Roaming in Romania

Romania started off hard and fast. Lisa, Leeah and I landed, checked into the hotel and immediately left for our first tour of the city, a tour of cocktail bars. We met our guide at a Starbucks but quickly jumped on a tram to a residential part of the city. We were told about the newest gilded Orthodox Church being built with taxpayer dollars and how unpopular that decision was, then dropped into the first bar. It was actually a bartending academy that hosted some of the most recognized cocktail crafters in the country.

Famous guy ^

 We all got our first drink and started chatting. Realizing we would be there for an hour or more, we ended up getting several drinks each. Lisa got the most beautiful, layered, delicious looking drink on her first round, it made it hard for her to pick a second one!

Leeah’s first drink was okay, but it was her second drink that was a showstopper.

 Erik kept it classic and got a negroni and a spin on an old fashioned.  After 8 cocktails amongst us and almost 2 hours later, we got the bill and Leeah let out a loud laugh at the amount. We paid roughly $50-$60USD for 8 fancy shmancy cocktails from some of the top bartenders in the country! In fact, the guy making our drinks was on the local news just that morning talking about cocktails.

 We wandered around the city at night, passing by the heaviest building in the world (their parliament) and learning some history on the way. Our next stop was for food on a rooftop, which was needed after the first stop. It was chilly so we all ate quickly and soon enough we were off to the next stop which was another bar. It was a speakeasy hidden behind a post office façade. The bar was cool, but the entire place was suffocating with smoke so again, we got a drink and got out of there quickly. That was probably one of the most shocking things of Romania, indoor smoking. After a long and early travel day and a late night the day before, Leeah and I wanted to skip the last bar/club and we headed to bed. Lisa went out for the last cocktail and said the bar was way better and not smokey at all, so we wanted her to take us later the next day.

Heaviest building in the world

However, we had a big tour day starting at 7:30 the following morning to go visit two castles. Peles Castle and Bran Castle. One medieval and the other from the 19th century, they were both amazing but extremely different. Peles Castle was our first stop and was the newer one. It was so intricate and detailed in every square inch it was hard not to walk around in awe the whole time. From wood carved staircases to knight’s armor to stained glass windows, it was quite fascinating. Learning that this was just the summer house of King Carol I we were left feeling floored by the decadence of the royalty here within just the last 100 years!

After the first castle we stopped at Brasov for lunch where there happened to be a marathon finishing up. Lisa, Leeah and I found a restaurant that served traditional food. Leeah got soup, salad and a halloumi burger and Lisa and I got a pork dish that was delicious and traditional in winter months, and we all had more pickled things (sauerkraut, pickles, peppers, etc) than we could consume, though we tried very hard.

After lunch our next stop was Bran Castle! Lisa and Leeah were especially excited having read Dracula recently and hearing all about the “events” near this castle. Our tour guide did NOT lean into the Dracula theme which was sort of disappointing but nevertheless we got to walk around on our own and immerse ourselves in the story as we meandered through each room. Bran Castle is a major tourist destination, so it was packed and we expected that but some how we accidentally got stuck behind a huge group of Italian tourist who were not interested in letting us get in front of them. This is an old castle, so the hallways were skinny, the rooms were small and large groups were not meant to gather in one place here.

Leeah - determined to pass the old Italians

We finally passed but we only had an hour total there to check the place out and the surrounding area, so we felt rushed after being stuck behind them for 10-15 minutes. We didn’t want to be the late ones back on the bus as it was a 3-hour ride back to Bucharest so we hustled our way through and passed by all the souvenir shops at breakneck speed to make it to our bus on time. By the time we got back, we ended up doing our obligatory Irish Pub stop, got some mici and beers and headed to bed. We had another tour the next morning.

It seems like we spent a lot of time on tours as I’m writing this, which we did, but it’s one of the best ways to ask questions of local people and see a lot of a city/country in a short amount of time. This next tour was a food and architecture tour. Romania has many other cultural influences due to the Byzantines, Romans and Ottomans all traveling through the country and attempting to rule, which makes for some interesting architecture. Even more so, the communist era in Romania played a huge role in the look of the city today. In one block you can see 4-5 different styles, all completely different.

After a brief lesson in these styles, we stopped for mezze of some traditional cured meats, cheeses, fish egg salad and other dips. To go with it we got beers and rakia which is a distilled plum alcohol.

After gorging ourselves on these delicious foods, we got on a train and headed to the market. Like most markets in Europe, this was a mix of socks, underwear and paper towels but mostly they were selling fruits and vegetables along with other local produce like walnuts and unpasteurized milk.

It was a huge market and still pretty busy, but we had to rush a bit through it to get to our next food stop which is apparently the best place in town for mici (little grilled sausages made without a casing and served with bread and mustard). We waited a while to get them, but our guide had an in with the owner to skip the huge line. They were so juicy and delicious and the mustard was perfectly balanced. I can see why there was a huge line here every day. Despite being completely full, I wanted more just for the flavor in my mouth. Alas, we continued the tour to see two churches which were impressive in their own way, including for surviving communism.

After the tour we headed back to the hotel for a bit before our final tour in the city, a ghost and vampire tour. It may sound corny, but having done one in Edinburgh, I would always give it a chance. This one did not disappoint. We heard some creepy tales as we meandered in the dark around the city and as most ghost stories are grounded in truth, we also learned some history along the way. I can’t say I was scared at any point or got goosebumps, but it was fun anyway. Lisa had an early flight back home the next day, so we called it an early night, but only after we stopped for a sweet, donut treat!

Note the blood, crying eyes

We woke up to say goodbye to Lisa the next day and Leeah and I wandered around the city for a while. When we got hungry, we stopped at the oldest restaurant in the city for one more mici plate before heading to the airport. Romania was a whirlwind if you couldn’t guess by the number of tours we had and the vast amount of information we got on each tour, but we all loved the city and the countryside alike. Having heard about the bear sanctuaries and other castles in the area, I’m already looking forward to exploring Romania more in the future.