Day 33 - Saturday 27 June

Neither of us slept on the flight - just a rest and a cat nap. They served us breakfast at about 3am Sydney time. The plane landed at about 6:45 flying in along the south coast and over Botany Bay as the sun was about to rise. There wasn't a cloud in the sky - just blue sky and and a red glow on the horizon.

They are doing renovations at the airport and so there are temporary partitions and walkways. When we reached customs, there was a sea of people in front of us. As business class passengers, Virgin had given us fast track cards but there was no sign of a fast track queue.

There were queues snaking in all directions and it wasn't clear what we were queueing for. It turned out that some of them were for automatic machines and others were for old fashioned counters. There was no way of telling what was going on. At least everyone seemed to be calm and patient.

In reality, it was a disgraceful shambles. Heaven knows what international travellers arriving in Sydney would have thought - their queues were even worse than ours. What ever happened to Sydney the international city? It was the worst airport experience we'd had on our holiday. What a dreadful advertisement for Sydney.

Suzy had bought painted eggs in Romania and so we went to the red exit for goods to declare. The officer inspected them carefully and let us through.

The taxi queue wasn't too bad and we waited for a wagon to take all our baggage. The driver was a very chatty man who'd come to Australia from China about 20 years ago. We were home at 8:30.

It had been a fabulous holiday but it was good to be home.

Day 32 - Friday 26th June

Today we would be leaving Abu Dhabi to fly back home to Sydney. We set the alarm for 5:45am and went down to breakfast at 6:30. We were the only people there apart from the staff. It was another great breakfast with great service.

As we were leaving breakfast, one of the staff ran up to us to give us a small gift to remember our stay. It turned out to be a nicely presented box of dates.

Originally we'd been aiming to leave the hotel at 8am but at 7:30 we were packed and ready to go and so we called reception for a porter to take our bags. They organised a taxi for us. As always the staff were helpful and attentive.

When we reached the airport at about 8am, a man with a trolley was waiting to help with the bags. Usually we cart the bags ourselves but we decided to let him help because we had an extra bag and, well, why not. We were getting used to being looked after even if it meant we needed to tip someone.

The man had only just starting pushing the trolley towards the terminal entrance, when another man dressed in Etihad uniform run up to us and took the trolley. I shrugged and thanked the first man and followed on.

The amazing thing was that he took us to a separate terminal doorway that is just for business and first class passengers. How did he know we were flying business class? We didn't tell him and he didn't ask.

He escorted us all the way to the check-in counter (where there was no queue) and helped by putting our bags on the conveyor. I'd been tagging along behind taking photos and one of the Etihad staff waiting near the check-in offered to take photos of us.

The Etihad lounge was close to the gate we would be boarding from later. It had an excellent display of breakfast but we didn't need it because we already had an even better breakfast at the hotel. Before boarding Suzy checked out the duty free but decided that what she wanted was still too expensive here.

There was another security check at the departure gate. I'm not sure why. There were plenty of people waiting and so it looked like it would be a full plane. At least there was an air bridge rather than a bus to get on the plane. In fact there were two air bridges - a separate one for business customers.

The plane was about 30 minutes late by the time we took off. I sat in the window seat to take photos of Abu Dhabi (and sand) as we climbed.

It was good to hear Aussie accents with the flight attendants. They we helpful, friendly and provided great service. The seats were comfortable and we had plenty of leg room. One thing they could improve would be to have more places to store things (such as iPad, spectacles, passports and other paperwork) near the seats. Some airlines do this.

They served lunch about an hour after take-off and then closed the blinds to get us in the mood to sleep. As with the flight over, the seat reclined to be almost horizontal and the attendants made up beds for us using mattresses and blankets.

Day 31 - Thursday 25th June

We went down to breakfast on level 1 at about 7:45am. Once again there were very few people in the restaurant - only three other tables - and the food selection was great. The staff were friendly and chatty. A manager came by to ask if we were happy with the breakfast and our room.

It's particularly good to have such a wide selection of fruit - such a contrast to many places we went to in Europe where they offer very little fruit at breakfast or none at all. I also like being able to order eggs from the chef who cooks them for you on the spot.

This morning the plan was to catch the hotel's shuttle bus at 9am to go over the canal to the Grand Mosque.We knew that the mosque has strict dress rules and Suzy asked at reception if her outfit would be OK and was told she needed long sleeves that covered her wrists. So she went back to our room to get a light-weight long-sleeved woollen jumper.

Staff at the hotel are very good. They knew we'd booked to go on the shuttle and where we were going. As we were leaving in the shuttle bus, one of the staff rushed up to us with two bottles of water. "Mr Stephen, Ms Suzanne you will need these later".

The roads around here are impressive. The motorways are generally five lanes in each direction plus exit lanes and merge lanes. Although we encountered heavy peak hour traffic, it was moving at more than 60km/h.

The Grand Mosque is a large building on a very large area of land. They must expect a lot of visitors because the carpark is huge. Suzy waited under the shade of a palm tree while I took photos of the mosque from various parts of the carpark.

The entry for visitors is via a tent structure on the edge of the carpark. There are separate tents for men and women. Inside the tent you need to go through a security scanner. As usual I took off my watch, phone, etc but they also wanted me to take off by spectacles - this was a first.

The area around the mosque building is paved in white marble and has several long pools of water running along the outside. There is a wide covered walkway with tall arches - all made with white marble.

We'd planned to go on the 10am tour of the inside of the mosque and we reached the starting point of the tour before 9:40. So we had plenty of time to wait. There were two security guards at the entrance checking what people were wearing - particularly the women.

We observed other people and tour groups. The security staff were very fussy. Women had to be wearing a scarf over their heads and their clothes had to cover their wrists and ankles. Anything remotely see-through was unacceptable. Even a dress with a split at the front or back was not allowed.

They didn't say anything about Suzy's outfit until just before the tour was about to start. One of the security guards said she would need to get an abaya to cover up. I don't why he didn't tell her 20 minutes beforehand.

They supply these garments at the mosque but it was necessary to walk back almost to the entry and down some escalators and across the underground carpark (yes, another carpark). At least the trip down the escalators was air conditioned giving us some temporary relief from the heat.

In the room supplying the abayas, only women were allowed into the fitting room area. Men had to wait on the seats outside. They also required a driver's licence. Suzy didn't have hers and so she borrowed mine.

By this time, Suzy was not a happy camper. She'd had to get the abaya outfit and we'd missed the 10am tour. Furthermore they wouldn't give her back my driver's licence until she returned the abaya. At least the abaya wasn't quite as hot as the woollen jumper she'd been wearing.

Although we had missed the 10am tour, we decided just to walk into the mosque to have a look around. There is a large quadrangle at the entrance and as we approached the arched doorway to the building, we noticed racks of shoes and so we got the hint and took ours off too.

The hall inside is very tall with large archways and large suspended lighting. Oddly there are coloured balls suspended from the lights. Everything about this place is grand - it is appropriate to call in the Grand Mosque.

However you could say that it is overdone. Suzy's comment at this stage was "this is gross, get me out of here" - she was still not a happy camper. I took photos of the interior and then we left the building and got our shoes back on. When she returned her abaya, I got my driver's licence back.

Afterwards we concluded that it had been worthwhile go to the mosque but we much preferred the cathedrals, churches and monasteries we'd seen in Europe. At least the mosque had free entry and we were allowed to take photos inside.

Next we caught a taxi to the Marina Mall. The trip took about 20 minutes. It was good to get into an air conditioned building. Suzy looked around the shops and I went down the waterfront to take photos. We met up again at noon and caught a taxi back to our hotel.

Roy was on duty in the Horizon Club. We relaxed with a soft drink and coffee and then asked Roy to arrange a room-service club sandwich to be delivered to the Horizon Club for our lunch.

It's very nice to be looked after so well. In some ways, the hotel and the club reminded me of being in Raffles in Singapore - including the heat outside.

Suzy caught the 4pm hotel shuttle back to Yas Mall. When she returned at about 6:30pm, she had another new pair of shoes.

We went up to to the Horizon Club by 7:30 to enjoy the happy hour - particularly the free red wine. Suzy made sure that she did not have as much as last night.

For dinner we'd booked to go to the Azzuoro Italian restaurant in the Souk complex next door to our hotel. Once again we used the canal boat to get there and we walked back along the sea shore.

Dinner was very pleasant with nice food and a view of the water. They had tables on the terrace outside but we thought it would be too hot out there. Although there was a breeze blowing, it was still 35C and the wind was hot.

We went up to the Horizon Club to settle our bill in anticipation of our departure tomorrow morning.

Day 30 - Wednesday 24th June

Thankfully we had a good night's sleep after the long day we'd had yesterday. It was a very comfortable bed and it was easy to adjust the air conditioning to the temperature we wanted.

At about 9am, we went down to the restaurant on level 3 for breakfast. The breakfast was just as impressive as everything else about this hotel. There were several displays offering a wide variety of options to choice from - all laid out with style and elegance.

The adjacent eating area was just as elegant and tasteful. On one side was the door to the outdoor pool and on the other side was a grand staircase to a higher level. The waiters were attentive and friendly.

Fortunately, there was a good selection of fruit as well as pastries, cold meats, hot food, etc. After my serving of fruit, I ordered an omelet from the chef behind the counter. I hadn't been feeling too well this morning and so I didn't eat as much as I might have otherwise.

After breakfast we decided to have a look around the hotel. Rather than walking all the way along the corridor back to the lifts, Suzy found a fire stair that took us directly down to the beach area outside our wing of the hotel.

We walked past a set of villas that are used by long-stay guests and down to the sandy beach. There were plenty of chairs lined up on the beach by no customers - just three staff seeking shelter from the heat under palm trees.

Along further we came to the hotel pool which was temporarily closed for maintenance. At the canal end of the pool I noticed several workmen repairing the stonework next to the canal. I don't know how they would manage to work all day in this heat - especially since they are not allowed to drink anything today.

However, it could have been worse. Apparently last week the temperature got up to 50C whereas today's forecast was only 38C.

Suzy suggested that we explore the nearby buildings including the Sook shopping centre next door. She found there was a service where you could get a boat ride along the canal that runs between the buildings. The driver took us to the end of the canal and then turned back to drop us off at the Sook centre.

We were not sure if the shops would be open because of Ramadan. However it turned out that most of them were open and Suzy strolled past looking at the items for sale in each little shop. She didn't buy anything at the other shops because she thought they were overpriced

Finally we bought some food at the supermarket so we could have something to eat for lunch. Because I wasn't well, Suzy insisted that we get dry biscuits for me and then we headed back to the Horizon Club where she said I had to drink black tea, lemonade and honey on toast. I told Roy that I always do what I'm told.

Roy, our concierge, was on duty in the Horizon Club and Suzy asked him about tours and shopping malls. Originally we'd planned to go to the Grand Mosque this afternoon but decided to postpone it hoping I'd be feeling better tomorrow.

We were the only people in the Horizon Club and we'd been just about the only people in the shopping centre earlier. Roy explained that most people avoid visiting Abu Dhabi during Ramadan.

Roy did some investigations and found that the Grand Mosque is only open in the morning during Ramadan. So he booked us on the hotel shuttle for 9am tomorrow and 4pm tomorrow for Suzy to go to the Yas shopping mall (just by herself without me tagging along looking bored).

I went back the room to lie down at at about 1:30pm, Suzy set out to catch a taxi to another set of shops.

Mid-afternoon, a woman rang on the room phone and asked me if we were happy with the hotel and if there was anything more they could do. The poor woman then had to endure me telling her what a wonderful hotel it was and how happy we were.

I almost ran out of superlatives as she giggled in appreciation. I imagine she gets this response all day. What a job - having to ring people who then rave about the service you provide.

Suzy got back at about 5:30 with an armful of shopping bags. It turns out she had been to the Yas shopping mall and had ended up taking a taxi in each direction.

As she went through what she bought, she admitted at one stage that she might have overdone it. She'd been planning to check in one of our backpacks (in addition to our big bags) on the flight back to Sydney from Abu Dhabi to bring back things she'd bought overseas. It will be interesting to see if it all fits.

As the sun set over the Grand Mosque, Suzy suggested I should have a look from the balcony. It was a great sight and I took photos progressively until the sun finally disappeared behind the mosque. After sunset, the mosque is illuminated with a soft blue light.

Suzy had researched all the places to go for dinner. The plan was to go to the Horizon Club (in our hotel) for the happy hour and then go to a restaurant in the Sook next door.

The Horizon Club had people there this time enjoying the free wine and nibblies. Some were sitting on the balcony but that seemed to be too hot for us and so we sat at a table near the door looking out towards the mosque.

The red wine was an Australian wine Wolf Blass Eagle Hawke Merlot - very nice. The food included mini beef skewers (I had lots), prawns, dessert, etc. The staff kept on filling up our glasses and offering to help with our food. They were very friendly and chatty.

When I took photos of the buffet, the staff volunteered to pose for my photos. Later I met a customer relations manager from Hungary who only started here a couple of months ago. The staff here are wonderful. It seems that Roy wasn't on duty tonight.

We decided that we didn't need to go on to a restaurant because we'd managed to fill up on the food and drink in the Horizon Club. We were back in our room soon after 9:30pm.

Day 29 - Tuesday 23rd June

Today we'd be leaving Romania and heading to Abu Dhabi via Vienna. The flight to Vienna was due to depart at 8:10am and so we set our alarms for 4:30. Balkan Trails had organised the airport transfer for us at 5:30 and the car was waiting for us when we came downstairs at 5:20.

It was a quick trip to the airport because, as you might expect, there wasn't much traffic at that hour. There was no queue at the Austrian Airways counter and it didn't take too long to get through customs and security - although I did have to go through the metal detector a few times.

We found a cafe near the departure gate and had breakfast.

They used a bus to get us to the plane. The plane wasn't completely full and we both had a spare seat beside us. Since it was an Austrian Airways flight, the announcements were in German and English. The flight was about 1 hour 20 minutes and so they only had time to give us a bread roll.

Because it wasn't possible to have our bags forwarded through to the next flight, we needed to clear customs and collect our bags at Vienna airport.

The flight to Abu Dhabi was with Niki who are apparently owned by Berlin Air. The check-in queue for Berlin Air was very long but it moved fairly quickly because they had almost 20 counters open. Then we went through customs and security before finding our way to the departure gate.

The flight to Abu Dhabi wasn't due to leave until 12:15 and so we had about two hours to wait at the departure gate. It was a good opportunity to read newspapers on my iPad and catch up on the news back in Australia.

Once again there was a bus to take us to the plane on the tarmac. Because it was raining, they parked the bus close to the terminal so we wouldn't get too wet. It didn't take too long to get everyone on board because there weren't too many passengers. Suzy said that Niki has only just started flying this route and so this might explain the low number of passengers.

It was an A320 plane - a medium size plane - and only about 20% of the seats were occupied. It was therefore strange that they seated me next to another couple when there were several empty rows behind me. After the plane took off, I moved to the row behind.

Since Niki is a low budget airline, we weren't to sure if we would have to pay for food and drinks. As it turned out they were free. They served drinks soon after we took off and lunch about an hour after take-off. Later in the flight they provided a snack and more drinks. The food was quite OK for an airline.

One surprise was the uniforms worn by the flight attendants - (tight-fitting) blue jeans. I guess this was in keeping with the budget airline image.

The flight landed at about 8pm - a little late because the pilot had to circle the airport a few times. We picked the  wrong queue at customs because it was very slow - while the people in the other queue whizzed through in no time.

We had considered using the hotel's pickup service but had decided in the end to use a taxi because it should be much cheaper. It turned out that the taxi was most impressive - a van with a driver in a uniform and hat - and it cost less than 60 AED (about $A20) compared with 285 AED.

When he drove up to the entrance of the Shangri-La Hotel, there were staff everywhere. Suzy had decided we should splurge for the last hotel on our trip. This place is like an opulent palace.

We'd booked to stay in a Horizon Club room which is like a club room in other hotel chains. You get a better room, access to the Horizon Club Lounge on the top floor (level 7) and your own concierge. The lady at reception escorted us to the lift and someone else escorted us to the Horizon Club Lounge where we waited for a few minutes for our concierge to arrive.

He got us to fill out the check-in paperwork and then took us to our room on level 4. Walking through the hotel lobby and corridors, it felt like we were back in one of the castles we'd visited in Eastern Europe.

Our room was very spacious with a king size bed and a single doona. There was a large ensuite with separate toilet and shower. The ensuite mirror was huge. Everything about this hotel is grand and impressive.

The room has a balcony with a view across the canal to the Grand Mosque which was brightly lit. It was like a blue mirage on the skyline.

Apparently Roy, our concierge, will be looking after us throughout our stay and so I wasn't sure if I should tip him tonight or at the end of our stay. He told us the Horizon Club Lounge opens at 11am and happy hour drinks start at 7:30pm.

He also explained that it is currently Ramadan and so there are special rules in place that also apply to tourists. For example, you are not allowed to eat or drink anything between sunrise and sunset - not even water.

Tourists in large hotels can get around these restrictions by eating in parts of the hotel that are not in public view. You cannot eat or drink in the pool area. Apparently most restaurants are closed during this period but some open after sunset.

Suzy had found out a few days ago that Ramadan would coincide with this visit to Abu Dhabi but we were already booked and paid up so there was no option to change it.

We thought it was too late to get dinner in one of the restaurants and so we ordered room service. I ordered a chicken curry and Suzy ordered a club sandwich. We decided not to order any wine because of the expense.

The meal was delivered about 20 minutes later by a waiter pushing a table on wheels - just like a restaurant table but with collapsible wings. It had a tablecloth, serviettes, silver cutlery and a single red rose. The food was in a compartment under the table. It was a very good meal.

It was about 11pm by the time we got to bed. Considering that we had got up at 4:30am, caught two flights and had hung around at airports, it had been a long day. Then again, it was great that our final destination had been such an excellent hotel.

Day 28 - Monday 22nd June

The Balkan Trails tour is over and today we have a free day in Bucharest before heading off early tomorrow morning to Vienna and then Abu Dhabi.

When we woke up this morning, the rain had gone and the sky was blue. We'd had a good night's sleep.

At about 8:30am, we went downstairs for breakfast. Although I had thought on previous stays at this hotel that the breakfast was rather limited, they have a wider choice than the other places we've stayed at in Romania.

In fact it's probably the best breakfast we've had in Romania. They have the best selection of fruit - some hotels have little or no fruit. They had poached eggs, croissants, muffins, cold meats, etc. They even had a new coffee machine.

At about 11:30am, we set out to walk to the shopping centre that is located on the other side of the old town. By this time it was a pleasant warm temperature with just a few clouds in the sky.

About a block away, I noticed some concrete rubble on the footpath. When I looked up, there were several damaged sections on the facade of the building and so it seemed likely that the rubble had fallen off the building.

This was one of the buildings that had been built during the communist era using cheap construction techniques. They look plain and ugly. Alex referred to them as "communist blocks" and they seem to be in every city and large town in Romania.

In the main square (next to Revolution Square), they seemed to be set up for a music event. There was a stage, hundreds of plastic chairs, marquees and floral archways.

In the old town, we walked through some cobblestone streets that we hadn't been to with Alex. We also discovered a glass-covered area that showed ancient Roman ruins below street level including brick archways.

It was a pleasure to walk through the old town on such a bright sunny day. They do a great job with the floral decorations and the open-air cafes. However, we did notice a strong police presence - including guards dogs with muzzles.

Yesterday Alex had shown us on the map where to find the shopping mall but, when we'd walked through the old town to the park and the canal,  it wasn't really obvious which building it was in. We tried an underground route hoping to get to the other side of the park but it only led to the railway station.

When we crossed several pedestrian crossings to the building we thought we needed to go to, it was hard to find the entrance. After we went up a couple of levels, it was about 1pm and I decided to leave Suzy there to look at the shops in peace and I headed back to the hotel via the old town.

I stopped at a sidewalk cafe (City Grill) in the old town  to have some lunch and I ordered an Angus Burger and an Ursus Premium draft beer. Although the beer was great as usual, the burger was the worst I've ever had.

For starters the burger was only small, there were only five wedges (which didn't look great), a small amount of lettuce and one cherry tomato. The bun was hard and didn't seem fresh. The burger cost 37 Lei (expensive for a Romanian cafe) and the beer was 7 Lei (normal price).

I know that hamburgers aren't the native dish for Romania but I can't imagine how they are going to attract too many international visitors if they can't prepare a simple meal like a hamburger. Then again I guess tourists come here for the scenery rather than the food. Needless to say I didn't bother leaving a tip.

At 7pm we headed out for dinner. The recommendation was to go to La Mama wich is only a few blocks from our hotel. We opted for an outside table under a large square umbrella. Suzy ordered mixed skewers and I ordered beef steak. Her choice was tastier than mine. We ordered a 1L carafe of house red.

We got chatting to the man at the next table who works for the South African embassy in Bucharest. We talked about our holiday in South Africa a couple of years ago.

Day 27 - Sunday 21st June

Originally the itinerary had us going to a castle and church this morning followed by a winery for lunch but Alex had suggested yesterday that we change the order so that we would go to the winery first because this would be more efficient in terms of travel directions. So we wouldn't need to leave until 11am.

We had breakfast in the hotel restaurant at about 8:30. The breakfast room was upstairs for a change - on level 3, the top level. It was bright room with skylights. We noticed that one of the skylights was open to let in air - possible to control the temperature. There was light rain falling on the skylights.

The breakfast was limited again. At least there was a bowl of fruit. I pointed out to the waiter that one of the oranges was so mouldy it was changing to various colours.

This quiet morning was an opportunity to upload photos and update my blog. When we checked out from the hotel at 11am, there were still light showers.

We reached the Halewood Winery at Azuga (The Winery Outlet)  before noon. A lady from the winery gave us a guided tour of the wine making process while Alex translated for us. At this location, the winery produces sparkling wine. They have other locations that produce still wines. One of their claims to fame is that they used to be the wine supplier to the royal family.

The wine making is carried out in a long building with very thick brick walls and a special roof constriction that ensures that the temperature is maintained between 5C and 12C throughout all seasons.

Next we went into the restaurant for lunch and wine tasting. We told them that we don't normally drink sparkling wine because it gives us a headache and we didn't do much wine tasting. Instead Alex organised a bottle of red wine for us.

We didn't finish the entire bottle and so Alex arranged to get a cork for it so we could pack it in the car. Alex also bought himself a couple of bottles of wine because it was good wine and a very good price.

The next destination was Peles Castle in Sinaia. It was still raining steadily when we arrived but it wasn't very heavy. Alex organised the tickets and the photo tax and we just managed to get there in time to go on an English-speaking guided tour. Here the guides are supplied by the castle and Alex waited for us in the car.

This castle is a very popular tourist destination and it soon became obvious why. It's amazing and spectacular. From the outside it looks like the ideal castle. Inside it is so ornate that it's mind boggling. The king must have been setting out to impress and to live a life of incredible luxury.

No expense was spared by the kings and queens who lived here. There are wood-panelled rooms, statues, staircases, armoury, knights in armour and on horseback,  ornaments, busts of famous people, paintings, huge mirrors, expensive furniture, etc.

Our guide took us from one room to the next explaining the history and use of each room. The tour lasted for about 30 or 40 minutes.

At the end of the tour, we walked down the drive to get a front-on view of the entire castle and to take some photos before finding Alex who was waiting for us under cover near the car.

Next we drove the short distance to the Peles Cathedral. This is another impressive religious location. It consists of two churches - a small one and a larger one.

That was the last location we were to visit on our Romanian holiday tour and so the next task was to drive back to our hotel in Bucharest. Along the way the rain got heavier and heavier. We saw a couple of accidents along the highway with ambulances, police and fire brigades in attendance.

At times the traffic was quite slow, especially through some of the villages. In the distance, the clouds covered the tops and sides of the mountains. Later the clouds and fog were so thick it was hard to see more than about 200m.

We reached the Berthelot Hotel at about 5:45pm. We thanked Alex for doing such a wonderful job as our guide on the tour. We gave him an envelope containing a tip and a box of chocolates for his mother for letting us use her car.

It was sad to have to say goodbye to Alex. Not just because he's such a nice bloke but also because he has been such a good guide.

He did a fabulous job of looking after us for the last two weeks. Nothing was too much trouble. For example:

• Swapping his car for his mother's car when he was worried about his car breaking down
• Finding a memory card for my camera
• Taking us to additional sites that were not on the itinerary
• Carrying our big heavy bags up and down stairs at guest houses and hotels

The list goes on and on.

Furthermore we were amazed by his knowledge of Romania. He seems to have an encyclopedic memory of history and the locations we visited. He also has excellent navigation skills. It's amazing how he managed to find his way around every motorway, highway, local road and back street.

We will miss him.

Our room this time was on level 4 and looked similar the other rooms we'd had on the previous two times we'd stayed here on our trip. As before, the cable internet speed was great - about 100Mb/s in both directions.

As on our previous stays, they only gave us one towel and we had to ask for another one. When Suzy tried to wash some clothes in the basin in the bathroom, the plug didn't work. The staff member who came said they would fix it tomorrow. Also the bedside phone didn't work.

Instead of going to the hotel restaurant for dinner, we decided to go out (in the rain) to the nearby Radisson Blu Hotel. The pizza cafe was open. As we expected, it was much more expensive than our hotel. In fact it was more expensive than anywhere we'd been in Romania.

For example the cheapest bottle of wine was 140 Lei (about $A45) whereas previously we'd been paying between 20 and 50 Lei. I ordered a Carlsberg draft beer and Suzy had a hot chocolate drink that turned out to be very chocolatey.

We didn't need a huge meal because we'd had a good lunch and so we both ordered panini sandwiches. One advantage of eating here was that I was able to take advantage of my membership of Club Carlson.

Day 26 - Saturday 20th June

I had a restless night because of the heat and humidity. When I got up to have a shower, there was no hot water. Outside it was cool and cloudy.

When we went down for breakfast at 8am, they were still setting it up. As with other guest houses, it was a limited choice - cold meat, cheese, tomatoes, home-made bread, cereal, home-made jam, hot milk, coffee, butter and a bowl of apples. They cooked an omelet for me - although it didn't look like an omelet.

We set out at 9am and travelled back along the "road" from Viscri to the main road. Because of the poor quality of the "road", it took almost 30 minutes to travel the 6 or 7km.

The first stop was at a fortress on the top of the hill overlooking the town of Rupea. From a distance, it was an imposing site. It was just as impressive as we walked through the site and up to the top. There were plenty of opportunities to take photos of the various parts of the structure and of the view below.

The next stop was going to be the bear conservatory which is close to Brasov. Suzy had asked Alex if there were any places she could see bears. We'd seen one in the zoo we'd been to yesterday but this zoo near Brasov sounded more interesting.

Alex had calculated that it would take 90 minutes to get there from Rupea and the last entry for viewing the bears was at 11am. It was 9:40 by the time we left the fortress and so it was going to be a tall order to get there on time.

Despite Alex's best efforts it was 11:40 by the time we arrived. Part of the delay was the condition of the gravel road which lead to the site from the sealed road. Several times we thought it wasn't worth the trouble to be trying to navigate such a poor track.

After we parked near the gates, Alex asked the attendant if we could go in but he refused. There was a sign on the gate saying that nobody would be admitted after 11am. We consoled ourselves by taking photos of the countryside and headed back along the gravel road again.

The next destination was Bran Castle which is located about 30km from Brasov. It is obviously a popular tourist location because the car park was full of cars and tourist buses and there were large crowds of people.

Before you get to the entry, there are rows and rows of street stalls selling nicknacks to tourists. Suzy asked Alex to wait for ten minutes so she could stroll through to see what was on offer. Alex has keen not to delay too long because the black clouds overhead threatened rain at any time.

Inside the grounds, he took us first to a location where we got a good photo of the entire castle. He then took us up to the castle and gave us a comprehensive guided tour through most of the rooms.

Although the castle is promoted as being related to Dracula, it has little to do with him. The building is now privately owned and the furniture inside is not the original castle furniture. Nevertheless it was a good place to visit.

He then drove us a short distance to a nearby restaurant, Popasul Reginei, for lunch. Initially the waiter suggested that we sit outside next to the pool but we thought it would be too cool out there. Just as well we sat inside because the storm arrived soon afterwards.

On the other hand, a couple of large noisy family groups arrived soon after that and the kids made quite a lot of noise. It was still an enjoyable meal in an elegant setting. Alex pointed out the deer next the restaurant.

After the meal, Alex drove us through the rain and the puddles to our hotel, Armatti Hotel, which is located close to the old town in Brasov. We got there at about 3:30pm.

He parked under cover and helped us get our bags to the reception. This hotel has a lift and so there was no need this time for him to carry our bags upstairs.

Although the hotel is in an old building, it has been refurbished as a modern hotel. The ensuite bathroom has a large shower. The room has a large double bed with single doonas and a suitable desk for my laptop.

We had a lot of trouble getting the Wifi to work. It only worked briefly for one or two of our devices and then dropped out. After consulting with reception several times, we eventually gave up and used our mini WiFi.

On the other hand, there was a cable connection for my laptop that gave me speeds of about 50Mb/s in both directions. This wasn't mentioned by the receptionist or in the hotel instruction guide,

The air conditioning in the room was also a problem. We set it for 19C but it showed the current temperature as 22C. The reception staff assured us that it would soon cool down but after two hours it hadn't changed. A temperature of 22C might have been OK but it felt a lot hotter than that.

Another problem we experienced was that there were regular short blackouts - about a dozen of them over the two hour period. Each lasted only a few seconds. When we asked the reception about this, they suggested we try the other room key in the slot near the door.

By this time, certain aspects of the hotel were looking somewhat dodgy. When we met Alex at 6pm in reception for our walking tour of Brasov, we told him about the problems and he spoke to the receptionist in Romanian about them. We felt uncomfortable having them talk about our problems in a language we didn't understand.

By the time we set off on our walking tour it was still cloudy but the rain had gone and there was some sunshine. Alex took us along cobblestone streets past the shops and open air cafes and into the main plaza.

The main attraction was the Black Church which is large Gothic church next to the plaza. As always,  Alex gave us a comprehensive explanation of the church and its history. It's amazing that he can remember so much detail about each place he takes us.

After strolling through some other streets he left us in the main plaza. We strolled back through some of the cobblestone streets before going to one of the restaurants he had recommended for dinner. Some of the cafes we had walked past were sparsely populated or empty whereas this one was busy. People obviously know it's a good place to go.

The menu as quite extensive with a wide choice or food and wine. I decided to go for a sirloin dish - my first red meat in Romania. I chose a bottle of Dracula Cabernet Sauvignon which turned out to be a nice wine. We searched for it on my iPad and found that it comes from a vineyard north of Tulcea.

We were particularly impressed  by the waitress. She was very attentive and spoke good English.

When we got back to the hotel, we tried the air conditioning again. After about 20 minutes, we gave up and opened the window.

At about 10pm, I went downstairs to talk to the man on the reception desk to tell him that the air conditioning still wasn't working. He said they would get someone to service it tomorrow to which I told him that we'd read on Trip Advisor this evening that this was not a new problem with the hotel.

I also told him that the WiFi was still not working. He offered to provide me with a cable but I told him I already had one and the cable was working well for my laptop.

I asked him for a fan and about five minutes later he brought one up to our room.

Day 25 - Friday 19th June

We went downstairs soon after 8am to have breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Although it was a limited choice, they offered homemade jam and homemade bread. There were also menu options and I asked for an omelet.

They was only one other couple there in the small restaurant area. When they got up to leave, we noticed they had a dog with them. He must have been sitting quietly under the table while they ate breakfast.

We met Alex in the reception at 9:30 to go on the postponed tour of the old town. He took us through the plaza and around the cobblestone streets explaining some of the history of the town and buildings as we went. From several vantage points, we looked down on the "new" town.

Next we went to the clock tower which is the most significant building in the town. In the lower few floors there is a museum. Then we climbed up the staircases that took us to the top of the tower. This gave us a great view of the old town, the new town and the countryside beyond.

On the handrail at the top viewing balcony, there are a series of brass plates indicating the distance and direction of world cities, The plaque for Sydney shows that it is more than 15,000km away.

We also saw the puppets that form part of the clock system. These puppets move at various times during the day - such as on the hour or at 6pm.

Last night we'd had dinner in the house where Dracula was born. Alex took us today to a small museum in that building which had information about him. His name was Vlad II Dracul Tempes and he was a descendant of the first king of Wallacia.

Alex had previously told us that he was referred to as Vlad the Impaler because of a particularly brutal and unfortunate method he used to torture and kill his enemies. The legend of Dracula was embellished by an Irish author called Bram Stoker.

Inside one of the nearby buildings, there is a museum for armour and weaponry. We also walked around the edge of the old town to have a better look at the walls and the view beyond.

The next task was to check out of our room. Alex carried our bags downstairs for us and packed the car. The left at about 10:40am.

The first stop was to visit a fortified church at Biertan. This church is notable because of its tall towers and three sets of protective walls.

We climbed to the top of two of the towers to get a better view. This wasn't easy because the staircases were narrow, steep and rickety. We used the flashlight app on our iPhones to light the way for some of the ascent. You also have to be careful not to hit your head on stonework arches or timber beams. It was all worth it because of the view.

After leaving the church, we stopped for coffee in an adjacent cafe where we all had an espresso coffee.

At about noon, Alex turned off  the main road and talked about visiting a poor gypsy village. When we reached the village, he stopped at the top of the hill so I could get out and take photos.

Almost immediately, a young boy ran down from a nearby house followed soon after by other children from different directions. They approached me with their hands out and then approached Alex and Suzy who were still in the car. Alex gave them some lollies before I got back in the car and we moved on.

The road to the gypsy village had been pretty rough and I had expected Alex to turn around and go back to the main road. Instead he continued on. It turned out that this was the road to Viscri where we would be spending the night.

As we progressed towards Viscri, the road went from bad to worse. Alex was driving very slowly trying to plot a course for us through the gravel and pot holes. Eventually we reached Viscri at about 1:15pm.

This is a rural setting with old houses, gravel roads, some wide grassed areas beside the road and some cobblestone streets. Throughout the town we saw chickens, hens, roosters, ducks, turkeys, geese and a few horses roaming free in the streets.

Our guest house (pension) has about a dozen rooms plus a large area for dining. At the back of the dining area, is a timber veranda with two large tables and benches.

The back yard contains a large vegetable garden. We wandered through the garden, over the creek and up the hill and found a number of Japanese tourists asleep on hammocks hung from the trees. Next door they are busy building a new structure that looks like it will be used for additional accommodation.

Our room has a double bed with a single doona, a table that I used for my laptop and a large timber bench that we used for our bags. There is also an ensuite bathroom with a shower in a bath.

The WiFi reception was poor and so I used my mini WiFi to get good reception. There is no air conditioning and so we opened windows and the door to let in some fresh air but this also let in the flies.

They served us lunch on the back veranda. The first course was lentil soup followed by quiche. We ordered a bottle of red wine but Suzy decided to drink the brandy that was provided on the table. As always, Alex didn't have any alcohol because the limit for drivers in Romania is zero % alcohol.

There was a group of young English people at the other bench on the veranda. It seems as though this guest house targets an international clientele.

While we were having lunch there were a few light showers and so Alex suggested that we postpone the walk to the fortified church until 3:30pm. When we set out, there were still some grey clouds around. It turned out that we didn't need our spray jackets and eventually we took them off. Suzy was finding it to be very humid.

This time I was allowed to take photos inside the church. We were adventurous again and climbed the narrow staircases up to the top of the tower to admire the view. Once again it was important to treat carefully and watch your head.

The next outing was to be a ride through the village on a horse and cart. The horse and cart arrived at 3:30pm. There were two horses and a long cart with three planks as seats for the passengers. We set out down the gravel streets and stopped outside the blacksmith's house.

It turned out that the blacksmith wasn't home. There were just three gypsy women and a few kids. They took us around the back to the blacksmith's workshop and Alex explained how it operates. I managed to take a few photos despite the reluctance of the gypsy women to be photographed.

Suzy said later that she hadn't felt comfortable there because she hadn't felt as though the gypsy women wanted us there.

Next we took a slow ride to the brick making family who are located about a km out of town. Along the way we enjoyed the scenery. We also passed a couple of trucks that housed beehives.

The brick maker was initially occupied fixing his cart and he left it to his wife to demonstrate how they make roof tiles. The two of them then explained how they make bricks in their kiln. Alex was translating their explanation for us.

It turned out that their business is subsidised by a foundation associated with Prince Charles who owns a house in the village of Viscri. During the winter months the foundation enables them to produce a product based on limestone.

On the way to and from the brick maker's house, we passed a couple of horses and carts carrying tourists like us.

After we returned to our guest house, Suzy and I walked down the street to the one and only shop in the village to buy a big bottle of water. Suzy took the water back to the guest house because the black clouds looked threatening while I walked further down the street to take photos of Prince Charles house.

The prince wasn't in town and the gates and window shutters were closed. I managed to peek inside the courtyard through holes in the gate. It seemed like a pleasant place but certainly not a palace.

On my way back up the hill, I passed another horse and cart that contained about a dozen large metal containers. The three men on board were delivering milk to the houses along the street.

There were numerous dogs in the area. They sometimes walked up to me and walked along with me but there was no problem. This morning we had met two Americans from Salt Lake City who carried big sticks to protect themselves from the dogs.

I also noticed that most houses had a satellite dish - some has as many as three. It seemed incongruous to see ramshackle houses with modern technology attached. Also people were often sitting outside their houses talking on mobile phones.

Dinner was served at 8pm. We ate inside because it was too cold on the back veranda. Alex and I finished off the bottle of wine that I'd bought at lunchtime while Suzy went for the brandy again.