27th June
Early start with a 5 hour drive into Transylvania and the origins of Dracula. We stayed in the town where ‘he’ was born. We were inside the citadel & the buildings were interesting. After a very quick orientation - there’s not much to see - I climbed the steps in the clock tower to get a view of the city. Looked around at the ‘tacky’ souvenir shops - everything seems to be from Italy! The cobble streets play havoc when you are walking but that didn’t stop us from heading down the streets for a typical Romanian dinner!
28th June
Late start today so I walked up the 100+ steps to the church - I stopped myself from going inside as I’m churched out! Walked around the German graveyard - the dates on some of the stones showed generations of families. Decided to buy the worst looking cup relating to Dracula to take back to work in the hope that no one will use it!
At 1pm we were picked up by mini bus and driven for an hour through lovely countryside to a UNESCO Saxon village. There are 18 Germans (the Saxons) a number of Romanian families & 300 Gypsies.
Visited the Saxon church (14th century)and learnt about the history of the area. German & Romanian were taught in schools and then the Germans fled during the communist reign because they were unsure if they’d be able to leave & consequently they didn’t return. It seems that everyone lives in harmony.
It is unbelievably rural with chickens, ducks and turkeys running around the village. There are a large number of horse and carts used here. The women sit outside the houses knitting socks - the sale of these helps the community to get the children to school & feed the poor in the winter. We visited the Blacksmith who is a Gypsy & watched him make horseshoes. The bellow he was using was 300 years old.
The houses are interesting and one is owned by Prince Charles - in fact I’m staring at it as I type! As we were separated into different houses we all met for dinner at one of the houses. It was an outside affair with long trestle tables. Home made wine and schnapps was flowing - we had vegetable soup, a lamb dish with polenta & cake. As we finished we were made to jump up to see the cows and goats returning home - each one knew which gate/house to go into. We then moved sheep from one house to another.
Each house is different inside and some people slept in the drawers!
29th June
Two hour mini bus ride to Brasov. When we arrived there was some type of military parade happening in the square with tanks & many guns in evidence. It appears that this platoon(?) is just back from Afghanistan so people were happy.
Took a guided tour around the town. It was once a fortified town so there are turrets & walls to see. This is a Saxon town so many building date back to the 12th century.
Early start with a 5 hour drive into Transylvania and the origins of Dracula. We stayed in the town where ‘he’ was born. We were inside the citadel & the buildings were interesting. After a very quick orientation - there’s not much to see - I climbed the steps in the clock tower to get a view of the city. Looked around at the ‘tacky’ souvenir shops - everything seems to be from Italy! The cobble streets play havoc when you are walking but that didn’t stop us from heading down the streets for a typical Romanian dinner!
28th June
Late start today so I walked up the 100+ steps to the church - I stopped myself from going inside as I’m churched out! Walked around the German graveyard - the dates on some of the stones showed generations of families. Decided to buy the worst looking cup relating to Dracula to take back to work in the hope that no one will use it!
At 1pm we were picked up by mini bus and driven for an hour through lovely countryside to a UNESCO Saxon village. There are 18 Germans (the Saxons) a number of Romanian families & 300 Gypsies.
Visited the Saxon church (14th century)and learnt about the history of the area. German & Romanian were taught in schools and then the Germans fled during the communist reign because they were unsure if they’d be able to leave & consequently they didn’t return. It seems that everyone lives in harmony.
It is unbelievably rural with chickens, ducks and turkeys running around the village. There are a large number of horse and carts used here. The women sit outside the houses knitting socks - the sale of these helps the community to get the children to school & feed the poor in the winter. We visited the Blacksmith who is a Gypsy & watched him make horseshoes. The bellow he was using was 300 years old.
The houses are interesting and one is owned by Prince Charles - in fact I’m staring at it as I type! As we were separated into different houses we all met for dinner at one of the houses. It was an outside affair with long trestle tables. Home made wine and schnapps was flowing - we had vegetable soup, a lamb dish with polenta & cake. As we finished we were made to jump up to see the cows and goats returning home - each one knew which gate/house to go into. We then moved sheep from one house to another.
Each house is different inside and some people slept in the drawers!
29th June
Two hour mini bus ride to Brasov. When we arrived there was some type of military parade happening in the square with tanks & many guns in evidence. It appears that this platoon(?) is just back from Afghanistan so people were happy.
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