roammania2023

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Reflections on Romania

Before visiting Romania, my perception of the country was that it was filled with communist housing blocks and that the people were cold. My perceptions were wrong. Bucharest is a beautiful city, full of architecture that was inspired by Paris. Braśov is a quaint city located in the middle of Transylvania, one of the few wildernesses left in Europe. The Romanian people are polite, educated and stylish and were welcoming. Overall, Romania is a fantastic country which needs to be explored. I’m sure that I will return someday. After all, Braśov airport opens in June…

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Sunset over the City of London

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The landing

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B.A. all the way

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The gateway to Bucharest

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The journey back to Braśov

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I woke up feeling a little worse for wear and checked out of my Airbnb. I took a taxi to Braśov train station.

Standing on platform 3, I clarified with the guard that I was about to board the right train. After a lot of unnecessary confusion (he didn’t understand my electronic ticket) I boarded the train and we promptly departed.

The train slowly paced through the snow covered forested mountains and I watched them gradually turn into the plains which surrounded Bucharest.

After just over two and a half hours, I arrived at Bucharest North and stopped for a coffee before boarding another train back to Otopeni airport.

A stern officer stamped my passport and I walked into departures. My flight was delayed by 1 hour but the time passed quickly.

My flight back to London was pleasant, taking just under an 3 hours. As we approached Heathrow airport, the plane flew low over London. First I spotted the new Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium and then we were given a glorious view of Hyde Park and then Wembley Stadium, before landing smoothly on the runway.

The journey home from Heathrow took a long time. The Elizabeth Line was partially out of service and I had to result to taking two tube lines, a train and the DLR. Eventually I arrived back in the docklands. As I walked along the waterfront, I watched the sun set over the City of London, a find end to a great adventure.

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I’ve had a wonderful time in Braśov 😀

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The theatre darling

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Exploring Braśov some more

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The old city wall

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Climbing up to Black and White Towers

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Teddy Bears Picnic

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Libearty Bear Sanctuary

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I found myself in McDonalds at 8am again securing a breakfast, then I strolled up the road to the pickup point of my tour. I was going to visit a bear sanctuary!

I met my guide Dan at 9:10am and we make our way to the hills above Râsnov. It had started snowing again which only added to the beauty of the Transylvanian plain. I was the only person on the tour this time. Dan was a great guide and we spoke for an hour about the war in Ukraine, Moldova, Covid and Bucharest. It turns out that the Old Jewish Quarter in Bucharest was demolished because the house were like favelas and as a result of the damage caused by the 1977 earthquake and not as an act of religious hatred. That being said his great grandmother did get a new flat out of it, so he may be a little biased.

We arrived at the Liberaty Bear Sanctuary. The sanctuary is home to 160 bears who were used in circuses or put in cages outside restaurants and used as tourist attractions. The sanctuary also home to deer and wolves.

The bears were beautiful, we saw them being fed and playfully wrestling with each other. These were brown bears and it was well worth the journey to see them. One visitor asked our guide “aren’t the bears cold, don’t you give them clothes”, to which our guide replied “they are bears” 😂

Dan drove me back to Braśov and we parted ways. He was a great guide and it was a privilege speaking to him. The Romanian people are some of the most intelligent and stylish people that I have ever met.

I spent the rest of the day exploring the city of Braśov a little more and walked up to the White Fortress for a panorama of the city.

After packing my suitcase I headed into town again to grab some food, and yet again ended up at my new favourite restaurant. 😀

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Braśov at night. The Hollywood style sign used to spell Stalin during the communist era…and they hated the west. Thankfully it has been changed.