As he explores Romania, Leonard Brody continues to delight and amuse with his travel stories. Enjoy.
I arrived in Bucharest late last night…..it is truly a collage of identities – the city really doesn’t look or feel like Europe at all. Romania is primarily a Latin country so it is not what you would expect in a former Soviet bloc nation. Bucharest is kind of a mix between New Delhi, Rome, Budapest and Tel-Aviv all in one. Looking out on the street and you see a mixture of gypsies, horse drawn carriages, fashionably dressed women and BMWs. A sign of the times I suppose. I saw a traffic altercation between a horse buggy and a Land Rover….where was Bob Saget when you need him….Romania’s Funniest Home Videos.
I am working on very little sleep here as I hit the sack around 2am and got up and 7am to hit the highway to Transylvania where I spent the day today. Seeing this part of the world allowed me to knock off one more thing on my “must do before I die list”. I have to say, it was truly unbelievable. In a creepy way, it felt like I was Jonathan Harker in Bram Stoker’ Dracula….basically, I traced his steps, but more in Jewish, Mississippi Burning kinda way.
So, before I get into it, let me lay some background on you that I have learned about since I have been here. Firstly, Bram Stoker’s character Dracula is named after, and based on, the real life Romanian Prince Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler) who was infamous for his many mass murders and cruelty. Dracula was his real nickname and literally means, “Son of the Devil”. His father’s nickname was Dracul or “The Devil”. They were part of a very religious order of knights that protected Walachia and Transylvania. Castle Bran is the building that inspired Stoker to write the story and has henceforth been called “Dracula’s Castle”. Tepes did live there for quite some time and also had another castle which is in ruins called Poenari which was too far north to drive to. In it’s later years, the Romanian Royal family used Bran as a summer home, particularly for King Ferdinand and his wife.
Peles Castle was the summer home of the Romanian Royal Family. Romania only had four kings before the Communists ran them out of the country. The current king, Mihail, still is alive and lives in exile today. The full Royal Castle is in Bucharest and I will be visiting it tomorrow.
Okay, so…..
I hired a guide (Florin) to come with me as I am afraid of the dark and bats. We first went to Peles and it was unbelievable. The architecture in Transylvania is really how you would imagine it and unlike anything I have ever seen before. It is gothic, creepy and majestic all at the same time. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside Peles, so I can just say that it was divided into many reception halls and rooms, but what was cool about it was it was designed by cultural themes. There was a Turkish smoking room, a Moorish reception hall, a Oriental armoury and a French Lounge. If I didn’t know it was a palace in Romania, and it didn’t look legit, it could have been the theme rooms at West Edmonton Mall…minus the Jacuzzi. Although, believe it or not this castle had a central vacuum system in 1888.
We then went to the city of Brasov which is sort of the capital of the region. It was very wild. We visited the famous Black Church of Brasov. I was expecting to see Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and 50 Cent….instead, turns out it is just an Orthodox church made with black stone. Oh well. We listened to Public Enemy in the car to Bran and got down wid it.
We then went for lunch at this crazy Romanian shack called Sura Dacilor….kind of like Pizza Hut for Romanian Villagers. I had some unidentifiable soup and then….the desert which was Papanas…a Romanian donut covered in cream and jam. Take a Timmy’s cruller, slap some Philly and Smuckers on it and you have the general gist. Yet, somehow after the bowl of dog turd I just ate…it was divine. Photo attached.
Castle Bran was truly a once in a lifetime experience. It felt like you were walking up to be slaughtered by Vlad himself. While it is only a legend, there is something very concrete and real about this place. It is creepiness at its finest. Forgetting about Dracula…it was weird just thinking that Vlad the Impaler murdered so many people here. Then, just as I am thinking about this to myself…some wild little Romanian kid wearing Devil’s Horns (not joking) comes up and slugs me in the manberries! Not really sure what for…maybe I deserved it? Either way, his parents apologized profusely and it didn’t hurt that bad….I guess that’s why I have two of them. Figures…maybe this will be a recurring pattern…maybe I will get nutted at all major historical sites I visit. A beautiful
tradition has begun.
Either way, the whole journey was exhausting and took 9 hours. So, I am back in Bucharest and heading to bed. Tomorrow, I will see more of the city…and send more photos.
Hope this finds you all well.
Can someone please send me my jockstrap and athletic protector?
Posted by Mark Busse
Tags: Travel
