Brasov

Next place on our list was Brașov - one of the most popular destinations in Romania. It is the regional capital of Transylvanian Saxons, who played a big role in the development of Brașov. It was a new thing for me to learn that Germans were quite numerous in this region, as in the Middle-Age they were invited to Transylvania by Hungarian kings to develop towns, build mines and cultivate the land. Today there's still a very small German minority living in the city, but their predecessors had a huge influence

The ride from Peles Castle to Brașov was quite short and in the late afternoon we arrived to our destination. On our way we booked an apartment on booking.com. There was no problem with the choice, even a few hours before the arrival. We booked a place located a few minutes away from the Brașov's Main Square. We left our stuff and we went for an early dinner - we were very hungry and we wanted to eat well. We decided to go to the Restaurant Sub Tampa and it was a great choice! Located on the slope of the mountain, it was actually quite full, but luckily we managed to get a table. Food was delicious and beautifully served!

On the next day we first headed of course to the Brașov's Main Square, which is called Council Square (Piata Sfatului). It was full of beautiful and colorful buildings and it actually reminded me very much of Poland. It had also beautiful views over mountains and quite original - Hollywood like - sign "Brașov" on its slopes. Despite relatively early hour, there were a lot of people on the square - including many tourists.

 Casa Sfatalui (City Hall)

One building around was not colorful though - it was the Black Church, which is apparently the biggest Gothic church in Eastern Europe. It holds its name because of the big fire which happened in Brașov in 1689 and which in a big part destroyed the church and blackened its walls.

 

We went for a short walk in the area, allowing us to discover this medieval city. We were wandering around until we reached the St Nicholas church and the First Romanian School (Prima școală românească). The church was the oldest in Brasov and the school was the first one where lessons were taught in Romanian. It was the only Romanian school in this region of Transylvania and each village paid for one student, who upon return to the village could share the knowledge.

In the afternoon we went with a cable car to the top of Mount Tampa. The queue to the cable car was quite long, it took us around half an hour to make it inside and another few minutes to make it to the top. On the top we had to walk for another 10 minutes to the viewpoint, but it was very well worth it. Views over Brasov were asbolutely spectactular. We can came down also with fenicular - our ticket (for 18 lei) comprised both ways.

All in all it was a very pleasant city, with a beautiful architecture, spectacular surroundings and interesting history - we liked it a lot :)

Amazing Peles Castle - a masterpiece!!!!

On Tuesday morning we went for the last, quick walk in Bucharest and around noon we left for Brasov. But on the way to Brasov, we planned to stop in Sinaia in order to visit Peles Castle. In many reviews this castle was mentioned as one of the top attractions of Romania, so I was really curious!

After around 2h of drive we arrived to Sinaia, we parked at the parking near the castle and we walked up hill for about 10 minutes. The closer we were coming, the more beautiful castle looked. But the best was still to come!

 

Visiting the castle was possible only in groups. We bought then our tickets for 30 lei (not without problems as it was not possible to pay with a card!) and we patiently waited for our tour with an English speaking guide. While waiting we were admiring an amazing inner courtyard.

 

The castle was built by King Carol I of Romania, who felt in love with the beautiful mountain scenery that he decided to built there his summer residence. The construction started in 1873 and was finalised in 1883. The castle was designed in the German Renaissance style by a German architect Johannes Schultz. Interestingly Peleș was the first castle in the world with central heating and fully powered by its own power plant.
 
At the entrance to the castle, we also had to put on the disposable plastic covers for our shoes and then we could start our visit. We walked into the Grand Hall (the Hall of Honour) beautifully decorated with wooden reliefs on the wooden panels and we followed to the Weapons' Room where we could admire King's collection of weapons coming from the entire World. Subsequently we visited more rooms such as the Royal Library, Music Room and Turkish room. All were just stunning, amazingly decorated with stained glass, wooden ornaments, Murano crystals, Cordoba leather-covered walls sculptures, porcelain, frescoes, wonderful textiles, wonderful furniture... Unfortunately it was not allowed to take photos, in order to do so I had to buy a special ticket, which I did not, as I did not expect this rule to be really enforced and I did not think that this place would be so beautiful. Still, I managed to take secretly a few photos..

 

 



 

 

 

Peles Castle turned out to be the most beautiful castle I've ever seen in my life. Amazing from the outside and absolutely spectacular from the inside. I have only two regrets - that we did not visit the second floor (it was another tour, we bought tickets for the first one available) and that I did not buy the ticket allowing me to take photos. One more reason to come back to Romania :)

Bucharest

Romania was on my mind already for some time. I knew it is a beautiful country with many interesting sites and I wanted to go there one day. So when Nina turned two, meaning from now on we had to pay full price for her flight ticket, we decided to focus on European destinations and chose Romania as the first one.

There are several companies flying to Bucharest from Brussels, but I have to admit that though I was looking for the tickets well in advance, the prices were not very low. I chose then a Friday morning flight with Wizzair, which still had acceptable price. As Marijn could not join the trip since the beginning, the plan was the Nina and I will spend a weekend in Bucharest and we will all reunite on Monday.

I already learned from my friends that there's Uber in Bucharest and so I decide to reach the city center this way. The airport wasn't located very close, around half an an drive, but with Uber it costed me only about 10 euros. The apartment, which I rented via booking.com was located very centrally - on Calea Victoriei, one of the most central Bucharest's streets. We were both so tired after we arrived, that we went for a nap... In the late afternoon we went for the sightseeing of surroundings.

 

We had a dinner in the Old Town. It wasn't easy to choose one place, as it was full of bars and restaurants, but in the end we chose Aubergine, which turned a great choice - full of fresh and vegetarian (but not only) dishes.

We had a lot of time in Bucharest, so we took it slowly on Saturday. After a long morning and a breakfast in the nearby Paul, we walked around 20 minutes to one of Bucharest's most famous landmarks - the Palace of the Parliament. Its construction was ordered by Nicolai Ceaușescu and it started in 1984 and in order to build it, several buildings (such as monasteries, factories, but also just houses) had to be demolished. The Palace was inaugurated in 1989, becoming the second biggest building in the World - just after Pentagon.

Upon the entrance to the building, I learned that in order to visit the Parliament, I have to do with the guided tour and the next one was starting in more than one hour. But since I was alone with a little baby, they actually managed to find a place for me in the tour starting within a few minutes ;-) After paying for a ticket (around 10 euros), showing my ID (obligatory) and going through security, Nina and I were ready to visit :) And the visit was very interesting. It lasted around one hour and we saw several meeting and banquet rooms/halls located on two floors, as well as the balcony with a view over the Blvd Unirii. Everything was very richly decorated, full of murmur and crystal chandeliers. Unfortunately this tour did not cover the underground, which has to be also very interesting with the nuclear bunker located at its lowest level.

 

After the visit, we headed to the Old Town, we passed by the beautiful and very photogenic CEC Palace. It was built in 1900 as a new headquarters for Romania's oldest bank. Unfortunately it was not possible to visit it inside. In Marijn's absence I had the chance to try my new tripod to take some photos and in the end the result was quite good :)

Next place on my agenda was the Cărturești Carusel - Bucharest's most famous and most beautiful bookshop. Of course I wasn't planning to buy any books in Romanian, but this place was so unique that I absolutely wanted to see it. It's a very famous place for photo shooting and the staff never discourages people to take photos.

After that we passed the Revolution Square (Piata Revolutiei) and we reached another beautiful landmark of Bucharest - the Romanian Athenaeum (Ateneul Roman). It is a concert hall in the center of Bucharest. It was inaugurated in 1888 and was built in big part with money donated by ordinary people during a 28 years collection of which slogan was: "Donate one leu for the Ateneu".

In the evening we came back to the Palace of Parliament to take a few more photos. Given the heat it was not really possible to do it during the day.

The next day I wanted to take it slowly - in fact I planned sightseeing of only one place - the Ceaușescu Mansion. Since the beginning of my stay in Bucharest I knew I wanted to see this place, especially since I heard legends of Elena's wardrobe.

It was a bit far from the city center, so we went there with Uber. To my surprise, the 'mansion' turned out to be 'simply' a normal villa. It will turn out in a while that it certainly was not a simple villa. It was huge and very luxury place. Nicolai Ceaușescu and his wife, as well as their three children have lived in this house from 1965 to 1989. Now it became a museum. As in the Parliament, the visits were organized in groups and I had to wait around 40 minutes for my turn. I spent this time in the garden - quite surreal to think that I was sitting on the same bench as this former dictator.

The interior was very richly decorated to say the least. Splendor, luxury, gold, extravaganza - in the 21st century the house looked super kitschy, but I can only imagine that in the times of Ceaușescu he lived in absolutely luxurious conditions, of which his compatriots could not even dream. Elena's wardrobe was indeed impressive, bathroom was made of gold and the house had even its own swimming pool made of an impressive mosaic. The house was full of photos and private belongings of the Ceaușescu family, it looked like if they left it for a moment, but would be coming back soon...

We spent the afternoon wandering in the Herastrau Park, which was nearby.

On Monday morning, just next to our building there were some celebrations with music and soldiers, so we had an unexpected attraction :)

Shortly after, while waiting for Marijn, we went to see one of the biggest attractions of Bucharest - the Stavropoleos Monastery. Since it started to rain, there were zero tourists visiting it, which made this place truly magical. I could sit in peace and silence and admire spectacular old frescoes.

In the end my stay in Bucharest was prolonged by one day, as Marijn missed his morning flight and he arrived only in the middle of the night. I had to find a new apartment, but it was not a problem, as on booking.com there were a lot of great options in very good prices. It stopped raining so we spent the afternoon wandering around.

I liked the city a lot, it really impressed me with its beautiful architecture - I don't know why I was expecting only communist blocks. Instead the architecture was very interesting, often impressive and some sites were really unique! Prices were low, people were nice and the city was very pleasant as such. It was a great introduction to the rest of Romania :)