Historical Brasov
The Pensiunea Citadela in Sighisora
Bearing this in mind, my arrival was interesting as a tremendous thunderstorm started just as I was arriving! The Sighisoara citadel is a most impressive area. There is undoubtedly a mysticism about the place but the different and brightly coloured houses, cobbled streets and alleys made it a fascinating place. I believe that the road where I stayed was used for witch trials many centuries back and the hotel, Pensiunea Citadela, was tremendous: close to the clock tower, there are only six rooms and mine had dark purple adornments on the wall, a double bed in maroon colours which I was prepared to put down to the owner's personal taste rather than any possible Dracula theme. Until I saw red toilet paper in the bathroom... There is a steep stairway from the
reception and I must say that I loved staying there. Sighisoara by night was memorable and had as many tourists that night as there had been during the day. I had planned to move on to Brasov by bus but, as it was significantly late, I took the train instead. I'm not usually surprised but this was quite a memorable journey. My three hour, £3.50p second class ticket was on a stopping train which had, well, seen better days. At one stop, two people working on a farm got on for one stop with their pitchforks and later on a family with around seven young children got on and, like a scene from the Giles cartoons, caused chaos. A man who could have been grandfather shared a cigarette - in the non-smoking carriage of course - with one child, aged about six, whilst an argument broke out after another child inadvertently nearly threw another child out of the moving train. My peaceful slumber before this was rudely shattered. I had a twenty minute walk from Brasov Rail Station to the Hotel Regal Brasov where I stayed and, for anyone who may have read my last article about getting completely lost in Kuala Lumpur, you will be amazed to read that I made it, with the aid of a basic map, first time and without ever getting remotely lost. Things are looking up.
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