Greetings from Transylvania
Sighisoara Transylvania
So After three weeks in Transylvania I am now going to the Danube Delta.
Sighisoara is a great city to visit. It has a walled Medieval center which was home to Vlad Dracul Tepes. Vlad was not a vampire. We all know there are no such thing as Vampires. Dont we? This guy was, however the inspiration for Bram Stoker who wrote the book Dracula. Vlad was a very cruel leader who used to Impale people who irritated him. He would stick them on a big stake in such a way that the stake wouldnt kill them and leave them hanging like a giant shish kebab out in the weather for a few days till they finally died. Nice guy huh?
We found a great little apartment to rent in the old mideaval center of the town and rented the place for only 20 euros per night for two peopls so 10 euro each. a Nice little kitchen spacious bedroom privat bathroom and dining area. Very nice indeed. at 35 leu (1US dollar= 2.75leu ) per night not only was it the nicest place I have stayed but the cheapest too!
The old town is walled in with many churches and turrets and fortifications. All the streets are of old cobblestone. It is way cool. It is like being in a real medieval village.
This country has more gypsies than any other. The gypsies are easy to recognize by their distinctive dress and their facial characteristics. The men often wear black pinstriped pleated baggy pants and big hats similar in appearance to an American Cowboy hat but different. They have big bushy mustaches and in general are not too tall, I am not shorter than any |I have seen, and have a dark complexion. The woman often wear long colorful dresses and peasant blouses and colorful scarves on their heads. They are sexy looking in a Sophia Loren or Bridget Bardot kind of way but are dark complected and often the men and the women seem to be in need of a bath.
Many of them work as beggars. I am starting to think that there is a law that If a Gypsie has a baby and is out in public he/she is required to beg!! If they dont have a baby they are only begging about 25 or 30% of the time, which is a lot but not chronic. If with a baby who is too small to walk it is more like 90%. There have been decades of social programs to integrate and assimilate Gypsies into the culture under the present government, the communists and the monarchists before them, but to no avail.
They DO NOT want to assimilate. It is harder to have a casual conversation with them than with the other Roman people, who are easy to approach and love to speak to foreigners and to practice their second languages when they know one. Not so the Gypsies, who always want to scam you and they are paranoid that you want to scam them.
They were meant to be annihilated by the Nazis who hated them passionately, but it was not so. The Jews were anihilated here, unlike their neighbor to the south, Bulagaria, where the people protected their Jewish brothers and sisters the Romanians actively aided and abetted the Nazi death machine where the Jews were concerned but the Gypsies have survived. There are said to be about 2,000,000 out of a population of 22,000,000. Less than 1% of the Jews survived the Nazis here.
Tomorrow We journey back to Brasov. The only possibillity to get to the Danube Delta from here is to leave here at 6 am (0600)go through Bucharest and arrive in Tulcea at 11:30 at night (23.30). Alternately we can get to Brasov on the slow train stay the night and leave from Brasov at 9:30 on Monday and arrive Tulcea 1700 (5pm) the same day, by taking a bus.From Tulcea we will go to smaller villages on Danube Delta by boats. We expect to be there for a week or maybe two before heading to Bucovina, but as you know my plans often change!!
So I will write again from the Danube Delta.
I will be going to Egypt soon and appreciate any travel advice from any of you who have been there...
"A wise traveller never despises his own country." Carlo Goldoni
Peace to all who read these words...
Rambling Robert the travelling Man
So After three weeks in Transylvania I am now going to the Danube Delta.
Sighisoara is a great city to visit. It has a walled Medieval center which was home to Vlad Dracul Tepes. Vlad was not a vampire. We all know there are no such thing as Vampires. Dont we? This guy was, however the inspiration for Bram Stoker who wrote the book Dracula. Vlad was a very cruel leader who used to Impale people who irritated him. He would stick them on a big stake in such a way that the stake wouldnt kill them and leave them hanging like a giant shish kebab out in the weather for a few days till they finally died. Nice guy huh?
We found a great little apartment to rent in the old mideaval center of the town and rented the place for only 20 euros per night for two peopls so 10 euro each. a Nice little kitchen spacious bedroom privat bathroom and dining area. Very nice indeed. at 35 leu (1US dollar= 2.75leu ) per night not only was it the nicest place I have stayed but the cheapest too!
The old town is walled in with many churches and turrets and fortifications. All the streets are of old cobblestone. It is way cool. It is like being in a real medieval village.
This country has more gypsies than any other. The gypsies are easy to recognize by their distinctive dress and their facial characteristics. The men often wear black pinstriped pleated baggy pants and big hats similar in appearance to an American Cowboy hat but different. They have big bushy mustaches and in general are not too tall, I am not shorter than any |I have seen, and have a dark complexion. The woman often wear long colorful dresses and peasant blouses and colorful scarves on their heads. They are sexy looking in a Sophia Loren or Bridget Bardot kind of way but are dark complected and often the men and the women seem to be in need of a bath.
Many of them work as beggars. I am starting to think that there is a law that If a Gypsie has a baby and is out in public he/she is required to beg!! If they dont have a baby they are only begging about 25 or 30% of the time, which is a lot but not chronic. If with a baby who is too small to walk it is more like 90%. There have been decades of social programs to integrate and assimilate Gypsies into the culture under the present government, the communists and the monarchists before them, but to no avail.
They DO NOT want to assimilate. It is harder to have a casual conversation with them than with the other Roman people, who are easy to approach and love to speak to foreigners and to practice their second languages when they know one. Not so the Gypsies, who always want to scam you and they are paranoid that you want to scam them.
They were meant to be annihilated by the Nazis who hated them passionately, but it was not so. The Jews were anihilated here, unlike their neighbor to the south, Bulagaria, where the people protected their Jewish brothers and sisters the Romanians actively aided and abetted the Nazi death machine where the Jews were concerned but the Gypsies have survived. There are said to be about 2,000,000 out of a population of 22,000,000. Less than 1% of the Jews survived the Nazis here.
Tomorrow We journey back to Brasov. The only possibillity to get to the Danube Delta from here is to leave here at 6 am (0600)go through Bucharest and arrive in Tulcea at 11:30 at night (23.30). Alternately we can get to Brasov on the slow train stay the night and leave from Brasov at 9:30 on Monday and arrive Tulcea 1700 (5pm) the same day, by taking a bus.From Tulcea we will go to smaller villages on Danube Delta by boats. We expect to be there for a week or maybe two before heading to Bucovina, but as you know my plans often change!!
So I will write again from the Danube Delta.
I will be going to Egypt soon and appreciate any travel advice from any of you who have been there...
"A wise traveller never despises his own country." Carlo Goldoni
Peace to all who read these words...
Rambling Robert the travelling Man
posted by Rambling Robert | 8:20 AM
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