So. There I was. Sunday morning in my hotel room.
Friday night had been a doozy, extending well into Saturday morning thanks to a vibrant local music scene and cheap beer prices in Bucharest.
Saturday had, therefore, been a waste. A quick jaunt into Old City to grab some lunch and then again for dinner but nothing that really required me to stray too far from the comfortable cool and darkness of the hotel.
As I lay in my bed, I said to my self, "Self. We can't do that again. We must venture into the unknown and see something we haven't seen before."
(Note to self. Don't always listen to self. Or do, just try to plan better. Self can be a bit....twitchy...from time to time.)
So, I pull up trusty ol' Google and type in "Day trips from Bucharest".
Immediately, I am hit with all these ads from tour companies talking about Peles and Bran Castles. Now, Peles castle, I've never heard of, but Bran Castle...That's probably the first or second on the list of non-UK castles that Americans associate with Europe. AND. AND! It's only 2 hours away by combo of train (50LEI / $16USD) and cheap taxi. (80LEI / $26USD).
I once again say to my self, "Self. If we don't go there, certain groups of our friends are likely to stake us in the heart and throw us into the sunlight." Both of which are things I have a love / hate relationship with, at best, so after checking with the guide that I would have plenty of time to get there, see the sights, and make it back to Bucharest in time to get some sleep before work. I rolled out.
First up was the Bucharesti Metro system. Well laid out, easy to navigate, cheap. Highly recommend. In less than 10 minutes from stepping foot on the train 100m or so in front of my hotel, I was at the main station.
Bucharesti Gara Nord 2 is about what you would expect from a large European city's train station. The lines at the agent windows were long, even early on a Sunday morning, so I decided to use the automated kiosk. It was a major confidence booster for me, and proof of good user interface design from them, that even though there was no English language option (or at least not one that I could see) I was able to get my ticket to Brasov with return in time to grab a quick bite to eat and get on the train.
The train ride from Bucharest to Brasov is beautiful, especially once you start heading up into Carpathian mountains. Winding through picturesque mountain towns and following a river that was absolutely destroyed by someone trying to re-route or tame it. Very enjoyable. For those of you in or from Upstate SC that may be reading this, it was very similar to the drive between Oconee County and Chattanooga, TN. Just imagine MUCH higher, snow covered peaks in the distance and the Ocoee or Chattooga reduced to a stream in a concrete culvert.
And then the conductor comes to check my ticket. I'm in the wrong car on the train. No worries, though, the train is well under capacity, and I was in the right class car, so I was allowed to stay where I was. Which I do, because my correct car was at the other end of the train, and I was already 2.5 hours into a 2 hour trip.
Looking back, this last bit should have been my first clue that the travel guide I had been looking at was ma-a-a-aybe not 100% accurate... But I digress.
Pull into the station at Brasov, go looking for the taxi stand. It's rather easy to find as there are two fairly large Romanian taxi drivers in the process of trying to convince an American couple to ride with them. Their chosen method of said convincing is histrionics at half a pace. The argument gets loud at the cab drivers debate over who was first in the queue, whether that even matters, who saw the couple first, who has the cheaper fare, etc. Luckily, for everyone involved, the debate is ended when the couple decides to just go with a third driver entirely. I step back for a minute, not sure I want to even get in a cab with a driver who may or may not be angry at Americans, and who I would be at the mercy of, should he decide to take the anger out on me.
But I say to myself, "Self, what's life without a little adventure. You didn't come all this way to stop now. Get in the first cab in the queue and go for it."
So I did. And it turned out to be a very pleasant, if somewhat fast paced, ride to Bran. The driver was very friendly, very knowledgeable about the area, and very quick to offer me any side trips I wanted. I politely declined the side trips, as I knew I really only had time for one town / castle that day. So I rode, soaking up the mountain scenery, listening to the driver tell me about the mountains I was scene-ing.
And we make it to Bran. I asked for the fare price and am told 140LEI ($46USD). This was on the meter, so he wasn't trying to pull a fast one on me, but it was considerably higher than what I had been told in the guide.
Looking back, this is strike 2 for the guide.
At the time though, I thought to my self, "Self. This is a bit more than we expected. But...it was a nice ride, the driver was friendly...who cares..." So I pay the fare without complaining and even throw in an extra 10LEI tip.
Bran Castle itself is amazing. It is easy to imagine it as it must have been Stoker's day and see how it is thought to have provided the inspiration for one of the most famous locations in literature. The abutment that it is on is not quite as intimidating as it once was, what with the souvenir stand village that has grown up around it, and the wall being demolished, but in my mind's eye, that stuff was able to disappear, and I was able to see it for what it once was. A fortress guarding a customs house that stood at an important border crossing.
The tour of the castle was reasonably priced, 35LEI, plus an extra 10LEI for the torture chamber, if you are into that sort of thing. (I am.) Side note, and I didn't notice this until after the tour, but the torture chamber is only open to visitors ages 16 and up, didn't matter for me this trip, but those of you with kids that may want to visit, keep it in mind. The tour itself focuses mostly on the last of the royal family to live there, their daily lives and routines, and their exile at the rise of Communism at the end of WWII. The castle was returned to the family's living heirs after Communism fell, with them taking over fully only in 2009. The rooms in the tour on Tepes and Dracula are minimalist, and are quick to point that there is very little evidence that Tepes ever spent any large amounts of time at the castle. They also point out that, as far as rulers from that time period go, he wasn't all that bad, though he did have a penchant for getting all poky with large sticks. The write up on local folklore that fed into the vampire myths and legends was very well done and worth the read.
The tour, even with the torture chamber, was a bit shorter than I thought, so I saw no need to return to Brasov immediately and spent some time walking around Bran. Walked down by the customs house the castle was built to protect, saw what's left of the wall that used to block the pass. Very neat.
After a quick snack at a restaurant just off the tourist trail (~10% cheaper than the ones right at the castle, for the same food) I decided to head back to Brasov, and get back to Bucharest. By my estimation, I would have time to get all my pictures processed and maybe even posted up where people could ooh and ahh at them.
But, having already spent a little more than I had planned on the taxi ride over, and buying a couple of souvenirs, I say to my self, "Self, didn't that guide mention something about a well-appointed, modern bus? With air-conditioning and comfortable seats? Didn't it also mention that it ran every half-hour? How about we find that?" I walked around for a while trying to find something, anything that looked like a bus stop. Nothing. Not a sign, a schedule, a group of waiting people, nothing. I do, however, see a policeman patrolling the souvenir area. I ask and he points me to this little place with a sign for "Fast Food". I walk back down there, look on the back side of a post, and there, finally is the schedule for the bus I just missed...
That's alright. The next one should be along in thirty...oh wait..an hour. Crud. There went time to process and post the pictures. No worries though. I step back up the street for a coffee and a pastry and to wait.
After about 45 minutes, I walk back down to the bus stop, only to find it completely jammed. Like people standing out in the road waiting, jammed. Quick head count and estimation puts the crowd at around 50. No worries. Easy for a bus to handle, it just looks like a lot because of the small area they are all trying to stand in. So the bus pulls up, and it is already at about half capacity. The crowd, not at all deterred by this, starts pushing and shoving to fill every crevice and cranny with people.
Now look, I've been doing this travel thing for a few years now, and thus far, I have managed to get by with out any major loss of property or dignity. Mainly by avoiding, whenever possible, small, tightly packed spaces that I don't feel comfortable with. Something about this particular bus struck me as "off". And, realizing that I still had plenty of time to make the train in Braslov, I decided to wait for the next one.
Beer and an amazing "Sausage with cabbage salad on a bun" this time (Side note, if I ever make good on my threat to open a hot dog stand, that is how I am advertising my slaw dogs)
The next bus isn't "quite" as crowded, but I do wind up sharing a stair well with 2 other people for the next 45 minutes.
Up until this point, the day has been going fairly well. I've had a couple of minor misunderstandings with a travel guide, most of which went completely unnoticed at the time. Nothing major. Nothing worth a write-up, for sure.
Here is where it goes bad. Here is where the story begins.
I make it back to the train station at Brasov, only to find that I just missed the train I was aiming for back to Bucharest. I know there are a couple more trains that will be going in my direction, but I am unsure of their schedule, and if my return ticket will be good for them. So I walk up to the agent window, and attempt to explain my situation. The lady asks for my return ticket, so I show it to her.
Turns out it isn't a return ticket. It's another ticket for Bucharest to Brasov. Apparently I didn't navigate that kiosk quite as well as I thought I had.
Not a problem. Laugh about being a silly American who doesn't know how to train. Buy a ticket to Bucharest.
I find the correct track, as listed on the ticket and on the schedule board, buy a water, pull out a book, sit down, and wait.
After what seems like a long time, I look at my watch and see that it is 20 minutes past the time that the train was supposed to have arrived. There have been no trains on my track, and no mentions of "Bucharesti" over the loudspeaker. The agent I spoke with earlier is gone, and the ones that are working the station now have one word of English when I show them my ticket.
"Wait"
Ok. I'll wait. Getting a bit concerned now, though. It is well into the evening, around 8pm, and I know that it is a 2.5-3hr ride back. But, I'll wait.
So. I wait. And then I wait a little more. A few trains come and go, but each time I ask, I am told that it isn't the train I am looking for.
Finally, I get word from one of the conductors that I asked that the train to Bucharest will be the next one on the track.
It's almost 9:30 now, but I figure I am still good, messing with my scheduled sleep a little bit, but I can make that up on the train.
Train pulls in, and I hear in the announcement, "Bucharesti". This, combined with the word I had gotten from the conductor earlier, is enough for me to believe this is my train. Finally. Get in, find a seat and get situated for the ride.
As the train pulls out though, I notice that it isn't going in what I think is the correct direction. But, I've seen this before, there is a circle track around the city that will turn the train around. Right?
Wrong.
Luckily, (? Can I even use that word at this point. My luck on this trip ran out at finding the cheap restaurant with good food in a tourist town) the conductor comes around fairly early in the trip to check my ticket and let me know that I am, in fact, on the wrong train.
This train came FROM Bucharest. It isn't going back there for some time.
Well, I had missed the first stop and opportunity to turn myself around, but the conductor says there is another stop coming up in about an hour in Fagaras. So. I am going to be about an hour and a half in the wrong direction of where I am trying to get to. The conductor pulls out his schedule guide and finds that there is a return to Brasov that night that will get me back in time to just catch the last train to Bucharest. Seriously, there is about a 4 minute gap between the train from Fagaras arriving and the train for Bucharest leaving. Rock n' Roll.
Oh, how I wish this story was over.
So, I get off the train at Fagaras, where I am told to expect the train to Brasov in about 10 minutes.
This place is in the middle of nowhere. I mean, I grew up on the other end of nowhere. I know what it looks like, and this is it. This is the type of place where, in all the movies, bad things happen to people traveling alone. But, movies are movies, and I have found that, for the most part, if you aren't doing wrong things, wrong things don't happen to you. So, I wait.
10 minutes, no train. Crud.
20 minutes, no train. Crap.
30 minutes, no train.
At this point, I know there is no chance of me making it back to Bucharest on a train. I am more concerned about making it back to Brasov, where at least I have other options or a place to stay if no other options are available. Here there is nothing. Nothing.
Then I see the 4 Police Officers. These are not the nice, street patrol officers I have been seeing all over. No. These are Police Officers. They are there to speak with someone. That someone is not going to like what they have to say. I am really hoping that someone is not me.
I have been places where the police will hassle a person traveling by themselves, whether to shake them down for fines/bribes or just because they don't particularly like foreigners. I don't know if these are that type of police officer or not, but I am definitely NOT from around those parts, and they do keep looking over my way. I just try to sit where I am and not make any "suspicious" movements.
Then I notice something else. One of them is holding a video recorder, and it is pointed, not directly at me, but roughly in my direction. More out at the tracks. This greatly reduces my anxiety level, but peaks my curiosity.
The police start walking in my direction and motioning for everyone waiting at the station to move away from the tracks. I move with the rest of the people, and the cops don't even look in my direction.
Ok, so it's not me they wish to speak with. That's a relief. But now the question is: Who DO they want to speak with?
A train pulls in, and as it does, I realize that it is the first train to come through the station since I got there. I have a theory on that. I'll get to it in a minute.
As the people get off, I notice the cops scanning the crowd. The cops and I notice, at the same time, the person who is trying to avoid their gaze, and sort of trying to get past them.
Guess who they want to talk to.
It goes down rather quickly, with the cops surrounding the person, taking his bag, quick pat down, and an obvious, "You're coming with us." The one with the recorder hangs back from the action, capturing everything. Then they are gone.
About 5 minutes later, the train I was waiting on pulls in, I board, buy my ticket, and start back towards Brasov.
Here what I THINK happened. I have no proof of this, it is 100% theory, but it is the story I made up to fit the events:
The police learned, somehow, of this person who is trafficking *something* who will be getting off the train at Fagaras. It was the last stop for that train, so they knew that even if the guy saw them, he would still have to get off. To prevent confusion / keep other people from getting in the way, they stopped traffic into and out of the station, except for this one train. I don't know if I'm right, but it fits.
So, back to my night. I'm back in Brasov. The station is closed, the departure board tells me that the next train to Bucharest is at 0315 in the morning. This is definitely NOT an option for me.
I think for a minute, then remember the cabbies who were in a bidding war with couple earlier. I pull out some LEI from the ATM, and walk over to the taxi stand and ask, "How much to Bucharest?"
After a short discussion with two different cabbies, I settle with one of them for a price of 350LEI($105USD) for the 170km trip.
Now, I had forgotten one "minor" detail. Remember the mountains? They weren't that big of a deal on the train. Steep grades and sharp turns aren't a factor. Trains go through, not around and over. Cars, and more importantly, trucks (of the large, slow, trailer pulling type) don't have this option. Guess what time of day (night) a lot of trucks decide to cross the mountains? So, a trip that is rated at 2h40mins on Google maps took almost 4hrs.
The cabbie was great though. Older man with broken, but understandable English (FAR better than my Romanian, the lack of which led to this whole scenario). Given to long silences while driving, broken up by cussing in three languages that I could make out at "Stupid truck drivers" and "Governments who can't build roads", and talking about his wife and kids. When we made it to Bucharest, he admitted he wasn't familiar with the city, but between his and my memories, we managed to find the hotel. At almost 4am. On a Monday morning.
I tipped the cabbie an extra 50LEI for the extended drive time, and was finally able to call it a day.
I made it to work on time, exhausted but functional, and I got another good story to tell. Not bad.
