Sunday, 13 September 2015

A Romanian Excursion

After Oxford, I was invited to Romania for 6 days by Professor Ion Ianos at the University of Bucharest and I spent a lot of time talking to students, a ministry official, and some mayors of country towns (communes) about regional development issues. However, I did manage to escape to the countryside for a few days and saw some spectacular sights that are the subject of this post. I apologise for its length, but I'm sure you'll agree that the Carpathians and cities or towns within and around that mountain chain are very attractive. I'll divide the images into four components: the Carpathians; Sanaia (see also http://www.montania.ro/en_Sinaia_info.htm); Brasov (pr. Brashov) and Bran.

First, then to the Carpathians, an impressive mountain chain rising to about 2600m. One could almost be in parts of Switzerland or Austria looking at the pictures below. The villages and resorts we visited looked for the most-part wealthier and better maintained than other parts of rural Romania I visited, but I suppose that the wealthy are attracted to such locations because of their beauty.












The next images show Sinaia, which is not only a wealthy looking town because of its resort function but also houses Peles Castle - the Summer home of the Romanian royal family (when it existed) and a monastery built by a nobleman after a visit to guess where .... Egypt and Sinai - the destinations of his pilgrimage. The royal compound is impressive, with a large number of palatial buildings in a gorgeous setting. Let' have a look:

Peles Castle setting

Me and Ion standing in front of the royal's summer residence




Other dwellings in the compound, and the castle again from a different angle.




Now for four images of the monastery.





After Sinaia, we headed off to the ancient city of Brasov. Dating from about 1234 in its current form, archaeologists have found traces of settlement going back thousands of years. The city region is home to about 370,000 people, of whom 250,000 are within city limits. This is contested country, occupied at various times by Germans, Hungarians, Turks, and - earlier on - Romans. Brasov's central area is very attractive, like so many central European cities. We spent quite a while walking around the town before sitting down to an excellent lunch - outside, of course, under umbrellas like those shown in the pictures.










After lunch, we headed off to our final destination of the day - almost a touch of Disneyland at the very famous Castle of Bran. Why famous? Well, it looks great and it is perhaps the single most famous tourist destination in Romania because of its reputed association with the guy in the picture. This Vlad Tepes, a Romanian nobleman who despatched those he didn't like by impaling them on stakes. He, of course, has been immortalised as Dracula by Bram Stoker a 19th century English novelist who never actually visited Romania. There's me by the way in the second and fourth of the photos.












All up a lovely  one-day trip at the end of a five week journey overseas, starting in Portugal and few posts back. I've been very lucky to have made this excursion and see so many wonderful sights.

AS

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