Storyline: Vidin to Ruse Bulgaria via Romania by train Jul – Aug, 2017
Sebastian picked us up at 9 the next morning and we headed for Sinaia first, since it was the farthest destination. He’d drive us to this site, but he didn’t have the permit to guide us inside, so there we were to be on our own and provided with a castle tour guide as guides were mandatory.
There was only one narrow road of one lane each way through the mountains that would take us to Sinaia. The road then continues to Bucharest. We sat in traffic for a long time and were glad we opted for the tour, not attempting to take a bus or even worse rent a car.
We probably will disappoint some of our readers, but we did not like Peleş Castle. Beautiful on the outside with its fairy-tale spires, but it was chaotic. The ticket office wasn’t open in this late morning, although it should have been. We first waited to buy tickets, then lined up to enter. The entrance guard was letting only big groups in regardless the fact that they were not in the line. And there were many of them. In the end putting my angry face I told the clerk that this was unacceptable. She attached us to a small group with an English-speaking guide and off we went in. The chaos inside was even worse. Every room had its own guard and the tour guide that was the loudest was let in. There was one Turkish-speaking guide who was moving his big group from room to room cutting all the rest off. The guides started fighting and pushing their groups through. It was obvious that our English-speaking lady wasn’t going to win this battle. She was passed over and over by bigger groups. After trying to move through some rooms on our own and gazing here and there through the huge crowds we decided that enough was enough. First, the tickets that they sold us were apparently covering only the first floor. One had to pay double for the second one. Then if one wanted to take photos one had to pay 3 times the entrance fee. We liked the outside of the castle and its location in the mountains. Inside it was dark walnut wood everywhere and we really could not see much more from the crowds.
By this time, it was already afternoon. We asked Sebastian where is the best place to eat and he suggested Râşnov. Being hungry, I had a corn from a street vendor for 5 lei which was OK as a stop-gap. It took us a long time to get out of Sinaia and take the road to Bran.
We loved Bran Castle. It was nice and friendly. Although crowded there were no big groups with pushy guides. We’ll get the “Dracula” thing out of the way first: Bran Castle has only a tenuous link to the notorious Count. Vlad Tepeş (“the Impaler”) visited this castle only once as he passed through the area. But that is irrelevant as Bran Castle is lovely and well-maintained. For Romanians the castle is linked more directly to Queen Marie who, in the early 20th century, made it a summer home. Marie was well-loved and is still revered.
As we approached the castle, I was a little concerned that it would just be an expensive and disappointing tourist trap: we had to run the gauntlet of a carnival of booths serving up the usual cheap touristy schlock…Dracula dolls, keyrings, dolls in national clothing and traditional clothing itself, and even Disney characters… (We recognize that people need to earn a living in order to survive, but we aren’t collectors of these types of souvenir). I was afraid it would only get worse as the visit progressed. Fortunately, my fears were unfounded.
After paying the entrance fee we climbed the long, ramped approach; the tea shop and gardens to our right. Then we entered the castle, which was much smaller than most castles I’ve visited: it felt cozy and welcoming (more like a royal summer home, not surprisingly). Sebastian provided great context and commentary, and I would have been happy to spend a few more hours exploring there.
We arrived at Râşnov around 3:30PM and stopped at “La Tourista” restaurant. Had nice meal and headed up the hill towards the Citadel, electing to ride the funicular rather than walking as it was extremely hot. And it was 5PM. No shade anywhere in the ruins. The Citadel is dated to the early 13th century, although evidence of fortifications on this hill date back to prehistoric times. It had served as refuge for the local villagers from many invaders during the centuries. There was a secret path to spring water, which was discovered by enemies at the beginning of the 17th century. The lack of water within the fortress made a long-term refuge and resistance difficult. Sebastian told us that according to a legend during a siege in the 17th century the inhabitants of the fortress made Turkish prisoners dig a well in the rocky soil. They dug for 17 years and wrote verses of Quran on the well walls. Some believe they were killed at the end, but their fate is unknown. The well is 146 m (479ft) deep.
Our tour began in the large, open area inside the main gate: this area had just hosted an outdoor movie festival. From there, we took about an hour to walk up and down the dust of the ruins.
The panoramic views from the summit were spectacular. There wasn’t much in the way of interpretive signage, however, and the restored area seemed to primarily house more of those touristy shops.
At a certain point in time I had the feeling I’d faint from the heat. We had to head back.
We chatted with Sebastian a lot. He was one of those entrepreneurial young men, trying to make a living in their homeland. He was born after the fall of communism, so he only knew about it from his parents who were younger than us. He, as other people, told us that after communism the government sold most of the factories and the rest were just closed. There was almost no industry in Romania. He was working with his friend as a tour guide during the summer and had a ski school during the winter. He was also administering his mom’s cottage, renting it to vacationers.
As in Cuba, tourism in Romania made those who wanted to work hard rich. His friends working in the factory were making €400 a month, a wage that doesn’t even allow them to buy food for the month. “Food is mostly imported”, he said. “The farms are too small to produce enough fruits & vegetables. All labor in the small farms is still manual. They produce meat but fruits and vegetables are imported”. Yeah, we had already noticed this, Romanian cuisine, like Argentina’s being very meat-centric. Also, there was no local yogurt we could find in the grocery stores. There were the same German and Austrian supermarkets as in Bulgaria. “Most of the smart people are leaving Romania for jobs in Germany”, he says. His dad has been working in Germany for the last 15 years. He has a landscaping company there. Sebastian worked there too, but decided to try to make a go of it at home.
“There are 2 standards for food in EU”, he says. “One for Eastern Europe and one for the West. Same labels, but food for the East is worse than that in the West”. We’ve heard this story many times from our friends in Bulgaria. There was actually a CBC show on Canadian TV this year on that matter.
We were dropped off at the hotel hot, tired but feeling that our day had been well worth our investment.
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