László Varga

I was not able to finish the story-series of our holiday (I will tell in another series, why), so I am writing this last entry about our final stop of our vacation period just to put the dot on the “i”. The final stop was in a familiar city for me, a city about which I have already written a blog entry: Sibiu. This time, however, I have discovered some other things to visit there apart from the classic stroll around its remarkable city center.

First things first, I have to tell where we stayed at. The place is called Casa Verox and it is a small family pension in a quite OK neighborhood close to the city center. Also the prices are OK and for it we have received a very good service. I was also able to park the car inside the courtyard.

After checking in, the first target to visit was the city center. At first we wanted to visit the Brukenthal Museum, but we considered the entry price of 32 RON (€7) a bit too high for the Romanian prices just to see some paintings. What was even more appalling, is that the price to make photos was astronomical (around 100 RON = €22). So, we have visited the quite deserted Museum of Natural History, where I think the entry price of 13 RON (€2.8) was much more acceptable. Here the photo price was also appalling (and we did not buy it), but at least we have seen something different than the usual paintings that are displayed at every museum one goes to.

Another interesting place to visit in the city center, that I did not mention in my last post, was a climb to the city-tower for as little as 2 RON (€0.44). Here one can have a great overview of the entire city. Also photos can be made freely, making it ideal for photographers.

There is one other museum which is hardly mentioned anywhere (I have found it mentioned in Wikipedia though…): it is the Museum of Steam Engines. Now, this museum is REALLY hard to find. There are no indications, no maps, just one address I have found on the net: Str. Dorobanţilor 22. The street, however, does not contain this number. Instead there is a little street between number 16 and 30 which is apparently still the Dorobantilor street and there, in the back (basically next to the railway lines), one can spot the entrance. There was, however, at the time of our visit, nobody there. No gatehouse, no nothing, just a phone number which I could call: it seems like the museum is so insignificant, that the guy at the other end told us, that the number I have called is actually the train depot’s and indeed they have some old steam engines and I could just go to the back and have a look 🙂 . So we went to the back, where we have seen a lot of old engines in a very bad (but original) shape. I think it is worth a visit, though, the old engines are quite cool 😉 .

If one stays the second day, then I can advise anyone to visit also the Sibiu Zoo. It is not as big as the one in Tg. Mures, but it has some different animals which make it probably as attractive as the latter one. Also the entry price is a bargain 2 RON (€0.44), so I do not see why someone would miss it. For children (like me) I think it is ideal anyway ;)… I even took some photos, just to make you interested 😀

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The return through the mountain after the trip south trough Transfagarasan was scheduled the day after, by returning via the highest road in the entire Carpathians, the Transalpina. Due to the weather forecast, however, it was not safe nor scenic to pass there. Also, the road is not officially open to public, yet, so anyone passing there does it on his/her own risk. So we abandoned the scenic route and planned to return on the fast route… boy, we had a big surprise:

The road we chose was the Olt Valley (just between Transfagarasan and Transalpina) which is theoretically a fast road for heavy traffic going to the north (from our point of view) offering a nice view of the mountains from a lower perspective. The road, however, was neither fast, neither for photographers. The best views one can have is from the car, so there is no need to stop at any point. So you drive along, following the truck ahead of you barely reaching speeds of 60km/h and rely on your girlfriend to film the road and possibly catch some nice views along the way 🙂 .

So, people who are responsible for tourism in Romania (or traffic): DO SOMETHING!

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One of the prime attractions of this holiday was to go through Transfagarasan, a famous mountain road here in Romania. Although it is not the highest road in the Carpathians, it is one of the best known (now also internationally due to a dedicated appearance in Top Gear).

We traversed this piece of asphalt from north to south, going from Brasov county to Arges county. The road itself begins with a village right at the bottom of the mountains, at this point without anything dramatic. As one goes more towards the mountains and enters the forest, the road starts to twist… some easy left and right turns and then moving on to the hairpins with not many places to stop at. After the first semi-tunnel, however, the first major parking lot appears. Packed with small souvenir boutiques and a hotel, this is also the bottom of the cable car which takes you to the Balea Waterfall. We did not try this, because the cable car was moving EXTREMELY slow and there was still so much to see on the road ahead :).

After this point the road gets tougher. As the indicator says, it is forbidden to stop in the upcoming portion of the road. From this point on, the trees get smaller and smaller and give way to the breathtaking view down to… well down to a large distance as far as the eye can see. For some it is beautiful, for others it can cause nausea 🙂 . I have seen, however, no reason why one could not stop at this portion: there are lots of places where the car can be parked completely off the road, not blocking others. And yes, we did stop to take pictures :).

The entire climb culminates at Balea Lake, just after climbing the most spectacular set of curves on the entire road. At that point even the car had problems “breathing” and it was not so jumpy as in normal conditions. The Lake, however, is worth the climb. I must say, I think I have never seen such a clean lake in my life. The view is also astonishing… and the locals are using it wisely: 5 RON(~€1.10) just to park you car for any time period from 0-12 hours (end there is no other place to stop at except the parking lots). Even here, the place is filled with boutiques selling all kinds of things that tourist might buy.

But again, there is still a lot to see, so we entered the tunnel (the longest in Romania) at the top of the mountain, passing into Arges county. At the other side, the road starts spiraling downwards and it is pretty much the same as on the other side, only this time it is the other way around: trees get bigger, the view-distance gets smaller, the nausea goes away 🙂 … oh yes, and some friendly donkeys greet you on the other side 😀 .

Next stop: Lake Vidraru, a huge artificial lake on the banks of which the road twists and turns without allowing a proper view of the lake. After about half an hour of twisting and turning around the lake, however, one gets to the dam which holds back this great mass of water. Here all the twisting and turning pays off: the view is, again, breathtaking and the place is, again, filled with boutiques 🙂 .

After all that twisting and turning the road between Lake Vidraru and Curtea de Arges (our destination) gets straighter and houses will re-emerge, forming a never ending village chain (frustrating) until one gets into Curtea de Arges and ends the drive through this great piece of road…

Pictures have been uploaded here.

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Next to the city of Brasov in the centre of Romania there is a location called Bran. This location is a small village with nothing special in it, except… the castle which resembles most with the castle of Count Dracula: the Castle of Bran.

Although the Castle from Stoker’s book is nowhere near that area (it takes place in Bistrita, the northern part of Romania), due to it’s looks the Castle got the name of Count Dracula’s Castle. And here, the myth is really put to use: there are thousands of tourists visiting the castle with a lot of tourists from abroad. I think the entire village makes a living out of this one single revenue. Granted, the castle is a looker and it is in great shape for tourists.

The entry price into the castle is 25 RON (~€5.5) with the price for the audio-guide for 10 RON (~€2.2). The audio-guides and all information in the castle is available in 4 languages (Romania, English, German and French). We did not rent an audio-guide, the information provided on the inscriptions in the rooms provided to be useful enough (although the audio-guide might provide much more information). The actual visit took around 1 hour, which is much less than I expected and payed for in the parking lot: yes, there is a guarded parking lot with the price of 4 RON (~€0.85) per hour.

The actual visit consist of walk through most of the rooms and terraces of the castle, visiting all 4 floors and the interior court. The tour can be done easily without a guide, because there is a clear path for visitors to follow (one way only). During the visit one can stay in each room as much as one wants to, provided that other visitors are not blocked. Some of the rooms are quite small, so blockages can easily occur.

Anyway, I think the visit to this castle was one of the best visits I did in Romania. The castle is very tourist friendly, people are nice and one can have a great time there. At last I saw there are some places which are not let to waste and their true value is used well.

Pictures of the castle can be found here.

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