When I
decided to go on the race I knew I would see many cool things around the
world. I think I have had my highlight
in sightseeing so far with our day in Transylvania. Four of us decided to take a tour of the
Peles castle, Bran Castle, and Brasov.
It was a little pricey tour but it was worth every penny.
We
started off our day and left with our driver Adriane at 8:30. He decided that he wanted to give us a little
history of Bucharest first so we drove around the city before heading up
north. We learned interesting facts of
the Palace, the communist era, and other random facts.
We hit a
lot of traffic as it was the weekend and Sinaia where Peles castle is located,
is a vacation spot for
a lot of Romanians. The Peles castle was built in 1873-1914 and is known to be one of the
most beautiful and modern castles in Europe.
It was very beautiful with a lot of hand carved wood and paintings. There was also a weapons room as the King collected weapons and armor from all over.
This was the first castle I have ever visited and it was very neat. It was also located in the mountains which was
also very beautiful.
Next we
headed on to Bran castle also known to some as Dracula’s castle.
My hopes were not very high for this castle
as most people including our tour guide said this castle wasn’t that great. This
castle looked more to me like the castles I have pictured. My favorite part was climbing up a secret
staircase found by the queen Maria in the fire place. The fire place has since been moved. I think this tour was a lot more entertaining
as the jokes quickly started about Dracula. As we climbed the secret staircase
one of the guys in our group asked “so what I really want to know is how
Dracula fits his wings up this staircase”.
Our tour guide was a 15 year old girl that knew a lot of history and
Dracula’s story and loved playing along with our Dracula jokes. We
also asked why they did not have any information on Count Chocula which stumped
our guide…hehehe. (this cereal I guess
is now discontinued)
After
Bran Castle we headed into Brasov. This
is a neat little town with cute shops and restaurants. There is also the black church a Lutheran church
that was left standing after the whole city was burned after an attack. We then headed home which was also
entertaining as Adriane our guide was quite funny. It was such a fun day and I am so happy I got
a chance to see the beautiful country side and the castles.
Here are my pics so far of Romania http://picasaweb.google.com/richalissa
