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Other entries in Braşov

Transylvania

Brasov. Monday, April 14th.

Got up early to catch a 7:30 am train to Brasov. Getting up early is a good sign, as it means there is a plan and an urgency to getting it done. Arrived in Brasov (population 285,000) and was settled in by 10:30 am.

Brasov is in Transylvania, as in where the tales of Dracula come from. I am not here for the Dracula story, but rather because a friend recommended it. The city is smaller in area and has interesting geographical and historical sites, AND I was not disappointed. Had one of those ten out of ten days, which is what you travel for and hope for (but they only come around every 10 days or so, if you are lucky).

What was so wonderful? First, the city is very easy to figure out: a high mountain behind it (code for hike to the top), a well defined historical portion of the city which is self contained, inexpensive lodging right in the middle of it all and superb weather (as in dry and mid twenties). It can be mastered in one or two days, few if any hucksters bother you to buy things, there are no crowds and it has buildings which have neat angles to look at and from. Not much more you can realistically ask for, and it was all in Brasov.

The town is alledgedly one of the largest Gothic cities outside of Germany. I had to look up gothic, means 'Germanically influenced'. The buildings have a unique character compared to what I have seen earlier. The city is at the foot of Mount Tampa, which is in the Transylvanian Alps, so you have to cross a mountain range to get there. This in itself makes the trip rewarding. Apparently good skiing is to be found in the area.

First thing I did was to climb/hike to the top of Mount Tampa, which was a determined 360 metre incline to an elevation of about 2,000 metres. It took about 90 minutes, as I could not find the path up so I went straight up, correctly assuming that eventually I would cross the proper way up. Great view from the top, as the attached photos show. Like Hollywood, there is a large sign at the top of Mount Tampa which says the city's name. Tacky but smart tourism. Going down took 45 minutes, but now I had a sense of what to see in Brasov.

The city has a wall built in the 1400's, which is very visible from the top of the mountain. At the centre of the historical part of the city is a large square and Gothic church called the Black Church (as it had been burnt down in 1689) with a 4,000 pipe organ. Was originally built in 1477 and re-built a few times since (no photos of inside were permitted, which was too bad as it had a different interior than other churches I had seen). After checking out the church, it was time to look at the towers which were outside the ramparts or the wall, called the White and Black (fire again). Towers were built in the 1500's. Monday was a museum closure day, so I could not go to the top of the towers. Aimlessly wandered about trying to usefully spend my remaining Romanian currency, as I had some left because the lodging cost much less than I had budgeted for. Ended up with vitamin pills.

Visiting Brasov was a fine way to end my Balkan sojourn. As my blog may suggest, the Balkans are somewhat tiring and underwhelming. Finding a town like Brasov made the two weeks of bouncing about from place to place worth it. Glad I got to visit Sarejevo and Brasov. I appreciate the fact there are very different cultures living side-by-side here (but I do not agree with how these differences are resolved), I saw some spectacular countryside and added a few (six) countries to my list of have seen.

Now three days of moving about at odd hours of the night to get to Singapore and new adventures, in a very different setting from what I have experienced to date.

Photos / videos of "Transylvania":