Vampire Country

       

       On Wednesday I went to the Village Museum in Bucharest. It,s an open air museum where you can see different historical styles of households around Romania. After that I walked quite a ways to the train station to catch a train to Brasov. I really enjoyed the scenery on the way as we traveled between steep forested hills, overshadowed by misty mountains, with occasional quite and sleepy towns into Transylvania. When I got to Brasov I checked into a hostel and took a free walking tour of the old town. Brasov is a really nice town and I really enjoyed hearing about its history through the tour guide.
        In the morning, I went with a few others from the hostel to the Bran "Dracula's Castle" and the Rasnov Fortress. Honestly, the Bran Castle wasn't very impressive and seemed like just a tourist trap to me. I had heard this from other people before I visited, so I wasn't expecting anything more. The Rasnov Fortress, on the other hand, was very cool. It sits on top of a hill outside of the town of Rasnov and many of the buildings within its walls are still intact. After that, we all headed back to Brasov and got lunch. I climbed Tampa hill in the middle of Brasov. It was a strenuous hike, but it was worth the amazing view at the top.

*Bran Castle:

*Rasnov Fortress:

       Yesterday I got up early to catch the train to Sinaia with a newfound friend. There we visited a beautiful monastery and a couple castles. The first castle, Peles, was very impressive, inside and out. We did a tour of the inside, but unfortunately it costs quite a bit for the privilege to take photos, so I didn't take any. After that we went to the nearby Pelisor castle. This one was still very decorated and lavish, but felt more like a home. The situation with photos was the same here. After that we had a light lunch and then sat in the sun in a park near the train station before we caught the train back to Brasov. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, besides the fact that I'm pretty sure I got food poisoning.
       

       This morning I went to the Black Church in Brasov. The church is huge and impressive, but not very ornate. This is because when it was being built, most of Brasov's money was going to war efforts. The inside was very nice. It was a lot less lavishly decorated and gaudy than the other Orthodox churches I have been to, but I liked it because of that. After that I caught I bus to the train station. I just barely caught the 1 o'clock train to Sibiu.