In Budapest Lindso and I parted ways. She caught a shuttle to the airport to fly back to Maui, and I caught the metro to the train station. I boarded a night train to Transylvania! I would be making a 10 hour train ride across Hungary, into Romania, through the Carpathian mountains and into Transylvania with a final destination of Brasov. This was my most exciting train journey yet. The train was pretty empty, and I had a sleeper compartment all to myself. I fell asleep in my little fold out bed to the clickety-clack of the tracks. I awoke briefly after midnight to show my passport to the Romanian border control. Around 5am I awoke to the sunrise over the foggy Carpathians. The landscape was green farmland, with many men walking along the road with fishing rods for some early morning angling.
I arrived in Brasov, a city of 300,000, early in the morning. A long walk through deserted cobblestone streets brought me to my hostel. This would be my first hostel experience, and though Kismet Dao was not the greatest hostel I'd see, it was comfortable enough at $12 a night. Brasov has a picturesque old town. It also unfortunately has a KFC in the central square. Progress is coming quickly to Romania, as they enter the European Union in just six months. Construction is everywhere.
While in Brasov I slipped on some wet cobblestones and tore my jeans wide open. Since I had no other pants even remotely clean, I needed to buy a pair. As it turns out jeans are the only expensive item in Romania. I did get a chance to talk to the woman working at the clothes store and ask her what she thought of Bulgaria, as that was my next destination. "Oh, Bulgarians are awful, I do not like them." So I started asking her about Romania's other neighbors, following are her responses:
Hungarians; "I don't like them, they think they are better than us."
Ukrainians: " I don't like them, they drink too much and fight."
Serbians; "I hate them, they steal."
Moldovans; "They speak Romanian like us, but they are poor and dirty people."
Now I understand why there has been warfare in the Balkans for hundreds of years. I would find the same attitudes in each successive country I visited. Bulgarians hate the Turks, dislike the Romanians, and think the Greeks are too uppity. Romanians warned me not to go to Bulgaria, and Bulgarians told me I was lucky to make through Romania without being accosted.
On the other hand, everyone was helpful and friendly to me. They don't see too many Americans around here and everyone was interested as to why I was in Romania, and what I thought of Romania.
The second day in Brasov I caught a bus to Bran Castle reputed as Dracula's Castle. Bran castle is very pretty, nestled in the Carpathians. Dracula (Vlad "the Impaler" Tepes) was a real person who ruled Wallachia from 1456-1462. He was known for his brutal slaughter of the Turkish forces that bordered his lands, particularly by impaling them on posts along the road sides for miles. However, he was not a vampire, nor was Bran Castle his castle. He did spend two days in the dungeon here while a prisoner of the Hungarians in the 147o's. His original castle has been destroyed by time and the elements, so this well preserved 14th century castle is marketed as "Dracula's Castle". Fine by me, it was a fun tour.
