Day 18 - Friday 12th June

Alex had arranged to pick us up at 10am instead of 9am so that we could all get some sleep after the late night we'd had because of the Andre Rieu concert.

One of the advantages of leaving later was that we'd miss the peak hour Bucharest traffic. However it was still slow getting out of the city before we got onto the motorway heading north-west.

After only about 45 minutes, Alex said he would stop at  service station for a coffee break. When he stopped he opened the bonnet of the car and he looked worried.

He told me that the car didn't seem to be accelerating properly and he'd arranged to swap his car with his mother's car. He was afraid that his car would break down and leave us stranded if he continued.

He said that last night he was low on petrol when we arrived in Bucharest and he had bought a brand of petrol that he doesn't normally use because he doesn't trust the quality of their product. He thinks the problem today was because of dirty fuel.

We then drove back into Bucharest. His mother had organised for a driver from the place where she works to meet with us half way. Alex swapped the bags over at the side of the road and we headed back on our original route again.

Alex was very apologetic about the problem and the delay but we weren't worried. We were pleased to be in the better vehicle because it had more leg room and the air conditioning worked well. There was even an air conditioning outlet vent for the back seat passenger.

The first stop was a Curtea de Arges Monastery. Alex showed us around the church and inside explaining the history and folklore associated with it. He then left us to look around and take photos. We set off again at 2:15pm.

By this time, we were passing through towns where gypsies live. We saw people driving horses and carts and carrying farm implements such as hoes and large scythes along the road.

It had started to rain when we left the monastery because a thunderstorm had rolled in. It was good that we'd seen the monastery in good weather before the thunder and lightning arrived.

For lunch we stopped at a cafe, Cabana La Cetate, just at the start of the Transfagaasan Highway below a castle called Poienari Fortress which was Dracula's fortress.

This road is famous because our its hairpin bends that take it over the mountains. However it is closed for most of the year and so we didn't get to see the most dramatic sections.

The castle is high on the mountain top. Initially I'd been considering climbing the 1000 steps up there to take photos but this was no longer feasible because we were running late. Moreover it was have been slippery and dangerous because of the rain.

The cafe was fascinating because of its decorations (apart from its setting at the base of the mountains and next to the stream). It had all sorts of hunting artifacts on the walls and around the bar including bear hides, pistols, owls and paintings.

We left the cafe at about 3:30pm and headed back through some the towns we'd seen earlier before taking another road that took us along a valley through the mountain range.

The scenery along this road was dramatic - steep cliffs rising above us, clouds around the mountain tops, dams and rivers next to the road and a narrow-gauge railway line meandering along the valley floor. Alex had warned us that there would be lots of trucks on this narrow two-lane road and he wasn't wrong.

The land on the other side was hilly but seemed to be flat and tame by comparison with what we'd driven through. Having crossed the mountain range, we were now in Transylvania.

We reached the town of Sibiu at about 7pm. First we checked into the hotel (Levoslav House) and left our bags in the room.  Thankfully Alex carried our bags upstairs because there was no lift. The hotel is in an old building close to the main plaza in the old town. Inside it is refurbished and very modern.

Next Alex took us for a walking tour of the old town. There are three cobblestone plazas in the town surrounded by centuries-old buildings. As usual there were monuments, clock towers and open-air cafes.

This weekend there is a festival in Sibiu. A rock band was setting up on a large temporary stage - it was already very noisy with their setup practice. On the other side of the main plaza, a TV crew was setting up for the event.


We bought a big bottle of water at a supermarket and took it back to the hotel room before heading off to find somewhere for dinner. We went down a cobblestone street that hadn't been included in Alex's walking tour introduction. This street was lined with shops and throbbing with crowds and activity.

There seemed to be music and noise in front of us somewhere down the street and we soon realised why. There was a group of dancers and musicians making their way towards the plaza. The dancing girls were wearing nothing much as all - very skimpy, highly decorated bikinis - rather like the photos you see of the Rio Carnivale.

I was quite happy to stand there and watch and soak up the atmosphere. Suzy, on the other hand, disappeared into a nearby shoe shop.

Next we saw more musicians - this time accompanied by dancers in masks and walking on very tall stilts. This is obviously a fun town.

We found an open air cafe called Casa Frieda we here we enjoyed a nice meal and excellent bottle of house red.

As we walked back to our hotel, we stopped momentarily to take in the atmosphere of the main plaza - the rock band, the crowds and large balloons and inflatable animal figures. There were quite a few children in the crowd.

We were having no luck with internet reception in our room - although we could get reception in the foyer. The man at the front desk was puzzled and was unable to fix it. This was surprising because the internet reception so far in hotels in Romania had been exceptionally good.

Also we had trouble with the safe in the room because it was locked closed (and it wasn't even fixed in place). The man at reception eventually found a key for it which was useless because there was no keyhole - it was purely electronic with push buttons.

It was close to 11pm by the time we got to bed.