Bran

 

The morning after we arrived in Bran we thought we should probably get to the castle early before all the other tourists arrived. We ended up having the place almost to ourselves which was nice but the castle itself was not really as interesting as others we have seen (Oh aren't we getting spoilt). There is a very pretty inner courtyard but most of the place was extensively renovated in the early 1900 so kinda lost it's medieval feel.
We ended up hunting through the markets at the bottom for a deck of Dracula themed playing cards to mix with our other deck so we could play Rummikin. We didn't succeed on getting Dracula themed ones but still grabbed a deck and spent much of the evening trying to figure out how to prop 14 cards on pillows to play one another.
The following day we ran into (for the second time) the issue of most tourist sites being closed on Mondays. You may ask why we don't take Mondays into account in our planning.....What planning!?!?
We did a bit of ringing around to see what we might be able to get out to but it was no use. There was only one thing for it, a day of rest. We loaded up on some wine, a bottle of Palinka (a local strong brandy), a stick of sausage, some bread thingos and headed for the hills. We found a nice spot with a view and sat there for about six hours consuming our treats, and somehow Adam got bitten by a horse. Definitely our best experience of Bran!
The following day we left Bran to visit Rasnov citadel then on to Sibiu. Rasnov was great, although still in the process of being reconstructed what was there gave a really good feel of what the place would have been like 500 years ago. In fact the ruins being worked on out the back heightened the sense of history. Oh, Eva made friends with a donkey too.
We then began yet another epic public transport trip to Sibiu. We are still in awe that a train can take an hour to cover 40 km. No it isn't steep or windy, it's just that every farmhouse along the way constitutes a stop. Interesting at first but....
Due to the long trip to Sibiu and the fact it took us five hotels before we found one with rooms we weren't in the best of moods when we arrived. Our first impressions were not tainted though, Sibiu is a beautiful old town...
Photos: Bran Castle, Horse and cart, Adam trying to play Rummikin