Hunedoara, home of fairy tale castles

We began the day with a walk around the star shaped citadel of Alba Iulia, known as Alba Carolina Citadel (fortress, fortification... the names seem to be used randomly!). It's the largest citadel in Romania and only contains museums, churches and grand buildings... and swathes of food stalls, cafés and souvenir stalls of course. It was never used for housing and is now used like a town square, for socialising and public events.

We detoured to the town of Hunedoara, an industrial town formerly kept afloat by coal mining, now one of the poorest towns in Romania since the coal mines were shut overnight in 1990.

Despite being surrounded by factories, Corvin Castle (1440) is a classic fairy tale castle with pointed turrets, drawbridge, moat and bear pit! The interior has been left mostly empty, but there are a number of rooms over various levels to explore, with plenty of information boards to explain the use and history of each room.

We drove to Sibiu and did a late afternoon walk of the old town with Gabriel, before having dinner at a traditional Romanian restaurant.Read more