As a continuation, I was in Romania last year. It happened to be one of the best trips I have ever taken. Despite being in the country for only about six full days, we did manage to see quite a bit. The first leg of our trip was spent in Bucharest, and the second half in Transylvania, where we stayed in the city of Brașov. It was this half of the trip that was the most fascinating and interesting.
Gara de Nord Train Station, Bucharest
We made our journey to Brasov by train through the Gara de Nord station in Bucharest. The area around Gara de Nord is not particularly the nicest, in fact, after the Ferentari neighborhood in Bucharest, it has one of the worst reputations in the city. From what I saw though, it was far from nice, but also, not quite as grimy as I was expecting. There were your fair share of down and out and vagrant types, but nothing to raise any type of real concern. The main obstacle we happened to come upon was the fact that hardly anyone spoke English, with our practically non-existent Romanian, it made even the simplest task of buying a ticket a bit complicated. In the areas of Bucharest with a higher concentration of younger people, with many in university, it's much easier to find someone on the street who at least can understand and speak a little English with you to help with things, however, it's rare to find people who can speak with such fluency as many western Europeans can. Nevertheless, it never became a real issue at all. We managed to get our tickets and find the train with not too much trouble and were on our way.
The total train ride was about three and a half hours, and it definitely felt like the entire three plus hours also. Romanian trains move at a snail's pace. Nothing comparable to the speed and efficiency of rail systems in western Europe. Luckily, we were wide awake and excited, and the trip through the Carpathian mountains was spectacular. For our entertainment also, seemingly after every station, Gypsy handlers would pass through the cabin offering to sell their trinkets or candy. They would leave candy or drinks on the table next to your seat and then walk away, with the expectation you would take it. Not surprisingly hardly anyone on the train did, which was not that many people to begin with. They would later come back and pick up their goods before getting off at the next station. All in all, nothing that different from what I've seen already in my time spent in the Middle East, albeit with a slightly different flavour.
The closer we inched towards Brasov, snow started to appear and you could tell we were entering the heart of Transylvania. By the time we arrived it was dark and the city seemed eerily quiet, we had arrived on the outskirts of town. It was a weeknight and way past the time when people were coming home from work. I hadn't realized how deeply nestled Brasov was in the mountains, but it was even more of a pleasant surprise than I thought it would be. Brasov alone as a city is not that big, however, it's not that small either. It's the eighth largest city in Romania and has a population of about 228,000. It feels like a small town though, the train station is located outside of the city center. In order to get to our pension hotel, we ended up taking a local bus into town. The old quarter of Brasov is absolutely one of the most beautiful in Europe or any place for that matter. It's entirely medieval and has the real feel of a place that has been barely touched by waves of tourists. And in winter, it couldn't be any more beautiful.
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