Tuesday, September 24, 2019: Final Day

Got up this morning, packed and got out of the Airbnb around 9:00 am. We first went down to the City Center and had a cup of coffee at the Starbucks.

Then we hit the trail about 10:00 am. Our first stop was the community of Săcele, about 30 km southwest of Brasov. This is the largest community of gypsies in Romania. We drove through the community and on down to Lake Săcele. We then retraced out steps back toward Brasov. There really was not much to see in Săcele. Lots of people standing around, some shanties, some horse drawn carts and lots of trash scattered around. The people seemed friendly enough. They would wave back when we waved to them.

Săcele 

We took the northernly bypass around Brasov and headed northwest. Our route was the Transfăgărășan or DN7C, which is a paved mountain road crossing the southern section of the Carpathian Mountains of Romania. It has national-road ranking and is the second-highest paved road in the country. It is near Moldoveanu Peak, the highest summit in Romania. It was a solid three hours of tedious hair pin turns. I was a wreck by the time we returned to straight highways. The entire drive took almost eight hours.

Once the worst of the highway was behind us, we stopped at a local restaurant for a late lunch. I had Romanian goulash and Maria had baked salmon. For desert we had Romanian donuts. Maria suggested splitting one serving but I insisted on a serving apiece. Mistake on my part. I was able eat one half of mine and Maria didn't quite get that far. But it was good!

We found the Epoque hotel without problem and checked into our suite.

Sitting Room

Smaller bedroom

Larger bedroom

Terrace

City view from the terrace

 We came down to the bar for a night cap. I will be getting up at 4:30 am for my 7:40 am flight. I will need to diesel up the car and find the rental car return.

They claimed to have Moscow Mules, which we tried. They were OK, but not quite right. They used Ginger Ale instead of Ginger Beer.

Monday, September 23, 2019; Brasov, Bran Castle

The plan was to get up and hit the road at such a time that we would be at the Bran Castle when it opens at noon. According to Google Maps, it is only about 17 km away and they suggested it would take about 35 minutes to drive.

After the night we had at the Drake Pub, I found it hard to get up and going. I finally got up at 9:00 am. After getting cleaned up, I made some coffee which helped a lot. Maria finally emerged at about 10:00 am and announced she was not feeling very well. I offered her coffee but she said she needed food. I volunteered to go out and find a McDonald's and bring her back something while she prepared for the day. We saw a McDonald's near the City Hall last night. It took me about 30 minutes to drive it and find a parking spot. By the time I got back to the flat, it was after 11:00 am. Maria was about ready to leave, so we ate our burgers and got on the trail.

The drive over to Bran was not exciting and much slower than we expected because they were doing road repairs on several segments. This was a two lane highway with one lane shut down in several places so traffic going different directions had to take turns using the single open lane.

We finally reach the castle and found a parking place around 12:30. Very touristy! Lots of souvenir shops and bars. We had already bought our tickets on line so we were able to skip the ticket office line and get directly into the entrance line. We probably had to wait about 30 minutes to actually get inside the castle. Not really much to see, as Adriana had predicted to us the night before. But, we've been there and done that!

Sections of the highway did not permit bicycles, tractors or horse drawn carts

Line to the castle entrance

Castle Courtyard

The last thing we did before leaving the castle was to take an elevator down the original water well, about 100'. There we walked through what was a tunnel and emerged at the base of the hill on which the castle is situated.

 We returned to the car and headed back toward Brasov. On the way, we stopped and had a light lunch at the D.O.R. restaurant that Adriana recommended. We split a serving of the deer rib eye steak.

They had a dead tree suspended from their ceiling

Deer Rib Eye Steak

Driving back to Brasov, with all the traffic delays, we had a chance to look over the country side.

Rasnov Castle

We did go to the Beer & History tour in the evening. It included a walk of about 90 minutes to see the city from the heights and then we walked down to the city center plaza where we visited a bar to taste local brews. I'm not a beer drinker, but the one I had was OK. We stayed in the tavern until about 10:30 pm and then caught a Uber back to the flat. Plan is to depart for Bucharest in the morning.

City Plaza