Transylvania

After Bucharest, we were a bit concerned that we may not escape the Romanian techno dance music and leggings (no offense, Kristin) on our trip through historic Transylvania. When our train arrived in Brasov, however, we were pleasantly surprised.

Transylvania has sustained many of its gothic basilicas, hilltop monastaries, citadel walls, and clock towers through centuries of war with the Ottomans, two world wars, the changing of hands from Hungary to Romania, and an unfortunate Communist regime. Most impressive, however, are the mountainside castles, which are (inconveniently for us) spread out along the region, inaccessible by train.

We began in Brasov (Brah-shahv), the largest Transylvanian city. We were happy to find large, pedestrian-only boulevards, and a scenic overlook, accessible by furnicular. We climbed a steep and slippery path directly up the mountain; our plan was to take the furnicular back down after our harrowing, scenic climb. Alas, the furnicular was offline, so we took the same perilous path back down.

We spent the next two days in Sighisoara (See-ghee-shwara), the birthplace of Vlad Tepes, or Vlad the Impaler (Dracula). Around Vlad's old home and around the town are merchants peddling Dracula T-shirts, vampire coffee mugs, and other such historically irrelevant merchandise. Conversely, the government-owned sights themselves make minimal mention of Vlad, if at all, focusing instead on the quaintness of the medieval society. It's quite reasonable that the Romanian government doesn't want to wave a big Vlad Tepes banner, if you consider who the man is and exactly what he did...

Mr. Tepes was born in 1431, in Sighisoara. He quickly became a powerful warlord and earned the fear of Transylvania and its neighboring provinces by committing vile atrocities upon his prisoners of war, most frequently: impaling. Impaling entails lodging a person longways upon a metal pike, where they would painfully await death within minutes, or as long as two days. He held "mass impalings," sometimes around his cities or those of his enemies, presumably of over 10,000 people at once.

Atrocious or not, the man is a legend, so his house and his (alleged) castle in Bran (above, at left) are available to visit - just donàt expect much mention of Mr. Tepes on the placards of the government-owned property.

Sighisoara had a similar, quaint, atmosphere, with a massive medieval citadel, named the best-presetved medieval town. We visited Vlad's house in an effort to attend a historical tour - unfortunately, the government decided not to protect this landmark, and a somewhat cheesy restaurant "Casa Dracul" occupies the premises. We went ahead and did a beer thre, of course.

Also unfortunately, Sighisoara didnàt seem to want us to leave - early on our train back to Brasov, we realized we forgot a notebook in an Internet cafe, so we hopped off and retrieved our goods. We took it as a sign to dine there for supper, so we visited a Romanian pizzeria by the citadel and ordered some RED wine.

[Travel Tip: When pointing to a Romanian wine list and saying "Red?" they may nod enthusiastically, and bring you a blush.]

We went ahead and drank a pink wine in honor of Beth and Ryan's wedding.

We returned to the station to purchase tickets and catch the last train, only to find that the advertised prime-time train runs only on holidays! We weren't happy about forking over the extra dough on a taxi, but we made back the extra cash by placing second in the national Romanian couples' tag-team wrestling championship.

Just kidding. We placed first.

Bucuresti

In our research, the Romanian capitol of Bucharest isn't featured as a tourist spot, but we'd swiftly recommend it to you if you'd like to visit an affordable opera or if you're really into European techno "house" music (it's playing everywhere - bars, loudspeakers, government offices, every vehicle... everywhere).

Our brief Bucharest visit was a classic "first/only day in a new city" in our travel experience; we entertain the challenge of being parachuted into foreign territory, figuring out how to say "hello" and "thank you," procuring a map, and visiting the key monuments on foot, all before sustaining a worthwhile cultural experience that evening.

So, we caught an hour tour of the Romanian parliament building, the Casa Poporlulul, the world's second largest building by square footage behind the Pentagon, and built mainly between 1985 and 1989. Per our tour guide, "we finished ninety percent of the construction by 1989, then we executed our communist president," and, "there are sixty seats in this chamber - there were to be sixty-one, with a larger gold chair for the president, but we shot him, so what's the point?" He also voiced a lot of displeasure about the current Romanian government, especially for a parliament tour guide (you don't see us leading tours of the Cheney mansion).

We caught a spectacular view of Bucharest and the world's longest boulevard from the parliament's balcony, where the executed president was to address the public, but never did; instead, Michael Jackson was the first to stand and shout, "Hello Bucharest."

We scored some opera tickets on the way back to our room and hurriedly ate some delicious food we bought from the supermarket (read: devoured some fruit and crackers, and drank yogurt straight from the cup, for lack of a spoon).

After the opera performance, we felt substantiated in our cursory Bucharest visit, so we turned in and caught up on some of the sleep Anne and Steve stole from us in Istanbul. But now we've recharged, and we're on to Brasov, Sighisoara, and Bran (medieval Transylvania) to see some history.

More from the birthplace of Vlad Tepes (better known as "Vlad The Impaler," or "Son of Vlad Dracul," or simply "Dracula").