A lot has happened since I arrived to Bucharest. Mistake number one was taking a 16 hour train from Budapest that arrived at 1am. Unfortunately for me, it actually was 2am due to the time change, so I was stranded at Bucharest train station with no public transport and no money. (ATM wouldn’t take my card.) Had to rough it for three hours until the metro opened and I arrived at my hostel at 5:30am. (They didn’t charge me for that night, though). Met up with a wonderful girl named Bella and we travelled to Sinaiai, Brasov, and Istanbul together. Bucharest is…um, the Parliament is magnificent, and the recent history of Ceauşescu's regime is very real and present. Not much else to do in Bucharest, they don’t see much tourism. However, cheapest country I have seen. Beer at the bar is €1. Bella and I went to a couchsurfing meeting on the rooftop on the National Theatre. Much fun. The next day we decided to hitchhike to Brasov to see Bran’s castle AKA Dracula’s castle. Luckily, Ron, an Israeli, and Jason, another New Zealander, happened to be going to Brasov so we hitched a ride in Ron’s rental car. First hitchhiking experience I had--a success. We stopped at Peles Castle in Sinaiai along the way and did a lovely tour and we had a great time eating a watermelon. After that, where Bella and I switched hostels to stay with Ron and Jason. Ate out at a wonderful restaurant for maybe €10. Then Bran Castle, fun bus ride with locals coming back from scything (we tried their bootleg whiskey) then last night in Brasov. Bella and I had a fun time. Then, we were able to hitchhike from Brasov back to Bucharest this morning (I had to skip my trip to Varna.) Luckily, after literally one minute, a man, Marius, pulled over, picked us up, and brought us all the way back to Bucharest. I was planning to go to Sofia, I had to meet Boris that night, unfortunately, I missed the afternoon train and the night train was full, I would have to wait a whole day. Bella was going to Istanbul so last minute she and I convinced myself to go along for the ride. 12 hour bus ride for €50. Sure why not? So I will spend 3-4 days in Istanbul (another country, another continent) then head to Sofia. Some other country will suffer for this detour, but come on, it’s Istanbul! Romania has probably been one of the most exciting countries on this trip. I also drank a 2,5 liter of beer in one sitting. It cost €1,30.
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