Brasov is the seventh largest city in Romania and is located in the heart of
the Transylvanian Region ringed by the Carpathian Mountains. It's known for its
medieval Saxon walls, cobbled old town. the black church and
numerous other beautiful attractions. You can drive or catch a train directly to
Brasov in around two hours from Bucharest. We start in the Council Square
surrounded by the colorful baroque buildings and its home to the former
town hall and clock tower, now turned into a local History Museum. The morning around
this market is quiet and peaceful as the area prepares for the day. Late morning
and into the afternoon it becomes the hub for locals and tourists to meet, eat
and drink at the many restaurants and cafes in the square and the surrounding
streets. It's a beautiful place to walk around if you like the hustle and bustle
or want to people-watch.
To the side there is the Black Church it's massive as you can see but some
reason it's all closed up. It's got like chicken wire across the
doors so unless this is not the correct entrance
it looks shut. Pretty cool though.
Towering over the old town the church is the most
important landmark in the city. It's had a checkered history due to various
invasions and was given a new name after the great fire of 1689 that leveled most
of the town, blackening in the walls of the church, hence the Black Church.
Spoke to soon I think anyway, well, is that an entrance?
Let's go have a look.
Opens midday on Sundays.
You see this quite a lot in Romania where there's a different winter and summer
schedule. I guess like weather reasons but a lot of the castles are open longer in
summer obviously and also be careful because a lot of places are shut on
mondays as well. The main sights like the big dracula
bran castle is open but a lot of other castles and this church closed Mondays.
So we were in Prague a few weeks ago and they claimed to have the slimmest Street in
all of Europe but here in Brasov they also got one so we'll have to decide
which one is actually the skinniest Street in Europe. After a bit more
research it appears the narrow street is in Germany and i have to say the one in
prague is slimmer than this one but still is fun to walk through on to the
other attractions.
This beautiful wooden German style pavilion was built in the late 19th
century. Ice-skating has long been a winter pastime in Brasov and you can
take to the ice with the stunning views of Tampa Mountain behind you. A 21st
century Olympic rink and the only one in Romania was built just behind barrage
station in 2010.
The Schei Gate arches over the road into the old town. Built in 1827 the latin on
the wall states the construction date that it was built following a visit from
the Emperor of Austria France I in 1817.
Behind me is St Catherine's gate it's a medieval fortification, reminds me a
little bit of a disney castle!
the gate is named after some catherine's monastery that stood on this site
Previously it was built for defensive purposes in 1559 and is the only
original medieval gate that has survived since that period.
Next to the gate is a small park with some interesting animal carvings.
There are plenty of places is to grab something to eat. TripAdvisor recommended this cafe for Lunch
We had a really nice bruschetta with mozzarella and tomatoes. Total costs was
a reasonable £9.36 for both of us.
Checking on the map we headed for a walk down by the river to find the
Black Tower and White towers.
So walking around Brasov and this area in general
you have to pay entrance fees which is like fairly normal
we just went to some old kind of wooden fortress and the entrance fee was 7 lei
which is cheap it's like £1.20 but if you want to take photos or video it's
an extra 35 lei which is like kind of expensive really, and it seems that
everywhere is charging this price. Guess it's just money-making but kind of
annoying as a video maker.
The Black tower, which isn't actually black is a
fortress on the hill on the outskirts of the old town. You access it via lovely walking trail.
From here you can get really great views over the city and
across to Mount Tampa with the Brasov hollywood-style sign that we'll visit later.
The Graft Bastian connects the bottom of the White Tower with the old town city
defenses. There's not much to see here but it's quite nice as you walk along
the river for a photo.
The White Tower was built between 1416 1494 and is still pretty impressive
today. Less impressive is the climb up and down the steep steps but don't let
that put you off it's well worth it.
Heading across town we had our sights set on the cable car.
We just walked through the town in little park looking back across the city there.
We are going up that little hill and there's a cable car that we are
gonna take and there's a kind of Hollywood style sign saying Brasov
which is quite cute.
There we are Teleferic Timpa it's gonna take us up the hill.
Price is, oh doesn't have a prices. 9:30 to 5:00 every day.
After a bit of a wait we
boarded the pretty dilapidated old coca-cola themed car. It wasn't too busy
but can imagine in the summer it has long lines. They also extend the opening
hours for those sunsets.
Don't you can see that on the camera but where the snows melting it's kind of
muddy and like sodden and slippery where it's icy as well. Came up the cable car and
then the guy said it's a ten minute walk along this little path till you get to
the Brasov sign so we're going to head there.
The view is a popular tourist attraction with all the
recent snow it was pretty difficult walking with the ice. You can walk right
behind the sign and then onto the viewing platform for the stunning views
over the city.
If you fancy an energetic walk, you can take a zigzag trail that
brings you up to the viewing platform without using the cable car.
For an early evening snack and a beer we picked Albert bed and Bistro.
Recommended on TripAdvisor you walked through a dark tunnel then
down into what looks like an old cellar it's a pretty cool place with a really
nice atmosphere.
We had a couple of beers and a cured meat and cheese platter to take the edge
off before dinner. In all it was around under nine pounds and delicious.
For dinner we'd seen this place from another youtuber and it's pretty good
for traditional Romanian food. You can't come all this way and not try
some traditional local fare. It serves mainly soups and stews cooked fresh
every day with local ingredients. We had stuffed cabbage rolls with polenta and
sour cream, these had mincemeat inside which are exceptionally good. Also some
Transylvanian potato bread which wasn't so good! A baked polenta layered with
sausages, bacon and cheese dish and three baked meat patties with some potato
wedges and a stewed cabbage similar to sauerkraut. Total cost was £19
including drinks.
We stayed in an apartment just outside the old town, if
you're interested in this accommodation see our full tour from the link top right now.
We paid £118 for 2 nights and this
was a great place for us that had parking.
So next time we're going to visit Bran castle synonymous with Bram Stoker's
Dracula so look out for that video next week. Remember to like and subscribe and
watch more of our videos and we'll see you next time on the memory seekers.