Hello, in this post I'd like to share the first day of our journey in Braşov, Romania. We entered Braşov through the Palanca border crossing. Part of the road was quite rough for about 5,000 meters. There were small stones and potholes on the road, making the car constantly shake. We climbed a hill for about three meters, feeling like we were hitched to the back of a truck.
The vehicle inspection took about 30 to 45 minutes. We waited for a total of two hours in the queue at the Romanian border. It took some time for our vehicle to be inspected and our passports to be stamped at the Romanian border. We purchased a vehicle vignette for 7 days from a petrol station in Târgu Bujor, Romania, for 14.80 Romanian lei. We learned where to purchase the vignette at Profi Super, a supermarket open 24 hours in the city.
If you're not planning to buy a SIM card in another country or order internet while abroad, I recommend taking screenshots of map directions or at least jotting down the names of a few places along the way to avoid losing internet access during the journey. Because approximately an hour after losing internet connection, the map disappears. So, I took screenshots beforehand and followed them on the road. I purchased my travel insurance through the Hotline app. Although I had points in the app, for some reason, I couldn't use this bonus; they only asked for a green card once. The same procedure applied at the Romanian border and on the return trip. Then we went to find a currency exchange office for the rented apartment. I saw one with Romanian writing and flags of different countries. Finally, we exchanged the money at a Kaufland store, which was 4 minutes away from Lidl, near Lidl.
Then we rented our apartment. There was a washing machine here, and there was a bathroom window at the entrance. Interestingly, it was the first time we rented an apartment. It was very nice; it was on the first floor and had an exit to the garden. Having access to the garden was great. The kitchen was spacious. There was a microwave, plates, pots, and pans. Then there were garbage bags, a trash can, a sink, a sponge, salt, sugar, toothpicks, and lighters. In short, everything we needed was available in the apartment.
There was also a stove and an oven; we used them later. The couch was foldable; I think it was the first time I had seen this brand of refrigerator. Next to the kitchen was a room. There was Wi-Fi, a television, a window, a wardrobe, an ironing board, and an iron next to the table. We were glad about this because it was difficult to iron the clothes in the bag. Overall I was very satisfied with the apartment.
We had brought Easter cheese and tomatoes from home. I was planning to buy meat and cheese here, but I couldn't find them at Lidl. We had tried Alfred Pizza in Germany; it was very delicious. We wanted to try it here too, so we bought two pizzas. There was this sweet cat next to our apartment.
The surroundings of the apartment were very nice; there were all very cute houses. There were benches and tables in the cute places between the houses, and there were even swings. It took us 24 minutes to reach the city center from our room. The hill was a bit steep, making it difficult to climb, especially with high heels.
Braşov, historically founded in the 13th century by the Teutonic Knights in Transylvania, is a German city. The city emerged as a transportation hub with a network of roads over the passes in the Carpathian Mountains. The motto of the Teutonic Knights, "heal and protect," was first mentioned in Braşov in 1251. In medieval documents, the city is known by the names Braşov, Braşca, Broos, Stephanopolis, and Kronstadt. Currently, Braşov is the sixth most populous city in Romania, with just over 250,000 people living here, and it is the second most important industrial center in the country after the capital, Bucharest.
Braşov can be visited in every season; it even has a ski resort in winter.
After a little walk, we arrived at the Black Church, one of the most important symbols of the past. The Black Church is also known as the Church of Saint Mary, a Lutheran church. According to inscriptions in the building, the New Church was built around 1383-1385, replacing an old church. The construction was carried out by Bulgarian workers. The first priest serving in the church was named Thomas. The building was largely destroyed by fire during the occupation of Braşov by the Austrian army during the Great Turkish War in 1689 and was subsequently rebuilt. In the bell tower, there is a 6-ton bell, the largest bell in Romania.
Later, the area we passed through became a street for young people, a place where they could hide from their parents. One of the city's most significant attractions.
Rope Street, the narrowest street in the city, was probably built in the 16th century as a special corridor for firefighters.
You can allocate two days to explore the historic center; you can see everything without rushing, but you can also see it all in one day. The center has a typical structural layout of old Western European cities, with irregular streets and attractive colorful houses.
The Catherine's Gate separates the Old Town from the Şchei district and was built between 1827-1828 due to increased transportation flow. The old gates were destroyed in the flood of 1526. It takes its name from the St. Catherine Monastery that once stood here. It was heavily affected by earthquakes and fires in 1689 and 1738. Only the Central Tower remains as part of the original gate. According to information plaques, there were wooden structures destroyed in 1827. This was the only entrance that Romanian residents of the Şchei district could use. They were not allowed to use the other four entrances. During the Saxon rule from the 13th to the 17th centuries, Romanians were not allowed to own property inside the castle walls. They settled outside the city walls. They could only enter the city at certain times and had to pay taxes to sell their goods inside.
We climbed a bit higher. The view down was truly impressive. We were overlooking the city, and it seemed like a small town, but when you walked, everything was of normal size, not massive like in big metropolises, but still charming.
McDonald's and all cafes were open until 10 p.m., as far as we saw. There might be a few exceptions, and stores also worked until 10 p.m. and closed one day a week.
This was quite a relaxed city; I enjoyed everything about it; some places reminded me of other European cities. But of course, wearing comfortable shoes here is better because there are steep slopes, and there are doorbells next to each door that are a bit different from ours. One thing I liked was how clean everything was; wherever we went, it was all clean.
We bought eggs, cheese again, oil for spreading on bread, a bag of potatoes, and two fridge magnets for the refrigerator. And we returned to our apartment.
I'm ending my post here. Thank you all for reading; on the next day, we continued to explore other neighboring cities. I'll cover them in my next posts. See you.