As the rest of the family finished up the packing, I went down to the Radisson Blu to pick up the rental behemoth. I had reserved a van through Sixt. After walking around the bar for awhile, I finally found the small desk with the small Sixt sign sitting on it. There was only one person working, and it took him awhile to finish up with the person ahead of me. I waited long enough that the rest of the family had finished packing and brought the luggage down to the hotel to wait for me to finish. The paperwork was completed and the van was brought to the front for us to load and be on our way. I had a little trouble making sure 1st gear wasn’t reverse, so my first lurch into Bucharest traffic was made in 3rd gear and resulted in a stall. After finding 1st, we were on our way out of Bucharest.
The city quickly gave way to open fields before passing Ploesti, Romania’s oil city. After we passed the city outskirts with columns dotting the skyline, we had nothing but rising hills and clouds in the windshield. The divided highway soon gave way to a wide two lane which carried us over and into the Bucegi Mountains, our first foray into the Carpathians. The rain started coming down as we started the climb to Sanaia and our first stop, Peles Castle.
We pulled into a small hotel and restaurant at the bottom of the hill the castle sits on, and Greene needed a moment to recover from the curvy mountain roads. We had lunch at the Bastion restaurant, who welcomed us by barking that restroom visits weren’t allowed unless we were ordering something. If not for the lack of other facilities, we would have turned around and found another, more welcoming locale. As it was, we ordered some microwaved food and made our way up the hill to Peles.
The light sprinkling did little to dampen our spirits as we approached the castle. It was impressive from start to finish. The walk up, circling around to the side entry, gave full view of the castle. The inner courtyard and gardens were worth a couple of hours visit alone, but the inside tour was most fascinating. Small enough that it felt welcoming, but grand enough for a King (Carol I), the palace was a perfect summer home in a picturesque setting. We passed on the fee for pictures on the inside, but a quick Google search will give you an idea.
After completing the tour, we headed out for Brasov and hair appointments for the girls. The curvy mountain roads straightened out after passing through Predeal and descending by way of several hairpins of varying hair-raising drops into the valley which would lead us to Brasov. We arrived just in time and dropped the girls while I, Mom and Cade went into town to pick up some groceries. The timing was perfect and we arrived back at the salon about 2 minutes before the girls finished up. We drove to Rasnov and our AirBNB for the next few days.
Our host wasn’t in town, but her home was next to her parent’s home, and they welcomed us in and showed us around. They spoke no English, and we spoke no useful Romanian. There were a few German words that matched up, but most of the meeting included pointing and pantomiming. They were wonderful people and the home was most comfy.
We stayed in for the night, enjoying a supper of hot dogs and chips. The Phase 10 cards came out and things got real. The kids got to see the serious side of Nana as she threw shade with each soul crushing play, in what will be known, many years down the road, as the “Brasov Bloodbath”.
We spent the next day with a laid back schedule that included a walk around Brasov. We found a parking lot close to the Black Church and began our walking in the Piata Sfatului (Marktplatz to the Saxons, Council Square to the Americans). In use as a market place since 1364, it’s local tradition that the children led away by the Pied Piper of Hamelin surfaced here. We walked up and down the pedestrian only streets, ducking into shops here and there. We settled on Taverna Sabului for lunch and enjoyed some good food (and bread). We stopped for some gelato and coffee as we walked towards Strada Sforii (Rope Street) before returning to the car. We then did some proper shopping at the mall and enjoyed a movie before making a beautiful dusk lit drive back to Rasnov.
From Tennessee To Texas to Saudi Arabia 