Fake Plastic Earth

When we first decided to have a travel blog I was dead set an having it completely up to date with tons of interesting ‘insider’ travel info. I envisioned myself as the rogue journalist; documenting life on the road, Hunter S. Thompson style. In truth, it’s a lot more work than expected. I’ve come to the conclusion that actually experiencing life is remarkably more fun than writing about it. Not to say I don’t enjoy writing, but I like to engross myself fully where ever I am and reflect upon it later once I’ve had time to truly absorb it. That being said, I will continue our Romanian journey from the Blue Beach Resort in Thailand; swatting mosquitoes and drinking Chang beer while reminiscing about our peaceful stay in Zărneşti, Romania.

If you are looking for the edge of the world, I think I’ve found it. If you are not familiar with Romania then let me humor you with a quick lesson. Bucharest, as I mentioned in an earlier post, is a ’somewhat’ modern city in southern Romania. Everyday was an auditory cocktail of honking cars, screaming vendors and barking dogs enveloped in an aroma of yummy doner meat contradicted by sewer smell. Brasov was the Dracula immersed culture catering to the vampiric seekers needs. The further north you took the train, the more back in time you traveled.

Introducing, Zărneşti. This tiny village invited us into a world before the industrial revolution, before modern technology, where horse and cart still dominate cobbled streets and howling wild dogs rule the night. We jumped off the train eager for adventure. The main attraction, of this village forgotten by time, was getting back to nature. According to our guide book, there was a beautiful hiking trail (apparently Cold Mountain was filmed in one of the valleys). We’ve been in cities for a while at this point so that was enough draw for me. First impression; everyone is staring at us. Two young white kids with backpacks the size of small vehicles certainly attracted a lot of attention.

We were looking for off the beaten track and I think we found it!! A somewhat short, incredibly sweaty walk later and we find our ‘hostel’, Pensionea Fabius. It’s perfect! A private room in what looks more like a over sized family home than a hostel…with a TV!! We haven’t had privacy or any connection to the western world in a weeks. How exciting?! We drop our bags off and head straight for the trail.

I’m in LOVE with everything I see; kids running through the streets, kitties and puppies playing with each other, whole families sitting in carts pulled by horses.

Everyone was so excited to say ‘Hello’. I felt like a celebrity. Most of the village didn’t have street signs so unsurprisingly we got lost. A cute little old baba saw us looking quite out of place and mimed the actions of a hiker and pointed out the way to the trail. Unfortunately, we still managed to get ourselves lost, again. I think this was one of my favorite memories. We ended up wandering through a farmers field, getting dead ended by a creek forcing us to jump over it, dodging cow patties (and cows), making friends with the local chickens all the while farmers were in the distance tilling the field by ox and bull.

There was nothing but lush green hills as far as we could see.

The next day we tried again with greater success. It was incredible! I have never in my life been anywhere as quiet and serene.

During the entire 7hr hike we managed to see only 4 other hikers the entire time. Surrounded by emerald green grass and the fragrance of the forest we happily climbed higher and higher up the mountain. A modest church was a nice place to take a short break and snap some pictures.

The hike grew from casual to quiet intense. At points, it was a mix of the Grouse Grind and some sort of Romanian torture device.

We were hoping to be rewarded with a waterfall or fresh water lake over the mountain, but alas our only reward was completion and a spectacular view. After taking a few minutes to catch our breath, it was truly worth the effort.

As we descended, thoughts of dinner motivated our feet to walk steadily towards the bottom.

Our hostel offered breakfast and dinner which we happily took advantage of. We were the only ones at every meal. As per their request, we told them what time we would like our meals and exactly on time everything was set out for us. Fresh baked bread and home made soup began dinner followed by a different roast each night. Everything was spectacular! It’s making my mouth water just to think of them.

Zărneşti is definitely in my top ten favorite places on the planet. If you are thirsting for absolute silence and a natural beauty like you’ve never seen, make the effort. I’ve been chasing the zen dragon ever since.

PS: Please excuse the spots on the pictures. We’ve had dirt on the camera mirror and can not find anyone half professional to clean it.

~Josie

And the moment we’ve all been waiting for…DRACULA’S CASTLE!! Well, I’ve been itching to get there at least. The image of “Dracula”, as most people envision, never really existed. He wasn’t created, but definitely embellished, by Irish novelist Bram Stoker. In truth, Vlad III/Prince of Wallachia/Vlad the Impaler/Vlad Ţepeş is the basis for ‘Dracula’. He was a badass dude, to put it lightly, and made some serious history by impaling the Boyar class of Wallachia. His major motivation for such gruesome acts was to avenge his eldest brother and father. The history revolving ‘Dracula’ is quite extensive and interesting for the sadist at heart. My interest was pure curiousity. Apparently, Vlad the Impaler only made a single visit to this infamous castle, but I was still beyond excited to make the trek.

A very sweaty, hour long, bus ride later and we were among the hundreds of other tourists that had the same idea. Damn! I thought we’d be the only ones that thought of this.

We made the best of it. We took our time checking out all the little nooks and crannies of this huge castle; waiting for crowds to pass to take the perfect picture.

It wasn’t everything that I ever imagined, but it was pretty damn cool. Walking through the inspiration for such a classic novel, was definitely worth the trip. If we were there at night, with no one around, I’m sure that I would be scared to pieces.

The market at the end was just as entertaining. Any thing you could possibly sell at a tourist trap, they sold; mugs, ashtrays, picture books, stuffed toys…it was impressive. I wanted to buy it all! Who doesn’t want a Dracula throw rug and matching curtains?!

Bran Castle was different than I expected, mostly due to the amount of tourists, but it was worth it. If you’re ever in Transylvania, it’s a must see. Just don’t expect anything too scary unless your afraid of line ups.

~Josie

Transylvania was the perfect jump back into our Eastern European trip. Like I mentioned in a previous post, it’s one of those places I thought I would only read about. Bucharest was fun, but I was more interested in seeing the small Gothic towns of Romania. Brasov was our first stop.

We flew into Bucharest from the Netherlands and took a train headed North.

Our 2.5 hour train ride turned into 7 hours. Hardly anyone spoke English and the only info we could get was ‘accident’. We had a lot of time to kill.

Crazy 8 Count Down

Day one didn’t go past noon before we found ourselves in a tattoo shop. We were looking to get tattoos in Amsterdam, but it was wickedly expensive. We took a quick browse through their work and decided to just go for it. The shop looked remarkably clean and the Heavy Metal dudes, that ran the shop, seemed stoked to have us. How bad could a ridiculously cheap Transylvanian tattoo really be?

Neil went first

The day a new chapter began

The rest of the day was spent checking out the sites. The first point of interest was Biserica Neagră or Black Church. The latter name was due to a fire in 1689. Unfortunately, like most other churches, they did not allow photography. We snapped some photos of the outside. Still impressive.

We climbed the two watch towers that over looked the city

Both towers had a million rickety old stairs that made me realize just how out of shape I really was. The view was totally worth it.

The city itself didn’t have a lot of typical tourist sites. It didn’t need to. Just being there was the experience. Most of the streets were cobblestone surrounded by buildings literally built hundreds of years ago during the Gothic Era.

Literally the weirdest statue ever

Little ‘ol baba’s sold $1 ice cream and homemade crafts in the popular walking square. Flocks of swallows dive bombed tourists enjoying their coffee in one of many cafes along the main walking street. The smell of fresh popcorn filled the air; only $0.50 a bag.

I loved it! This was the Romania I was looking for; trapped in time. Now all I needed was Dracula…..