Bulgaria to Romania Diary

24-4-2012 Tuesday
Drove for about 400ks today, west then north to get to Bulgaria (Bulgaristan) (population 8 million) but didn't intend to drive for that long (ended up being about 9 hours). We got stuck in very slow traffic for about 1 and a half hours, not far out of Instanbul; then there was conflicting map and GPS information so probably did about 50ks more than we needed to; then there was a bit of wait time but thankfully uneventful, at the Bulgarian border (at a town called Malko Tarnovo on the Bulgarian side); and the roads we had to travel on which were the main roads, were very, very, very bad with potholes and were very rough (and we thought Turkey was bad). We were both tired but Dave was particularly shattered as he did all the driving. We were unable to find a camping park and couldn't find a place to stop at all for the night, along the road like other main roads we've been on. We'd hoped to find one of the camping parks along the Black Sea but information is very scarce on the net and when we found some listings, they either weren't open yet or we couldn't get through. It was about 7.45pm by the time we finally found a place to stop, not far off the road and beside the sea for the night, at a town called Pomodorie (BG), not far from the larger town of Burgas. We were a bit concerned as we'd read in one of our camping books, that drivers of luxury vehicles are advised to use guarded car parks - we hope there won't be too much of a risk with us inside! We wondered if we'd wake up with no wheels!

We've read that Bulgarians shake their head for 'yes' and nod their head for 'no'! (opposite of what the rest of the world does, so it's going to be confusing).

25-4-2012 Wednesday Anzac Day
Well we decided it's too hard to spend time here without any camping facilities or easy places to stop for the night, and there's not anything special we want to see, so we're heading off for Romania, not really knowing if it's any better there. We drove about 300ks west and then north and crossed the border (without any problem) at a town called Ruse on the Bulgarian side of the border, into Romania (population 24 million). 3 countries in 3 days with all different currencies. We stopped on the way at Arbitus Castle ruins with a lot of ancient Roman and Greek headstones (in Bulgaria). A good portion of the roads we travelled on, the ones used by transport trucks, are very bad. Dave had to do some really good rally driving around big potholes - in some of which you could lose a small child! Some of the roads were being repaired but instead of doing one side of the road at a time and directing traffic on the other side, they were cutting big chunks out of the road all over the place, to be resurfaced, with no regard as to how it affected the traffic - so there were big chunks often cut out on both sides of the road and it was hard to miss them and quite jarring unless you really slowed down. There were cars and trucks weaving back and forth over both sides of the road to avoid them. It really was dreadful and no people directing the traffic, to safeguard the workers (no Workplace, Health and Safety here). We felt there could possibly be a bit of damage to the suspension of the mhome as there were some quite large bangs and the things inside were being shaken about a bit.

We had to pay a €6 toll to cross over on the bridge, over the Danube River which is the natural border. Soon after we crossed the border into Romania we could see a big dust storm in the distance and it didn't take long to reach us. We drove for a while trying to get in front of it but there was no chance of that. We were being blown about a bit too much so we pulled into the car park of a restaurant along the side of the road and waited for a while til it died down. It was well after 5pm and we didn't really want to go on any further so we went into the restaurant and asked if we could stay overnight. They said yes so we had dinner there. The restaurant advertised being a 'No Stop Restaurant' so they're open 24 hrs a day, which is good for the truckies.

26-4-2012 Thursday
Drove 270ks north to the area of Transylvania of which I'm sure everyone has heard - yes, vampire territory! We are in the town of Bran (Romania) and in a camping park (for 3 nights) called Vampire Camping, with the billboard complete with a big V shape and blood drop dripping from it - a symbol you see often throughout the park as well. It took us 5 hours to get here, again on some terrible potholed roads but at least the last leg of our journey, the road was pretty good which was great as it was very winding and up and down over hills. We noticed lots of big trucks use this road too, as well as the badly potholed ones. The views over vallies were spectacular, postcard variety. There were snowcapped mountains in the distance and the houses are just beautiful - individual, colourful and look like dolls' houses, all with very sloping rooves to allow the snow to slide off. The man at the park here said it gets down to -20 degrees here and eveything is snow covered. Driving along we often saw chickens freely roaming and horses tethered on the side of the road.

We have seen plenty of stray dogs in Europe and the 2007 Lonely Planet book says there's 100,000 of them in Bucharest! Apparently they don't bite too often but if they do you should get a rabies shot! With that many homeless and roaming around I wonder what they eat(?) and think I will stay quite well away from them.

Yeah! Our first real shower in 7 nights! What a treat. We had been doing a sink wash but the water in the tank was getting down low as well. When we were in Greece we saw water fountains/taps everywhere in the streets, running freely all the time from the mountains or natural springs, but nothing since then. There are some sheep (owned by a neighbour apparently) roaming around eating the grass in the park (cheaper than mowing). The one adult male has a cow's bell around his neck, so there's a constant bell noise as he's constantly eating the grass. It's quite pleasant and we feel like we're right out in the country, which I suppose we are. The bell noise is certainly better than the truck noises we heard last night.

27-4-2012 Friday
We walked about 1 and a half ks to the village and Bran Castle, a real-live mountain-cradled, spooky castle that well and truly plugs its Dracula connection. There are big wall information boards inside on the life of Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula (1897), and information on Vlad Tepes, better known as Vlad the Impaler (from whom Stoker got the inspiration for his book). Prince Vlad the real life ruler of Wallachia (one of the regions in Romania) in the mid 1400's, gained the name, Impaler, after the punishment he used against enemies - driving a wooden stake through the victim's backbone without touching any vital organ, ensuring at least 48 hours of suffering before death. He was called 'Dracula', meaning 'son of the dragon', after his father, Vlad Dracul. Dracula's castle is supposed to be Bran Castle since its narrow corridors constitute a mysterious labyrinth of ghostly nooks and secret chambers easy to hide a 'vampire'. Many legends are connected with the castle. It is said it belonged to Count Dracula (Vlad Tepes) but nobody has any proof. Vlad Tepes lived only for a short time in the castle and only as a guest. What is really true is that Bran Castle conjures up the perfect Gothic fairly-tale image of a Transylvanian castle and as a result draws crowds of tourists from far and wide.

Here's a little history of the castle within the last century for those who might be interested:-

In 1920, the castle became a royal residence within the Kingdom of Romania. It became the favourite home and retreat of Queen Marie. The castle was inherited by her daughter Princess Ileana and was later seized by the communist regime with the expulsion of the royal family in 1948.
In 2005, the Romanian government passed a special law allowing restitution claims on properties illegally expropriated, such as Bran, and thus a year later the castle was awarded ownership to Dominic von Habsburg, the son and heir of Princess Ileana.
In September 2007, an investigation committee of the Romanian Parliament stated that the retrocession of the castle to Archduke Dominic was illegal, as it broke the Romanian law on property and succession. However, in October 2007 the Constitutional Court of Romania rejected the parliament's petition on the matter. In addition, an investigation commission of the Romanian government issued a decision in December 2007 reaffirming the validity and legality of the restitution procedures used and confirming that the restitution was made in full compliance with the law.
On May 18, 2009, the Bran Castle administration was transferred from the government to the administration of Archduke Dominic and his sisters Maria-Magdalena Holzhausen and Elisabet Sandhofer. On June 1, the Habsburgs opened the refurbished castle to the public as the first private museum of the country and disclosed with Bran Village a joint strategic concept to maintain their domination in the Romanian tourist circuit and to safeguard the economic base in the region. (Hence, the keeping the vampire story alive and the many guest type accommodation places in this area)

At the bottom of the hill we wandered around a small open air museum park, exhibiting traditional Romanian peasant structures (cottages, barns, sawmill, etc.) from across the country. We then wandered around the village which had many souvenir stalls, complete with Dracula cups and tshirts.

28-4-2012 Saturday
Rest day today, so of course it's washing day and it was a perfect sunny day for it. After lunch we walked down the road to the village church which wasn't open, so we wandered around the cemetery outside. There were quite a few large, elaborate gravesites. About 4 caravans came in this morning with kids, and BBQs were all the go this evening - could be taking advantage of the lovely weekend.

29-4-2012 Sunday
Today we left the village of Bran and travelled on, still in Transylvania to the villages of Rasnov and Sighisoara where Vlad Tepes was born and lived until age 4. Our first stop was at Rasnov where we parked in the village and then made the long walk up to the ruins of the 13th century Roman Fortress. Stunning views of the surrounding countryside and the Carpathian mountains but the ruins themselves, we didn't find too interesting. Next town we came to was Sighisoara and it was very interesting. Again, the old town was on the top of the hill but the new town down below was also quite interesting.  Sighisoara is a perfectly intact 16th century gem with nine towers, cobbled streets, burgher houses and ornate churches that rivals the historic streets of other medieval towns in Europe.

We then drove on toward the Hungarian border stopping for the night in a small rural village called Cipau, where there was a very nicely decorated small Orthodox church