Traipsing through Transylvania

Leaving Ruse by afternoon train, we arrived in Brasov, Romania, by train at almost 9:00 at night. Brasov is a picturesque European town, with a traditional city center of main plazas and pedestrian boulevards (lined with shops and restaurants for the tourists). We spent the next morning exploring the city a bit, but wanted to get on the road to hit the one “must see” for every traveler in Romania – Bran Castle, the legendary (but maybe not quite historically accurate) inspiration for Dracula.

Vlad the Impaler supposedly spent a night at this castle, at it has since been associated with him. It is imposing – sitting high on a hill, built right into the rock, it towers above everything. Add to that a wicked wind that was sweeping through town making it nearly impossible to even walk a straight line. The inside, though, was much more welcoming and, well, homey, than I ever expected. First, you were met with a touch of USA movie marketing. Yep, product placement for Transylvania Hotel is the first thing you see walking into the castle. Nice to know Disney is now everywhere. Everywhere. Luckily, after two rooms, that stopped, and what you saw was how the last real inhabitants, the children of Queen Marie, lived. All the walls are white plaster, gorgeous woodwork, iron chandeliers, and intricately decorated iron work were in all the rooms. OK, one room has been reserved as a kitchy tourist trap showing various torture devices (we peeked in but didn’t bother paying the extra fee). But other than that, you walk around thinking, yeah, I could live here.

From Bran, we drove to Viscri, a small town where the cows & sheep, walked through the town to grazing fields each morning and evening, outnumber the people (pop. 400) in the heart of Transylvania. We spent the next two days enjoying local culture. We took a horse and wagon ride with Yurgi, the village’s brick and tile maker. He demonstrated how he makes roof tiles, and then inscribed our names in it. Laura and I will forever be a part of Viscri once that goes up on someone’s roof! We also visited the town’s blacksmith, who still uses a gigantic 300+ year old forge blower passed down through his wife’s family. The blacksmith’s family is Roma, and Viscri is a mix of Saxon, Roma and Romanian. Viscri is also home to Prince Charles, or at least he owns a home here, right in the center of the village. It is usually used as a guest house, but is currently under renovation. Prince Charles visits here about once a year, with no fanfare, and goes hiking in the hills. He has established a trust for the village, which is helping homeowners restore their homes.

Viscri is lovely, and is seen mostly by day tourists who come by large buses to take pictures of Prince Charles’ home, have lunch, and go back to one of the larger towns. We are happy to have stayed even a short time, which gave us the chance to get to know some of the local people and culture.