2025-06-19 Brasov - Hiking

Today we had a delicious fruit breakfast, filled up our water bottles from the isvor (spring), and headed out to a big hike to the top of Tampa Mountain, all the way to the Brasov sign. Well, me and Yvonne hiked up while Andrew ran up, and then we all hiked down together. It was an amazing hike with gorgeous views! We did a bunch of research to make sure we wouldn’t encounter any bears, and every source online was very reassuring, and also the fact that there were heaps of people there with kids, and holding small babies (and we can run faster than a baby).

The view from the top was spectacular, and Yvonne had the great idea of seeing if my aunty and uncle could see us from their place, when we were right by the V of the BRASOV sign… they could! We stayed on the phone with them for a while, jumping up and down and laughing like idiots, so fun. We took a different, harder route down than up, and about half way down we hear a rustling and some loud roaring. We were all certain it was a bear and had very different reactions; Andrew got out his phone and started walking towards the roaring, I ran away, and Yvonne froze in the middle. Turns out the rustling was unrelated, and the “roaring” was a motorbike revving somewhere down in Brasov. There was no way there were going to be bears, there were people and construction everywhere, but still, woke us up right up.

We had a little play on the gym equipment down the bottom, and had lunch and coffee at Specialty Coffee before heading back home via the outskirts of the walls, nearby the little stream. Just taking a bit of a rest while we’ve got some washing on, and then we’ll head back out for a little walk through the town, and will probably have dinner on our rooftop again tonight.

2025-06-18 Bucuresti to Brasov - Family, Bran Castle

Seeing my grandparents and uncle in Comana was heart warming. I’m so happy to have gotten to see them all again, and so happy that Andrew got to meet them. Although life is not as easy as in Australia in some ways, it struck me that Comana is kind of a paradise where the soil is incredible, you have hazelnut, walnut and sour cherry trees in your backyard because you threw a pip there once, and the people truly care for each other. Having a sour cherry directly off the (neighbour’s!) tree was truly a unique experience, the taste is only describable as the most intense cherry taste you can imagine, that doesn’t seem like it really comes from a natural fruit. We shared hugs, delicious food, stories, photos, and the realisation that these rare moments together are precious. We spent as long as we possibly could, and said a sad goodbye because we needed to make our way to Brasov.

As soon as we arrived in Brasov we headed out to see Yvonne, and grabbed an amazing dinner at a fancy Italian place (Romanian people love going out for Italian food, they eat Romanian food at home), tried coacăze (red currents) as part of my panna cotta dessert, and explored the beautiful old town of Brasov. On our walk home, I noticed a suspiciously large shadow, and Andrew suddenly pulled me out of the way with quite a level of panic - we had encountered what we now know is a Stag Beetle (rădaşcă), a gigantic, cumbersome flying beetle that looked like it absolutely belongs in Transylvania. We asked Yvonne if she knew what it was, and she was certain we’d seen a bat (it was NOT a bat), but my aunty and uncle helped confirm it was a harmless, although terrible looking rădaşcă, which will only bite if you absolutely force it to. Now that I know what it is, I want to see another one!

We had a little sleep in and visited Bran Castle today, which felt quite touristy but we enjoyed it regardless.

On the way back we stopped at a Carfour and got some amazing cheeses, meats, and even some mincare de masere, which really tastes like my mum’s but with a lot less flavour. After a little break, we headed out again for an Amandine at La Vatra Ardealului which was as amazing as my mum said it would be. We caught up with Yvonne and my uncle and aunty, and after a catchup, Doru took us on a trip up the mountain to the ski area, so of course we are already making ski plans.

We walked back to our place via the narrowest road in the world, Strada Sforii, and had a lovely dinner on our apartment’s rooftop.

Brasov is just wonderful, I can’t believe people don’t know about it! I mean, I’m sure people do, but I haven’t heard anyone talking about it, and it’s just such a gem of a city. Tomorrow we’ll explore some more with Yvonne!