Brasov (my worst post ever)

The most famous building in Transylvania - the Bran castle A.K.A. Dracula's castle

After two nights in Budapest, we boarded another overnight train. This time to Brasov, Romania. Brasov had been on my radar for quite some time since it has Eastern Europe's best known ski resort nearby. I had considered going skiing there but due to a lack of snow this season, I didn't. One of my goals on this trip was to hang out someplace for long enough to really get in to the culture so we decided we would give Brasov a chance and stay here for a greater length of time than any of the other places we had been to or were going. We had booked a home stay with a man named Eugene. Eugene rents out his mother's bedroom for extra income. His mother is still alive and when he has guests, she sleeps in his room. It feels a bit odd, but the price was right and what a better way to get into the culture of a place than to stay with a local, besides if Eugene's mother didn't stay with him in his room, she may have to resort to eating alpo or something. Another generator of income for Eugene is that he offers his services as a guide/driver to tour the world famous Dracula's castle, two other lesser-known castles, and the surrounding countryside. In the interest of Eugeni Mama (that's what she called herself) we took him up on the offer of an 8+ hour tour of the aforementioned sights.



Brasov is a pretty Transylvanian town situated at the foot of the Carpathian mountains.








WTF?

Most Romanians under the age of 50 can speak English very well. Most of them over 50 can't. Eugene's mother was no exception, but the conviction with which she spoke to us in Romanian caused me to be scared to let on that I had no idea what she was saying, so I politely nodded and smiled as she spoke to me.

Eugene himself is quite the character. I am a big fan of conspiracy theories, but they have to sound at least somewhat plausible. Eugene thinks that governments have machines that can control the weather. Of course, you usually don't find out someone is whacko until you spend 8 hours in a car with them.


One day we took a pleasant hike to the seven stairs falls. There is a series of waterfalls that come down a canyon and a series of ladders and walkways up the canyon.















It's obvious that the safety inspectors haven't been around in quite a while, or maybe such things are of no concern to the Romanians. Marsha was braver than me and ascended one more ladder than I did - but she does weigh quite a bit less than me. The whole thing reminded me of something out of Indiana Jones.







I also got a haircut while in Brasov. I've never needed a translator for a haircut before. I was very pleased with the results.

More castles: