Arbanassi, Bulgaria

From Veliko Tarnovo we drove to the nearby town of Arbanassi.  This was a medieval town that has been nicely preserved.  New homes being built today must conform visually to the original architecture.  Typical features include red tile roofs, stone-clad ground floors, and timbered upper stories.  This museum was formerly the home of a wealthy Jewish merchant and his family.  Inside we saw large divans that were used for entertaining business guests, another that slept most of the family, a well equipped kitchen of the day, and even an indoor toilet of sorts.  If you are interested, there are many more photos in the Picassa album linked in the column on the right.

Despite the evidence of comfort and ease in the house, it was also a fortress of sorts because of the danger of invasion by bands of thieves and other enemies and marauders.  The well was located inside the walls of the dwelling in order to help the family survive a siege until outside help could arrive.

We see this wall as charming and the garden as a lovely secluded place to relax.  I suspect the original occupants felt some of that, but primarily, they also probably saw it as a necessary part of their defense against dangerous intruders.

This is a monastery in the same town.  Bulgarians are now mostly Eastern Orthodox Christians.  Like most countries in this region, they were dominated by the Ottoman Empire for several centuries, however.

Before we left the area, we had a rest stop here in the Arbanassi Palace Hotel.   This was an opulent vacation home of the last Communist leader of Bulgaria, complete with heliport.  Funny how these guys managed to live so well while turning their people's lives upside down with restrictions against private ownership.

Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria

After a terrific stay in Romania, our riverboat took us to the port city of Ruse, Bulgaria.  From there, we took a bus to visit some interesting sites.  Below is a farm field of sunflowers.  We passed many of these along the way in nearly every country we visited.  Alongside fields of wheat and corn, they represent a principle crop in the region--and have the added virtue of being beautiful.  It was interesting to see their faces change directions during the day as they followed the sun.

In the distance you can see farm fields, but in the foreground is a special treat--a stork nest full of birds.  Often smaller birds nest or at least feed in the outer parts of the stork's nest, which can weigh over a ton.  I knew they were large, but had no idea they weighed that much!

This is the town of Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria, beautifully reflected in the river below.  This town was once an important defense and political center of Bulgaria.  Today it is home to a couple of universities, and as one of the oldest settlements in the country, had several historic sites to explore.

There is a medieval wall guarding the old town.

It reminds me a little bit of the Great Wall in China as it wends its way through the countryside.

Constanza, Romania

After Bucharest, we boarded our riverboat and went to Romania's largest port on the Black Sea--Constanta.  We admired the harbor and then learned a bit about the history of this place.  Constanta actually dates from ancient Greek and Roman times when it was known as Tomis until it was renamed in honor of the Roman emperor Constantine.  In fact, the poet, Ovid, was exiled to Tomis/Constanta and died there.   Below is a photo of the waterfront between an abandoned casino and a small lighthouse.  That's the casino you can see in the distance.

We visited a museum dedicated to ancient Greek and Roman artifacts.  Below is a vase I thought was especially delicate and lovely.  There was also a large partially preserved mosaic there from that period.  

 Just outside the museum were several ancient tombstones like the one below.  SO much writing!

In front of each tombstone was the translation into Romanian and English.  Reading them took me right to another world.  Here is a sample.  Don't forget you can click on any photo to see it larger.

Bucharest, Romania

After our pretrip tour of Transylvania, we went back to Bucharest, where we were joined by the rest of the group that were going on the riverboat tour of the lower Danube.  We had a quick tour of the city of Bucharest before we headed for the boat.  Below is a shot of Revolution Square.  The monument is dedicated to the people who died during the revolution of 1989 when Ceausescu was deposed and executed and the country began to move away from Communism.  The locals refer to this monument as the olive and the toothpick.  It's always good to know that humor lives on no matter what.

The building below has the second largest footprint in the world--behind the Pentagon.  It is now called the People's Palace, but it was originally built by Ceausescu as a residence where he intended to live and host state functions to impress the world with his power and importance.  He never moved in.  Our tour guide here was pretty snide in her references to this man who was executed before she was even born.

This was a communist government building of some sort.  Today it has been gutted and is slated to become an upscale shopping center.  How ironic.

This is Romania's version of the Arch of Triumph.  It is a little smaller than its Parisian counterpart, but equally impressive.  As in Paris, several wide boulevards radiate out from it.  Our Romanian guide proudly told us they are wider than those in Paris. It is no wonder that Bucharest is known as the Paris of Eastern Europe.

Sighisoara, Transylvania, Romania

Each day we boarded a bus and traveled somewhere in Transylvania to see the sights--and sites.  Along the way we passed gentle mountains, farmlands, and villages like the one below.  This one looked so pretty nestled in the foothills off in the distance.

Below is a church we passed along the way to Sighisoara.  It had a large defensive tower right next door.  I suppose both were built in dangerous times. 

We came to Sighisoara because it is the town most closely associated with the Dracula story.  It is a small modern city, but it has a well preserved walled Old Town dating from the 1200s that is a UNESCO World heritage Site.  Below is the entry gate.  You follow in the footsteps of long ago visitors when you enter here. 

The clock tower dominates the view from everywhere in the old town.  It is the tallest structure there, massive, and ornamental. 

The house below is said to be the birthplace of Vlad Tepes, the Impaler.  Since it was built a couple of hundred years after he lived in this era, probably not!

But that doesn't stop him from making an occasional appearance in the restaurant that occupies the ground floor.

It's the medieval charm of the town that I liked best. 

No trumpet playing?  Really??? 

Brasov, Transylvania, Romania

This is St. Nicholas Church near Brasov.  Like the castles we have seen, it has a fairy tale appearance.  This is a Romanian Orthodox church, unsurprisingly the dominant religion in Romania.

This statue is just outside the cathedral.  I'm not sure what his connection to the church is, but this gentlemen invented the first printing press in Romania.

This is the front of the church with a large painted icon depicting St. Nicholas, the patron saint of the church. 

In the alcove next to the spiffy icon above, an original icon was in its unrestored state.  There is something very special about this one.

In front of the church lies the cemetery. This is part of the wall that surrounds it, with icons depicting St. Nicholas again.

Inside the wall is the cemetery.  It has a weedy, homey, friendly appeal.  We were surprised to see a list of names on nearly every tombstone rather than just one.  It turns out that after some time passes, when the next person in the family dies, they open the grave, put the bones of the earlier deceased into a small container, and place that at the feet of the newly deceased, whose name is then added to the gravestone.  I had not heard of this custom before, but since, I have learned that this is not unusual in countries that are quite old and where burial space might be limited. 

 Doesn't this look just like a fairy tale?

Castles in Transylvania

Bran Castle.  This is billed as having a connection to Dracula, the fictional vampire, but a real person in Romanian history. His actual castle is probably a ruin nearby, but although Romanians don't love the vampire story, they do know that it brings in visitors, so they are happy to drop some hints about it.  The historic Count Dracula was revered by his countrymen for standing up to the Turks, who had successfully invaded the area.  His method of dealing with captives was a little harsh.  Not for nothing was he known as Vlad the Impaler.

Once you are inside the castle, the story switches to its more modern history.  Romania became a monarchy in the 1800's when Carlos I, a member of the Hohenzollern royal family, agreed to become King of Romania.  In the early 1900's,  Queen Marie, a granddaughter of England's Queen Victoria, redecorated and restored this medieval castle, and came here often with her family.  It must have been fun for the children to grow up here.

Meanwhile, back when they first came to Romania, the new royal family had Peles Castle built to then modern European standards.  More livable in many ways, certainly more stately, Peles is also very much worth visiting.  The family gave up the crown after WWII in order to spare Romanian lives after the Soviet Union was awarded most of the country following the war.  Today the exiled king is one of the last living WWII heads of state and is fondly regarded by the Romanians we met.

Transylvania, Romania

We recently returned from a trip to Eastern Europe. We toured with Vantage, and visited five former Soviet Bloc countries (Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, and Hungary), mostly via riverboat. I'll share some photos over the next several days.

For starters, here we are in Transylvania, Romania. This is Sinaia, Romania, a charming resort town.

We walked a little way up the hill from the town square and found some wonderful rooftops.

This is our hotel, in Brasov, Romania.  This was a four star hotel with an old and a new wing.  We were in the new one, nicely appointed rooms, the usual nine yards.  But every single member of our 40-person group reported that their shower leaked all over the floor.  Since we were there for three nights, we had some time to try to figure out why.  It was not the smallish half-tub-length glass door they used instead of a curtain.  There was not a single drop of water on the edge or side of the tub.  I'm pretty sure the flood was coming from somewhere back in the wall--a bad connection, perhaps.  In fact, water even appeared on the floor when the sink was used.  But in every room???  How is this possible?  I don't know the answer to that, but I do know they'd better get a grip on this problem before rot and mildew turn the building to rubble.  Which brings me to an interesting comparison.  In the lawsuit happy US (and probably most western countries), I can't imagine this issue being neglected for long.  Water turning tile floors into skating rinks sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen to me.  Over here, apparently not so much.  One day at lunch a glass of wine was spilled all over a tile floor.  The wait staff just ignored it.  Again, wouldn't that be wiped up quickly elsewhere so a guest wouldn't slip and sue?  I don't want this to sound like a complaint.  We had a wonderful trip and these were honestly the only things I can think of that weren't pretty close to perfect.  But it certainly did surprise me that neither seems to be seen as a potential problem.

And this tells us where we are. We stayed in Brasov for three nights, exploring castles and countryside during the day.  

We really enjoyed our time in Brasov.  Every evening we found ourselves in this relaxing pedestrianized area filled with shops and eateries.  It was delightful to enjoy dinner on our own outdoors, eating great food and people watching.  On Saturday night, we were even treated to two bridal parties cruising the square.  One of them was having a reception in our hotel, but because these are pretty much all day events, beginning with a civil ceremony in the morning, then a church wedding, and then a reception that lasts well into the wee hours of the night with a parade of food and lots of dancing, the bridal couples and their friends often escape to enjoy the outdoors sometime in the early evening.  

One thing we found unusual here was dealing with the money situation.  At our first briefing, we were told that our credit cards might not work in Romania UNLESS we had a PIN number for them.  What?  Isn't that for a debit card?  Turns out you CAN get a PIN number for a credit card if you ask, but who knew?  So the first afternoon, John stopped in at TEN restaurants to see if they would take a credit card without a PIN.  Seven of them said no.  That night, we ended up eating at one of the three that would.  Then we called the bank in the US and got a PIN number--which of course, we were never asked for.  LOL.  But it turns out they didn't ask because when they ran the card, they could tell we had one, which apparently is all they care about.  Don't ask.  I have NO idea why.  

The next unusual thing we learned was that if you put a tip on your credit card, the tip money goes to the BANK and the waitress never sees it.  WHAT???  We felt horrible when we learned that on the second night of our stay in Brasov because we had charged our tip the first night.  We used cash for tipping the rest of the time.  And speaking of cash, each of the five countries we visited has its own currency, and none of them work anywhere else.  Euros and dollars MAY be accepted, but not always.  Juggling money here is a challenge, for sure!