ROMANIA - Stately Home Time!

About a hour south of Brasov by train on the way to Bucharest is the mountain resort of Sinaia. It is where King Carol I built his summer residence - Peles Castle. Carol I was king of the smaller Romania from 1866 to 1914 before it united with Transylvania.

This place gets really crowded. When you book your tickets you are given a 1.75 hour time slot. As most people will arrive at the start time of their time slot, arriving later, say after a hour, means you will have a more comfortable experience. 

The castle was built between 1875 and 1914 and had every modern convenience available at the time - electricity throughout, fully functioning bathrooms, central heating and a centralised vaccum cleaning system. After the fall of Communisim the Romanian Royal Family returned to Romania and Peles Castle was returned to them, however, it functions today as a national museum. The royals seem to like Transylvania as Britain's King Charles owns property here which he both uses and lets out.

The Hall of Honour

The glass roof of the Hall retracts electronically to allow sunshine in or stargazing

The Moorish Room

Ensuite bathrooms

Being a mountain resort Sinaia is, in the winter, Romania's premier ski resort which means that the infrastructure is there to allow mountain access in the summer - unfortunately, as i don't like them, by cable car. A two stage gondola system takes you up to 2100 metres - this is much higher than Ben Nevis, higher than we hiked in the Pyrenees for the Camino, but not quite as high as Mexico City. The first stage is ok but the second is a real eyes closed job. In fact at the top I did feel a bit dizzy looking down on Sinaia even with my feet firmly on the ground. It is definitely what some people would call a "thin space" - a point where the perception of heaven and earth changes.

ROMANIA - 7 Ladders Canyon

I travelled to Brasov yesterday by Inter-City train, slow but very comfortable. It will be a couple of days before I report on the city itself because I have lots of things planned here.

The city is surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains and I joined a group of five other people and a guide for a trip out of the city to hike through the 7 Ladders Canyon. The rock here is limestone so easily eroded by water and a small river has carved a narrow deep gorge through the rock. At some point in its history a series of metal ladders and walkways were positioned beside the various waterfalls so that you can hike through the canyon. The pictures below should give you an idea of what it is like even though photos don't do it justice - it was very special.

One thing that was very noticeable was the volume of butterflies just flying around you all the time on the walk up to the canyon. The guide told me that due to its rich diverse range of flora and fauna Romania plays host to 5 times the number of species of butterfly that we have in the UK.

After all that exercise of course there is a need for an energy boost. Let me therefore introduce you to Papanasi. Its a type of doughnut but the dough is fortified with cream cheese. Very popular in Romania and Moldova they are served with sour cream and a dark fruit compote usually cherries.

ROMANIA - The Eyes of Sibiu are Watching You

The train that brought me to Alba Iulia was Hungarian so today was my first ever experience of a train operated by Romanian State operator "CFR Calitori" Frequency is not one of their strong points - indeed today there was only one train to take me to Sibiu, a local stopper leaving at 0625 in the morning. I was in two minds whether or not to bother getting up that early, but now I'm glad I made the effort. 

The train by the way, not the bone shaker you might be expecting but a fairly modern Siemens Desiero diesel unit.

Today I have visited the beautiful city of Sibiu where the buildings have eyes and are constantly watching you - seriously, its quite spooky!

Most of the buildings in the old town have eye shaped dormers in the roof. Whilst people would like to convince you that the buildings never sleep and are constantly watching you so you behave, the real reason for the 'eyes' is to provide a venilation system for the attics so they could be used for storage. Of course, today, they are symbol of the city and a tourist attraction - after all I've come to see them.

The city is centred around three squares put basically small, medium and large, and there are some very grand buildings. There are also three churches of cathedral proportions - Eastern Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant (Lutheran). The latter being due the the fact that a large part of the population can trace their heritage back to the Saxons in Germany - the city is also known by its German name Hermannstadt.

Catholic cathedral in the main square

Lutheran Cathedral

Part of the old city wall

There is a local legend that if you tell a lie on the bridge pictured below then it will collapse consquently couples visit the bridge to tell each other how much they love them.

Lastly today a word of warning - Beware of the cheese!

Some of the cheese in Romania is strong and frankly quite weird. The first meal I had here had a cheese sauce which I found inedible and the cheese on the buffet at breakfast is not the sliced Dutch stuff you usually get. I had a very nice Smoked Salmon Salad in an outdoor restaurant for lunch but I did overhear a guy saying to his partner "This cheese is strong" - So there you go, you have been warned.

There may not be a post for a couple of days now as tomorrow is a travel day and then I am in Brasov for 5 nights so I probably won't post every day.

ROMANIA - Alba Iulia, What a Surprise

You now find me in the beautiful city of Alba Iulia - Alba where? Yes exactly its not on the main tourist route but after looking at the rail timetables I found it was a convenient place place to break the journey from Budapest to Brasov.

Alba Iulia is a fortified city dating back to Roman times, indeed there was a Celtic presence here too. The main fortifications are in the Vauban style - star shaped design, multiple angles to prevent blind spots, concentric walls with deep trenches in between. They date back 18th century when the Habsburg Empire was defending itself from the Ottoman Turks.

It is also the place, when in 1918 after WW1 that Transylvania united with Romania to form the independant country of Romania. The treaty was signed in the Unification Hall which is open to the pubic and a place of pilgrimage for Romanians.

The panals with writing on them on the left are a Romanian Bill of Rights

The main sight however, is the Coronation Cathedral that was built in 1921/1922 after the Unification for the coronation of King Ferdinand I and Queen Marie as king and queen of a united Romania in 1922. The Cathedral is an Eastern Orthodox church, so lots of icons and little seating as you are usually expect to stand during the services.

Not to be out done, next to this is the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St Michael, a much simpler affair but no less impressive and very atmospheric. On a Sunday it was interesting that at times the two cathedrals tried to outdo each other in the bell ringing stakes!!

Alba Iulia is very relaxed and off the main foreign tourist circuit although there are plenty of Romanians here. Therefore expect less English - What did we do before Google translate on our phones!! But a great introduction to Romania.

King Ferdinand I

Queen Marie

HUNGARY - Budapest Transport

The main focus of this afternoon was a trip up into the Buda Hills for a ride on the Children's Railway. A number of Pioneer Railways were set up in Warsaw Pact countries during communist times - short peices of track with all the trappings of a major railway - stations, signals and of course trains - to allow children from 10 upwards to develop a work ethic, develop an interest in railways and therefore nurture the next generation of employees and to just let kids have fun playing around with trains.

The Budapest one was one of the largest running for 11 km or 7 miles through the forest in the hills above the city with 8 stations and one tunnel. It is by far the best well known and is still functioning today. All the staff - ticket sellers, guards, ticket checkers, station announcers, rail admin, signallers etc.- are all children aged between 10 and 16 with only the train drivers themselves being adults although there is an adult at each station to supervise what the kids are doing. The railway is operated by the State Railway Organisation MAV and all the children wear the correct MAV uniforms and salute the trains as they arrive and depart just as employees did in Communist times.

It's a big thing to be involved with, there is a waiting list for places and because it runs 7 days a week the children must get some sort of credit against their schooling for the days that they attend.

Tickets are very reasonable at about £3.50 return.

Budapest is home to some really good transport options and the system is very easy to use so lets look at some of them:

To get to the Children's Railway in the hills on the Buda side of the River Danube you can take a Rack/Cogwheel railway from near 'Szell Kalman ter' metro station on line 2. The cogwheel train climbs steeply into the hills every 20  minutes throughout the day.

Normal Budapest travel tickets are accepted and I would simply recommend getting a pre validated pass for the whole system for the duration of your stay - 72 hours travel cost me £12 - a bargain.

If you buy individual tickets you must validate them for each journey. Whilst the system looks like it works on an honesty basis, there are plain clothed and uniformed inspectors everywhere and they are thorough - I have never had a ticket checked so much.

Other things for you .....

Did you know that Budapest tram lines 4 and 6 are the busiest tram routes in Europe and therefore use some of the longest trams?

I know - they have painted a face on the front!

Did you also know that the team from Budapest won the European Tram Driving Championship in 2024 and will defend their title in Vienna in September? (The UK fielded teams from Birmingham and Edinburgh last year)

In London bus route 11 is known to provide a good sightseeing tour of the city for the price of a bus ticket. In Budapest its tram route 2 which does the job running on a raised promemade along the Pest bank of the Danube. The trams are older and sitting on one, on a summers evening with the windows open watching the world go by is a winner.

Budapest metro line 1 is the second oldest underground railway in the world after London and therefore the oldest in continental Europe. The line is not very deep underground so no escalators and the trains are quite small - only three carriages. They look more like trams and the station architecture has a period feel to it. Metro line 1 has a small museum dedicated to it at 'Deac Ferenc ter' station (Lines 1, 2 and 3)

Lastly the best way of getting up to the Castle Hill district in Buda is to use bus route 16 from outside the Kemplinski Hotel in Erzsebet ter (Elizabeth Square) near 'Deac Ferenc ter' metro station in Pest. Because of the narrow cobbled streets in Buda they can only use these small buses so it can get crowded but the buses are frequent - Note because of one way systems the route is different in each direction. 

The route crosses the Chain Bridge, does a loop around the old town on the top of Castle Hill and finishes at 'Szell Kalman ter' metro station that I mentioned above.

My last evening in Budapest today so I will finish with some sunset views. There won't be a post tomorrow as I have an 8 hour train journey to complete to Romania - clocks forward one hour as I move to Eastern European Time.