Romania

Brasov

12 March 2016

Why did I choose Romania?

Before I made a plan to go to Romania I knew the country exist, but I didn’t know much about it. A few things which I had in mind.

There was a revolution in 1989. I was young when this happened and I only can remember some images from the television. I could remember poor people and they didn’t have food or clothing. People had to wait in lines for hours to buy milk and bread. Somehow these images still appear to me when somebody talks about Romania.
After the civil war, the country is getting more stable. Slowly it is getting more on the map of Europe and people want to get to know Romania.

Transylvania

Transylvania who hasn’t heard of this? The myth of vampires is worldwide spread. Dracula and Vladimir those names sounds familiar. I watched movies with vampires and read books about it.

Somehow I had nothing in mind about the landscape, the cities or the people. I could not image how the country would look like.

When I saw a picture of snow igloo at the Balea Ice hotel, I was thrilled to go here. Since my husband is a huge fan of snow and cold weather, it didn’t take me too long to book some flights. My sister and her husband joined us, as they want this experience themselves.

How different would it be!

Two days before we took our flight to Bucharest we got a call from booking.com. Our stay in the Balea ice hotel was canceled. They canceled it because the ice hotel was melting and there was no accommodation possible. This was really too bad. Our decision to come to Romania was based on this hotel. We wanted the experience of sleeping in an igloo!

Since we only had 4 nights in Romania we had to make up our mind and make a new plan.

Driving around in Romania

With the information which we got from a local woman called Geanina, we made a new plan. Castles, Dracula and Transylvania would be our next plan.

Now we are back in The Netherlands. I have met people, talked about the culture and traditions. The old cities Brasov and Bucharestare great to visit. The best way to explore is with a rental car. You can drive wherever you want and make stops along the way.

Hiring a car was easy with a local agent. Everything went smooth, the car was fine and we could make a lot of kilometers. Too bad they tried to take money from my credit card after one month. Luckily my bank was really aware and blocked my card so they didn’t get the money. I would recommend to use a recognized company to avoid the problems I had.

Driving was not as bad as people would say. The roads are fairly good, just pay attention to holes. Unfortunately the Transfagarasan Highway was closed due winter time. It is opened from April to November.

We payed 33 Euros per day for a Dacia Duster 4x4. We thought we would need this, but since there was no snow, we could have done it with a regular sedan. That would only cost 10 Euros per day.

Beside this matter I still love to come back to Romania! Romania has inspired me and I’m looking forward to seeing more old citadels a nature. The landscapes did look great and I think when the trees are green and blooming it would be a color explosion with all those mountains!

The ice hotel remains on my top hotel list to see. So keep an eye on my website!

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