Braşov and a visit at Dracula

Hello all!

Brasov (Kronstadt in German) is my favourite city in Romania. I visited it few years ago with friends. We slept in a hostel, and enjoyed discovering the city and its surroundings together. Brasov is culturally as mixed as Cluj-Napoca, having of course Hungarian but also Romanian and German citizens. Brasov is surrounded by the Eastern-Carpathians and Souther-Carpathians. The city lies actually in the curve of the Carpathians, at the transition of Eastern and Western mountains.

Brasov has similarities with Balvanyos, having a big bear population living in the surrounding hills and due to its mountainous region and pine forests. Bears often visit peripheral districts of the city and search for food in the containers. Another place which could be compared with Brasov is Innsbruck. Both are surrounded by high mountains and they lie in a valley.

Brasov is an academic city, with more than 16 faculties, having many ERASMUS and also local students. Brasov is a centre of culture as well having an irresistibly beautiful old town and amazing architecture. The city is frequented by many tourists from Romania and all around the World. Slavic, Turkish, Romanian, Bulgarian and Hungarian influences can all be found at Brasov. Even nowadays the name's city origin is uncertain and there's no consensus about its history among the group of historians. Nowadays Saxons, Romanians and Hungarians are the inhabitants of the city.

Brasov’s old town is a massive and big territory consisting only of pedestrian access. Architecture consists of neo-gothic, rococo, neo-renaissance elements. The city-centre and the old town is perfect for a walk back in history, sightseeing, eating some delicious traditional Transylvanian food in an open-air restaurant. During Summer many cultural events take place in Brasov. Live concerts, performances, theatre festivals and so on.

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If You want to enjoy a great panorama view of the city, there’s a 960 metre high mountain right over Brasov, called Tampa mountain. There’s a cable railway which transports tourists from the city centre directly on the top of the hill. Just like in Hollywood, Brasov is written with capital letters on the mountain of Tampa. The price of the cable railway journey is 15 RON (3, 5 EUR). Further than making selfies at the inscription of Brasov, you can hike in the hill further on tourist trails in forests, or just simply enjoy the view from 960 m. There is a beautiful restaurant right at the edge of the hill. This cable railway is similar with the one I tried in Innsbruck in the Alps (I give you hereby more details about my experience in Nordkettenbahn, Hafelekar).

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Another beautiful place to visit is Black Church. Based on a gothic style and dating from the XVI century, this evangelical church was partially burnt down in the 17th century. Its walls are grey and black due to the damages suffered in the fire. This church is an extreme church in Romania. The biggest one, having a length longer than 90 metres, and the heaviest one. Its bells are the biggest in the country and their measure reaches the 6 tons.

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Brasov has many parks, a botanical garden, ruins of fortresses, bastions and cobble-stoned alleys. In the city surroundings there are many national parks and reservations. The fauna and wildlife consists mostly of wolves, foxes and bears, and also the flora of Brasov’s surroundings is very rich and worth protecting.

It’s important to mention two tourist attractions easily reachable from Brasov. One of them is Bran Castle, the castle of Dracula. The other one is Peles Castle at Sinaia. The two castles are completely different and very special.

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Before visiting Bran Castle, I would recommend you to read Bram Stoker’s roman about Dracula. Just to get familiarized with the atmosphere. This castle is actually the landmark of Romania and Transylvania. There’s a legend about Vlad Tepes, who was in fact a vampire. But he doesn’t have any important role or connection with the castle beyond the fact that he just passed by it several times - only in Stoker’s book the vampire is related to the castle. The castle was mostly owned by Hungarian kings and it was used as defence against Otomans. Bran Castle is visited by many tourists. There are exhibitions of clothes, objects, furnitures of rulers who lived in it. There are some informations shared about Vlad Tepes as well to tourists who actually really love horror-stories about vampires. It's a good marketing indeed.

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Peles castle was constructed by a Romanian king in the 19th century. King Carol the 1st fell in love with the region of Sinaia, and wanted to own a castle there. This is in my opinion the most beautiful castle in Transylvania. Elegant, sublime and a masterpiece of art and architecture. Traveling to Sinaia castle from Brasov by train is a very pleasant journey. Trains go through mountains and valleys through many tunnels. The view is spectacular.

If I made you start thinking about visiting this city, it was worth posting! Both from Cluj and Bucharest, Brasov is located approximately 300 kilometres, but absolutely worth traveling to it.

Thanks for reading, Dora!

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