Our hostest ran our baths for us in the morning... well, almost. By the time my turn came I think she'd forgotten. Or was Sally supposed to leave water in the bath for me... we weren't sure. Or did it have something to do with the fact that before the others had got up, our hostest had already got me to fill up our rakia glasses from the day before - several times. Well, not that bad a way to kick-start the day!
We decided that we should sort out the rental car booking first. Unfortunately there was a huge penalty for returning the car in a different city so we went in search of other companies. We were happy when the woman in the first place didn't say I told you so when we went back to her.
We had a quick walk around the old town before picking up the car to check out what Sally had come to Romania for - Dracula's Castle.
The usual medieval square by the church or town-hall. As usual I didn't do a good job with photos. There's a huge church nearby and there's a refreshing tranquility in the square unlike the horrible commercialism of places like Krakow.
It turned out the old town is much bigger than we had originally thought. It really is a whole town rather than just a couple of streets.
We also passed the local tennis club. Superb setting. Must be one of the most pleasant settings imaginable for a tennis court - well that's what everyone says about Hobart without really having anything to compare it to except maybe the Burnie tennis centre.
And... the drinking scene is obviously not neglected either - no beer taps out in the non-existent gazebos in Hobart! Well, true, maybe they don't have a grumpy Canadian in the bar like we do in Hobart.
The castle wasn't too far away and we found it easily enough. But it was surrounded by souvenir stalls and you had to pay money to get anywhere near it. I whiled away my time searching for a good t-shirt in Romanian while the others had a look at and in the castle.
They were back soon enough and declared that sure enough, anything in Europe that is that touristified is bound to be a disappointment.
Actually, on the way to Bran Castle is Rasnov - a really impressive fortification perched on a mountaintop. The sort of place that the whole village below would retreat to while being besieged by marauding barbarians. The'd just sit there, for years if necessary, until the marauders got bored and went home.
Why isn't this really impressive structure famous and crawling with tourists? Ah, I almost forgot, no Hollywood movie has been made about it! The real yardstick apparently of whether something is worth visiting.
Next we headed off to Sinaia where there is another castle - not so famous - but many times more impressive. By the time we had parked - in a town overrun with weekenders from Bucharest - and walked through the woods in the dark, watching out for bears, we couldn't get close to this castle either; but it did look impressive. (Apparently the heir to the throne has applied to the government to have this castle returned to his family - and it's been granted. As a real royal castle that will probably also get the people pouring back in as it did in the old days.)
Somewhere amongst all this we had lunch out in the Romanian countryside. Great food it was too. Something that Europe specializes in - nice isolated restaurants in the middle of nowhere serving up great food in a nice atmosphere.
1 comment:
Bedaurinde mi ne regas la anglan lingvon, sed char vi komprenas Esperanton mi ja sendas al vi plej amikajn E-salutojn el Kroatio!
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