Around the medieval city wall, and a good dinner out!

We relaxed yesterday morning, and planned our travel for the next couple of days. We had been heading to Sibiu for a few days, about 2 1/2 hours west of Brasov. But we received an email from the Mayors office of the nearby city of Alba Iulia asking if we would visit their city, so that's what we're going to do! We're still going to Sibiu first though, but only for one night.

We were going to take the bus to Sibiu but Daniel (our host here at the guesthouse) asked if we had tried blablacars yet. I had heard of it, but no...we hadn't tried it.

Blablacars is a ride sharing website that operates in Europe. Very popular, and I can see why. Drivers with empty seats offer them for a price that is cheaper than the bus or train, and passengers needing a ride can search for a suitable driver.

Of course there are lots of options including the type of car that you'll be in, the age of the driver, smoking or not, etc.

So we got our account set up, and found a suitable ride for 20 lei ($6.80 CAD, $4.90 USD) each. The bus or train would have cost about 35 each. The contact was mostly in Romanian and so Daniel helped us with that, although the driver says he speaks some English.

We'll do fine.

With our ride in place, we now had to find somewhere to stay. The private rooms in the hostels here are not what you'd call "cheap", so we found a nice room at an AirBnb for $24 CAD ($18 USD) per night. It's a new listing, without any reviews, but the host seems really enthusiastic and the communication has been excellent. And, its close to the old center, so if we're only staying one night it will be a good location.

On Monday, we will find a way to travel to Alba Iulia where we'll stay with a couchsurfing host for a few days. We'll probably rent a car there again. After that...no further plans yet!

After lunch, the sun was out and the temperature was a comfortable 10C (50F). So we went for a walk in the central area at the old town wall.

The old wall of the fortified city of Brasov.

The Drapers Bastion. The walls of the bastion are 2 meters (over 6 feet) thick!

The wall used to surround the entire city.

There are informational signs in four languages.

This wall is about 600 years old.

The Black Church, built between 1385 and 1476.

The Linen Weavers Bastion.

The Linen Weavers Bastion is the most spectacular and best preserved section of the defensive architecture of Medieval Brasov. It was built between 1421 and 1432. The wall at the bottom is 4.3 meters (14 feet) thick! It is recorded that the building has been restored four times... in 1634, 1827, 1910, and 2004.

Schei Gate. It was built in 1828 to allow for heightened traffic through the wall.

Catherine's Gate. Built in 1559 to replace an old gate destroyed by flood.

Now that's a beautiful church!

The Saint Nicholas Orthodox church. 

The church on the above property was established in 1292! But the current structure above was rebuilt by stone in 1495.

There was a wedding going on so we didn't see inside.

Ruth, on the narrowest "street" in Romania!

We wanted to go for dinner downtown, but it was only about 3:30pm, so we had some time to waste. We went to the central plaza and people watched for half an hour, but the sun was disappearing behind clouds, and the wind was picking up. 

Brasov central plaza.

So we had to find something indoors to do and so we paid the 6 lei ($2 CAD, $1.50 USD) each to go in the Brasov history museum.

Not bad, looking at a bunch of old items, but there was a special exposition about the Romanian participation in the first World War that was quite interesting. A good way to waste an hour.

This is a neat building. Now a bank.

Then we went for dinner. Several of our readers had recommended the Sergiana restaurant in the cellar of an old building right downtown. Even at 5:00pm it was busy, and we had to wait a short time for a table.

Kevin, in the cellar of the Sergiana restaurant.

Kevin's dinner.

Ruth's dinner.

Ruth had pork loin, stuffed with sausage, pastrami, and cheese sauce, and a potato ball. I had turkey breast stuffed with spinach and cheese. With a side salad, and roasted vegetables. They also brought a complimentary appetizer of some kind of pork rind and bread. And a half litre of white wine, and a half litre glass of beer. Total bill for the two of us including tip was 120 lei ($40.80 CAD, $30 USD).

The pork loin was stuffed, and the turkey breast was stuffed, and now we were stuffed! It was a good meal.

Snowing out this morning! Next stop, Sibiu.

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