Transylvania – Dracula or Not.....

My final stop in Romania was the town of Brasov. Another 7 hour train ride, but this one turned out to be very unlike the previous day...
First of all, the train had NO aircon, making the compartment feel like a sauna. Miserable physically, but I was having a relatively good time conversing with the 3 Romanian girls sitting with me. Things became HELL when a horrendous family joined our compartment! I know this sounds mean, but I can only say that this was the most stupidest-looking family I've ever seen:
− Parents & daughter had too many cavities they were missing some of their front tooth.
− Fat father had to keep his shirt open, exposing his beer belly. Not only that, he found it necessary to apply deodorant every half an hour or so, and proceeded to cut his toe nails in front of us. Gross.
− Family ate chicken wings in the train, dropping half of the food on the floor. Once done, they threw the garbage out the window!!! We were all shocked.
The girls decided they couldn't stand to be in the same compartment with them, so went out into the hallway. I decided to join the Japanese pair from Suceava a few cars down. Thank goodness they didn't stay on the whole ride. Once they left, one of the girls remarked, "Finally peace." I couldn't agree more. Another girl started to wipe the seats with wet wipes so we could all sit back down!

I arrived at Brasov late in the evening. The 10 minute walk from the bus stop to my hostel made me glad that I came to this town : ) It was through one of the nicest old towns that I've been to in a while.

The next morning, I met up with the Japanese mother-daughter backpackers and headed to Sinaia. The minibus drove for 1.5 hrs through mountainous scenery; the hiking and skiing is supposedly very good around here. Sinaia is famous for these mountains and Peles Castle. For a rather hefty fee, you can join a guided tour (only option to get inside) through the castle rooms. Since I came all the way here, thought might as well. I didn't fork over the camera fees though. Hehe. So I don't have anything to show, but take my word – the interior wood carvings/workings on the ceiling, walls, and furniture were great!!! On the other hand, the armory room was a bore...I have absolutely no interest in that kind of stuff.
We had originally planned to take a cable car up one of the mountains, but the weather wasn't the best and it was waaaaay overpriced. Instead, we decided to get back to Brasov earlier and take a look around the town. We ended up walking the entire perimeter of the old town, checked out some churches (none really stood out), and went up the main hill that has a "BRASOV" sign similar to Hollywood. By the time we got up there, a storm was brewing – strong winds and lightening. A bit scary since we seemed to be the only ones up there!!! After a couple of photos, we headed straight back down to a dinner of roll cabbage : ) YUM.
The mom/daughter pair were like energizer bunnies!!! I think we were constantly on the move for at least 12 hours that day. I normally don't do that...I was completely exhausted by the end of the day.

So, what to do with Bran Castle the following day? To be honest, I was looking forward to Bran the most when I came to Brasov. It's more commonly known as "Dracula's castle". But everyone I spoke with told me that it was VERY unremarkable, small, and not worth the trip at all. Nothing vampire-ish or dracula-ish about the place. Being the lazy person that I am, I ended up NOT going. Oh well. I spent the entire day taking a leisurely stroll through the old town, where I found an ikebana shop...interesting. And had a wonderful French toast : )