March 2016 – 10 days

Lacul Bicaz

FOOD

The kitchen is very heavy and fatty. People eat a lot of meat (mostly pork). Three times a day sometimes. They even have dishes which contain meat with meat. My friend I travelled with was in heaven. I ate polenta instead…three times a day 😛 just kidding… There are actually some very delicious alternatives: Sarmale for example. stuffed cabbage rolls with mushrooms and rice. One of my favourite ones. You can eat in a restaurant for around 3 euros.

TRANSPORT

Pensiunea Poiana Negrii

Driving a car is a little adventure. Especially in the cities. The traffic is chaotic and people don’t really follow the traffic rules. If it’s written 40, people drive 80 sometimes. And you have to share the road with horse carriages, pedestrians and suicidal dogs…But don’t get scared by that. It makes you not falling asleep at least 😉

Actually it was an interesting experience driving around in Romania. The condition of the road was much better than expected.

To go by cab is incredible cheap (50 cents per km). To go by train as well. It only takes much longer than a car. That’s why hitchhiking is nothing out of the ordinary. But it is common to pay for the gas.

Nagy-Szében, Sibiu

SIGHTS

We started in the capital city Bucharest where we rented a car. The nightlife here was very nice. Many different bars where you can dance as well 🙂 But there exist no clubs like I know from Western Europe. What I recommend the day after: Cişmigiu. A very gorgeous park 🙂

After Bucharest we drove to different smaller cities: Brașov (Kronstadt), Sighișoara (Schässburg), Sibiu (Hermannstadt) and Cluj-Napoca (Klausenburg). They were nice but not places I would go back. The most I liked the mountains in Poiana Negrii. Thanks to a friend who hosted us in Bucharest we had the great opportunity to attend an international event for three nights. We had an amazing time there and met many interesting people.

Our flight back home was from Iași. My favourite city in Romania so far. Nice architecture and many young people. We slept in the Bicycle Hostel (starting from 10 euros per person). Close to Iași is Lacul Bicaz (Izvorul Muntelui). A beautiful artificial lake. Definitely worth a visit.

Brașov

I did not really like the Bran Castle (Dracula’s castle). Better visit Peleș castle close to Sinaia.

People are very welcoming, uncomplicated and sarcastic.