{"id":12170,"date":"2013-07-01T19:09:29","date_gmt":"2013-07-01T18:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ourtour.co.uk\/home\/?p=12170"},"modified":"2019-04-02T11:13:24","modified_gmt":"2019-04-02T10:13:24","slug":"prejmer-and-brasov-transylvania-romania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourtour.co.uk\/home\/prejmer-and-brasov-transylvania-romania\/","title":{"rendered":"Prejmer and Brasov, Transylvania, Romania"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dave the motorhome’s shivering in sub 20\u00b0C temperatures\u00a0in a car park in the ski resort of Poiana Brasov<\/strong><\/a>, which according to Wikipedia is the most popular winter sports area in the country, and it’s Alps-plush (N45.58831 E25.55190). Signs around us inform us parking here costs 12 lei\/ze (\u00a32.40 per day), but there are no machines and no-where to pay. We checked with the guys parked next to us who spoke no English, but the message was clear(ish): it’s summer, you only pay in winter.<\/p>\n

\"Dave<\/a>

Dave under clearing skies in Poiana Brasov<\/p><\/div>\n

WAHAHAHHA. I VANT TO DLINK YOUR BLOOOD! Someone stop me, I can’t help it, we’re in Dracula country! I never thought one day I’d be in Transylvania, for much of my youth thinking the Dracula character came from somewhere in the US, but wayhey, we’re here! And doesn’t poor old Ju know about it, as I let loose with my best blood-curdling laugh every 30 seconds. WHAHAHAHHAHAHHHH!<\/p>\n

As it turns out, we’re rather more likely to spot a brown bear up here than a vampire, and I’m excited, I’d love to see one. There are about 6000 of them in Romania<\/strong><\/a>, and our friends Marc and Jacqui got lucky and spotted some when they passed through this way a year or so ago. The woods are only about 30 meters away to my right, so you never know.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The nearest we’ve some to a bear so far today.<\/p><\/div>\n

Anyway, I’m wondering what’s going on with Romania. Admittedly I’ve never read up on the place, so all I can recall about it are BBC News stories about orphans, Roma folks (Gypsies to us), human trafficking of prostitutes and fears of an upcoming deluge of immigrants to the UK. It all sounds pretty flippin’ grim, but perhaps I’ve an over-active imagination, as it is most assuredly not grim here on the ground. Perhaps tomorrow the country will shed its cloak of beautiful countryside, interesting architecture, fabulous roads and relatively easy going nature. Perhaps we’re on some kind of Truman Show corridor set up for us tourists, or I’m just not looking hard enough. For now though, it’s coming at me as a massive surprise, Romania’s rather plush.<\/p>\n

This morning Jacqui sent us an email with information about where they’d travelled to. It listed Prejmer, as it had a fortified town to visit. We’d not come across this, and wouldn’t have gone there, but as it wasn’t far out of the way and their research was always far more thorough than ours, we headed over there. The rain had stopped at some point through the night and as we left Sinaia the cliffs rose up to our right, topped off with fluffy grey cloud still, but giving a hint of the high places to come. The road switchbacked its way down the hillside, each corner as wide as a roundabout, the road silky smooth, the drivers behind us patient.<\/p>\n

\"Austrian-quality<\/a>

Austrian-quality roads do exist in Romania.<\/p><\/div>\n

Turning off the E60 and heading for Prejmer we came across our first pot holes, Dave pulling off an easy slalom around them. Finally, the bad roads. I leaned forward over the steering wheel and concentrated. For all of about 5 minutes as we realised we’d turned onto a small village road. Back on the correct route, we floated along again, and haven’t seen a hole since.<\/p>\n

\"Romanian<\/a>

Romanian bridge protection: you hit the metal girders first, better than building a new bridge?<\/p><\/div>\n

Prejmer’s attraction isn’t the town itself. It’s a bit rough and ready, although the muddy verges along its length, making it looked rougher than it was, seemed part of a scheme to install a pipeline of some sort. A kid beggar rode over on his bike to tell us through mime he was part of a family of eight, and they needed food. Ignored, he tried again later, we ignored the young chap again and he set off to try someone else. The attraction is a fortified church, built by ethnic Germans to help fend off attackers. Plenty came, I read somewhere over 50 attacks were made on the place and only one succeeded. The Germanic folks are gone now, and the place stands empty but restored. It’s in good shape, but I did find myself eyeing up bits of the woodwork with suspicion before asking it to hold my not inconsiderable weight!<\/p>\n

\"DSC09866\"<\/a>

Open loos in the walls which simply drop the waste outside. If you’d perfected your timing, you might even dislodge a Turkish invader…<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSC09887\"<\/a> \"DSC09869\"<\/a> \"DSC09848\"<\/a> \"DSC09880\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The rooms for folks to live are about the same size as Dave.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSC09822\"<\/a>

Beggar chap off to try someone else.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSC09825\"<\/a> \"DSC09828\"<\/a> \"DSC09832\"<\/a> \"DSC09833\"<\/a><\/p>\n