Regarding my blip of a trip to Transylvania

Bus from Budapest to Cluj Napoca: 7 Hours
Bus from Cluj Napoca to Sibiu: 3.5 Hours
Train from Sibiu to Sighisoara: 3 Hours
Train from Sighisoara to Cluj Napoca: 3.5 Hours
Bus from Cluj Napoca to Budapest: 7 Hours

Arrival back in Budapest...Priceless!

Out of 62 hours between Wednesday afternoon (4/16) and early Saturday morning (4/19), I spent 24 hours alone in some form of long-distance public transportation. Was it worth it? Debateable.

It was another one of the spontaneous..."hey do you want to go to in two days?" And me being generally bad at saying "no," I of course agreed. To be fair, I had been bummed that I had taken so little opportunity to visit the places within easy reach of Budapest that I won't be able to see over the summer. I only went away one weekend, to Vienna (don't get me wrong--our summer travel plans are EXTENSIVE and AWESOME! yes I just used a lot of caps). Plus there is an amazing bus company, Orangeways--serving coffee and film entertainment, that had tickets for 22 dollars round trip.
So Wed. I joined my friends, who were apparently part of a 20 person group from other schools (I was the only Corvinus student), with a strong presence from the Polish community. At least 40% of the group went by the name of 'Magda.'
Upon arrival in Cluj Napoca, the city seemed attractive, particularly in the well-lit central square that the bus kindly dropped us off in at our request. We found the Retro Hostel, cheap and dorm-y digs, went for a drink (romanian beer -- Bergenbier. meh.) at an empty (despite Lonely Planet's promise of a lively student nightlife in Cluj) but alternative looking spot nearby. The next day we checked out the city, with many long delays waiting for people of the group to come together----I cannot express my frustration with large groups and with collective touring...I never have and doubt I ever will have any interest in seeing the Botanical Gardens anywhere!

Cluj was cute, very similar Hapsburg-influenced style of Prague, Vienna or Budapest, only pale in comparison to those cities. Unfortunately, that was my general impression...Cluj and Sibiu...nice, clean, pretty, etc. etc. but nothing unique or special.

the one difference: aluminum-looking roofs (this is a synagogue) I think Transylvania would be a good destination for hiking and seeing the mountains, but merely city-hopping is not so worth it. So with the large group frustration, this underwhelmed impression, and plus with all the assignments i have to do weighing on me, I decided to return on Friday night instead of Saturday night.

Thus began my first experience 'traveling' alone. I am not a big fan of said circumstance, but I am glad I have experienced what it was like. I have definitely gotten to destinations alone before, but this was a 24 hour period of time, with sightseeing thrown in.

As the number of transport connections in Transylvania are significantly fewer than promised in Lonely Planet and their timing is not the best, I took the 7:30 am train from Sibiu to Sighisoara. This entailed my walking from the hostel at 6:30 in the morning, getting whistled at by miner's arriving in town for work (seriously, it's an unholy hour, i purposely look as unattractive as possible for no unwanted attention and still...), and going in circles looking for the actual train ticket office. After which, god forbid they provide a board specifying departures and platforms.

I will say, however, that the people are very friendly. The hostel receptionist was indispensable for helping me plan which trains would allow me to arrive in time at Cluj, and some friendly man at the train station showed me the right platform despite our complete lack of ability to communicate in any common language. On the train I wound up sitting across from an old, leather-skinned, scarf-wearing woman who was later joined by some grizzled old man, and then they proceeded to flirt during the entire early morning journey. They thought I was Spanish.

Having spent so much time on the train or on the bus, I saw quite the fair amount of countryside. Transylvania is extremely rural, lots of ramshackle houses, and a fair amount of horse-drawn carts being used in all seriousness. Unfortunately my camera does not take good shots in motion and through a grimy window.

romanian granny's

Sighisoara I enjoyed stopping in. I opted for it over Bran-Brasov and Dracula's Castle, because this UNESCO world heritage site (due to the medieval citadel) is the birthplace of Dracula,and that was enough of a connection for me (and 3 hours less spent on a train). Course, now the home he was born in is a restaurant, but no matter. The citadel truly was medieval and interesting, and it was a brilliantly sunny day. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to linger because I was going to catch a train to Cluj two hours later--a train I almost missed for being $2 dollars short (5 leu) of the fare and the only exchange office/atm was back in town. Thank goodness for nice Romanian people--this time it was a waiter at a deserted dive who changed 10 euro for me. This slight delay did work an amazing coincidence--I ran into two funny french guys from the hostel back in Cluj, and had a pleasant chat with them.

On the train back to Cluj (after it was significantly delayed. Again...thank you for not having any departure boards, Transylvania!) I thought I was going to have to stand the entire 4 hours as there were no seats. Somehow I finagled one in a crowded compartment with 3 Romanians, and the most PDA international couple I have ever seen. The latter was also returning to Cluj and then to Budapest on the same bus as I, so I had the pleasure of waiting in the cold at the bus stop for 2 hours at night chatting with them about how crazy the European school system is. The girl, Finnish, had studied abroad in Mexico, Thailand and now Hungary, lived for a year in Estonia and traveled extensively in Latin America. And somehow, with almost no time at her home university, she would be earning a Finnish college degree. Unbelievable.

Back in Cluj, around 5 pm, I had oodles and oodles of time to kill before the 11 pm bus back to Budapest. I tried the street food (a necessary activity while traveling anywhere) which was called 'Palacsinte si Brynza,' but it was more like a thinner floppier Langos than a pancake and brynza is sheep's cheese. Yuuuummy. As I had already seen all of Cluj that there was to see, and the weather was about to turn to rain, I took refuge in a greek-themed cafe. I took an hour eating my decadent caramel dessert, I read a good amount of Lonely Planet, and a few hours later I got antsy and left. Getting to the bus station meant walking on a crumbling path along an overpass from the train station, and I did not wish to do this when dark fell (if I hadn't already been there with the group previously, I would have NEVER found it alone). And so I continued reading (this time Writing with Hitchcock by Steven DeRosa), waiting, avoiding the stray dogs, and chatting with the PDA couple, and I was SOOOO thankful when the bus arrived finally. Hot chocolate, lights out, and sleep until I was back in my fabulous and familiar city. God it was good to be home in Budapest.

Transylvania photos