My train from Budapest got in about an hour late to Bucharest, Romania at 10:30 AM on July 23rd. Unlike in Thailand and other countries, this sleeper train had no food service so I was famished. I had breakfast at a train station restaurant called Restaurant Nord.
I first ordered some meatball soup, and was still hungry so I ordered an omelette along with orange juice and coffee.
My cell phone reception continued to be spotty or nonexistent so I had to rely on paper maps to get my way to the Turquoise Hostel, which was about two metro stops and a 10 minute walk.
Unfortunately, I got lost for about an hour wandering the streets and asking people where the Hostel was. I finally found it it 1:30 PM,but they did not open until until 2 PM. They had a common area so I was able to get connected to Wi-Fi and begin to figure how I had gotten so lost and to reestablish my network settings on my cell phone by calling 611 T-Mobile for assistance.
When people enter, they leave their shoes behind and put on some paper type sandals. People there were very friendly, and signed me up on WhatsApp, which would turn out to be very good later on.
The bed was very comfortable with charging stations, lights and curtains a soft bed.
The showers and toilet areas were immaculate with lots of marble and the showers were hot and had enough room so I could store my clothes while showering.
I took up their advice and had dinner at the very nice restaurant Turquoise Cuisine. I had lamb skewers with three types of pickled cabbage, mediterranean rice and flatbread with some sour lemonade.
The following morning, I’d set my alarm for 5:30 so I could catch the metro to my meeting point all day tour of Bran and Peles Castles along with a visit and lunch in Boslov.
When the alarm went off, I got out of bed, quickly, showered and cleaned up and then checked out. It wasn’t until I started walking toward the metro. that I realized the alarm had gone off at 3:30 instead of 5:30.
So shortly after 4 AM, I decided to walk the 3 km to the Grand Hotel Bucharest for the meeting spot for the all day tour of the Bran castle, also known as the Dracula castle, Peles Castle and a visit to Braslov for lunch with a tour of the black church.
About 5 AM I found this street-side restaurant where I had a Shawarma roll and orange juice. Unfortunately, the coffee machine was broken.#zc
With some extra time, I crossed over to the old town and university to explore the streets and nightlife areas.
At about 6:30 AM. my Guide for the day, Maris, had checked us board, I was sitting by a family of Italians, whose English was extensive as my Italian. My seat mate’s name was Fredrico. It turned out our guide, gave descriptions of the tour in both English and Italian.
After a 3 hour drive to the Bran Castle through some mountains and switchback roads, we arrived at this imposing castle far above the town below.
Queen Marie of Romania was given this castle in 1920 as a result of her negotiation skills during World War I. In World War II, the Castle served as a hospital and when Queen Marie died, her daughter took it over.
I spotted this big dog roaming the grounds that looks like a werewolf.
We then stopped for lunch at Braslov where I first visited the Black Church. It is nicknamed that because the first church burned. You can still see the black scorched side of some of the walls.
Black Church organ
Sample inscription of an influential person buried in the Black Church
I then headed to the Braslov Square to lunch at an outdoor café.
I had cabbage rolls with a big dollop of polenta, sauerkraut, and sour cream along with the big jug of black current lemonade. It was delicious.
Our last stop was the Peles Castle, which was very dramatic, looking cross beam, construction, with heavy use of wood on the interior. This castle was a summer retreat for King Carol I with construction done between 1873 and 1914 as a Neo Renaissance Palace. It was the first European Palace, entirely powered by electricity included a central heating system, a built-in central vacuum system with a retractable stained glass roof over the Grand Hall of Honor.
This looks like a painting, but it is actually a mirror that is reflecting the painting that is on the ceiling.
The communist took it over in 1947, and dictator Ceausescu wanted to use it as a private luxury residence however, local museum curators wanted to protect it so they told the dictator a rumor that the castle’s timbers were infested with wood destroying fungus harmful to humans. That was enough to scare the dictator away from the palace. Following the 1989 revolution, the palace was officially recognized as a cultural heritage site, and reopen to the public.
It was restored in 2007 to the Romanian royal family however they in turn chose to lease the property back to the state so that could remain as a museum which we enjoyed today.
While we were inside the house, there was a torrential downpour and by the time we got out, we saw all of these people wearing rain parks, but no rain, since it had stopped.
On our way to the bus, we spotted these two foxes preening each other.
On the return, we were two hours late because of a terrible accident on the mountain road that backed up traffic.
As we came into Bucharest, we passed by the Arc de Triumph.
This time I return to the Turquoise Hostel by Metro and city bus. It was so late I didn’t bother with dinner. I enjoyed a hot shower and bed instead.
In the morning, I walked to the metro and took it to the train station for the 10:46 AM train to Sophia, Bulgaria. To pay for the metro, all you need to do is use your Visa card or Apple Pay by swiping the entrance sensor and the cost is about less than a euro.
Again, I went to the Nord café and had an omelette, orange juice, and coffee before boarding the train.
Since I had a few RONs currency left, I bought some drinks and pastries before boarding the train.
My cabin on the train to Sofia seated six people. Two were from the Netherlands, one from Luxembourg, and two fromGermany. They were all on their summer student holidays.
The scenery was mostly fields of grains and sunflowers.
We cross the border Romania to Bulgaria on the bridge over the Danube River.
Shortly after that the Bulgarian immigration officials checked our travel papers. I used my passport, but the others used identification cards instead of their passports. I told them we didn’t have identification cards, other than drivers licenses in the United States.
Our train arrived Sofia Bulgaria about 9 o’clock. Fortunately, my cell phone was working as was Google Maps as I made my way to The Bla Bla Hostel.
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