Capital and Coast

Dracula’s Castle – so called; the castle at Bran with a tenuous connection to Vlad “The Impaler” Tepes.

As castles go it’s actually a rather cosy palace which you could imagine living in quite comfortably – providing you could keep it warm in the cold winters!

Peles castle is an even better proposition for a nice castle to live in

Built for the Royal family in the mid –late 19^th century, it took 40 years to build, much of which must have been doing the woodwork which is amongst the best we have ever seen anywhere, and lines most rooms and some ceilings too.

The carpet in this room has a pattern which mirrors the pattern on the ceiling

There was also this amazing ‘oven’ - a sort of wood-burning storage heater often found in historic houses on the continent (and still used in houses in Germany, and no-doubt elsewhere).  The tiling is usually much more functional than this luxury version.

On the approach to the castle as this luxury hotel – all the brickwork and mortar joints had been meticulously painted, and the uniformity of both the bricklaying and the subsequent painting was a credit to the workers who did it.  Something quite exceptional and rare, we felt.

When we left Bran we decided to have the car ‘splatted’ by Romanians – a service offered here as well as by their fellow countrymen at home.  The difference is that here it cost 20 leu – about £3.40! 

Sally was in a right mess, so we were more than happy to pay and add a generous (in % terms) tip.  The really nice thing is that that were almost apologetic about having to charge us twice the rate for a car, and also that they didn’t invent a special rate for the rich British tourists.  This is consistent with all our dealings here – honest, straightforward and pleasant people.  Hopefully it will continue to be that type which we meet throughout our journey.

We visited Brasov another beautiful city occupied first by the Saxons, then by the Hungarians then the Austro-Hungarians.  All the Romanian people were required to live outside the city and enter through this gate, subject to payment of a tax to enter and sell their wares.

Romania (as it is now) was finally united under its own King and Queen after the 1^st world war, when the Hapsburg Empire collapsed – no wonder every town and city has a street named 1^st December 1918 and a Piata Unirii.  Sadly, as with other countries in Eastern Europe their period of self-determination was short-lived following WW II, and they were then under USSR – but only till 1958, when Stalin withdrew – no doubt he knew that he was leaving the country under the rule of a megalomaniac in his own pattern!  A lot of damage, material and human, was done in the next 31 years, but it is amazing what proper democratic self-determination has achieved in the 26 years that have followed.

Not sure why we see so much of this sort of thing when they have a perfectly good language of their own?!

We were surprised to see this.  It seems like this has done as well as the Scouts in going round the world.

And so to Bucharest.  It has many lovely buildings

[The yellow car is the tail-end of a taxi; we took one into Bucharest from the campsite – very quick but well-driven.   The return journey in the mayhem of the rush hour was a different experience; a young driver driving like mad and pushing through the congested traffic like a knight in battle.  We lost count of the near misses and were pleased to get back in one piece – at least it was cheaper than a white-knuckle ride at the fun-fair!]

 There are plenty of grotty buildings too, and historic buildings surrounded or hidden by Caucescau’s crazed ideas of city planning.  This photo, taking while on the city tour bus, was not quite on target, but gives a typical idea of what went on.

This is the Palace of Parliament, despite its good proportions and decoration, it is still owes much to the Stalinist brutalist school of architecture, albeit it was intended as a snub to the man himself.

This is the second largest building in the world after the Pentagon.

And the approach to it is a little wider than the Champs Elysee – intentionally of course.  The problem is that you can build the road wide but you can’t put the life into it – even now, with a few shops with things to buy in them it doesn’t have the variety and the people in it to give it the life of the Champs Elysee.

 And to achieve this 1/3 of the ‘old town’ was demolished; at least there is some left

One of the more recent additions is this incorporation of new with old

The balcony with the flags is where Caucesceau gave his last - soon to be fatal - address.

We liked this sculpture located outside the National Theatre.

We felt it must be the sculptor’s interpretation of

 “All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players ...”

 We are now at the seaside in Constanta, where we have had sunshine from dawn (or at least,  to our knowledge, from when we woke up!) to dusk, with the same forecast for the next two days; temperatures just right at about 24/25 and dropping only to about 19 by 9.00pm. Plenty of work for young men getting the beach brollies for next week’s bank holiday – and making sure they all line up properly

We’re making the most of our new ‘lounging’ chairs!!