Choose another map, showing:

• Ukraine
• Mediterranean
• Europe
• Eurasia
• Eurasia, Africa & Pacific
• The World

Other entries in Braşov

Chapter Eight: Bear Hunt

"A distant laugh echoed down the cold passageway and then, the castle lay again in silence. Welcome to Transylvania.

We arrived in Brasov the afternoon of the 12th. Our fleeting affair with the capital left us lusting after the countryside. Bucurest was big and grey - an eastern sci-fi metropolis where we mangaged to find some friendly people. A day roaming parks, botanical gardens and rowing on a lake with two ladies from Birmingham left is in high spirits.

Brasov was everything we could have asked for. The remote train station stretched out its ancient arm to great us - lacking the ugly tatoos of tourism. We rested in the old town; a fairy-tale setting.

Cobbled streets wound around aging, wrinkled buildings and crooked church spires pointed accusingly towards the blue sky, against which a sea of green scribbled fir trees cascaded into the distance.

A week previously, an unknown gentleman had been killed by an infamous black Romanian bear. No one had seen the bear since. As I heard the story from our Romanian friend, somewhere deep inside me my muscle for adventure began to spasm.

Later that evening myself and Jack found ourselves, with two other excitable chaps; a German and a French-Canadian, setting out to the mountain to find the bear.

We were not disappointed. The great beast sat at the edge of the deep, dark forest eating a pile of food. Its huge claws tore through its meal and its beady eyes pierced our gaze as we crept closer. As it was feeding it didn't seem to feel the need to eat us, but instead let us watch cautiously at the immense creature in its natural habitat.

Add to del.icio.us Add to reddit