Romania

Well the "to be continued..." was disappointingly (or actually gladly) anticlimactic. I arrived in Brasov without any problems. The conductor said Brasov and pointed to the train station to even let me know that we had arrived. I trekked the 2.5 miles through town to get to Kismet Dao Hostel, crawling into bed around midnight. Brasov itself was not the nicest or wealthiest of towns, but it was better off than the villages I passed along the countryside on the train ride in. I actually even noticed a few men on horses, pulling wagons full of logs. I later found out they were cheaper and essentially more reliable than the trucks to which these people had access.


Countryside as I entered Romania.



In the morning, I reluctantly crawled out of bed for breakfast before heading on a trip to see a few of the castles of the Transylvania countryside. Here is my quick, rough, probably not so accurate, summary of where I went. First stop, Bran Castle, was originally built sometime around the 14th century. It is commonly called Dracula's Castle due to it's resemblance to the castle in Bram Stoker's Count Dracula. However, there is little history confirming whether the actual Vlad III Tepes (the impaler) Dracul actually even visited this particular castle during his reign as Prince of Wallachia in the 15th century. Our second stop was Rasnov Citadel, built in the 13th century for defense in Transylvania. It was essentially a community surrounded by fortification walls and lookout towers. Last, we went to the newer Peles Castle where construction started in 1873 under King Carol I of Romania. Unfortunately I was unable to take picture of the interior, although a quick Google search of the interior will provide plenty of pictures that don't quite actually do it justice. The intricate detail in the woodwork and decoration was absolutely stunning. The massive servant quarters were also very plush and resembled the exterior of the castle itself. I also enjoyed some locally made cheese and chimney cake in one of the villages we drove through (chimney cake pictured below being made). After a long, full day, I decided to go ahead and book a flight out of Bucharest, Romania to Antalya, Turjey and then headed to enjoy some local Romanian cuisine.

Bran Castle

Inside Bran Castle

Bran Castle





Rasnov Citadel

Rasnov Citadel

Peles Castle

Peles Castle

Arriving in Bucharest, I found a very poor city (a lot more so than I had envisioned). Overall, Romania was the poorest country I'd visited on this trip. The number of Communist housing units was astonishing. A local informed me they were home to one of the largest in the world. Upon first arriving in the city, I explored Old Town Bucharest a little. There was a meetup group for travels I found online that was heading to a local flea market that occurred on Sundays. It was just that, a flea market with lots of useless "stuff" ranging from household cleaning items to car parts to locksmiths. When arriving at the meeting point to go in, a local from the meetup group approached me in Romanian. Apparently it has some similarities to Spanish, and I understood him, although replying in English, that I was there for the meetup group. I later went for a bike ride around the lake at their largest park in town.

The next morning I set off for the airport to catch my flight to Turkey. After checking in and going through security, I had a brief moment of panic because I had barely checked the travel Visa requirements for Turkey, and even when I did glance at them, it was practically a month earlier. I texted Jarrod because it was a random time in the middle of the night in Indiana, hoping he was up and could quickly do a Google search for me. In the meantime I bought some overpriced airport food and managed to find WiFi to look it up myself before he could figure it out. Suspicions confirmed, I shouldn't have a problem, I just needed to pay $20 to obtain a Visa which I could do at customs in the airport. For those of you unfamiliar with what I am talking about, some countries require special documentation and permission for you to enter their country (called a Visa) or certain guidelines you must follow in order to enter. For example, many European Union countries and other affiliates (in total called the Schengen Area) have a stipulation for American citizens that they can enter for 90 days out of every 180 days. Turkey is similar with a 90 day limit, but they are not part of the Schengen Area and do require a Visa, although payment is apparently enough for them to give you one. Many countries also require that you apply for a Visa from your home country as well.