Our Last Stop - Veliko Tranovo, Bulgaria

We were surprised that we breezed through Romania as quickly as we had, so we took advantage of our extra few days and decided to spend some time in Bulgaria.  Wanting the bragging rights, and not wanting to head back early to Sincan, we chose a lovely city that was on the way home, Veliko Tarnovo.  Though it was a bit of a trip getting there (first our train was late getting into Bucharest, then we got off our train in Bulgaria to only get back on the same one after crossing the border, and then having to spend two hours in a freezing train station waiting for our connection) we were very happy when we finally arrived in the freezing little village.  Thanks to the assistance of a nice local we were able to secure a cab ride in the desolate out skirts and after driving around a bit looking for a hostel, that in our opinion does not exist, we finally arrived at an up-scale hotel.  We splurged on our last two nights and chose a recently renovated hotel, which was only one story high; the rest of the floors actually below street level, which gave a beautiful panoramic view of the gorge.  We both took well deserved naps; I was extremely happy to have my own bed as Stacy is notorious for cocooning herself in all the covers, leaving me with only scraps to try to keep warm.  Upon waking we made our way to the bus station to secure our journey home.  As it is a very small village there were only buses every other day to Istanbul.  We booked the next available seats and confirmed when we should be at the station.  We then located a quaint little restaurant and enjoyed delicious Bulgarian delicacies.  Stacy was very happy to see cheese in almost every dish and had a hard time narrowing down her choice.

The next day we made our way to one of the only sightseeing attractions, Tsarevets Fortress.  We bundled up as much as possible; we were not surprised to learn that Veliko Tarnovo is the coldest city in Bulgaria in the winter and the hottest in the summer.  We made our way precariously up the steep uneven steps to the church inside the fortress.  Upon entering we were awed by the beautiful modern mosaics.  Gothic depictions of the Bible covered every inch of the walls and ceilings.  We immediately started snapping photos.  We then made our way back through old town to our hotel.  Along the way we stopped at a gift shop that sold hand-made wood carvings.  We both made purchases of ornately designed crosses.  We finished our day at our new favorite restaurant, where Stacy picked another dish off her ever growing list of things she wanted to try.

The next day we geared up for our ten hour time kill before boarding our bus to Istanbul.  We killed as much time as we could in our hotel café before heading to “our” restaurant for one last indulgence.  We then headed to the bus stop with about an hour left to kill.  Upon arriving it was pretty dead, with only a few people waiting.  Not thinking much, as it was a pretty small town, we sat and waited till the bathroom attendant started looking at us a little curiously.  Stacy went over to make sure we were waiting in the right spot.  After a few minutes of hand gesturing and calling over a younger guy who could speak a little English, she called me over.  She explained tentatively that we had missed our bus.  Our bus had departed at the scheduled time of 8:30 pm and here we were ready to go at 10:00 pm!  The time of course had been written in military time.  We were in utter disbelief!  After living in Thailand for over a year where they only use military time, then spending the past four and a half months in Turkey where it is also popular, how could we have made such a big mistake?  We had even checked and double checked with the travel agent what time we had to be at the station, but of course this was also in military time!  There was nothing else to do but collect our things and make our way back to the hotel.  We re-checked in with apologetic smiles and headed to our new room.  Not wanting to spend another two nights in Bulgaria we did a lot of back and forth calling with reception before finding out the only way to get home would be to first travel to the capital of Sofia and then board one of the numerous daily buses to Istanbul.  After waiting till the bank was open and again changing money, we traveled to Sophia without a hitch.  Once inside the large station Stacy located our bus company we use to get from Istanbul to Sincan.  We booked the next available bus to Turkey.  Our trip home went smoothly and with only a short wait at the border, where we had to scan our luggage, we soon made it to Istanbul where we were able to immediately book a bus to Ankara.  We were on the road after three hours and then traveled the last 40 minutes home ready to dump our bulging back packs and purses and fall into bed.  Oh and to top it all off we came home to an ice storm, luckily we had power! ~ Randi

Brasov, Romania

I don’t think I’m being presumptuous to say that we enjoyed our time in Transylvania (Sighisoara, Sibiu, and Brasov) the most. Next we visited Brasov, another delightful and quaint city full of character. On our first day, we explored the old citadel. We walked around and visited Katherine’s Gate (a town entrance worthy of a Cinderella fairytale), the synagogue, and the town square. As we both love Gothic architecture, the Gothic Black Church, built between 1384 and 1477 and renamed due to a fire that blackened its walls, was our favorite. While there, I was able to view a document sent from Martin Luther to a local community leader. All the Germans that inhabited the citadel and much of Romania converted from Catholicism to Lutheranism.  As I was raised Lutheran, I did enjoy this piece of history.

The next day, we did an all day guided tour with a lovely Israeli couple. Near Sinai, we visited the Sinai Monastery during a ringing of the bells service and the Peles Castle.  At Peles Castle, the fairytale turrets set amongst meadows and mountains covered in snow were an enchanting scene. We visited the 13^th century Rasnov fortress, where we enjoyed a beautiful view of the valley and Bucegi Mountains. We stopped by a ski resort town and enjoyed a lovely Romanian dinner, complete with local fruit whiskey and mulled wine. We enjoyed Romanian food and in order to escape the chilly temperatures outside, we over-indulged in several large portioned meals (all of mine with cheese!) throughout the day.  My vegan diet has since resumed. Also, Randi was quite pleased to be able to eat pork for the first time since our arrival in Turkey. The Turkish aversion to pigs is both amusing and annoying. Randi received a parental complaint due to an Old McDonald video with three dancing pigs that she had shown in class. The Muppets and Winnie the Pooh are banned!

Our trip wouldn’t have been complete without a visit to Bran Castle, made famous by Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Stoker wrote Dracula without ever setting foot in Transylvania.  In fact, Vlad Dracul was a Prince of Walachia, not Transylvania.  That said, we still visited the small room where he spent 4 nights at the Bran Castle. This castle was my favorite, due to the Gothic architecture and the placement of the castle high atop a rock cliff.

~ Stacy

Sibiu, Romania

When we arrived in Sibiu, the 2007 Capital of European Culture, we checked into our unique, circus themed hostel. Then, we went off to explore the old town. We wandered around visiting churches, shops, and enjoying the town square. We, also, made a few stops at various restaurants to indulge in hot wine and to warm up! Thus, by the time we returned to our hostel at 8:30 pm, we had consumed quite a bit of the  wine. Randi fell asleep immediately, while I stayed up reading. After an hour, as I was scratching my arm, I noticed my sheets and pillows crawling with small beetles. I switched to the other bunk bed, but the bugs were there, too! I attempted to wake Randi to inform her of our bed bug problem, but she would sigh, roll over and go right back to sleep. I stayed awake, sitting in bed for 2 hours, determined to keep the bugs off of me. Finally, at 11 pm, Randi awoke. By then, she too had noticed the bugs. We packed our stuff, picked the bugs off of our coats and scarves, received a full refund, and checked into the local Ramada. After showering, we enjoyed a good night’s rest.

The previous day, after consuming a few glasses of the mulled wine, we had visited a tattoo parlor to make appointments. The next day, we stuck by our plans and got tattoos by an award winning tattoo artist in Transylvania. Randi got a small cross, while I got a Gothic cross on my lower back to cover a name (don’t worry, not a bf’s name, thank you) that I had done one crazy Saturday night/morning in Pattaya, Thailand. Well pleased with the results, we hopped on another train to Brasov.

~ Stacy

Sighisoara, Romania

Though the Monasteries were well worth the trip, the city of Suceava was not too stimulating; thus we were both ready for a quaint little village and Sighisoara provided.  As soon as we stepped off the train we were in love.  We found a cozy little guesthouse only minutes from the station and settled into our attic room, complete with matching twin beds and tapered ceiling.  The next morning we met a heavy snow storm that gave our journey to the town citadel a very peaceful and fresh feel.  The little village sits at the base of a large mountain where a huge castle, churches and many half-a-millennium-old townhouses survey the town.  Our first stop was the Museum Clock Tower, which was well worth the many steep stairs to the breath-taking view of the city.  The museum itself was mainly a collection of artifacts with nothing too note worthy, and to our disappointment, the torture room museum was closed for off season.  We then made our journey through the many historical buildings along narrow cobble stone streets.  Though they led no-where we were on top of a huge mountain, so each turn over looked the main village of Sighisoara, and thus gave breath-taking views.  

Along the way we stumbled upon a small gift shop that even offered photos, for a small fee, with Vlad “Dracul” Tepes!  We of course jumped at the opportunity.  For lunch we had planned on enjoying a hot meal and “blood wine” at Casa Dracula, where Vlad Tepes was rumored to have been born and lived until the age of four.  Unfortunately, as with a few other haunts, it was closed for maintenance due to it being off-season.  Along the way stumbled upon a “castle” restaurant, where we enjoyed our well deserved wine and cheese dumplings!  We continued on our trek through calf-deep snow in slightly tipsy states and ended up at an antique store.  Under the slight influence of wine we both thought it would be a great idea to buy hand blown glass vases.  We didn’t consider until later that we would have to continue traveling with them for the next week and a half and successfully get them home.  We finished the evening off at a cozy restaurant not far from our hostel.  Though we were only here two nights and one full day it was one of the most beautiful villages we traveled to!

~ Randi

Suceava, Romania

When we arrived in Bucharest on Sunday evening, we decided to walk to a hotel. We spent 30 minutes wandering the streets, looking for accommodations. It was dark and cold, and we were surrounded by depressing communist style concrete apartment buildings and abandoned factories. Randi and I enjoy pretty cities, skyscrapers, pleasant architecture, or even quaint villages. From our small first glimpse of Bucharest, we weren’t all that impressed. Thus, we decided to hop on another night train and head north to Suceava. Back to the train station we went. After our glimpse of Bucharest, I was a bit dumbfounded by the lovely, colorful city landscape inside of the McDonalds at the train station. The city of Bucharest should take note.

Upon our early morning arrival in Suceava, we walked down the street and checked into the first hotel we saw. Eventually, in the early afternoon, we ventured outside and stumbled upon a hostel offering tours to the nearby UNESCO World Heritage Monasteries.  We spent the day visiting the Voronet, Humorului, & Moldovitei Monasteries. The lovely frescoes on the interior and exterior were painted in the 16^th century under the threat of Turkish invaders. They were most likely painted for aesthetics, as bible illustrations for illiterate congregation members, and in reaction to encroaching Protestantism. The frescoes were beautiful and well preserved. At the last monastery we visited, we enjoyed a guided tour led by a friendly, Orthodox nun. Randi and I enjoyed getting in touch with our spiritual sides and gaining an appreciation of 16^th century art.

 

On a side note, I would like to add that both Randi and I were surprised to discover that many of the local Romanians had Randi’s nose! Despite the locals lack of English, I’m convinced that we received such a warm welcome due to Randi’s nostrils.

~ Stacy

First Stop: Istanbul, Turkey

As luck would have it, Stacy and I ended up getting three extra days off, and were able to begin our two week semester break a few days early.  We took a midnight bus and arrived bright and early in lovely Istanbul.  This city loves us.  The first time we were here we stayed for free and this time around we were given a free upgrade to a private three person room!   We spent our first day booking our train tickets to Romania and visiting Topkapi Palace.  The palace was built in 1453 and was inhabited until the 19^th century.  We had an early evening with dinner that included hot wine, which would end up being a staple with most meals for the rest of our trip.  The next day we were up bright and early to enjoy a morning cruise on The Borsphus.  Before disembarking and with some extra time to kill we enjoyed free tea at one of the numerous restaurants along the coast, as we were the first customers of the day!  The cruise is a great way to see the city and though the water was a little choppy we both enjoyed numerous cups of apple tea and the scenery.  We then headed to the National Palace which is only accessible by group tour, but was well worth the trip.  Though we only toured half of the palace it is perfectly symmetrical.  We then headed to the famous Grand Bazaar.  This place is gigantic and took us back to our trips to Chatachuck in Thailand.  It is also just as easy to get lost in and we did have to make a few back tracks to find our exit.  We then made our way to see a traditional Turkish show: The Whirling Dervishes.  This is a religious ceremonial dance were men perform a seven part ritual to obtain Sema.  A ritual that is a spiritual journey, which the soul makes to God as it becomes mature and attains unity.  After this journey, the soul returns to its human body and serves humankind again.  It was very interesting to see something so spiritual performed in front of us.  The whole performance lasted about one hour and as it is so spiritual we were not allowed to clap or acknowledge any appreciation for the performance – it ended and everyone filled out without speaking.  We were both glad to have gotten a little more Turkish culture in our travel experience.

 

On Saturday we geared up for a 10 hour time kill before our night train to Romania.  We were able to chill at our hostel coffee shop till around 4.  With only school back packs and purses it was an easy walk to the exciting Taksim square for some more sightseeing and a movie (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).  We then made it to the train station just in time and were escorted to our cabin.  Luckily we didn’t have a third person staying with us as the room was very small with only the beds for sitting on.  We both slept great and after two fairly easy border crossings we were able to sit back and relax for our 22 hour journey to Romania.  The scenery consisted of beautiful mountains covered in snow and small little villages of concrete housing.  The time passed quickly and before we knew it we were in Romania! 

~ Randi