Romania wanderings: Bucharest and Transylvania

A little bit of background

This post covers our exploration of Bucharest and Transylvania over two days that we spent in Romania on our Great Girls' Adventure in 2015. Romania was the last stop on our adventure. You can read about our wanderings in Türkiye and Greece. The Türkiye post provides the background to the Great Girls' Adventure.

As this is the last post in the Great Girls' Adventure series, I've added my reflections on what the experience meant to me at the end. You can read my reflections on Türkiye and Greece on those posts.

Our journey to Bucharest from Athens

Our journey to Bucharest from Athens was relatively smooth after our experience with Ryanair flying from Santorini to Athens. Aegean Airlines, we love you! We had to be up super early to catch a taxi to the airport for the 8.30am flight. I was really glad that we paid the €40 for the taxi as it was very dark at that time of the morning and it would have been a nightmare trying to use the metro. The hotel also kindly organised for breakfast to be ready for us before the official start of the breakfast sitting. We were staying at the Acropolis View Hotel. I highly recommend the hotel - good value for money, nice view of the Parthenon from the terrace, and super friendly and helpful staff.

We had our first ever Airbnb experience in Bucharest. We'd booked an apartment in the old town on the third floor of a building where Anna, our host, lived on the second floor. I wondered what to expect of our first stay in someone's home without the security of a front desk in a hotel.

Anna had given us detailed directions on how to get to her building using the Romanian taxi system. I'm not sure if the system is the same today, but we found it super efficient in 2015. There was a machine near the airport exit to enter your name then it spat out a slip with a number and ETA of the cab. I guess this was pre-Uber. Anna had told us not to pay any more than 30-35 RON (about $10-12 Australian dollars) and to make sure that the driver had the meter on for the whole trip. Our driver seemed a bit dodgy and his driving a little hairy, so I spent most of the trip worrying where we might end up. He did, however, follow Anna's instructions and I was relieved to spot the bar she said was on the opposite corner to her building. As expected from Anna's instructions, he tried to make us pay 80 RON but I stood my ground and told him that since his meter said 27 RON, he could have my 50 RON note and I wanted 20 RON change. I'm usually useless at negotiating but he must have thought I meant business as he eventually agreed. I don't like doing things like that, though, as it seems kind of mean when the price is quite cheap, but Anna was adamant that's all we should pay and that taxi drivers shouldn't be trying to charge more.

Here are some shots of the apartment. The entrance is behind the trees you can see in the far righthand picture. It was basic inside but warm and with good Wi-Fi and we were only a short walk from the city centre. What more could you want? I loved the old doors and the flooring, too.

The two interior shots were taken from Anna's Airbnb page. I've looked up the apartment recently but I can't find it on there. I guess Anna is no longer renting it out or she has moved on.

Anna was at home when we arrived so she came down to meet us and then showed us the apartment. She lived on the floor below but we didn't see her at all after the initial introduction. Anna was so lovely and a wonderful host, telling us a bit of her life under communist rule. She also gave us suggestions for what to see and do and helped us organise a taxi back to the airport when we left Bucharest. It was definitely a great first impression of using Airbnb for accommodation. I liked having an authentic experience and getting a feel for what it would be like to live in Bucharest.

Bucharest wanderings

Our first impression of Romania was that it was very cold. E's weather app recorded 9 degrees Celsius but I swear it felt colder than that. The cold weather was a bit of a shock after the heat of Athens. We had researched the weather but I think it was colder than usual for that time of year. The skies were grey, too, after the brilliant sunshine in Greece. We simply weren't prepared for the weather in terms of our clothing. We'd packed some warm clothes but not warm enough for the Romanian cold. A coat would have gone a long way to combating the cold we experienced in Romania!

I'd like to say I've learnt to pack for all kinds of weather including unseasonal conditions, but I still seem to get caught out as the weather feels different to what I expect it to, despite my research into the forecast.

We set off to explore the old town and to find some much-needed lunch. I thought the old town was just lovely, even though Bucharest has a kind of grimy feel to it . We only had three days in Romania, one of which we spent in Transylvania (see below). I'd love to go back one day and spend more time wandering around.

Two women from an official Romanian tourism group approached us just as we were taking photos and generally soaking up the atmosphere in the old town. They helped us buy a map and find the departure hotel for the Transylvania tour I had booked for the next day. They took a photo of us for their Facebook page. Their post and photo of us are below.

The women were so nice and so appreciative that we had made our way to their country from Australia, although they seemed a little surprised we were there. I suppose it's not a destination on everyone's bucket list, but I like going to less popular places, particularly those in Eastern Europe that are still finding their feet after the end of the communist era. A good idea, too, to visit before everyone else realises how awesome the place is and it becomes overrun with tourists.

We found a lovely café for lunch in the old town. We were so cold and hungry by then that we dug into the pizzas we'd ordered. We weren't sure how to ask about the size of the pizzas seeing as we don't speak Romanian. They were huge! I know we weren't eating Romanian food, but the pizzas were delicious and quite cheap. A pizza and drink each only cost around $15AUD all up!

The part of the old town where we ate lunch was lovely, with lots of restaurants tucked away down a paved alley. Later we had a hot chocolate from a French café. It was perfect for the cold weather, although I've never had one with a straw before...

We managed to find a Carrefour supermarket for some supplies for the apartment, although we almost got arrested leaving the store as we didn't have the right proof of payment. The supermarket was on two floors and we paid for our groceries upstairs, with just the credit card receipt as proof of payment As expected, we had communication issues so the person who served us upstairs just pointed at the amount on the register and gave me my credit card receipt. The 'security guard' at the front entrance was not impressed! I am assuming from this experience that we should have had some kind of ticket to show we had paid for things on the upstairs floor.

So you've probably figured out by now that I love architecture (and not just old doors). Bucharest really is quite stunning architecturally, even in less-than-ideal weather. We spent the time that we had in the city wandering around the old town in the walkable distance from Lipscani. We took loads of pictures of buildings as you can see from the photos below. The historical centre is quite compact and easy to walk around. This is what matters to me when I travel, being able to soak up the atmosphere, wandering around the streets (which usually involves getting lost!), and trying to understand what it would be like to live there.

We found lots of buildings that fit my impression of Eastern Europe in the communist era.

Then we found the 120 year old Roman Atheneum. We didn't go inside, but spent plenty of time just staring at the building. Isn't it amazing? Look how small I appear, standing in front of it.

Revolution Square is near the Atheneum. It's quite understated as monuments go, given the importance of change to Romania. Understated is one of my lasting impressions of Romania generally. There's an atmosphere of sadness in Bucharest and you can still get a sense of what life must have been like in the past.

We found this pretty park during our wanderings, located near where we were staying. It was absolutely freezing in the park that afternoon, but we had a nice time poking around. Green spaces in big cities are such a lovely break from all the buildings.

We also did the Palace of the Parliament tour. This building is enormous, the second largest building in the world by volume after the Pentagon. Construction began at the end of the Ceausescu era. The size of the building and the construction process demonstrate just how bonkers the dictator was, and seriously evil. This website gives lots of interesting facts about the building process which we were also told about on our tour. Sadly, thousands of people who lived on the site had their homes destroyed and had to be rehoused. Historic churches and other important buildings were demolished to make way for the huge structure, and thousands of Romanian people (slaves, basically) had to work under appalling conditions. Apparently, Ceausescu ordered things to be done again and again, for no apparent reason, other than to wield his power. The trauma that Romanians suffered under the dictator seems to linger in the city; you have to marvel at the people's resilience.

You have to pay to take photos inside the Palace. We didn't do that so the three shots you can see in the above collage of the interior are taken from the Palace website. 

Our final place of interest that we visited in Bucharest was the National Museum of Romanian History. There was nothing in the museum at all about the Communist era (surprising?) but there was rather a magnificent exhibit of Trajan's Column. The museum is housed in the former Postal Services Palace, built in 1892. Much of it seemed to be under reconstruction when we visited so there wasn't all that much to see but Trajan's Column was pretty awesome.

We left a nice comment in the visitors' book at the museum as we wanted to show how much we appreciated being able to visit Bucharest. Sure, the museum was pretty basic, but I felt bad, as there were some rather rude remarks in the book about the museum being crappy and how not enough of the exhibits had English explanations. I just don't get people at all.

We spotted a sushi restaurant around the time it felt like lunch that day and because I was craving chicken and vegetables, we opted for another decidedly un-Romanian lunch. There are so many restaurants in the old town, I have no idea how they all make a living. There was only one other occupied table when we went in and the patrons were smoking! There's so much smoking in Europe compared to Australia. To see ashtrays on tables in restaurants was quite a shock.

Transylvania: An introduction to our day tour

This part of the post is about our Transylvanian experience. We did a pre-booked day tour through Viator from Bucharest that took us to Peles and Bran castles and the beautiful town of Brasov. I couldn't quite believe that we were going to Transylvania, and that it actually exists as a place! It feels like Hogwarts or Bag End to me - a magical place you read about in books that isn't real.

We'd come from hot weather in Greece and the unseasonable cold in Romania was a shock, especially since we didn't have sufficiently warm clothing with us. We had a lovely day out on the tour, but one of our strongest memories is of the freezing cold weather 🥶. This was a good learning experience for me to pack for all weathers. No matter what the usual forecast and the temperatures say, it's hard to know how you will feel and react to unfamiliar weather.

We were up early on the day of the tour to walk the 15 minute distance from our Airbnb apartment to the Europa Royale Hotel where we were picked up for the tour. We were in a mini van first, then changed to another mini van where we met our guide, Marie, after everyone was picked up. It was a small group - an Irish couple, two Scandinavian couples, an Australian man, and a family from Malaysia.

Travel tip: Day tours have pick up points at major hotels, although sometimes they do pick ups at smaller hotels for a rendezvous with the rest of the group and a change of transport. You will usually have to make your own way to the closest pick up point if you stay in accommodation booked through Airbnb as we did.

I've never been on a tour where no one interacts. I know I am terrible at small talk, but the one thing I do like about day tours is the chance to meet people from different places, and learn about their reasons for travelling and for taking the tour. People still talked to us on the day tour in Bursa where hardly anyone spoke English. It felt kind of odd, really, to have so little interaction with people we spent a whole day with in a mini van.

Marie was friendly and a great guide and I liked that she let us know just how the day would pan out. She talked about life in Romania as we drove out of Bucharest. I was interested in her perspective on Ceausescu. She said, completely without emotion, that he and his wife were "shooted" on 25 December 1989 (live on national television, no less). I can't even imagine what it must have been like to live under a dictatorship.

There is something fascinating about Bucharest, but it's a bit grim, like you'd imagine an Eastern European city to be. The Romanian countryside is stunning, though. Read on for more...

Peles Castle

We first headed out of the city, towards the Carpathian mountains to Peles Castle. We stopped at a little service station on the way and E and I bought a sandwich each as Marie told us we wouldn't be eating lunch until about 3pm that day.

It was absolutely bloody freezing when we got out of the van at Peles, about 77km from Bucharest! You can see how cold I felt in the shots below. I had on four layers of clothing and I was still freezing!

Temperatures aside, Peles Castle was stunning and in the most beautiful location. It's is a neo-Renaissance castle in the Royal Domain of Sinaia in the Carpathian Mountains, built between 1873 and 1914. It was built along an existing medieval route linking Transylvania and Wallachia, constructed for King Carol I of Romania.

It felt to me as if we were on a Harry Potter film set! It was all a bit surreal but stunning just the same, even in the fog. It was a shame that there was so much fog on the day, but it (and the biting cold) created a spooky atmosphere in keeping with the vibe of the castle.

A fog-free view of the castle, taken from mywanderlust.pl blog

Bran Castle

We descended the mountains and headed to our next stop, Bran Castle, now linked to the legend of Dracula. It was even colder at Bran than at Peles, even though the fog had lifted. We had to battle strong winds as we walked up to the castle from the parking area and climbed the stairs at the entrance.

This is Bran Castle from a distance. The castle and its beautiful surroundings make for a majestic sight. I hadn't expected the Romanian countryside to be so stunning.

Image taken from Romania Experience.

Marie had said that Bran isn't as impressive as Peles and I take her point as it's a much smaller castle and almost devoid of furniture, thanks to the removal of most of it during the communist era. There's more history to the castle than Peles, though, as it was built in the 13th century. Like Peles, the surrounding countryside is spectacular.

The castle is mediaeval in architecture and super gothic and eerie so it nicely fits with the vampire legend. The most interesting part for me was discovering that the castle has little to do with Vlad Tepes or Dracula. Actually, its most prominent inhabitant was Queen Marie, granddaughter of Queen Victoria and wife of Romania's King Ferdinand I, who lived there early in the 20th century. We also learned that Bram Stoker never even visited the castle. It's also quite possible that Dracula was a woman!

This website has a good go at debunking the whole Dracula thing and it says that many Romanians resent the link between Dracula and their national hero, Vlad Tepes. The vampire in the Bram Stoker novel, Count Dracula, lives in a castle that looks like Bran Castle. The story goes that people started to assume that the real life Vlad the Impaler, who was the inspiration for the fictional Count Dracula, lived here. This is not true, as Vlad the Impaler was the ruler of Wallachia, while Bran Castle can be found in Transylvania. It seems that Vlad may have been in Transylvania but he did not live in Bran Castle. Whatever the truth, there is certainly no denying the tourist value of the castle, especially since the area at the bottom is littered with markets selling Dracula souvenirs.

Brasov

After Bran we drove the short distance to the gorgeous town of Brasov for the remainder of the afternoon. At least it had warmed up a little by then and there was no wind once we were away from hilly Bran. Brasov is a lovely town, overlooked by the Southern Carpathian mountains. It has a quaint square and interesting alleyways. It also has one of the largest gothic churches in Southern Europe (far left picture in the middle row below).

We weren't really all that hungry so we just bought a sweet pretzel from a bakery stall and later, two little chocolates each from a cute café. The chocolates were delicious but the main reason for the purchase was to use the loo in the café as we couldn't find a public restroom. We also had the most delicious hot chocolate EVER (middle row shot, second from the left). Romania sure knows how to make a mean hot chocolate.

Vlad was here! (Well, actually not really....)

Despite the cold weather, it was great day out. I'm really glad we were able to see the Romanian countryside. Marie was lovely and we really enjoyed Peles castle and Brasov in particular.

Our Romanian experience

So that was the end of our Romanian visit and the end of our holiday altogether. It felt like we had been away for so long! The places we visited were so unique and I loved them for different reasons. I could actually imagine living in Bucharest or Brasov, despite the challenges that the country still seems to face today. I really, really loved Romania - the history and the people's endurance, the beautiful buildings and the gorgeous countryside, even though it's not as flashy as other European cities I have visited. There was definitely an old Communist feel to the bleakness of Bucharest and an air of sorrow to the city, but I found a strange and inexplicable connection to it.

The long journey home

Our journey home was pretty hellish, but not because of any travel dramas, just because it took so darn long to get there. The perils of living in Australia at the bottom of the world! We were up at 4.30am to be ready for the taxi to the airport for the 8am flight to Istanbul. Anna had kindly ordered the taxi for us, so that we had a hassle-free departure. We flew with the Romanian national airline, TAROM, back to Istanbul. I must admit to having low expectations, but I was really impressed! The plane was tiny - just two sets of two seats. The flight attendant had to pull her take-off seat out of a cupboard to sit on! We had a nice cheese roll for breakfast and everything went smoothly.

We had to collect our luggage at Ataturk at 10am when we landed in Istanbul and wait for four hours in departures before we could check in with Emirates for the flight home. We used the last of our lira to buy one final pretzel and then we were through to departures. I booked the earliest flight possible from Romania to ensure we made the flight home but it did leave us with quite a long layover in the end.

Once in the air we had a four-hour flight back to Dubai, and then another long wait there for the final flight back home, which was done in two 7-hour blocks, with a refuel stop in Singapore. However, not sleeping too much and enduring such a long journey home seemed to work in our favour as we slept well when we got home.

Reflections on the Great Girls' Adventure

We certainly packed a lot into the two and a bit weeks we were away. What an adventure it was, and what a diverse experience! I'm so proud of E for how she handled the travel, the culture shock, and the rushing about, and for generally being an awesome travel buddy. I feel so privileged to have had the opportunity to experience such an amazing adventure with my daughter.

We met lovely people in all three countries and had no issues travelling on our own, other than our rubbish sense of direction and a bad Ryanair experience. We stood at some hugely famous and important sites, such as Gallipoli, the Hagia Sophia, and the Parthenon, and experienced beautiful places like Santorini and the Romanian countryside, not to mention a bunch of gorgeous old buildings and paved streets. I felt very grateful to have had such an amazing experience and hope that the three posts in the Great Girls' Adventure series will inspire you to visit Türkiye, Greece and Romania. I hope we are lucky enough to be able to go back to all three countries in the future.

E and I were fortunate enough to experience a second Great Girls' Adventure, travelling to Amsterdam, Paris, Nice, Cinque Terre, and Milan in 2022 (posts to come).