

There was one point I sat on a country road waiting for 30 mins and took this picture, I like looking at it because it makes my feet feel rested! LOL