We jumped at the chance to visit the Transylvania area of Romania.  Our flight arrived in Bucharest where we spent one day - Bucharest was a bit too much for us.  A little overwhelming. It is a huge city, much more metropolis than expected.  I imagine it is like NYC was back in the 1920's.  There is a mish-mosh of poor, poor people and then the extremely wealthy.  Mafia is VERY prevelant here. 

The next day we left the Bucharest trainstation and headed Northwest to Brasov.  Brasov is a great place, surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains.  It is just beginning to see some tourism and many locals speak English.  We stayed at one of the two 4-star hotels in Brasov (Hotel Coroana), which by U.S. standards isn't quite 4 star...maybe 1.  But, it was clean (what more can you really ask for?) and had the most comfortable beds EVER! Brasov is really a neat place to visit and is definitely worth a visit!

Then following day, we took a train from Brasov to Sinaia.  We adore Sinaia.  It is a jewel of a town and absolutely gorgeous.  Peles Castle (pronounced Pel-esh) is located here and just happens to be the location where Christers' sister, Marisa, was engaged by her oh-so-romantic-now-husband, Tim.  While in Sinaia, we stayed at the Hotel Palace, a 5 star hotel and it lived up to the 5 stars.  We decided to dine at the Hotel Palace and for about $40, we enjoyed salmon steaks, fresh vegetables, salads, champagne, 3 bottles of wine, desserts and we had one waiter dedicated to just us.  When we'd dirty a fork, he replaced it with a new fork.  If we took a sip of wine, he'd refill our glass.  It was insane.  And $40!! As the restaurant wound down from serving food, a female singer, keyboard player and guitar player came in to entertain us (and the only 4 other folks in the restaurant).  We all hung out, sang, enjoyed wine and attempted to communicate.  We spoke English, the wait staff and singers spoke Romanian and our fellow diners spoke Italian.  It was a wonderful night!

 

All in all, Romania was fairly stressful, having no common language and not even recognizing some of the alphabet.  It is largely untouched by outside influence and if you really would like to experience a true Eastern European culture, now is the time to visit.  Tourism will definitely pick up in the next few years and change it's entire character.  As difficult and frightening as it was at times, Romania was definitely worth the trip and now that we understand what to expect, we'd love to revisit.  Any takers??? 

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