A Romanian journey: castles, churches and a happy cemetery

Following on from last week’s post about her recent adventures in Romania, Kathryn Bullock describes the second part of her recent trip and shares with us some of the highlights of the visit. After reading Kathryn’s account you might agree that Romania is worthy of a closer look.

 

Gura Raului near Sibiu

In local costume Gura-Riului

We were lucky enough to see the locals pouring out of the two beautiful churches in their traditional dress in the lovely village of Gura-Raului. This is one of the rare opportunities to see their costumes, apart from during funerals. The small church is said to have one of St George’s bones, as the local priest Peter proudly told us. We then visited the imposing castle of Hunedoara with its many towers. Many towns across Romania have castles and citadels perched on the steepest of hills which are well worth a visit for the views alone.

Surdesti, Maramureş

The minced pork wrapped in cabbage leaves served with a rich creamy tomato soup was a highlight of our stay at friendly Pensiunea Marmaru near the village of Surdesti. This area is famed for its beautiful wooden churches; don’t miss the one in this village. We were lucky enough to see inside and it’s very cosy with carpets everywhere and floor to ceiling medieval paintings. It’s a dreamy walk across the fields to get there from the Pensiunea.

 

Sighet and Săpânţa

We then headed north to see Maramures and visited the infamous Sighet prison where many famous Romanians died during the rule of the brutal communist regime from 1944-1989. For some light relief we later dropped in at the “happy cemetery” in Săpânţa, famous for its very colourful wooden graves complete with funny paintings and poems about the lives of the local people buried there.

Happy Cemetary, Sapanta

Viseu de Sus

One of the highlights of the trip was the steam train ride from Viseu de Sus into the logging region near the Ukrainan border. It’s a great way to see beautiful forest and waterfalls and we finished up with a riverside BBQ prepared by the friendly, enterprising train guards, before a rumble back down to town by mid afternoon. The good news is that they’ve changed the departure time to a more tourist friendly 9am.

Braşov

Brasov town centre

Our next stop was Braşov for the Pageant of the Juni on the first Sunday of May when years ago the Romanians could freely enter the Saxon city. The men dress up in elaborate Juni costumes accompanied by brass bands. Somehow we got swept up in the crowds and never managed to find the procession. We still had a great day enjoying the city views from the top of the cable car, eating heavenly white chocolate cake and chatting to the locals over their great beer. One local guy had apparently watched eight hours of our royal wedding – it shows the popularity of our monarchy even in distant parts. Their King Mihai was forced to abdicate during the communist era and returned in 2001; he is now based at Elisabeta Palace in Bucharest.

 

Bran Castle

The more popular Bran Castle near Braşov is also billed as Dracula’s castle but has only tenuous links to the real Dracula “Vlad the Impaler”. It’s worth a visit and has a surprising homely feel about it, largely due to the finishing touches of the much loved Queen Marie, the grand daughter of our Queen Victoria who married Prince Ferdinand in 1893. I was reading her life story on the castle wall when I was asked to budge so a group of tourists could each take a photo of the story and rush on to their next landmark – definitely a new breed of express tourism.

Sighişoara

Sighisoara town centre

The finale of our trip was the most characterful and friendly town of Sighişoara. We stayed in the most palatial Pensiunea Phonix with an enormous room and charming host. It was great value and included a German style breakfast feast. The town has some lively bars and a music scene on the weekends and we saw an amazing trio called Highjack, who kept us dancing with the locals till the early hours.

 

Sinaia in Bucegi mountains

This was the least appealing place for us, full of enormous Soviet style package holiday hotels with little character. Our Pensiunea was friendly and cosy but we wished we had stayed in Busteni. This is a ski area and the views are meant to be stunning from the mountains which are accessible by cable car but this was the day the rain arrived somewhat marring our opinions. The town also boasts a monastery and the Peles castle which was unfortunately closed when we visited.

Snagov

Our last night at Lake Snagov about 20km from Bucharest airport was a lucky find as we bumped into a local shopkeeper who told us about Lake Snagov Pensiunea in Ciofliceni. It is right on the water’s edge and not to be found in any guide book. We had a room with a balcony to enjoy the sunset over the lake and the cacophony of frog and bird noises at night was magical. We could not believe we were in Europe as the sounds were so tropical in the thick blanket of fog which descended on the lake at night. The rooms could do with a makeover but it’s really worth staying there for the panoramic setting.

Romania is known as a bird watcher’s paradise because of the Danube Delta region on the Black Sea where more than 325 species can be found. We did not visit this area but have saved it for a future visit together with the painted monasteries of Bucovina in the Moldova border region. Don’t miss this lovely country.

Village scene

Practical Tips

We spent about £30 a day each plus a return flight from London and car hire. I’m happy to share more practical tips if anyone is planning a trip. Do share your Romanian adventures so we can plan our return visit. Did we pick the best itinerary?

You see more of Kathryn’s pictures from Romania on her Flickr site.

 

Kathryn Bullock image

Kathryn Bullock is a frequent traveller and a social media expert and entrepreneur who has worked in the travel industry for the past 25 years. She runs Face Marketing providing social media guidance and marketing to travel and financial service companies. She is also a regular blogger at Enterprise Britain.

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3 Responses to “A Romanian journey: castles, churches and a happy cemetery”

  1. cat #

    All of this would have been helpful two months ago when I went and was hoping for more on your site! Fortunatwly, we made it to many of these places, and I am comp!letely in love with Romania

    June 8, 2011 at 2:07 pm Reply
  2. Cristina #

    I’m Romanian and LOVE what you’ve picked. I’ve seen Sighisoara myself and loved it. Went there 2 times during the Medieval Festival (last weekend in July, each year).
    Right now I’m looking into spending a week in Sovata, a resort in the Mountains in Transylvania.
    Last year I was in a mountain resort close to Rucar-Bran. A delight!

    June 9, 2011 at 12:40 pm Reply
  3. @Cat and Cristina,
    Thanks for sharing your stories and tips.
    I hope more people will be tempted to visit and great to hear about the medieval festival and your plans and experiences. @Christina – do share how you find Sovata when you get back.

    June 10, 2011 at 1:30 pm Reply

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