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Exploring Romania: Transylvania to Bucharest

poweredbytofu — Tue, 19 May 2009 19:20:02 +0000

It’s practically Travel Tuesday around here! I wrote several posts this week about my travels through Romania last August. I really enjoyed Romania, and now is a great time to experience the Eastern European countries of Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary since you have the ease of travel from being in the EU, but the cheaper prices since they use their own currencies still (HUF, RON, & BGN) instead of the Euro. I loved Romania for the history, meeting local Romanians and the opportunities to get outside. Customer service is a relatively new concept in Eastern Europe this doesn’t mean that you’ll be treated badly, just that you have to adjust your expectations. Romania is just about the polar opposite from Thailand, the land of smiles. And while smiles are universal, you might just have to work harder in order to receive one. I kind of enjoyed that aspect, it seemed genuine. From chatting with people in more rural areas, it seems like a different country than being in the capital city, although this is always true, it seems as if many Romanians still view Bucharest as a part of Communism and the city that most of their youth have migrated to for work. But those workers in turn spend their vacations out of the city, and they seem to have such an optimism when they talk about rural Romania.

Adventures in Romania:

Eger Hungary to Maramures, Romania – Welcome to Romania! & More Palinka, Anyone?
Viscri, Romania – Eating Potatoes Until the Cows Come Home
Sighisoara, Romania – Transylvania & Vlad the Impaler & Why No Trumpets?
Sibiu, Romania – Trouble in Transylvania
Brasov, Romania – A Little Bit of Hollywood in Brasov & A Visit to Dracula’s Castle
Sinaia – Telegondola? Telegondola?
Bucharest – Olympic Games from Bucharest

If Romania is on your list of places to visit, try finding a cheap flight to Paris or London and then take a local carrier (Blue Air) into Bucharest for about 45 euros or go overland by train.

Next up, Bulgaria! [Shakes head as "Yes!"]

#41: Visit Europe Again

poweredbytofu — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:07:14 +0000

My first experience traveling abroad was to France in 2006 (when I officially got the travel bug). Since then, I’ve wanted to go back and see more of Europe. However, with the euro and dollar exchange rate at $1.60 this summer, I decided to stick to the outer edges of the EU that don’t use the euro yet. By starting in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, I didn’t have to cringe every time I made a purchase, but still had the convenience of being in the EU. Turkey was my next stop, and while not quite Europe, it was an amazing introduction to the Middle East. By the time I got to Greece in September the USD was on the rise and I didn’t feel guilty with every gyro and second gelato purchase of the day. So I rounded out my second visit to the European continent by ending in Spain. I’d still like to see more of Europe (I probably always will). And I still haven’t been to Italy! Or Germany! Or Sweden! Or…

Drinking Bull’s Blood in Eger

poweredbytofu — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 22:59:21 +0000

This morning, after a quick trip over to the Jewish Synagogue, we walked to the Budapest train station. After a short train ride, we arrived in Eger, Hungary. It’s the third most visited city in Hungary, with a lot of history. The downtown area has been revamped quite a bit and is a cute “village town” style, but quite touristy and sterile. The downtown area seems too cleaned up, with syrupy-charm, instead of Old World charm. After visting the castle (where they defended from the Turks in the 16th century), we walked to the Valley of the Beautiful Women for dinner and wine tasting. The Valley of the Beautiful Women is known for all the wine cellars and is a quick 20 minute walk from central Eger. It’s most noteable for Bull’s Blood, a strong, red wine. Legend goes that the Hungarians drank the red wine when they were again, defending against the Turks. They were badly outnumbered, and when the Turks saw their red-stained beards, rumor had it that they were instead drinking bull’s blood for strength!

Overall, Eger was an interesting town. It was nice to see some of Hungary, outside of Budapest, but you definitely only need one day here.

SPArty in Budapest

poweredbytofu — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:14:19 +0000

What do you call a party at spa? A Sparty! It sounds like a joke, but Budapest frequently has sparties. There was one at the Szechenyi Baths yesterday, which I missed. So today, I decided to check out the Gellert Baths across the bridge on the Buda side of town.

Glorious! It is indeed like swimming in a cathedral. I swam in the indoor area (very cold!), before wandering around by the wave pool outside and laying out for a bit. Then, I checked out the Turkish baths area, (which were almost boiling), among others who were all different shapes, sizes, and levels of prudity. Welcome back to Europe.

After a relaxing afternoon, I walked back to the hostel, grabbing a cheap and yummy kebab on the way, and then headed over to my new hotel. This evening, I met up with the group I’ll be traveling with into the countryside of Romania. It’s a small group, about 12 of us, all 20-30s and then one older couple, and they’re all Aussies! So I guess I’ll be the only North American, as usual…

Oh and I had the best thing at dinner! Cold, sour cherry soup, apparently a Hungarian staple in the summer months.

I Just Got Kissed On The Shoulder

poweredbytofu — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 19:37:50 +0000

I tried finding the outdoor market today, but I ended up walking to the wrong bridge, so instead I walked back to the Deak Square area and took the metro to the House of Terror. What a chilling place. Budapest has such an amazing history. It was such an advanced and prestigious city before the wars and communism. I rode the metro back out to Hero’s Square and City Park. The metro line that goes out to the park is the oldest metro line in Europe (according to the Hungarians). At City Park I took a picture of the Anonymous Statue, and if you touch the pen, then you will supposedly have good luck in your writing. There’s also a statue of George Washington in the park, because apparently way back before the war, some Hungarian immigrants really liked us.

I’ve been told by a few Hungarians that as a people they’re more blasé about government and working and have a more depressed attitude about the future of themselves and their country. That seems kind of bleak, but ok, I’ll believe them. Now the odd part about this, is that the couples in Budapest are by no means blasé. I have never seen so many people making out in public before! And it’s not just kissing! Call me a puritan, but you don’t see this in the US, or anywhere I’ve traveled so far! These people just can’t keep their hands off each other!

After what seemed like a day full of walking, I had dinner at an Italian place near the river and got a gelato for $1. So far, Budapest is way cheaper than I thought it was going to be. Later, I ended up going on a DIY pubcrawl with the guys from my hostel. We went to a lot of places that Olga had recommended. First, we headed across the river, (across “no man’s land”, otherwise known as bridges, but in Budapest, there is the Buda police and the Pest police, so apparently it’s in dispute who has to govern the bridges, which makes walking across a little more amusing). We ended up at some kind of outdoor dance party. It was outrageously fun to just watch the locals dance, circa 1991. Oh, and I got kissed on the shoulder by some Hungarian guy, who then promptly disappeared. Very random. After we had our fill of early 90′s techno and jock jams we headed back over to Pest to the Corvinteto Department Store. It’s up about 4 flights of stairs, the kind of stairs that you second guess about walking up, but has a chill and less crowded rooftop bar that was really fun (and thankfully, there weren’t any shoulder-kissers there).

Biking in Budapest

poweredbytofu — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 09:52:50 +0000

I arrived in Budapest yesterday afternoon and crashed at my hostel. Although I usually try to get out and do something to fight the jet lag, I just wasn’t up for it. The hostel, Budapest Bubble, I’m staying at is really small and personable. After grabbing some coffee at the hostel, I headed up to the Deak Square for a city bike tour. I had a little extra time so I grabbed a yogurt, banana, and water at the supermarket. Budapest is slightly cheaper than I thought it would be. :) The bike tour ended up being a lot of fun. Highly recommended. We peddled all the way down Pest’s “Champs-Elysees” to Hero’s Square and City Park, stopping along the way to look at notable buildings like the House of Terror, Opera House etc. Then we rode back up past the Opera House to St Peter’s Basilica and the Parliament House, crossed the Chain Bridge over to Buda, before starting the quad workout of climbing Castle Hill. It was such a steep climb, almost like taking 4 spin classes back to back! After circling around the hill we zoomed down the west side of the hill and back over the bridge. I was starving after biking for 4 hours, so I tried find a felafel’s place from the Lonely Planet book, poor choice when I was hungry, as it’s closed for the month of August! So I ended up walking back to Deak Square and going to a vegetarian cafeteria style restaurant. The food wasn’t fantastic, but it was a fun opportunity to point and choose traditional Hungarian food without worrying about there being meat in the dishes. After lunch/dinner, I walked back to the hostel and chilled for the rest of the evening. Olga, the Hungarian girl who runs the hostel knew a jazz band that was playing so the entire hostel (only 2 rooms) went on a group outing to check out Budapest nightlife. It was really fun getting to find some local places and see Hungarians instead of just other backpackers. Budapest is such a neat city! And amazingly walkable.