Caravan Club Transylvanian Tour Camping Romania

Well this has certainly been different! Timisoari just over the border with Hungary was fine but then we headed for Brasov near Bucharest. The roads were unbelievable. In fact I have flattered them by calling them roads! We were on a main "E' road and it was just mind blowing. It was like I had been transported back 100 years. People had cows tethered in their front gardens. Dogs wandered round wild in packs. The place was sheer third world. In places the tarmac for the road just disappeared and we were travelling on pure earth! Not even flat earth! The standard of driving is by far the worst that I have ever seen. It makes the Italians and Spanish look like Stirling Moss! Overtaking in sight of on coming traffic-blind bends-brow of a hill etc etc. The times that I had to slam all on to let some butter back in to avoid being involved in a head on accident was beyond a joke. We stopped in route at a service are and had two coffees and 2 omelettes for the grand cost of seven pounds. Oh yes there were even packs of wild/stray dogs wandering around there! They are just yet another traffic hazard! Oh cars...everything is a Dacia or if you are really posh its a Renault. They are all beaten up things and with their driving standards I can see why! We finally arrived at camping Dirste (or to us Darste). We had been told that it was one of the best campsites in Romania-well I don't know whether I totally believe them!) We were in the mountains and during the night the temperature dropped to 2 degrees! The high was 9 degrees but worse still was the rain. Everyone was trying to keep warm and the electricity kept going down on the site. The voltage as so low that many units fridges. Wouldn't work ( not that they needed them!) We decided that the only thing to do was to go out! I Firstly we visited Peles Castle with great excitement and expectations. We had an 'English speaking guide, well that's what they said but none of us could understand him! I think a Texan or some Yank must have taught him 'English!" It was very ornate but we felt totally ripped off as the thing was only 130 years old! A mere baby in the eyes of other European castles! Its claim to fame is that it was the first residency in Europe to have all electric lighting and central heating. Wow! Oh everywhere you go the Romanians seem to want more and more money and charge or try to charge an extra for everything 30 lei to take pics inside Pele's castle error I don't think so -there are no pics of the inside of Pele's Castle just the outside! Heavens above we had already paid good money to get in the blooming place! After that we went to Bran Castle which really was much more like a castle. It was old and quirky. It was the setting for the books and the movie Dracula. Even though we had paid for an English speaking guide none was available for 40 minutes so we just went in. As it happens it was much more fun as there were information boards around in English and we were able to wander around at our own pace. I should say that the thing I really disliked about this part of Romania was the beggars and trades people all wanting money and to rip a tourist off in whichever way possible and the other thing is dogs! I am not a dog lover but they run wild in packs EVERYWHERE! If its not the dirt they leave its them howling and yapping all night long. The roads are strewn with dead dogs everywhere!OK so Im not grumbling I wanted to experience a different Country but I really didn't think it would be so bad! Without getting political why on earth are we letting this Country into the EU?! The general people we met are hard and very suspicious. Everyone says that corruption is still everywhere. I really can't get my head around it. Whilst the Czech and Hungarian people were super I really am unsure about the Romanians! The following day the weather was still bad and the electric was still off so I decided an excursion was the only thing to do. I arranged to go to a bear sanctuary..well its different! Thank goodness we were in mini buses. I had my eyes closed on several occasions as we went up a mountainside of unmade roads. At one point we went over a bridge and I'm not exaggerating the mini bus had about 4" to play with either side! There were no safety barriers or anything like that "what's health and safety? Or more to the point "what's road safety?!" Anyhow we all got there safely after paying handsomely yet again to see half a dozen bears with a guide who could just about speak English! In fairness to Romania I must say that some of the scenery was spectacular. Some snaps taken from the mini bus In the evening we had a meal paid for us in the restaurant at the campsite. Again good money had been spent as without us the place would have been empty. The thing that really spoilt the evening was an argument over a blooming glass of coke! See if they could get more money from us?. I don't know the rights or wrongs but having 36 people in a restaurant having a three course meal with drinks and then they demand more money as someone didn't drink?! I really don't think that they have grasped business/tourism in its entirety!