ROMANIA HOME OF BRAN DRACULA's CASTLE
ROMANIA HOME OF BRAN “DRACULA’s” CASTLE
ROMANIA - HOME OF BRAN DRACULA's CASTLE
According to my title, Romania – Home of Bran “Dracula’s” Castle, this is what stood out most for me during my stay in Romania. It will always be my no.1 best experience in Romania. Please read on to see what else, if anything, impressed me about Bucharest.title.
ARRIVAL IN BUCHAREST - ROMANIA
On landing at the Henri Coanda International Airport Romania, we disembarked the plane on the tarmac and were shuttled by bus to the main airport building. At immigration I was asked to show documentation of my hotel stay, then stamp and go. The airport is a nice medium size airport and very user-friendly.
For those travelling this part of the world, I will recommend two airlines, Blue Air (flew with this airline between Sicily, Italy and Bucharest, they provided on time service, no hassle with exact weight of bags and the only airline to tie with Caribbean Airlines for having the most leg room, very comfy plane. However, they, are very stingy, on a 2 hours plus flight the airlines did not even offer water free, you have to buy your snacks and refreshments.
The other, Tarom Airlines, (not sure if it’s a Romanian airline), but I was happy with the general service they provide. It was always on time, no fuss about a little baggage overweight, and even on the shortest of flights, snacks and refreshments were served. I used this airline on three different occasions in Moldova, Romania, and Italy…buttt..here is the downer, this airline has the most unfriendly Check-in counter staff I have ever encountered.
I previously thought Aeroflot staff were like lemons, but Tarom airlines Check-in staff has the most unapproachable disposition and needs some sort of improvement, the Air hostesses, were somewhat pleasant. However, this will not deter me from using this airline in the future, as long as the prices remain competitive and service good, I just wouldn’t be expecting any pleasantries.
ABOUT BUCHAREST/ROMANIA
Bucharest is the capital of Romania. It shares land borders with Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Ukraine, and Moldova, the latter two are its closest neighbors. Romania is also the most expensive of these 5 countries. Romania feels like a bigger, brighter and more developed and fast-paced Moldova. They both have similar food, speak the same language (Romanian), etc. after all they were once one country, before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. I don’t wish to compare the two, but that’s how I see it, (see my article on Moldova) however, the people of Romania are friendlier.
On the friendliness scale, Romanians are about a 7/10. I have met some really sweet and friendly people and some arrogant and impolite ones that could just make you want to pack up and leave. Most of such people were found at restaurants. Some I must admit, I read on TripAdvisor, but I still patronized, because when the nights are cold and you are hungry and it’s the closest restaurant to your hotel, what can a girl do?! Two of these restaurants, in particular, I never returned due to their impoliteness, and arrogant workers, they, I will review on TripAdvisor.
BUCHAREST
One thing I can guarantee you will notice from day one of visiting Bucharest is the traffic, it seems that everyone in this city has a car. Bucharest is a traffic jam capital of Europe, there are more cars than road here, every street is lined with cars as parking space. Tempers seem to flare here, and lots of unnecessary honking of horns seem the norm, even when the light is on red and there is nowhere to move.
Here in Bucharest, it’s a common thing to see or be part of the crowds of people waiting to cross the pedestrian crossing (mainly at busy intersections). It is always a very long wait and when the lights turn to green, you have only a few seconds to cross the road before the traffic is literally on your feet, sometimes it changes so quickly that ¾ way across the road its already back on red. Here you have to be extra cautious crossing the road, even if the light is on the green, drivers are still passing by you whilst people are still crossing. From what I observed in Bucharest, there is not much consideration for pedestrians.
Like the rest of Europe, Bucharest has a lot of beautiful buildings, the most prominent is the Romanian Palace of Parliament, the heaviest building in the world and the second biggest building after the Pentagon. I would highly recommend a visit to this building.
THE HOLIDAY SEASON IN ROMANIA
Romania seems to be geared up for the EURO 2020 UEFA European Football Championship games. The country will host some of the upcoming games this year 2020. Throughout the Christmas season, the prominence of the games was beautifully displayed in lights all over the country.
I must give a special mention to the persons/committee responsible for decorating Bucharest and also Brasov over the Holiday season, this was an exceptional beautification winner, compared to all the other cities I visited over the Holiday season, your city was a real stunner. Now the bad part, what happened at the airport? The Christmas tree there didn’t feel like Christmas, it was a bit dull so was the insufficient decorations at the airport.
FOOD IN ROMANIA
Romania’s national dish, or one of, is Sarmale, a dish made from cabbage leaves stuffed with spiced pork and rice, I don’t, and refuse to eat pork so I did not partake of it. Most of the food in Romania is quite similar to that of Moldova, even the hot mulled wine can be found here, especially at the Bucharest Christmas market, hot mulled wine was a very popular drink.
I visited the Christmas market both in the day and night, in the day it as a bit dull and low-keyed and at night it picked up some vibe but for me, it was not an exciting market, I also found it to be a bit too expensive as well.
I must make a special mention of the Emre Baklava shop, they sell the best Baklava I have ever had, and this includes the ones I have had in Turkey as well. The young lady was super friendly and very helpful. I cannot write without mentioning the ice creams I had in Romania, for me they were normal, nothing to shout about, but some really delicious locally-made treats can be found here as well.
MUST DO/SEE SITES
- Take a day trip away from Bucharest to Brasov in Transylvania to the Bran “Dracula” Castle
- Black Church in Brasov
- Palace of Parliament
- Herastrau Park and Cismigiu Gardens
- Old Town, Unirii Square, Revolution Square
After you have finished visiting these you can visit some of the museums and parks at your leisure.
BRASOV SAVED MY VISIT
For me, Brasov is the main reason I enjoyed Romania. Brasov is about 165 km from Bucharest and is located in the central part of Romania, and it’s part of the Transylvania region. Brasov seems to be a close-knit and quiet community, really cool and laid back, just the way I like it, and best of all Brasov is 30 km from the home of none other than Bram Stoker’s, Dracula’s Castle.
I always prefer small laid-back communities than the big towns with the nightlife and action, where everyone is on the fast lane and doesn’t seem to care about anything or anyone else. Brasov is surrounded by the picturesque snow-covered mountains and forested areas. Brasov has several theatres, museums and a university I also find that hotels here are cheaper than Bucharest and so are the restaurants, the food tastes much better here too.
VISIT BRAN “DRACULA's” CASTLE
From Brasov its winding road leading to the valleys, as you head in the direction of the Dracula Castle in Transylvania. You can feel your eardrums “pop” a bit as you drive lower and lower to the flat road that takes you to the bottom of the hill to the valley road, leading to the Bram Stoker made famous “Dracula Castle”.
The castle looks more like an imposing fairy tale structure, built on a rock. You must pay to enter and the tour is self-guided (unless you came with a paid guide), the cost is 8.50 €, (40 lei) for adults, seniors (65+) 6.50 €, (30 lei) and children 2 €, (20 lei), get there before 4:00 pm cut-off time. After buying your ticket at the booth, below the castle, it takes a bit of trek uphill to get to it, but the roads are paved.
On reaching the front door of the Castle the view below is quite spectacular. Inside the castle, I found a bit I was a bit creepy, especially with the noise the wooden stairs made with each step up the narrow winding staircase. There was also a narrow stairway roughly cut out from the rock, both the stairs and the entire stairway, it was really very scary even attempting to go up. Looking up, the fear of going up and turning back grips you, especially if you are alone.
There are many secret passageways and many half-doors, .(literally built half size) so one must crouch down or bend low to go through these, they were not accessible to the public. The castle setting depicts the way life once was when it was previously inhabited by the castle as inhabited. All rooms were fully furnished, even a Christmas tree as in the living room. From the rooftop of this medieval castle when the. The view from the rooftop of this medieval castle is breath-taking, all the valleys and a 360 view of the surrounding vegetation can be seen.
COUNT DRACULA REAL OR NOT!?
Something I found out when I visited and I will share with you. Bram Stoker, the author of the Dracula never visited Romania and used this castle as the main focus of his story. According to Romanians, the ruler/Prince of Transylvania never did any of this stuff written in the book. I was told the Transylvanian leader Vlad Dracula/Tepes, was a very wicked ruler who impaled his enemies and lived in another Castle…this story left me a bit disappointed. I thought there as truly a Count Dracula who as going around biting necks etc. however, this was all fictitious.
MUST HAVE ESSENTIAL ITEMS FOR ALL TRAVELLERS
These are my essentials and gadgets I can never do without for a smooth and stress-free vacation. All are available on Amazon for direct links to the products and information and suggested uses .
For MUST-READ BOOKS Think and Grow Rich is an excellent book for those who are looking to improve their life and personally grow and develop. How to win friends and Influence people (#Ad) another self improvement and and social skills development read (excellent read …perfect for long airport layovers and during your flight) or during your free time. CLICK HERE for the entire list of travel essentials and uses/descriptions
THINGS TO TAKE NOTE OF IN ROMANIA
- Be extra cautious when using pedestrian crossings. Even if you have the green light to cross, still cross with caution, because I have seen vehicles zipping by even while people are crossing. The ones without the lights take even more precaution because here in Bucharest it seems the pedestrian crossings mean little or nothing for most drivers.
- Walk with your travel umbrella, it’s very cold and foggy and rains a lot here during the winter months.
- The daylight hours are shorter and the sun starts losing its vibrancy as early as 4:00 pm and rises after 7 am, so you will need to start your site-seeing earlier in the day to get the benefits of the daylight.
SUMMARY
Bucharest is not a budget-friendly city, but also not overly expensive. The currency used in Romania is Romanian Lei, the exchange rate for 1 € – 4.78 lei and 1 USD – 4.30 lei.
Would I recommend Romania to a solo traveller or generally anyone? Sure. I felt safe in Romania as a solo traveller and had no incidents to report. Here in the city, the police are visibly present, everywhere, I sensed they are mainly focused on the motorists doing the right thing on the roads than anything else.
Would I return to Romania? Sure but maybe not to Bucharest, to be honest, I never felt at home in Bucharest…maybe Brasov or another city.
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