The Great Balkans Road Trip: Timişoara – Braşov (Day 10)

Welcome to Day 10 of 13 of my Great Balkans Road Trip with Just You. So far in this series, we’ve travelled from Romania through Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia. We’re now back in Romania for the final few days of the tour. In this episode, we’re starting with a tour of Timişoara and ending up in Braşov. You can find the whole series at the link below. This blog contains affiliate links to help support my writing.

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What is Hotel Timişoara like?

The highlight of this hotel (because there always is one) was the bathrobes and slippers. What a treat! We could have done with those slippers in the slippy bathrooms in Belgrade. I love getting into a bathrobe when I step out of the shower; it saves much of the bother of drying. Plus it’s like stepping into a hug.

I was very hot in bed last night (and no, it’s not my time of life). I would be taking advantage of air con in future hotels. The duvet here was so thick and narrow that I couldn’t stay under it. Over breakfast it was pointed out that the duvets weren’t actually that thick but they were folded in half. Doh!

‘There’s a course later – I suggest you go on it.’

A particular quirk of this hotel was the lighting. It had taken me some time to figure out how to turn off the light above the bed but I eventually managed it before settling down to sleep. It seemed some of my companions hadn’t figured it out. One slept with the light on and another unscrewed the entire light fitting. These are things to be aware of and to ask for training sessions on at checkin at Hotel Timişoara, dear reader.

Breakfast was the usual hard boiled eggs, black coffee and juice. I was also starting to enjoy fruit for breakfast and had a bowlful here. I’d forgotten how much I liked tinned fruit – and I liked it so much I’ve started eating it at home.

We had an action-packed day planned today, including walking tours of Timişoara and Sibiu and a visit to Corvin Castle.

What is Timişoara like?

After breakfast, we headed out on a walking tour of Timişoara. It was a glorious morning for a leisurely guided walk. Here are the highlights from my photographs.

You’ve got to love Google Lens. I had no idea what any of those photos were – I’ve just put each of them into Google Lens and it has provided the captions for me. Modern technology, eh? Also, what a beautiful city – and such a shame we didn’t have longer here.

This doll put me in mind of a memorable stay I once had at the Rockingham Arms Hotel in Doncaster. There was a doll in the corner of my room, facing the wall. I picked it up to turn it around – and, on doing so, noticed that the doll had no face – just like the one above. I was terrified! Do you know why this is a thing?

Back on the bus, our guide was now back in his home country and revelled in telling us all about it.

Some Facts about Romania

• Pelican is the national bird.
• Bears live in the forests. They are coming into villages because of deforestation and ‘there have been some accidents…’
• There are also wolves, wild boar, red deer, lynx, mountain goats and mountain eagles.
• The Danube Delta is one of the most important ecosystems in the world.
• The population is 19m and declining – it was 24m and growing under communism.
• Romania is the only Latin country in Eastern Europe.
• St Andrew is the patron saint of Romania – he baptised the first Christians in Romania.
• Transylvania translates as ‘land behind the forest’.
• Romania was not conquered by the Ottoman Empire. 
• Moldova was part of Romania between 1918 and 1940 then taken by the Soviet Union before gaining independence in 1991.
• Romania is a major European producer of grains.
• Dacia cars are from Romania.
• Dacia was the name of the kingdom conquered by the Romans that existed roughly where modern day Romania is.

On the Road Again

We learned all of the above facts whilst on the road from Timişoara to Corvin Castle – where we got stuck in the most horrendous roadworks. Basically, one half of the road was being completely dug up – to a good couple of metres in depth – and there were temporary traffic lights at either end. But this was a loooooooooooong stretch of road and we were delayed here for a long time. There were even people with market stalls selling fruit by the side of the road, the delays were that long.

Meanwhile I had been taking full advantage of snackage at every available opportunity to avoid getting hangry. This was going very well. I actually don’t mind in the least being stuck on a bus, as long as I’ve had sufficient comfort breaks (and there aren’t any smelly people on board – loud ones can always be blocked out through AirPods).

What is Service Station Snackage like in Romania?

This was all very exciting and mercifully enough to keep me going all day.

What is Corvin Castle like?

I was struggling to get excited about the castles for two reasons. 1. I had visited them all before on a previous Just You holiday. And 2. I remembered them to be crowded and compact and I don’t like crowded or compact spaces.

Therefore I’ve outsourced the research on this castle, which you can find in the below documentary.

I did, however, enjoy lunch and a couple of beers in a restaurant at the foot of the castle.

Over lunch, I was recommended another book.

Food was always a topic of conversation over meals. Someone reminisced about Toast Toppers (which I used to love!). And it was recommended I try strawberries with pepper or balsamic vinegar. That doesn’t sound right to me – but then neither did sausage and marmalade sandwiches and they are a wonderful invention.

After lunch, the group visited the castle and I remained in the bar with a beer, enjoying the music in the shade from the sunshine. Thanks to Shazam, I can even tell you what I was listening to. Grab a beer, sit in the garden and you can recreate the scene.

I seldom listen to the radio, so most of my music is collected on holidays and from TV shows. Paul Anka was playing on my previous visit to Romania. Copilot confirms that he is unusually popular in Romania and receives a lot of airplay. Romania, apparently, has ‘a strong affection for classic crooners’ – and Anka has performed in Romania multiple times.

Romanian Revolution

The others returned from their castle visit – and one man instigated a revolt. We were very much behind schedule after the roadworks – and still had a long drive ahead of us before we reached Braşov, where we were staying for the next couple of nights. The schedule had us breaking up the journey with a walking tour of Sibiu. This man was rallying the troops to suggest that we bypass Sibiu so we weren’t ridiculously late getting to Braşov. The guide was not best pleased but agreed on the condition that we all signed a piece of paper agreeing to this, so there was no comeback afterwards, as it was on the schedule. If one person did not sign, then we would go ahead with the Sibiu stop. We were all keen to avoid a late arrival, so we all signed and that was that.

What is Sibiu like?

Now Sibiu was my absolute favourite place in Romania from my previous visit. At the time, it was European City of Culture, and I have fond memories of sitting outside a bar with a beer that cost me the equivalent of a pound, watching an aerial ballet performance in the square. Thanks to the Hop Hooligans pub map, I also managed to locate a belting little micropub – St Andrews Scottish Pub. I was disappointed to be missing out on it today, as it was the place I had been looking forward to the most. Still, I guess it’s an excuse to go back to Romania…

Here’s a little video all about it so you don’t miss out, too, dear reader.

On the Road Again

With the Carpathian Mountains in front of us, our guide told us about the astonishing road built within them – the seldom open Transfagarasan Highway, which was featured on Top Gear. It is incredible – take a look at the video here.

As we approached Braşov, we learned that it was officially renamed Orașul Stalin (City of Stalin) between 1950 and 1960 as part of Romania’s Stalinist propaganda campaign.

What is Hotel Aro Palace like?

Despite skipping Sibiu, we still arrived late, and I retired straight to my room. The pubs could wait until tomorrow. Some of the others had a drink in the hotel bar but I couldn’t even manage that.

I turned on the TV to see what was on offer in Romania. I was delighted to find a show called Masked Bandits, about raccoons, red pandas and badgers.

I was delighted to find an assortment of unusual items in the bathroom. It has often puzzled me why hotels don’t provide toothbrushes and toothpaste – because those are something that every single visitor will use. I often see shower caps in hotels and have never ever used one of those. And who needs two bars of soap? What happens to the unused soap after its single use? I have, on occasion, been caught short in a hotel without toothpaste and would have welcomed that. Also contact lens solutions would have proved useful in the past. And contact lenses, for that matter. I appreciate that’s a bit niche but it would have been helpful.

This was a lovely hotel, with a large room that was comfortable enough for me to want to spend time in. I will show you more of it tomorrow, dear reader. For now, I am retiring to bed, ahead of another day of adventuring tomorrow, when we’ll visit a bear sanctuary and hit the pubs of Braşov.

What did I learn today?

• Sometimes duvets are folded in half, making them extra toasty. Check for this in future.
• Light fittings in hotels can be complex. These are worth checking before retiring to bed in case any questions are needed at reception.
• Timişoara is beautiful and worth a revisit.
• Dolls with no faces are a thing.
• Bears live in the forests of Romania.
• Chocolate covered dried mango is delicious.
• Strawberries are nice with pepper or balsamic vinegar (TBC).
• Paul Anka is a big star in Romania.
• There is an awesome road crossing the Carpathian Mountains.

Is this part of a wider Balkans travel series?

Yes! If you want to start at the beginning you can find Day 1 here or navigate below or via the European Travel Diaries menu. The journey takes me from Romania, through Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia, before heading back into Romania.

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