Using Eid holiday (17-20 July 2015) in Qatar, I went to Romania.
Chose Romania since I was curious about Dracula thing, then I still had my Schengen visa valid, though Romania is not a Schengen Area, people with valid Schengen visa can enter Romania.
During my searching using their official tourism website, it reveals that so many nice places to visit in Romania. So many historical castles and villages, also beautiful natural places.
Since I had only 4 days, I concentrated to Bucharest and not-so-far Transylvanian region, to see the Dracula castle.
Many advised to rent-a-car to save time, since I planned to visit many cities, Bucharest, Sinaia, Bran, Brasov, Sighisoara and Sibiu, but since I was tired and had a night out, I decided to use train.
Bucharest was a vast city.
The Palace of the Parliament, the impressive building built by notorious dictator Nicolai Ceaucescu, was indeed impressive. Billions of dolars were spent to fulfill the Ceaucescu dream after he saw what North Korea had.
There was a big concert by major artist, Robbie Williams, in front of the palace.
Misdirection made me go around the vast complex to find the entrance.
The mandatory 40 minutes guide tour showed me the wow interior of the buildings, many of the rooms now can be rented by public.
The old city itself is quite small, since Ceaucescu destroyed most of old building, replacing with communist type of concrete buildings.
I joined the free walking tour which was nice, but 6pm in summer time in Bucharest was very hot.
The next day I joined the tour to visit 2 popular castles, Peles Castle and Bran Castle or Dracula Castle.
Our guide, Serban, was quite funny and had lots of stories about history and cultural of his countries, so the tour was quite fun.
Our first stop was Peles Castle, the most beautiful palace in Romania, a summer palace for the royal family.
Bran Castle is the most visited place in Romania by tourist, due to its marketing as Dracula Castle. However, not only that the palace is not pretty, but the relation with the dracula is very thin. Only that Vlad the Impaller, the model of the dracula story by Bram Stoker, was lived a while in this castle.
Since our tour had a short visit in Brasov, I requested them to drop me there, since I planned to stay there one night.
When the bus dropped us in the big square in the old town of Brasov, I was amazed by the beauty of the old town, with the back of the mountain wall, where on the top there was "BRASOV" sign, like the Hollywood sign.
I wished I had more time to explore the city, but the next day, I took the train to Sighisoara, the UNESCO World Heritage site.
Sighisoara, like Brasov and Sibiu, is one of the seven medieval Transylvanian cities.
The city was quite small, that I walked around the sites in the city in about 2 hours.
Sibiu was my favourite place during this trip.
It was the richest amongst the seven medieval city.
I believe the good management by the former major, now the president of Romania, Mr. Klaus Johannis, made the city nice.
The old town is bigger and spacious than Brasov, though it is lack of Brasov mountain back.
I really enjoyed the dawn there, with the red sky as the background of the historical buildings.
The next day, I took the 6 hours train back to Bucharest.
Romania is cheap! A lot of nice restaurants with affordable price, with a glass of beer is less than 2 euros at almost all restaurants.
Surprisingly, a lot of places for tourists, like old towns, medieval villages, castles and old churches, including fortified churches. A lot of natural places too for hiking, which I didn't go this time.
The public transportation between cities, like train and bus, is not that convenient, so next time I will rent a car to explore remote places.
Like:
1. Ciorba, the sour soup!
Especially Ciorba de Burta, the beef trip (belly) soup :)
2. The Price
Romania was cheap!
Dining in a nice upper grade restaurant with beer costed about USD 10!
3. Beautiful Faces of Romanian Youngster
Both boy and girl are good looking, especially the young locals work in the restaurants.
4. Old Town of Sibiu, really pretty.
5. Old Town of Brasov, really pretty too.
Dislike:
1. The trains
Slow, always delay, hot.
Chose Romania since I was curious about Dracula thing, then I still had my Schengen visa valid, though Romania is not a Schengen Area, people with valid Schengen visa can enter Romania.
During my searching using their official tourism website, it reveals that so many nice places to visit in Romania. So many historical castles and villages, also beautiful natural places.
Since I had only 4 days, I concentrated to Bucharest and not-so-far Transylvanian region, to see the Dracula castle.
Many advised to rent-a-car to save time, since I planned to visit many cities, Bucharest, Sinaia, Bran, Brasov, Sighisoara and Sibiu, but since I was tired and had a night out, I decided to use train.
Bucharest was a vast city.
The Palace of the Parliament, the impressive building built by notorious dictator Nicolai Ceaucescu, was indeed impressive. Billions of dolars were spent to fulfill the Ceaucescu dream after he saw what North Korea had.
There was a big concert by major artist, Robbie Williams, in front of the palace.
Misdirection made me go around the vast complex to find the entrance.
The mandatory 40 minutes guide tour showed me the wow interior of the buildings, many of the rooms now can be rented by public.
The old city itself is quite small, since Ceaucescu destroyed most of old building, replacing with communist type of concrete buildings.
I joined the free walking tour which was nice, but 6pm in summer time in Bucharest was very hot.
The next day I joined the tour to visit 2 popular castles, Peles Castle and Bran Castle or Dracula Castle.
Our guide, Serban, was quite funny and had lots of stories about history and cultural of his countries, so the tour was quite fun.
Our first stop was Peles Castle, the most beautiful palace in Romania, a summer palace for the royal family.
Bran Castle is the most visited place in Romania by tourist, due to its marketing as Dracula Castle. However, not only that the palace is not pretty, but the relation with the dracula is very thin. Only that Vlad the Impaller, the model of the dracula story by Bram Stoker, was lived a while in this castle.
Since our tour had a short visit in Brasov, I requested them to drop me there, since I planned to stay there one night.
When the bus dropped us in the big square in the old town of Brasov, I was amazed by the beauty of the old town, with the back of the mountain wall, where on the top there was "BRASOV" sign, like the Hollywood sign.
I wished I had more time to explore the city, but the next day, I took the train to Sighisoara, the UNESCO World Heritage site.
Sighisoara, like Brasov and Sibiu, is one of the seven medieval Transylvanian cities.
The city was quite small, that I walked around the sites in the city in about 2 hours.
Sibiu was my favourite place during this trip.
It was the richest amongst the seven medieval city.
I believe the good management by the former major, now the president of Romania, Mr. Klaus Johannis, made the city nice.
The old town is bigger and spacious than Brasov, though it is lack of Brasov mountain back.
I really enjoyed the dawn there, with the red sky as the background of the historical buildings.
The next day, I took the 6 hours train back to Bucharest.
Romania is cheap! A lot of nice restaurants with affordable price, with a glass of beer is less than 2 euros at almost all restaurants.
Surprisingly, a lot of places for tourists, like old towns, medieval villages, castles and old churches, including fortified churches. A lot of natural places too for hiking, which I didn't go this time.
The public transportation between cities, like train and bus, is not that convenient, so next time I will rent a car to explore remote places.
Like:
1. Ciorba, the sour soup!
Especially Ciorba de Burta, the beef trip (belly) soup :)
2. The Price
Romania was cheap!
Dining in a nice upper grade restaurant with beer costed about USD 10!
3. Beautiful Faces of Romanian Youngster
Both boy and girl are good looking, especially the young locals work in the restaurants.
4. Old Town of Sibiu, really pretty.
5. Old Town of Brasov, really pretty too.
Dislike:
1. The trains
Slow, always delay, hot.
