Missing out on important sightings in Transylvania

We didn’t see Dracula in Sighişoara, even after we wandered up into his actual birth home. So we set out to do some other sightseeing and – as soon as we drove our Odysseys bus out of the city limits, a flurry of high-pitched scary alerts sounded on all the tour members’ phones.

Here’s my alert – telling us that three bears had JUST been sighted walking down the street in front of our hotel!

As a traveler, I don’t know how much more disappointment I can take – no bears, no vampires. I do have these other touring photos to share, though, and I hope they’ll suffice. This is the 15th century fortified church from the village of Biertan, where Odysseys took us for a quick visit on a long driving day:

And then a look at the beautiful hillside from inside the citadel of the church:

We also stopped to have a visit with a Gypsy family about their lifestyle and culture (note: Gypsy was the name they specifically told us to use). They lived in a little compound and apparently supported themselves doing car repairs – there was a nice, but damaged, 100K Porsche Panamera in the yard, juxtaposed with an outhouse that we had to use since there was no toilet plumbing.

Here’s three generations of the Gypsy family:

We heard some really interesting details about their culture – women can’t drive, girls should marry by 13, and going to school – especially for girls – is considered shameful. Below is the dowry of the mom – the woman on the far left. The youngest member – on the far right and in her 30s – says that dowries are more cash-based now but this dish collection used to be the norm:

Now we’re in our final tour city- Brasov. From Brasov, we make a final trek to some Dracula sites – including Bran Castle. For now, we’ve made an initial walk through Brasov and it’s just gorgeous. It sits at the base of the Carpathian Mountains and so everywhere I look it’s fantastic architecture and tree-studded green hillsides: (note the Brasov-style Hollywood sign up on the hill – installed in 2004).

It’s a perfect place to end our travels. Here’s the first pics. This first one is not mine but it’s such a nice aerial view of the main square that I want you to see it:

And for once, I can offer you a synagogue picture as well! The building was finished in 1901 and the Brasov Jewish population was about 3500 until 1940. Upon the establishment of Israel, most of the Romanian Jews moved there – and so now the synagogue has under 300 members, mostly quite elderly. There are only about 15,000 Jewish people in all of Romania…vs. 757,000 before WWII. And here’s something I did not know – during the communist regime here, 300,000 of the remaining Romanian Jewish people were sold to Israel between 1949 and 1978. It was a moneymaking scheme by the Romanian government to try to limit their dependence on Russia. Israel paid up to $25,000 for a scientist or engineer and also supplied Romania with oil drills, military equipment, and even helped them secure loans. It’s a pretty shocking piece of history to discover. Here’s the Beth Israel synagogue:

And a couple more pictures from the Old Town:

Ok, I need to go. Our last possible Dracula sites await. I’ll post one more time before I head home.