Romania (Cluj, Brasov,Bucharest)

Crossing into Romania, it finally felt like we had reached our first true border crossing. The poverty of Romania is immediately visible in comparison to the other countries we have visited. Life strikes me as being very hard in Romania. We will be staying in this country for longer than the previous countries. Which is great because it is so markedly different from what has preceeded. The towns and villages we pass through are relient on agriculture. Housing ranges from what we would class as wooden shacks, to depressing communist style blocks of flats, to highly ornate tin-clad gypsy houses. The addition of several neon coloured homes in every village adds further smiles to our faces as we enjoy the true beauty of Romania unveiling before us. It is also the first country, since the UK, in which we have seen sheep.

Passing through the Carpathian mountains is spectacular. I have never seen forests of deciduous trees before, and it is one of the most beautiful scapes to drive though. Most of the landscape is dusted with snow, and nearly every body of water is frozen fully or partially.

Cluj is the first overnight stay we have in Romania. The 2 star Hotel Napoca has heavy ...in soviet russia... overtones in its very much delapidated 2 star rating. Although it does appear to be in the process of being updated; judging by the gutted rooms in the hotel covered in plastic sheeting. The staff are extremely friendly and suggest the brilliant local Fair Play restaurant. The meal a small group of us had there was everything one could hope for - home cooking in large portions, and in good company. I used my duct tape for the first time, to hold the curtains up.

Upon waking in the morning I thought my mind was playing tricks on me when I caught the smell of bacon. The breakfast was excellent! Bacon omelettes served by a Dolly Parton (circa 1970s) lookalike.

Our trip from Cluj to Brasov was marred by 2 incidents: an awful crash and a breakdown.

We encountered an awful crash and its aftermath between a large truck and 2 cars as we left Cluj.

Just after 10AM, the bus broke down. Thankfully one of our fellow passengers is a mechanic and soon had the problem rectified (an air block in a seconary oil filter and something to do with the cylinder head). But we have the back up of Oz Bus head office at all times, and the bus drivers and Colin are amazing at what they do. At no time did we feel worried.

Dracula's birthplace was one of our sites for today. The museums we closed. But we did have an interesting pizza made with ketchup and cheese.

I finally got my deep snow wish in Brasov. I can only commend our driver Kim for her amazing driving on the twisty mountain roads through snow, ice, and badly parked cars on narrow streets. We all went to the Irish bar Deane's and saw Irish pizza (oval), and [i]Belfast tacos[i] (I'm guessing a taste explosion-sorry).

Bran castle, the archetype for Dracula's castle was AMAZING. It is as I imagined, but better. We are lucky to be here at such a quiet time of year. Plus there is the magical element of snow to make the whole place more exciting. I can't imagine myself liking it this much if it were not for the picture-postcard quality of the powdery snow, several feet deep in places, and pristine. Outside there is the Dracula tit-tat one can expect. Hot chocolates warmed us all nicely as we sat on open coffins looking at skeletons.

The road are becoming increasingly bad as we travel further into Romania. We spent almost 2 hours looking for our Ryanair-style Bucharest accommodation in Snagov. It is a campsite with 'villas' alongside a lake. Our hopes were raised when we pulled into a 5star campsite by mistake during our search. The actual place was ok, but freezing cold. At least I achieved a goal of walking on a frozen lake, and a swimming pool too. The setting beautiful; a tree-lined lake. It's certainly a place for the summer. The sight of half-starved wild dogs pulled at all of our heartstrings. Breakfast was as underwhelming as dinner.

We visited Bucharest the next day to see the Neo-classical monstrosity of Ceaucescu's palace. The 'no-man's-land' between the Romanian and Bulgarian borders stretches for a couple of miles. It has an impressive monumental bridge flanked by columns as you enter and leave. This stretches accross the Danube river.

I have loved Romania. The people are very friendly. We didn't seen many Roma gypsies, except for the grand houses of a few. The wells and haystacks in every home's garden is my lasting impressions of this exciting country.