German boy almost at home in Transylvania

My trip promised to be an experience in a different way. After almost three months living together with five (awesome) other people in one flat I went alone on a trip to Transylvania. Furthermore, I left the noisy and lively capital Bucharest and went to some comparatively smaller cities. Basically, my trip was quite spontaneously and bad-planned from the perspective of a German boy 🙂 Two days before starting I wasn’t even sure where to sleep. Even during my trip I hadn’t any fixed plans how to switch between the towns, although I had done some researches to be not completely lost. 😉

However, I didn’t completely lose my German genes. If you want to organize everything as efficient as possible you have to make uncomfortable deals. In order to have an appropriate time in Sibiu I decided to catch a blablacar at 8:30am. Far too early for normal humans. Consequently, I had to wake up at quarter past six (!!!). In hindsight, my behavior was very stupid and cute because the car had a delay. Welcome to Romania! As I wrote in my post about Constanta the landscape behind Bucharest is a wide plain. This time I was prepared, but still surprised how harsh the change is. Almost immediately after the city border, there is nothing.

After almost three months I’m unfortunately still not able to communicate in Romanian in a proper way. But my listening skills improved a bit. Therefore, I was very proud to understand what the other passengers were speaking about. Bad luck for me that they exchanged their thoughts about food, so I became very hungry 😦 Sometimes it’s better to know nothing. Nevertheless, I can survive with my Romanian. It’s still very shitty, but I managed to survive this trip with my skills.

Finally arrived in Sibiu I did what every tourist does: Searching the tourist information to gain a map. Almost useless because everything was very close. I spent the afternoon with walking around the city’s beautiful and calm medieval streets and narrow roads. Contrasted to Bucharest it was like a monastery of silence. I became very relaxed there, I calm down. As “highlight” I climbed the council tower and how a great overview about the city.

After some tea (against the cold) I also checked out the Christmas market. Somehow it felt like a deja-vu: Food everywhere! Besides that the market wasn’t that spectacular. I spent my time to explore Sibiu’s German origins by visiting a bookstore. I felt just like at home! Almost every book was written in German. After three minutes I fled away, too much German for one day 🙂 I noticed a lot of German influences there. Of course I read the language quite often. Moreover the buildings and churches for instances are different from other parts in Romania. In Transylvania you find catholic and evangelic churches, not only orthodox ones. In the evening I met my couchsurfing host, she was very nice and helpful. We spent the evening in her place with talking (and eating).

The next morning I discovered Sibiu’s market. Moreover, it was the annual day of the revolution. So I also saw old veterans singing revolutionary songs swinging the revolution’s flag. But for a proper memorial of such an event it was a too small group. Just twenty people came to the main square.

Often people describe their personal down occurs during noon. I can confirm that, my personal down came in person of one of CFR’s regio expresses. Next time I’ll walk. This train was very cheap. That’s the only nice thing to say. So this train with an estimated speed of 10km/h stopped at every little and unimportant village. By the way, a village a la CFR definition is one house. As a quite moderate and tolerant person I also survived this experience without significant long-term damages. To see it in a positive way, I had time for a proper meal. My breakfast, lunch and dinner during my travel was the same: Cheap Romanian (not German…) bread, fresh cheese or some dip and to gather some vitamins also clementines.

So I arrived in Sighișoara in the afternoon. From there I planned to hitchhike until Cristuru, a village/town/city where the amazing yellow house volunteers are located, 25km away from Sighișoara . Basically, it was my first hitchhiking experience and I was quite excited. Well, it became a very interesting experience. At first I tried to find some appropriate hitchhiking place, so I had to walk a lot along the main road. Then I tried to hitchhike. For a weak and untrained person like me it was exhausting to raise the arm again and again. That was the point when I decided to join the gym. I spent the time by smiling and insulting the non-stopping drivers. Fun for sure, but in the cold and alone without any company it wasn’t that cool after some point. “You win or you learn” we say in our project. For instance, I learned that it’s better not to hitchhike at a bus station (Captain Obvious: The bus stops). Finally I hitchhiked and took buses until a crossroad from that I again hitchhiked. In the end I arrived safe and more or less fast in the yellow house. It was very relaxed there. We spent the evening with having a fire in their garden, barbecue and playing games.

It was very interesting for me to experience the different influences and minorities in Romania. In Cristuru they speak Hungarian, next town they speak Romanian and then in Sighișoara you find a lot of German. It’s kind of surprise box what you’ll hear.

On Tuesday morning I hitchhiked with Victor, a Hungarian volunteer to Sighișoara (hitchhiking with tin good company is definitely better). We asked for our buses/trains for the next day and had a walk across parts of the city. In the afternoon he left to Cristuru and I switched into a tourist-mode. My camera and I discovered the city. Sighișoara is supposed to be a marvelous city. Well, for me it was a little disappointment. The medieval core is nice, but not more. It’s beautiful for sure, but a kind of boring because of the lack of interesting or extravagant buildings and stuff.

However, Sighișoara is definitely worth a visit, but only for afternoon and not for a day as I had it. Consequently I became utterly bored and therefore I felt also lonely. Moreover because it’s a little city without any nightlife, but with empty hostels. So no people to meet. A deep feeling of melancholy flew through my veins, alone in this city, almost alone during christmas and my birthday. Finally I figured out a clue how to contain the boredom. Taking selfies!!! After this exhausting activity I became thirsty and decided to grant myself cheap Romanian beer.

Actually, I regained my explorer spirit and I decided to find another route back to my hostel. In the middle of the night I ended up in a medieval graveyard, only with my smartphone flashlight, snickers, beer and the Beatles’ song “Help!” in my ears. After some time and a bunch of blasphemous bad words I found a way out. Did I write that  Sighișoara is boring?

The next day I woke up in a very happy mood and I decided to sacrifice my precious time by visiting the famous clock tower and its included history museum. Basically, I learned nothing about Sighișoara history (but now I know the difference between a Roman and Dacian amphora: There is no difference), but the view from the top of the clock tower was pretty awesome.

For cheap 22 Lei I took an autobus to Brașov . Without any space to move my body I arrived two and a half hour later in Brașov . As long as you’re not in the center it’s not that nice, but the old town, the core is the complete opposite, very cool. It’s not as marvelous as Sibiu, but beautiful in another way. I felt very comfortable there, somehow I had the sensation that’s the better Bucharest. Nicer, calmer, more medieval, but with (night) life to contrast it with other not-cities like Sighișoara . I visited the old castle on the hill where I had a very good view on the city. Moreover, I visited parts of the preserved medieval wall, such as the white and black tower. I also enjoyed walking through the city centre’s streets. Finally, I had also tea. My night program changed from a planned pub tour to a nightly geocaching tour. I hit two birds with one stone, I had stuff to do and could discover the city further. Necessarily I ended up in the pub afterwards to warm myself up 🙂

On Christmas, the final day of my trip, I attended a free city tour offered by the same NGO as our city tour in Bucharest. As a welcome contrast to Sibiu and Sighișoara I learned a lot about the city’s history stamped (again) a lot by the Germans. Moreover, I increased my knowledge about Dracula my hearing about his love life. After the longest tour they held (almost three hours) I left to catch my train. Finally, I also saw some snow on our way through the mountains.So Somehow I had “white Christmas”.

I enjoyed my trip a lot. Finally some time for my own, although I sometimes missed company. I could see medieval German towns we don’t have even in Germany. It was definitely worth an experience. I can’t wait to discover Transylvania further, with more time to discover the smaller towns and more hidden places as well.