Day 62 - 21/9/11 - Wednesday- Brasov- Rasnov- Bran- Bucharest

Our last day in Transylvania would be castle focussed, as it is perhaps what the region is most famous for, and going to Dracula's castle is a tourist must do when in the region.

The morning however we spent in Brasov, for a final look around the city. In daylight the black church shows its gothic features. In an otherwise colourful city, it does cast a large shadow across the main square. Brasov also has some quaint old buildings, however cinthia and I both thought that Sibiu was the pick of the 3 Saxon towns. Rather humourously, Brasov has a "street" that is about a metre wide- it did not take long to cross this street.

Craig the Clown

We decided against climbing to the city's citidel, as it was not that spectacular, and we were keen to get to Rasnov and Bran. Prior to leaving we had some chores to do.... banking and shopping. We were lucky to finally find a bank that would exchange our remaining Bulgarian money, which was lucky, as outside of this region it would be only useful for starting a fire. (You know a currency is pretty useless when not even border countries want to buy it). Shopping was next, as given we were running out of time a eat in the car meal was the best option. To the Star supermarket deli we headed, for fresh meat, cheese and bread. Done.

The Rasnov Fortress was elevated on a steep hill above the city, and was very old- 14th century. It had a tractor train operating to take people up the steep hill, which we thought would save time (and perhaps some NRG). The fortress had nice views over the city, and certainly would have given a good view of the enemy approaching... again, mostly likely the Ottomans/ Turks.

Dracula's castle exists in Bran. The novel Dracula was written by Bram Stoker, an Irish writer, in 1897. This novel entrenched the legendary character of Dracula, based on the Romanian Vlad Dracul, known as Vlad the Impaler. The castle was built by the people of Brasnov, in order to help draw a defence line of the then Hungarian empire. Whilst not as spectacular as King Carol's castle, it was quite a charming castle, rather homely for a castle. It is not known for sure whether Dracula did actually live here, however it is, for all purposes (including tourism) Dracula's castle.

The sun begins to set to the West as Cinthia passes Mercedes and Audis in the Opel Corsa. I relax thinking that she is Brazilian like Senna, but then start worrying thinking she is brazilian like Senna. R.I.P. Ayrton. To our west in the last half hour has also been a new high speed train line linking Bucharest to Brasnov (and most likely beyond) and also a massive electricity plant with Power lines stretching in every direction. Romania, like the Portugals, Irelands, Latvias and Lithuanias before it, is benefitting from EU money to upgrade the country closer to EU standard. Whilst not part of the Euro..... the Romanian cities no longer look primitive by comparison.

It is time to return to Bucharest and return the car, which has served us well for the last four days. The Eastern Europe chapter is shortly to finish, and the new chapter of Morroco about to begin. This represents 2 months of our holiday completed, with a single month remaining. I'm not sure how we will comfront the reality of normality upon our return.