Dracula wasn’t home!

As I write ,I am on a bus returning from Transylvania. We arrived in Romania yesterday and had a whistle stop tour of the city. Bucharest is the main city of its region and Transylvania is one of three regions that make up Romania. The country became independent in 1989 but not before 20% of its historical buildings in the city had been demolished to build a new Parliament House. Before this , Bucharest had been described as Little Paris for its fine architecture and wide streets. It’s beauty can still be seen in the old town. Most of buildings ,such as the Royal Palace have become Museums, restaurant,or businesses. Now the Parliament building is one mans ego on display. The Ceausescu and his wife never got to live there and came to a sticky end as the people turned against them. It is built of materials from all around Romania but is the third largest Parliament building in the world. There is 22 hectares of wool carpet. Each set of silk curtains takes 60 metres of material. It was built when the country was in poverty.

Bran castle was built in 1522 by Vlad the Impaler. He became known as Dracula because of his cruelty as a ruler. His castle is a fortress at the top of a hill. The wall decorations originally were murals but have long since been covered over with layers of plaster. The building was used frequently by the Royal family but was simply furnished. There were many secret stairways but although we searched, I think the crowds of people intimidated Dracula because he was not seen.

Brasov is a historical town not far from Bran castle. Its style shows the influence of German designers. We tried some Romania food….meat stuffed pancakes and pork stew with mashed maize. Other favourites are eating all parts of the pig including its ears, tripe soup and stuffed cabbage leaves. It was strange but I didn’t really feel like any of those delights.

Another amazing building is the Peles Castle in Transylvania. This was started in the 1800’s when Prince Nicolai and his English wife Mary (Queen Victoria’s granddaughter) were invited to become the leaders of Romania. Each room is richly decorated with wood, marble and fabrics in a different style. None of the rooms were huge so not uncomfortable. For its day, the building was very modern having running hot and cold water,electricity and an elevator. We were not allowed to photograph inside without paying a fee.

Well we are off to look for Souvenirs for you. Surprisingly they are hard to find then its back to Budapest and then to Finland.