Brasov is one of the coveted cities for missionaries to serve in. It is beautiful! It's touristy and historic. And it's actually pretty good in size--approximately 235 thousand people live there.
It took us a little while to get there because our GPS took us through the rural roads and forested paths basically-hahaha. We passed some massive Gypsy neighborhoods and marveled at their luxury look, got stuck behind the horse buggies and funny trucks.
Mark was not feeling well the whole day but still did not complain....so when we got to Brasov, we let him rest. I chose to stay in a historic building in this city, meters from the central plaza. We had two apartments actually--Katya and Mark were staying in one place and Robert and I were on the second floor in a different place with a huge kitchen and living room. It was a quirky place for sure! I felt a little bit like I am in the middle a of French city in the mid 1600s.
It was also one of those places where we squeezed in our car on a street to park and did not move it, feeling lucky we got a spot. So we walked from our apartment to the center and found some dinner.
After a meal, we had a scheduled walking tour to learn more about the history of the city.
It was a an informative and entertaining tour led by a native Romanian who grew up in the communist regime and has seen the country transform through the last thirty decades. We learned about the German history of Brasov, the invaders, the bears and all sorts of interesting facts that are very amusing at the moment but cannot be retained long term...
The pinnacle of the tour was seeing this Black Church--built 600 years ago in a gothic style, it is one of the biggest medieval churches in Europe.
Beautiful night in Brasov. It was getting dark but the streets were still alive with action!
We got Mark out of the apartment to go hunt down some gelato and late night crepes. We were brave to be standing so close to him!
Random pictures of Romania.
The following morning, Mark seemed to be a little better (gelato helped??) so we checked out from our place after eating our leftover fruits and pastries and headed to see Bran Castle! What is that, you might ask?
The DRACULA Castle! Just kidding....Dracula is not even real...or so they say.
The abbreviated history goes something like this--in the 12th century a wooden fortress is built but destroyed by the Mongols. In the 14th century, the Saxon merchants build a stone castle as a border check point. Then King Wladyslaw II was enjoying the castle, and Michael the Brave after that. In 1888 the Austro-Hungarian authorities transfers the castle to the Romanian crown, and King Ferdinand gifts the castle to Queen Marie in 1920 who renovates the castle. It later becomes a museum and a national treasure.
They say not to rush through the castle but let me assure you that you are not even capable of rushing through it during the summer months! It is so popular and busy! The line was enormous to get tickets so we were smart enough purchase them online for a timed visit.
Was it impressive? Nah...it's pretty small, although it has 57 rooms, apparently, some secret corners and all that.
Here is the crowd... People from all over Europe were here because I could hear all sorts of languages! That’s how you know you are in Europe:))
Was it iconic? Yes! It was cool to see and definitely a must if you are in the Brasov region.
The walk up the castle is pretty steep too. Candid picture of us walking up the steep hill...
Here is a good picture of the castle!
Straight from the Bran Castle we drove to neat town in the mountains where we hopped on a gondola to go up the mountain for some pretty views.
It was a short but beautiful ride. And sadly we didn't capture any pictures because we were trying to enjoy the beautiful moment.
Wait...we did get one picture of the view from the cable ride.
We went up the mountain, walked around with a bunch of other lost tourists, bought an overly expensive bottle of water to share, took some pictures and went back down.
Oh, but when we went back to the town, we bought the most incredible chimney cakes!!!! Oh my goodness... I love these things! These were THE BEST!!!!! They are so fluffy and not super sweet and just perfect!
They did not last long....
We continued our drive and stopped at a town of Fagaras not too far from Cirtisoara where we were staying.
Another cool fortress in the middle of the city! You could tell Mark was feeling a little better as he was posing for pictures.
We stopped by the grocery store in this town to get us some food for the next two nights and headed to our next airbnb.
And just an example of what you might see on the roads of Romania.
To Be Continued...
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