Into Transylvania: 3 Days in Brasov, Romania

Brasov Romania sits at the base of the Carpathian Mountains in the region of Transylvania. Look up into the mountains and a Hollywood-esque sign reading Brasov greets you. You can climb up to the sign, but it was recommended that we not do it at night as there are bears (and since it is Transylvania, possibly vampires). The small city center is not only super picturesque and full of history but also has a lot going on- over the four days we were in Brasov we saw the Brasov Music Video Awards show in the city center, there was a Mountain Bike Race and Oktoberfest was in full swing right down the street. It was a happenin’ little place! We didn’t participate in the bike race, although our hostel was right next to the course, so we did enjoy the traffic jam it caused as the streets around our hostel were closed (we also had to quickly run through the course to get home). We watched a few Romanian celebrities walk the red carpet to the Music Video awards, but we didn’t know any of them so we were not as excited as the rest of the giant crowd that was filling the streets was and we left pretty quickly. We did however, enjoy Oktoberfest.

We had been on a walking tour earlier in the day and our guide told us that we should try the traditional Romanian food mici, which was a sausage without the casing and said that they had good ones at Oktoberfest. So, we went and tried the mici (which was very good- and cheap, 3.50lei for one, plus bread and mustard. $1=3.42lei), we also had some Brasov beer and some delicious bread filled with a creamy cheese and some home made chocolate. It was a cool atmosphere with giant tents with picnic tables, souvenir and food vendors lining the perimeter and a band (who played some John Denver- a nice touch!).

We arrived in Brasov after another overnight train (train-hotel as we call them) from Budapest. We had the car to ourselves again which was awesome since the train was a billion hours long (or, maybe only 16, sometimes its hard to tell the difference). We walked to our hostel under the impression that it was only about a mile away from the train station. Turns out it was a little over 2 miles which is a long way to go when you are carrying everything you own on your back with the intense mountain sun beating down on you in a place you don’t know at all. We took several wrong turns but found some really pretty buildings and churches. We found a farmers market full of fruits, vegetables, nuts and flowers (but no cilantro as we later found out) and a whole street dedicated to donners. We came back later for lunch on donner street and had the biggest donners of our lives with lots of weird things on them like corn… they were definitely the most unique donners we had ever had, but still can’t touch the super awesome one we had in Sofia! We eventually found our hostel, which was right next to St. Nicholas Church and had awesome views from the balcony in our room and the balcony in the kitchen area.

We really enjoyed wandering the winding little cobblestone streets of Brasov, we even found ourselves in the third most narrow street in Europe. Brasov used to be a Saxon village, while the walls are mostly gone now, it is still apparent where the walled citadel belonging to the Saxons once was. The streets within the walled city are in an easy to navigate grid pattern, while the streets outside of the wall are winding and a little helter skelter (adorable and enchanting to wander through but extremely frustrating and infuriating when trying to navigate them to find a certain destination – say to your hostel). The Saxons were brought in while the area was unstable  with fighting and helped to stabilize the area and establish trade routes.

We learned some very interesting information on the history of Brasov on our walking tour. We saw the Black Church, which has a real name but after a fire in 1689 blackened the church the locals have only referred to it as the Black Church. Unlike most of the places we have visited that were under communist rule, the people in Brasov still seem to be very religious. On the Black Church there is a statue of Mary who is looking towards the government buildings- she is facing that way to guide those making the decisions. At the top of the black church there is a small statue of a young boy. It is said in Romania that for a building to last and stand the test of time, it requires a blood sacrifice. The little boy represented on the church was its blood sacrifice- he was caught by the architect looking at the plans of the building. The architect thought he was spying and pushed the boy off the roof of the church. A sad story, but I guess that is the reason that the Black Church has stood since it was finished in 1477. Our guide told us another story of a different church also built with a blood sacrifice. The church kept falling down and the architect dreamed it would keep falling until a blood sacrifice was made. He discussed it with his crew and they decided that the first wife to come to the construction site would be the sacrifice. Who shows up but the architects wife, Anna, so they walled her in and were able to successfully build the church. Yikes!

We also learned about their connection to the man Dracula was based on, Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler). We learned that there is, in fact, a correct way and an incorrect way to impale someone. I thought impaling was pretty straight forward- you just rammed a stick through someone. But it is far more technical and gruesome than that. Impaling involves sticking a pointy stick up the anus and then planting the stick in the ground with the impaled person sticking up into the air. The persons own body weight then forces the stick through their body and eventually out of their mouth or neck. If done correctly this whole process will take at least a day, maybe two. If done incorrectly, the stick will hit vital organs and the impalee will die within minutes or hours. Really horrible and nasty stuff. We learned all this on our walking tour and our guide was quick to point out that Vlad was no worse than many other rulers at the time, he was simply the victim of bad PR and political agendas.

This all sounds very blood thirsty, but Brasov was a wonderful, friendly little town and we thoroughly enjoyed every minute it in. We always rate places we go and which one have been our favorites so far (my favorite is generally whatever town we are currently in) but one of the biggest tests we have is the “where would you go back to for a month?” We both loved Brasov and wound came back for a month again anytime- summer or winter as there is a ski area just up the road. It was beautiful, friendly and full of fun things to do.