Neither of us slept incredibly well, as the room was very light, so I had my eye mask on and the pillows are feather. I have discovered some other pillows in the cupboard, so we will try them tonight. The room also is not air conditioned, I did not think to check for this when booking, as you sort of take it as a given.
Breakfast is included here and is very nice, it is served in a cavernous restaurant, very medieval! The coffee was good too, a good way to start the day.
Today we spent the day in Brasov, there is plenty to see here and we took lots of photos, of course! The old town square is under a bit of renovation, clearly they are preparing for the summer tourist influx, or maybe even for the marathon that is on here this weekend! I coul have run a mother one I'm sure! Ha ha ha, maybe not with all the beer I've been drinking!
We went for a walk to head up to the fort/castle, but soon got caught in a shower, lucky we had been prepared with our trusty Sarajevo umbrellas! The fort was not actually opened to the public, which surprised us, but we still got some good snap shots of the castle and the city below.
From here we decided to get a view from the other side of the old town and travelled up the furnicular. It was a lot cheaper than the furnicular in Dubrovnik, only $10 for the two of us. But when we got to the top, we soon realised why, there is no real viewing platform, only what you see from the area where you get off the chairlift. However, we did later realise, after reading some trip advisor reviews that if you go for about a 10 minute walk, along a rocky path, you can get a view from the large Hollywood style Brasov sign. But apparently it is quite dangerous with not barriers, and quite a steep drop!
Oh well, back down we went and we walked around some of the city walls, taking in more views of the old town. We bought some fruit for a late lunch and then spent some time walking about looking at restaurant menus to choose a place for dinner.
By now it was time for a cold beer, it had heated up a bit after the rain. So we chose a small Irish style pub to sit out front of and had some local beer, not bad for $2 a pint.
It started to come over cool again so we headed back to the room to get ready for dinner and grab jackets. Despite all our earlier research, we struggled to choose a place for dinner. But ended up at a large establishment that was quite touristy, but with excellent prices and a good menu which included heaps of local specialities. They gave complimentary starters of pork crackle, lord help any vegetarians that ate there!
We both chose cabbage rolls for dinner, Pete had the, last night at another restaurant so he wanted to compare and I'd had food envy. They were delicious! Served with polenta and a piece of baked ham as well, super yummy! Very Eastern European! We also enjoyed some local wine, two large glasses.
We asked for the bill, as we had no room for dessert, and they brought the bill over promptly. The total was 56 lei, about $18, so really cheap. I only had a 100 note and planned on rounding it up to 60, they seem to be big on tips here. So we sat for about 10 minutes waiting for the waiter to come back and collect our money, he stood nearby about 4 times and clearly looked over at us, but ignored the fact we had money poking out of the bill folder.
Finally, we decided to get up and head over to the bar area in an attempt to pay. The lady who had greeted us on arrival asked if we needed help, I said that we just wanted to pay as the waiter had not come back to collect our payment. She checked the bill and saw my 100 note and then asked if I wanted change! Seriously, of course I want change, as if we'd tip almost the whole amount the meal cost. The waiter finally came over and took the money and gave us change. I rounded it off to 60, and we headed off. As we left an American family mentioned the same thing happened to them, and we all had a laugh about how forward they are in this regard. They certainly have a thing or two to learn about customer service!
The worst thing was, it was a really good meal, so we'd like to go back there, but I will make sure next time I have change or pay with credit card, they don't seem to like it much when people pay with card here!
Anyway, it's always good to have a funny story to look back on and after all, we are travelling in a country that is still finding its feet in regards to tourism.
So, that was our day in Brasov. Tomorrow, Dracula awaits! Hope I don't get turned into a vampire!
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