Brašov, via the steam train 🥵

After Budapest, we realised we had luxury access to the Business Lounge, so enjoyed an hour of free snacks and drink in a calm room before boarding our train.

First, there was the excitement of our 2-berth compartment, a sandwich and a beer.

Next we had passport checks done by stern Hungarian and then Romanian Police.

Our clocks duly leapt forward another hour.
Then we found we had drawn the very short straw: our the carriage with no way of turning off the heating 🥵

The steward shrugged her little shoulders and pointed at the buttons and lights on an ancient board….a local fella explained this happened more often than not 🙄

Ultimately we arrived in Brašov super tired after way too little sleep in our sauna.
We did, however, enjoy a light breakfast on our way to our stop👍

We looked across the road to our Soviet accommodation in Bloc 6: what a beautiful monstrosity 👀

I remembered the Airbnb photos, and our host, Raluca, was waiting for us: this was a very early checkin, at 09:45hrs!

Up to the 10th floor, with relief: the room itself was great, & she made full use of google translate speech to text to explain all we needed to know 👍

We were pleased to catch up on lost sleep, and after a snacky lunch, we headed off into town.

The walk in was not the most beautiful, but the old town made up for it: old, quaint, some work needed in parts but very adorable!

After walking down Rope Street (“Strada Sforii”) - the third narrowest street in the world - we found ourselves outside the only tea shop in Brašov, and duly went in for refreshment).
Much banter was enjoyed with the chirpy lady there, who had returned to her homeland after some years in Colchester!
We asked her for a recommendation in where to dine.
Normally people will hedge their bets and offer a few options: not this ball of energy: straight in to suggest Sergiana. Deal done!

We took a slow amble up the hill to the White Tower before heading to eat.

What a cracking underground restaurant: staff in local costume, a massive low-domed set of interconnecting rooms, and tasty yet refreshingly cheap local fare. The waitress even discouraged us from ordering sides: “too much!”
Plus some fine local beer from the Ursus Brewery 😎👍

Finally, a good decision to take a Bolt cab home at the princely cost of £2.33, giving us time to catch up on some snooker!

Oh, & as we were waiting 4 minutes for George in his Prius, we bumped into another “Interrailing for the Older Crowd” couple we had briefly met when we arrived in Budapest: small world! Sounds like they are at Castle Bran tomorrow, maybe we will meet again!Läs mer