Greetings from Transylvania

G’day everyone,
We are currently in Transylvania in central Romania. Yesterday we visited Draculas castle, the day before we stayed in an authentic Saxon village. They have been the highlights of the trip so far.

Bran’s castle is set over four floors and it’s not very big… about the size of the Foster hall… a series of small rooms set around a central courtyard linked by a large number of tiny spiral staircases. Vlad the impaler was only one of many people who lived in the castle and his reputation seems to have developed out of his being a very unpopular ruler with dubious morals rather than any propensity for biting people.

The old Saxon town of Vicris has been preserved in its original condition by a group of locals who formed a committee to save the town by opening it up to tourists. We stayed in Caterinas house but had our meals two doors down in the cellar of an old German couples house. 
They have a roster of local houses you can stay in… one of which is owned by King Charles… yes our King Charles… with the big ears. He’s sunk quite bit of money into restoring the church and protection of the local wildlife.. apparently they’ve got bears and butterflies in the area.
In the evening the cows came clanking up the Main Street and wandered into the barns of the houses where they live. A couple of cows at number ten, three or four at number 17 and so on until they were all tucked away for the night.

Romania is heavily industrialised but you see old horse and carts bumping along the road amongst the huge semi trailers and old nanas sitting on their doorstep knitting socks. The villages generally have a massive church, rough cobbled streets flanked by a raggedy selection of colourful houses in various stages of decay and a village shop that sells a selection of knitted socks, potatoes and cabbages in bags of five.

Keep on rockin’. - D2.