We are in Transylvania, and Transylvania is not England. Our ways are not your ways, and there shall be to you many strange things...
Ok so it's not quite as sinister as Bram Stoker would have you believe but it's still pretty cool riding on a rickety train through the Carpathian mountains. In case you are not sure, this entry comes from Romania, specifically ... Transylvania. Ahh I hear the wolves howl in the distance ... so sweet is their song ...
Romania is a very interesting region, with intense people, hilarious town names and a foreign tourism push that needs better translators. It boasts ample impressive castles interlinked by conduits of sequential pot holes they call roads. Horse and carts cruise alongside cars, driven by old farmers who are proud to belong to the country that once impaled thousands and boasts the second longest prison sentences in the world.
As English fades into an art and less of a science, it can be hard to choose which place to stay in when such awesome slogans were offered as "our hospitality follows you everywhere", "our cafe has breathtaking coffee that is priced accordingly" and my personal favourite .. " we cater to drastic demands". The latter would have proved popular with past dictators on holiday ... "bring me three innocents each morning, a knife and the newspaper!".
The food is quite different here, the main meals are usually quite simple and without going into too much detail the key to Romanian cuisine is "if it's worth eating, it's worth pickling". The desserts are far better - the doughnuts in particular are incredible.
After Timisoara came Brasov, passing through the beautiful towns of Turda, Fagit and Cunta. Look at your maps. I'm being serious here folk. Brasov is a sweet old town though, complete with a Hollywood style BRASOV sign on the hill. I love the tackiness combined with the history, it gets me every time.
On a side note I noticed that it is common for shopkeepers to stand at their doorway and flaunt their wares to you as you pass. Ok, so that is not that amazing, but what was really cool was seeing the "Neurological Surgery" in our street with the surgeon at the street door. "Labotomy, you buy, yes?".
Anyway, next entry will be after a trip through Vlad the Impaler's old stomping grounds and the region where Count Dracula was brought to life... I hear he LURVED TO COUNT! AH AH AH AH! ...
Ok so it's not quite as sinister as Bram Stoker would have you believe but it's still pretty cool riding on a rickety train through the Carpathian mountains. In case you are not sure, this entry comes from Romania, specifically ... Transylvania. Ahh I hear the wolves howl in the distance ... so sweet is their song ...
Romania is a very interesting region, with intense people, hilarious town names and a foreign tourism push that needs better translators. It boasts ample impressive castles interlinked by conduits of sequential pot holes they call roads. Horse and carts cruise alongside cars, driven by old farmers who are proud to belong to the country that once impaled thousands and boasts the second longest prison sentences in the world.
As English fades into an art and less of a science, it can be hard to choose which place to stay in when such awesome slogans were offered as "our hospitality follows you everywhere", "our cafe has breathtaking coffee that is priced accordingly" and my personal favourite .. " we cater to drastic demands". The latter would have proved popular with past dictators on holiday ... "bring me three innocents each morning, a knife and the newspaper!".
The food is quite different here, the main meals are usually quite simple and without going into too much detail the key to Romanian cuisine is "if it's worth eating, it's worth pickling". The desserts are far better - the doughnuts in particular are incredible.
After Timisoara came Brasov, passing through the beautiful towns of Turda, Fagit and Cunta. Look at your maps. I'm being serious here folk. Brasov is a sweet old town though, complete with a Hollywood style BRASOV sign on the hill. I love the tackiness combined with the history, it gets me every time.
On a side note I noticed that it is common for shopkeepers to stand at their doorway and flaunt their wares to you as you pass. Ok, so that is not that amazing, but what was really cool was seeing the "Neurological Surgery" in our street with the surgeon at the street door. "Labotomy, you buy, yes?".
Anyway, next entry will be after a trip through Vlad the Impaler's old stomping grounds and the region where Count Dracula was brought to life... I hear he LURVED TO COUNT! AH AH AH AH! ...
6 comments:
You went thru Turda, Fagit and Cunta, and then went to see the largeest organ in Europe... Did Renee rip out your tongue, Romanian style, after the 10,000th double entendre?
Big organs .... yeeeeeah.
Hey did you see that nerd graffiti? Scary when programmers rebel.
They used toner cartridge instead of spray paint too!
Hey Guys,
When are you coming back to London?
Kieran and I are going to Bled in late August!
Ha ha ha i love to count!
Jonno! You're gonna love Bled man, it's awesomeness x 10 (maybe even 11). Make sure you go rafting on the Soca river! We should be back in mother England start of October ... have the beer in the fridge for us! :)
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