After enjoying what Austria had to offer, Romania took us back to what felt like the 1980s. We had a easy flight over Hungary and landed in the capitol of Bucharest early evening. The first signs of the past struggle was the airport. It was a horrific, soviet-era airport in desperate need of a facelift. What we were about to see in the coming days would start to explain why the airport was the way it was.
The following day we joined our tour group and spent the day visiting historical sites. One of the first buildings we saw, now the Foreign office, was the location of the last speech made by then Communist Leader Nicolae Ceausescu. After rising to power in 1965, Romania's foreign debt increased from $3 to $10 billion USD. To eliminate this debt he impoverished his countrymen & women, leaving the population to rely on food rations which left them starving. Our guide relived her parents experiences about how they were given items like 1kg of flour per person per month & 100g of butter per person per month to survive. It is no wonder the Romanian people revolted and after leaving that balcony by helicopter to their home town, Ceausescu and his wife were assassinated in 1989.
Leaving that somber square our next stop was the Palace of Parliament. Now I have seen numerous castles and palaces on this trip and this palace was in a league of it's own. Driving through the gated entrance we could not believe the sheer size of this building. Before entering our guide noted that it was common knowledge that if the people of Romania could, they would burn it to the ground. That told us something straight off the bat and very shortly we would find out why. We entered what we later joked to be the 'maids' entrance and waited for our tour guide. After having our passports scanned and passing through a security checkpoint we were ready to go.
During the hour long tour we visited 5 of the 1100 rooms totaling approx 3% of the building. The building consisted of 21 floors, 9 of which are underground. It houses 1 million cubic metres of marble, 12 kms of carpet and 20 atomic proof bunkers. It is the heaviest building in the world and the 2nd largest behind the Pentagon in the US. The cost? A lazy $3 billion USD. Communist dictator Ceausescu had planned to also build a private residence but as he was killed before the building was completed the residence was removed from the plans when it was finally completed in 1997. It's quite clear to understand why a population with barely enough to eat, who watched the construction of such a building, feel anger for what it represents and want to burn it down.
The main reason we decided to join this tour was to visit the world famous Transylvania. First stop in this majestic area was the bustling ski resort town of Senaia, home to Peles Castle (pictured) & Pelesoir which was unfortunately closed for cleaning. Peles Castle was the summer residence of King Carol of Romania in the late 19th/early 20th centuries. After lunch we took a 'small' hike to the Franz Josef cliffs overlooking the entire valley. Having made it to the top I've got to admit the view was worth all the pain and sweat.
Our last day in Transylvania we finally visited Bran Castle, the inspiration behind Bram Stoker's Dracula. In 1920 the castle became a royal residence of Queen Marie and was inherited by her daughter, Princess Ilena, who ran a hospital there during WWII. It was seized during the communist regime when the royal family were expelled in 1948. In 2006 the Romanian government gave the castle back to Princess Ilena's heir and in 2009 it was opened to the public. Here we climbed hidden staircases and struggled through 5 foot door ways while seeing how the royals lived all those years ago.
Rasnov Citadel (pictured below) was our next stop on our jammed packed last day . A fortress ruin held as the main Transylvanian stronghold until the late 19th century, it sits atop the highest mountain in the region. Last but definitely not least we spent our afternoon in the beautiful city of Brasov. As our guide's home town we were treated to a visit of the 'black church', an 800 year old church who got it's name from the color of the bricks left from a fire centuries ago and a cable car ride to the top of the mountain with a spectacular view of the town (pictured).With a 5am wake up call, a 3 hour white-knuckle airport transfer through the Carpathian mountains, and an hour of extra Israeli airport screening we were at our gate saying goodbye to an eye opening & enriching experience.
(Aerial photo of Palace of Parliament courtesy of romania.ro)
Travelers tip - get to the castles as early in the morning as possible and try and chose off peak days (week days) as castle entry and venue tours are badly managed & organised so you could be there for hours when really you only needed 45-60 mins.
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