Trainspotting in Romania

Our first foray from Bucharest is not the smoothest. At the Nord railway station, the indicator shows Platform 7 for our departure but when we get there, it has gone blank. Shouting the single word "Sibiu" to the one uniformed official on the platform, we find that the train sitting there is to a different destination. But not to panic: after this train has pulled out, it's not long before our train heaves in and we are ready to board. Albeit the coach numbers are not in numerical order and are pasted on sticky windows to the train carriages.

The rolling stock dates from the early Ceausescu years but the seats are quite comfortable. Sibiu is less than 200 miles north-west of Bucharest but it's in no hurry and takes a nearly 6 hours to get there. But hey, we get there! A taxi from Sibiu's station takes us to an airy apartment with separate rooms for the one unit (not easy to find for a threesome) in the city's modern quarter. And we're now in Transylvania............

It's easy to see how Sibiu, a city of about 150,000 people, has become an UNESCO World Heritage Site. There are three squares of varying size and a wealth of ancient city walls, churches and public buildings. Well worth a day of our time. There are various gastronomic pleasures of the naughty-but nice persuasion, even if at the outdoor bar we ourselves become naughty-but-nice pleasures for the midges. Maybe they like our northern European hides, even though these are rapidly darkening in the Romanian sun.Read more