Transylvania

Our journey to Transylvania took approx. 3 ½ hours by coach. 

We drove through the very scenic countryside passing many horse and carts and farms with pretty haystacks, handmade haystacks. 

 

The bus climbed up in the mountains and eventually we reached the small settlement where Bran Castle is located.  We walked through the small town with its many souvenir shops and went straight to the Castle, home of the imfamous Vlad Tepes or Vlad the Impaler.  The inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

The Castle was much prettier than I expected.  It is painted a pale cream colour.  It sits picturesquely on top of a hill.  We went through the small rooms of the castle.  It was a hot day and it was very crowded so that spoilt it a bit for us.  If you are expecting a scary castle you'll be disappointed.  It attracts about 1 million visitors a year so there's always hoardes of tourists to compete with and also the many tacky souvenir shops.

I am glad we went.  it is one of those places that I have always wanted to see but never in my wildest dreams thought I would get to go to, so it is quite amazing to have actually been there. A dream come true as they say.

 

 

Our bus then drove us back the way we had come until we reached the town of Brasov. We had a guided tour of Brasov a very pretty town with a beautiful church called the Black Church and a large town hall presiding over the town square.  There are several cobblestoned streets leading away from the town square filled with cafes and restaurants.

When we returned to the square there was a film crew and actors filming a Bollywood movie and they asked us to move aside so that our group wouldn’t be in their movie.