Having a great time Romania
Sep 28th, 2014, 09:26 AM
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Having a great time Romania
Thanks to all who responded to my earlier questions and posts that I have read, I am having a great visit. It's been five days and now I am in Borsa, Maramures after 2 nights in idyllic Breb. We've had no difficult getting a double room last minute. Much easier since we have a car.
Sep 29th, 2014, 10:06 AM
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Thursdaysd, hope you are having as good a time as I am, the weather has been perfect after the 11/2 rainy days. I am a fairly flexible, unfussy traveller. My lodgings need to be clean, quiet, with easy parking, under $100/night, $50 is ideal. Attached bath preferred, English speaking a bonus. Husband and I flew from Philadelphia to Frankfurt with a 4 hour layover before Bucharest. Grateful that frankfurt airport now has free 24 h wifi, and on my layover, I decided we were going to spend the night in Brasov instead of Sinaia. With the help of tripadvisor and booking.com reviews, I had 5 places in mind. I emailed my first choice Casa Sforii which was right in the Old Town, and the friendly owner said he will reserve a room for me. The other places I had in mind still had rooms available on booking.com. Rinda's which came highly recommended in Fodors was full which is not surprising since she only had one room to let.
Sep 29th, 2014, 10:51 AM
#5
tangwah - Hope you enjoyed Brasov! I really liked it. I visited Sinaia and think Brasov was a better choice ( but absolutely loved Pelisor). Sorry to have missed you.
Adrienne - yes, will be here for three weeks. Will post a TR after I move on. Thanks for the good wishes.
Adrienne - yes, will be here for three weeks. Will post a TR after I move on. Thanks for the good wishes.
Sep 29th, 2014, 06:33 PM
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Yhursdaysd. Yes, Brasov was lovely. And parking in the Old Town was not so bad as promised by Casa Sforii owner. Glad it's off peak and not the weekend. Lucky you, 3 weeks. Ours is a whirlwind trip, good thing my husband loves to drive. I hope to see Peles and Pelisor castles on our way back to Bucharest.
We left Brasov late morning for the Transfagarasan highway but had a flat tire on route so ended up in Sibiu instead stayed at Pensiunea Cocosul Rosu which was just outside the old city with free street parking. Small comfortable room. Unfortunately both the afternoon and morning receptionists didn't speak English and couldn't tell me to look for Vulcanizare, which I assume means tire repair we found out later. Walked around charming Sibiu which unfortunately was overcast that afternoon. The main square was taken over by a large October Fest tent and amusement rides. We had a good time there that night for dinner and music by a live band from Vienna. Shared a table with a local couple in their 30s who spoke English and their 6 year old child.
The next morning we hunted for a tire shop and finally found one after 1 hour and several stops at gas stations. He did a professional job according to my husband and was speedy, charged us 10 RON/$3. Tire is still holding up.
I decided since it was going to rain all day we might as drive straight up to Breb. We arrived at Village Hotel that I booked online that morning. Great place to stay while visiting the areas, although the the short drive from the paved "Main Street" was gravelly and narrow.
We left Brasov late morning for the Transfagarasan highway but had a flat tire on route so ended up in Sibiu instead stayed at Pensiunea Cocosul Rosu which was just outside the old city with free street parking. Small comfortable room. Unfortunately both the afternoon and morning receptionists didn't speak English and couldn't tell me to look for Vulcanizare, which I assume means tire repair we found out later. Walked around charming Sibiu which unfortunately was overcast that afternoon. The main square was taken over by a large October Fest tent and amusement rides. We had a good time there that night for dinner and music by a live band from Vienna. Shared a table with a local couple in their 30s who spoke English and their 6 year old child.
The next morning we hunted for a tire shop and finally found one after 1 hour and several stops at gas stations. He did a professional job according to my husband and was speedy, charged us 10 RON/$3. Tire is still holding up.
I decided since it was going to rain all day we might as drive straight up to Breb. We arrived at Village Hotel that I booked online that morning. Great place to stay while visiting the areas, although the the short drive from the paved "Main Street" was gravelly and narrow.
Oct 4th, 2014, 09:56 AM
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Nice to hear from you NYwoman. We had a great time in Breb. Not quite Brigadoon to me, but close enough. The villagers were friendly and curious about me, probably since I am of Chinese ethnicity and uncommon. The countryside was lovely and made special thanks to the hand made haystacks. The wooden monasteries were unexpected marvels. We enjoyed our 2 night stay at Village hotel and I still yearn for the cold fresh unpasteurized but boiled by B & B owner cow's milk prior to delivery in the morning. We left for Bukovina and it was a scenic drive. Ended up at Pensiunea Nordica in Brasov for the night right next to ski chair lift. Unfortunately it stopped for the evening at 5 pm when we were getting ready to take the lift to view the ?highest waterfall in Romania. We continued our journey to Bukovina the next morning. To be continued. We are now at Sinaia, staying in Hotel Bation which was formerly the Royal stables and a 7 minute walk to Peles castle which we intend to visit promptly at 9:15 am when it opens.
Oct 7th, 2014, 01:56 AM
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Back home now after a great 12 day trip.
NYwoman, thanks to your post I looked up fortified churches, and decided to stay at Viscri 125 for two nights when the weather forecasted clouds with chance of rain. i called the B and B that morning and was fortunate to get a great room. It was a good break from driving both the Transfagarasan and Transalpina highways in one day. Fantastic drives both of them, the Transalpina is more scenic but the last 60 km on the North end was riddled huge potholes and unfinished sections. The south end of the Transalpina is the more scenic section so we would have turned around after reaching the peak had we known about the bad section.
We had a lovely stay in Viscri where it only rained for a few hours one afternoon and blue skies returned after one cloudy day. We left Viscri on a lovely sunny Sunday and drove to Prejmer and Harman fortified churches and were very impressed. Harman is just 10 km away from Prejmer and well worth a visit. After lunch we headed south to Bran castle. We parked but decided against walking up to the castle as the base was packed with tourists and ssouvenir shops. We headed towards Sinaia and it was a scenic drive once we was got into the mountains. We passed by beautiful chalet type pensions and bigger hotel lodges on the hillside with fantastic views especially with fall foliage almost peaking. Pity we had no time to spend a night there as we were heading to Hotel Bastion which was formerly the Royal stables of the Peles Castle and a 7 minute walk from the castles. We booked a superior double room on booking.com for $55 a few hours prior to arrival at a cafe with free wifi and it was quite the deal. Very friendly English speaking staff, free parking, good wifi and nicely decorated room. The hotel restaurant was average but we didn't want to drive to better restaurants since it is zero alcohol tolerance for drivers.
NYwoman, thanks to your post I looked up fortified churches, and decided to stay at Viscri 125 for two nights when the weather forecasted clouds with chance of rain. i called the B and B that morning and was fortunate to get a great room. It was a good break from driving both the Transfagarasan and Transalpina highways in one day. Fantastic drives both of them, the Transalpina is more scenic but the last 60 km on the North end was riddled huge potholes and unfinished sections. The south end of the Transalpina is the more scenic section so we would have turned around after reaching the peak had we known about the bad section.
We had a lovely stay in Viscri where it only rained for a few hours one afternoon and blue skies returned after one cloudy day. We left Viscri on a lovely sunny Sunday and drove to Prejmer and Harman fortified churches and were very impressed. Harman is just 10 km away from Prejmer and well worth a visit. After lunch we headed south to Bran castle. We parked but decided against walking up to the castle as the base was packed with tourists and ssouvenir shops. We headed towards Sinaia and it was a scenic drive once we was got into the mountains. We passed by beautiful chalet type pensions and bigger hotel lodges on the hillside with fantastic views especially with fall foliage almost peaking. Pity we had no time to spend a night there as we were heading to Hotel Bastion which was formerly the Royal stables of the Peles Castle and a 7 minute walk from the castles. We booked a superior double room on booking.com for $55 a few hours prior to arrival at a cafe with free wifi and it was quite the deal. Very friendly English speaking staff, free parking, good wifi and nicely decorated room. The hotel restaurant was average but we didn't want to drive to better restaurants since it is zero alcohol tolerance for drivers.
Oct 7th, 2014, 02:25 AM
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We walked up to the castle at 5:30 pm and it was lovely even thought the sun had dropped below a mountain top. The next morning we left our hotel at 8:40 after breakfast and the sun was shining on Peles and it was gorgeous. The ticket counter opened sharply at 9 am. Our turn came after the Romanian and Turkish groups and we got into Peles castle at 0930. The interior was most impressive. Pelishor castle interior was less interesting for me, altho the Golden Bedroom alone was worth the visit. We left Sinaia at noon heading for Bucharest airport to return our car. Stayed at Hotel Otopeni with free airport shuttle even at 3 am. We took a taxi into Bucharest old town, walked around for 3 hours and took the airport bus 783 back. Don't forget to buy your bus tickets first and validate it.
This has been a great trip, I didn't expect to be so impressed by the architecture in Brasov and Sibiu's Old Town, wooden and painted monasteries, the fortified churches and castles. Locals were reserved initially but friendly and helpful when approached. Food was good. Accommodations were amazingly inexpensive except for Viscri 125 which was still a deal for a fabulous boutique B and B. Romanian drivers don't deserve their very bad rap, except for some in Bucharest, but that is typical of big city drivers my husband thinks. They were mostly good about staying on slower lanes unless overtaking , but do tail
gate those inconsiderate drivers that hog the fast lane. Some idiots did take unnecessary risks overtaking many cars or trucks, but again, we've had similar experience near Moab, Utah. I think renting a car is the best way to see this country. I goodbyes and rented from rentalgroups a UK consolidator and ended up with a fairly new Ford Focus from Hertz with good service for about $23 a day for a 11 day rental.
This has been a great trip, I didn't expect to be so impressed by the architecture in Brasov and Sibiu's Old Town, wooden and painted monasteries, the fortified churches and castles. Locals were reserved initially but friendly and helpful when approached. Food was good. Accommodations were amazingly inexpensive except for Viscri 125 which was still a deal for a fabulous boutique B and B. Romanian drivers don't deserve their very bad rap, except for some in Bucharest, but that is typical of big city drivers my husband thinks. They were mostly good about staying on slower lanes unless overtaking , but do tail
gate those inconsiderate drivers that hog the fast lane. Some idiots did take unnecessary risks overtaking many cars or trucks, but again, we've had similar experience near Moab, Utah. I think renting a car is the best way to see this country. I goodbyes and rented from rentalgroups a UK consolidator and ended up with a fairly new Ford Focus from Hertz with good service for about $23 a day for a 11 day rental.
Oct 7th, 2014, 02:38 AM
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Oh, and I was bitten by a dog in Viscri. I was walking alone towards the fields ands passed by a farmhouse with the gate open. One sheepdog started barking and ran out and bit me on the calf from behind. My husband said I should have confronted the dog instead one walking on when I heard him barking and moving my way. I will definitely recommend carry a stick when walking in the countryside. I did not have an problems walking in Maramuresh. I screamed to scare off the dog and get help,which came promptly. The owners yelled at the dog and other neighbours also came running. The wife wanted to clean my wound even thought
I would have rather walked back to my B n B and taken care of it myself, I am a family physician. But I felt bad for her guilty and was also curious to see their home. Very poor and not too clean home but ther 3 young kids all look healthy if dirty. And my wound is healing without need for oral antibiotics. The old dog's teeth luckily probably wasn't sharp altho he had a strong jaw, and my pants was very stretched but did not tear, so my small laceration and larger abrasion was not contaminated by saliva. Had a huge bruise though and alas my b n b didn't have ice so we bought two ice cold beers oneto soothe my angry husband and one to ice my bite. All dogs are vaccinated in Viscri according to my B n B owner, and the dog owner reassured me too, by hand gestures.
I would have rather walked back to my B n B and taken care of it myself, I am a family physician. But I felt bad for her guilty and was also curious to see their home. Very poor and not too clean home but ther 3 young kids all look healthy if dirty. And my wound is healing without need for oral antibiotics. The old dog's teeth luckily probably wasn't sharp altho he had a strong jaw, and my pants was very stretched but did not tear, so my small laceration and larger abrasion was not contaminated by saliva. Had a huge bruise though and alas my b n b didn't have ice so we bought two ice cold beers oneto soothe my angry husband and one to ice my bite. All dogs are vaccinated in Viscri according to my B n B owner, and the dog owner reassured me too, by hand gestures.
Oct 7th, 2014, 03:58 AM
#14
Wow, sorry to hear about the dog! I am very wary of dogs and would have been hugely upset.
Happy to say I am still here. Aside from one very bad pension I'm having a great time. Will report in a week or so.
Happy to say I am still here. Aside from one very bad pension I'm having a great time. Will report in a week or so.
Oct 7th, 2014, 04:39 PM
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Adrienne, thanks to you, I've uplodaed my Romanian photos here.
http://www.shutterfly.com/picturepic...bbd47cbb382743
http://www.shutterfly.com/picturepic...bbd47cbb382743
Oct 7th, 2014, 05:24 PM
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Unfortunately you need to put the photos on a share site so people don't have to create accounts to see the photos. The link you gave requires a sign in. Then it takes me to my photos, not yours.
When you log in click on "share" on the top. Use the "select a share site" drop down and choose "create a new share site."
Then choose the type of site you want and give it a name. You'll get a URL created for you.
When you log in click on "share" on the top. Use the "select a share site" drop down and choose "create a new share site."
Then choose the type of site you want and give it a name. You'll get a URL created for you.
Oct 7th, 2014, 05:34 PM
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Thanks, Adrienne. I hope this works. https://standingby.shutterfly.com/pictures#n_5
