Romania wanderings: Bucharest and Transylvania
- Andrea
- Oct 5, 2023
- 20 min read
Updated: Jan 6
A little bit of background📝
This post is part of a series on the Great Girls' Adventure to Türkiye, Greece and Romania. Each country on our adventure has its own post, this one on our Romanian wanderings. Here are the links to our wanderings in Türkiye and Greece.
Our inaugural Great Girls' Adventure saw us away for two weeks in October 2015, when my daughter, referred to in my posts as E, was just shy of her 14th birthday. This trip was special as it was just the two of us and an opportunity for an adventure before E embarked on the final two important years of high school. Romania was our last stop. We spent three days exploring Bucharest and Transylvania before flying to Istanbul to return to Australia.
Why did we chose Romania? My original plan was to travel to Spain, as I'd long been keen to visit, but when we were doing our planning, I found a great flight deal with Emirates to Istanbul. Turkiye was another place on my bucket list, so we planned to spend six days there, adding in Greece and Romania as they are so close to Turkiye. I have always had a fascination with Eastern Europe so I eagerly awaited our Romanian sojourn.
Our journey to Bucharest from Athens✈️
Our 90-minute 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 stayed 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 at the time, and to make sure that the driver had the meter on for the whole trip.
Our driver wasn't one for conversation and his driving was 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 and it made me feel anxious, but he agreed eventually. 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.
Below are some shots of the apartment. The entrance is behind the trees seen in the far right hand picture. It was basic inside but warm and with good Wifi and we were only a short walk from the city centre. What more could one want? I loved the old doors and the flooring, too.
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! [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. I'd love to go back one day and spend more time wandering around.
Two women from a Romanian tourism group, Journey2Romania, 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. How adorable is their caption?
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 in the new 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 little shop after our encounter with the two women from Journey2Romania. I bought the below mementos that I absolutely love. The little stamp print is just gorgeous.
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 $15 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 is 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.
I love architecture and the visual stimulation that diverse and beautiful buildings provide, as well as marvelling at the design and construction ingenuity. 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 seen 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. Bucharest has a stark beauty that I found fascinating.
We found lots of buildings that fit my impression of Eastern Europe under communism Then we found the 120 year old Roman Athenaeum. 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.
The Athenaeum is a concert hall and home to the George Enescu Philharmonic. The neoclassical building, designed by French architect, Albert Galleron, was opened in 1888 to serve as a place of culture and science for the Romanian Athenaeum Cultural Society. It has seat capacity of 794. I read that extensive reconstruction and restoration work was undertaken in 1992 to save the building from collapse, at a cost of €9 million.
Access to the Athenaeum is only available outside concert and rehearsal hours. Visiting hours are updated monthly and cash-only tickets can be purchased from the Musicians Entrance on Benjamin Franklin Street or from the Athenaeum Box Office on Constantin Esarcu Street. Cost at the time of writing is 15 RON, or around €3.
Revolution Square is a short walk from the Athenaeum. The Square is considered to be one of the most significant and representative public markets in Bucharest and a landmark of local and national history. 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 there is still a sense of past struggles.
Revolution Square is located on Calea Victoriei. It was referred to by locals as Piața Palatului [Palace Square] until 1989, then it was renamed after the Romanian Revolution. The revolution began at a meeting held by Communist President, Nicolae Ceaușescu, in the square.
Not far from the Square is Cismigiu Park, sitting across from Bucharest City Hall. The park is the old in Bucharest, first opening in 1854 having been developed under the guidance of Viennese architect, F Meyer. I found this fascinating information on the park's website:
In the beginning, the park was the favourite place of the wealthiest and most well-known people in Bucharest, when there was a strict regulation for those who wanted to walk through Cişmigiu. Visitors were not allowed to speak loudly, hatefully, or miserably, and any commercial activity was prohibited.
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 and the world's heaviest. 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.
Fun facts ℹ️
The surface area of the Palace of Parliament measures 365 000 square metres: 240 metres long and 270 metres wide. There are twelve floors, 1100 rooms, and eight underground floors including a bunker. The floors are covered by more than 200 000 square metres of rugs.
This website gives lots of interesting facts about the building process which we were also told about on our tour. Sadly, more than forty thousand people who lived on the site had their homes destroyed and were forced to leave. 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 project cost an equivalent of five years of the country's budget, financed by foreign loans that created even more economic misery for Romanians. The trauma that Romanians suffered under the dictator seems to linger in the city, but one has to marvel at the people's resilience.
There is fee for taking photos inside the Palace on the tour. We didn't do that, so the three interior shots in the above collection have been taken from the Palace website. There are free walking tours if you don't want to pay to go inside. Tickets for guided tours inside the Palace cost around €8 at time of writing and can be booked from the information desk inside the Constantin Brancusi Exhibition Hall.
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 only read about in books, that isn't real.
The below information has been taken straight from Britannica. Yep, Transylvania is a real place! Also, yes, it is associated with Dracula, from Bram Stoker's novel, a fictional blending of the real historical figure, Vlad the Impaler, with the region's tales of undead beings such as the Strigoi. There is an air of the gothic to Transylvania that made the perfect location for a supernatural horror story.
Fun facts ℹ️
After forming part of Hungary in the 11th–16th centuries, Transylvania was an autonomous principality within the Ottoman Empire (16th–17th century) and then once again became part of Hungary at the end of the 17th century. It was incorporated into Romania in the first half of the 20th century. The region, whose name first appeared in written documents in the 12th century, covered a territory bounded by the Carpathian Mountains on the north and east, the Transylvanian Alps on the south, and the Bihor Mountains on the west. The neighbouring regions of Maramureș, Crișana, and Banat have also, on occasion, been considered part of Transylvania.
As noted above, 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 I 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 minivan first, then changed to another minivan 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. We stayed in Airbnb accommodation, so we had to make our way to the closest pick up point, at a hotel, which is usually how it works.
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 minivan. Anyhoo, here's a map of our Transylvanian wanderings, showing where Bucharest is located.
Marie was friendly and a interesting guide and I liked that she let us know 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 I'd imagined 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. I'm so glad that Marie advised us of the schedule, as I would have been hungry by 3pm without the sandwich, especially in the cold weather.
It was absolutely bloody freezing when we got out of the van at Peles! The photos below show how cold I felt. I had on four layers of clothing and I was still freezing! I'm still smiling though, as...I was in Transylvania!
Temperatures aside, Peles Castle is stunning and in the most beautiful location. It's a neo-Renaissance castle in the Royal Domain of Sinaia in the Carpathian Mountains, built between 1873 and 1914. The castle 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.
Here's what the castle looks like on a fog-free day. I found this image on a blog post about Peles. It's a beautiful place and on a sunny day, it would be so lovely, but I rather liked our atmospheric experience, even if I was frozen to the bone.
We had a guided tour of the interior of the castle as part of our day trip. I can't recall how much we paid for our tour, but tickets into Peles cost around €20 at the time of writing this post. This website has all the information on tickets. Peles is a good two-hour drive from Bucharest - around 140km - but it's worth the visit. The bits we saw inside totally have a gothic vibe. Loved it!
We had plenty of time to wander around the grounds as well. The grounds offer stunning view of the Carpathian Mountains. There are manicured gardens and woodlands and a bunch of rather odd and sometimes creepy statues.
We found a gift shop on our wanderings and I bought this gorgeous print [an a fridge magnet] of the castle to remember our visit.
Bran Castle🧛🏼
We descended the mountains and headed to our next stop, Bran Castle, a further 50km north and around an hour's drive from Peles. Below is a shot of 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. That said, 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 [seen to the left of the castle below] and climbed the stairs at the entrance.
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. Looking the castle up to write this post, there is now a restaurant and gift shop, and an elevator-style Time Tunnel, plus a medieval Torture Chamber exhibition. Entrance cost around €20. I don't recall any of those things being there when we visited in 2015, so perhaps the place has been glammed up for tourists. Cool, but I rather liked our rather basic but authentic experience.
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.
I didn't buy anything from the markets at the castle as I had bought a Bran print at Peles. I do have one tacky Dracula souvenir, purchased in Bucharest.
Brasov💝
After Bran we drove the 25km 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, the Biserica Neagra, or Black Church. The church was built by the local Transylvanian Saxon [German] community during medieval times, somewhere between 1383 and 1385.
The church didn't look to be open when we visited. I've looked it up and it seems now private guided tours are available but you can also just wander around the church, at a cost €7. There is also a concert program if that is your thing. There's also a gift shop and cafe. Again, it feels like these things have been added since our visit in 2015.
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. Romania sure knows how to make a mean hot chocolate.
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 the castles and Brasov. Here are some shots of the town.
And we found this graffitti on a wall in the town. I couldn't make this up! Hilarious! Talk about leaning into the legend. Love it.
The long journey home✈️
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! 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 75-minute 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.
The places we visited in Romania 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 seemed to be facing at the time of our visit.
I really, really loved Romania - the history and the people's endurance, the Eastern European buildings and the gorgeous countryside. For sure, Bucharest is a bit grim compared with other European cities I have visited and there is a bleakness and an air of sorrow to the city. That said, I found an inexplicable connection it even though we were only there for a few days. I loved that I could share my experience with E and that we made so many treasured memories. Travelling to Romania seemed kind of bad ass at the time!
The cold is one of my most vivid memories. We were unprepared for the weather, especially after the heat of Athens. My other lasting memories are of the Eastern European vibe of our apartment, the friendly Romanian people we encountered [other than in the supermarket!], and the vestiges of Communist rule. The gothic Peles, Dracula-infused Bran, and pretty Brasov also made a lasting impression and I am so glad that we were able to experience the stunning Romanian countryside. So little interaction with the group on the day tour was a weird experience, though!
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 feel very grateful to have had such an amazing experience and our navigation around three countries on our own was pretty awesome, as was our ability to keep up the frenetic and consistent pace over the two weeks. We also managed three different types of weather in that two weeks: comfortable warmth in Turkiye, intense heat in Greece, and bone-chilling cold in Romania.
I hope that the three posts in the Great Girls' Adventure series will inspire you to visit Türkiye, Greece and Romania. I also 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. Awesome!
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