Everyone asks me… “What made you go to Romania?” And it’s not the easiest question to answer because there’s actually so much there that most people have never heard of. My desire to go to Romania started over 5 years ago, when I read this article in Condé Nast Traveler magazine. I thought that it would be a fun fall trip, around Halloween, with all of the Dracula legends that originate from there. But vampires are a very small part of the personality of the beautiful country of Romania.
We flew into the capital city of Bucharest, which was even more of a busy bustling city than I had planned on. Our first stop off the airplane was a luxurious spa called Therme where we swam around and waited to check in to our apartment. Romania was a communist country from 1947 to 1989 and there was still an old Soviet vibe to it, with big wide boulevards, lots of graffiti, and massive intimidating buildings. Even their Palace of the Parliament is the heaviest building in the world. They have a unique store called Carturesti Carusel in old town Bucharest that was voted the most beautiful book store a few years ago. Another thing that I did not expect was the traffic, some of the heaviest that I’ve seen, anywhere that a car could fit into a spot, they would do it. Luckily, my driver, Mr. John Biondo was up to the task and found playing Tetris on the road to be pretty exciting. (If I was the driver, I don’t know if I’d be here writing this right now.)
We had a great time exploring Bucharest, which had a lot of great restaurants, sights and shops. We took a walk through gorgeous Bellu Cemetery, which for a graveyard, it felt very alive. It had a big mix of tombs, headstones and monuments from traditional Romanian to Gothic to overgrown makeshift structures, with many busy groups of people visiting their departed loved ones. The main religion in the country is Christian Orthodox and many of the ornate churches looked pretty similar to each other, with alters that were covered floor to ceiling with paintings and a heavy use of gold leaf. After a long day of exploring, hanging out at Cismigiu Gardens was the perfect way to relax before leaving the city and heading out to the mountains.
After battling what felt like a million traffic circles, suddenly we were on our way to the countryside, driving up through the mountains to reach what would end up being one of the best Airbnbs that we’ve ever stayed in. The hosts were so welcoming and wonderful towards us, giving us wine, fresh baked bread, and vegetables from their garden. It was a little cottage in a town called Curtea de Arges with an outside culinary kitchen and dining area. After dinner, it was nice to just relax and enjoy the surrounding atmosphere. One thing that you can’t help but notice when in rural Romania, is the sound of dogs. They are everywhere, all breeds, shapes, sizes and colors, wandering around, coming up for food or pets in parking lots, or taking naps by the side of the road. And this evening, we watched the clouds roll in over the moon and listened to the constant howls, calling and responding, echoing through the mountains. It was fascinating and a little creepy. I wondered if the werewolf legend came from this country too.
This part of the Carpathian Mountains is famous for something called the Transfagarasan Highway, which is a wonderful drive through the mountains and favored by shows like Top Gear as well as other people who love to drive (like John!) We spent the day wandering around the road by car, looking at the views and watching for bears. Unfortunately, I think it was too late in the fall and we didn’t see any. The northern part of the road was blocked off for avalanches because they were getting snow already. But we still saw plenty, with sights around this road with family-owned stands selling visinata (a homemade cherry liquor), cozy restaurants with blankets and fireplaces, and plenty of dogs saying hello. This journey ended up in another town called Sibiu, which is a quaint medieval town with many different levels and buildings with windows that look like eyes. Everywhere you go, those eyes are following you.
After a night of eating, drinking and walking, we were on our way again further north to the town of Turda. The main draw here is something called Salinas Turda, which is a subterranean salt mine that had been turned into an amusement park. It was very surreal to be that far underground with lots of activity and reverberating sounds around us. A bit of a tourist trap, but I still had to get a ride in a row boat in a lake at the bottom. It wasn’t as easy for John to row as it looked, and we left covered in salt. The next day we had a very challenging hike in Turda Gorge, which had us clinging to a chain for dear life over rapid waters below. There were many people rappelling on the cliffs and peaks around us. Our next destination was going to be even further north in the town of Cluj-Napoca and we were going to go to one of the most haunted places in the world, called the Hoia-Baciu Forest, which has many legends of its own. But, after a warning from a friend about the place, as well as being out of the way and figuring out the traffic was going to be insane, we skipped it. (I still sort of regret it.)
But instead, we got our spooky thrills in the town of Sighisoara, which was the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler, who if you’re not familiar, was a historic and ruthless leader who was the inspiration for Dracula. The entire town is still a functioning medieval citadel with colorful houses, cobblestone streets, and fairy-tale atmosphere. There were many hills to hike, and old buildings to climb, such as the iconic Clock Tower building. It was fun to walk the dark streets at night and feel like you’re in another time. As with many other places in Romania, we had some really great food, for much less than you’d spend in the U.S. After a lovely time, we were driving back south now, passing shepherds by the side of the road, structures built out of sticks, and many towns where people seemed to be living as they were hundreds of years ago. Our next town was Brasov, which is best known for Bran Castle, which is probably the biggest tourist destination in all of Romania. It’s referred to as “Dracula’s Castle” although it had no actual connection other than resembling the castle in Bram Stoker’s book. But, there’s only so much time and after sucking up so much vampire energy in Sighisoara, (and reading a lot of disappointed reviews online) we opted for Peles Castle instead. It was lovely.
The next day, we hiked Seven Ladders Canyon on the way out and headed back to the Bucharest airport. We flew Turkish Airlines and had a perk of a 2 day layover in Istanbul on the way home. The road trip around Transylvania was so busy that I didn’t even know if I was up for it, but once we got to Turkey, I was in love. We just got a small taste, enough to know we want to go back to that country and spend more time. It’s so vibrant and there was so much to eat, drink and… well, smoke. Seriously, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen so many people smoking in my life. Every seat in every cafe had a cloud around it. We had a traditional Turkish breakfast that was an unbelievable experience, highly recommended! I didn’t know this before going, but Istanbul is a city that spans two continents. There’s the European side, and there’s the Asian side. We were very fortunate to be connected with a young couple who lived there, the daughter and son-in-law of friends of ours. We met them in the neighborhood of Kadikoy, on the Asian side, which is filled with cafes and nightlife. It was a wonderful evening of making new friends, staying out late, and getting us tired enough to sleep on the 10+ hour flight home. See you next time, Turkey!