Brasov, Romania

So we headed off from Bucharest and challenged Romania´s scary drivers to stop us getting to Brasov. Romanian drivers are our new worst drivers - managing to edge out tough competition from Portugal and Serbia. We´d heard Ukranian drivers were awful, but we´ve been there now, and they´re really relatively sane. Much of eastern Europe is ahead of them in the bad driving league.

We stopped for lunch in Sinaia, named after Israel´s holy mountain. It´s also where Romania´s last monarchs had their summer palaces for when they could escape from Bucharest. The palaces are very picturesque. Here´s Carl´s:

And his nephew and successor Ferdinand fancied something a little different, and had his designer wife kit this one out:

They´re impressive inside too, but you have to take the tour, and they´re not fond of you taking pictures.

Moving on from there we made it to Brasov, which is becoming quite the tourist town. It´s understandable when this is the town hall in the main square:

The Black Church, just off the main square:

And this on the square next to the hostel where we were staying:

It´s so touristy they´ve got this on the hill:

Unfortunately touristy means tourist prices, and there´s something frustrating about knowing you´re paying 10 times more than you would in the village down the road. One couldn´t help feeling a little ripped off, and the locals could´ve at least looked a little pleased about the extra money they were getting. We were starting to appreciate British service...

We went to Bran, and not just because it´s Joanna´s favourite cereal. No, it´s home to Romania´s top tourist attraction, Dracula´s castle. Only problem is Vlad the Impaler of Dracula fame never actually went there. Still, the castle is pretty, if a little over-crowded:


On the way back from Bran there´s the peasant´s citadel at Rasnov. It held off numerous assaults, and has a well that 2 turkish prisoners spent 17 years digging to be allowed their freedom. Here´s Ben with his impression of working that hard:

And here´s the citadel:


Finally, as we drove north out of Romania, and the forests and mountains got more beautiful, and the litter got less, we were very impressed by the stork nests on top of telephone poles, so couldn´t resist this piccie: