Roaming Romania

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Break out the third row, it’s time for a road trip in the Romanian countryside…
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…and we’ve got medically-approved snacks for the road trip.

Two short hours from Bucharest and you find yourself in the glorious Carpathian mountains with views that are a stark contrast to the city buildings of my previous posting.
I might have been bread and spread by the ocean, but I am definitely drawn to the mountains. Maybe it was all the ski trips we took as a kid, or maybe it’s the camp we have up in northern Maine…or maybe it’s just the fact that I currently live in a concrete studded sandbox that is woefully lacking in evergreen..I don’t know. What I do know is that I was in love with this region as soon as I got out of the minivan and was able to breathe in some of the clear, rarified air.
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Our getaway hotel in the mountains. A perk of hooking up with other Olmsted scholars is that you get insider knowledge that you would probably otherwise miss. We will return to this aspect of travel shortly…
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Peleş Castle. Walt Disney, eat your heart out.

— Note: my pal Annie, who has an outstanding photoblog on Senegal, visited Romania and has superior photos of the area castles that you must check out by clicking here —

So, we only had about three days to visit the Transylvania/Wallachia environs. Lucky for us, we were able to link up with Just Married Scott and Ana and they invited us to lunch at a fairly hidden location. Back into the car we go for some off the beaten track adventures.

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After 30 kilometers of unpaved roads, yes- this place is not easy to reach. But it’s gorgeous and worth it.

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Cross over a stream, and this is the restaurant and boarding house. You can stay here for ten bucks a night- and there were real live hunters sitting on the front porch and eating lunch!

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Yes, it’s inane- yes, it’s the Romanian word for carp- but I still giggled because I embrace my lowbrow humor.

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I don’t think I have ever eaten outdoors with a view like this. Certainly not ever in Romania.

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Talk about grandeur.  We sat and watched the clouds race over the mountain tops at about 90 miles an hour. Why didn’t anyone ever tell me that Romania had all of this rugged beauty? I could totally pull a Salinger and move out here for awhile.

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Time to eat! No, I didn’t order the crap. This is the trout, fished out of the creek behind me and served up with polenta. It tasted fantastic.

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This photo is more to show you the dog. There are about a hundredy bazillion dogs hanging out in this country. And that’s what they do: just hang around.

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The Italy and Bulgaria scholars had to leave after the wedding and sadly weren’t a part of this outing, but we remaining Olmsteders got together for one last photo. I never cease to be struck by how amazing the people doing this program are  (my favorite has to be the 9 month old guy in the middle).

After our excursion out in nature, we spent the remaining time checking out Bran castle. As far as tourist spots go, this one is kinda touristy- largely because this place has a strong link to the Dracula story.  All you need to do is drive to town to figure this out pretty quickly:

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The access road to the castle begins with taxis adorned with vampire bat emblems, and then the road follows on with Romania’s version of Africrap stalls.

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I have failed beautifully at showing you a nice overall photograph of Bran castle, which is another reason why you should head over to Annie’s Blog.

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Dating back to the 12th century, this fortress has served many functions- a customs house, a royal residence, fictional setting for Bram Stoker (who was Irish, by the way!)…

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It was a rainy day, kinda fitting for a spooky castle.

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A view into the courtyard, kinda.

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It’s a gong. Seems more than worthy of inclusion in my blog.

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My fantastic brother John was with me on this trip. This is how I knew.

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No matter where I go, Africa is never far from my mind. Here in Bran, I was *this* close to buying these chips, just to see what Romania thought of as “Africa flavor”. As for me, I have my own descriptions…

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“Uh, Tim….”

After our wanderings around Bran, we got back into the car again.  There are far more castles to discover, but they will have to be shelved for a future visit. We were still treated to views of what we missed, as witnessed below:

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“It’s only a model….”

Our trip in Romania ended rather unceremoniously with a comically long stint in the Bucharest airport. Air travel simply isn’t interesting enough to discuss in any forum, nevermind one that just got finished showing off some of the cooler parts of Romania. So I’ll just say that all of us did eventually get back to our respective homes and got on with everyday life. Well, most of us.

I’m back in Dakar, but I’m leaving again tomorrow. No, I still haven’t packed for this next trip-  unless you count mounding a bunch of crap on my living room table as packing. The running joke is that I am never in town too much these days, but I am all about seizing upon an opportunity for travel.

I say it all the time, but I’m ceaselessly grateful to the Olmsted Foundation and my employer for allowing me to do this kind of thing. In a few years when I am back manning a windowless watchfloor I’ll remember these incredible places and think, “Damn…did I really do all that?”

You should really get to Romania.