Cluj

After a short ride I arrived in Cluj Napoca. Soon I found out that there was the Transylvania Film Festival that will start the next day. It lasts for 12 days and features low budget movies from throughout the world. There were playing maybe 20 different movies in one day in the many cinemas/ rooms with projector in the university city. I decided to take a holiday from the holiday and do something else than the usual stuff. In the 12 days I watched about 40 different movies and documentaries.

There were many students out in the streets and good concerts and parties in the evenings. Cinema culture during the day and concerts in the evening. I got to know many people who were travelling, but also very polite Romanians. The attitude of the locals is different from the capitol, most evident in the amount of smiles you get.

I got to know a delightful lady which is studying psychology in Cluj and we met every evening to go out. Sadly she was in the middle of exams, but I still very much enjoyed her company. She made me feel like a teenager again. We went to several concerts together which were very different from what mainstream culture in Switzerland has to offer. Once we went to a gig of the Turkish band called "Babazula". The energy of the singer sweating, singing and playing some odd looking guitar was overwhelming.

Some other time we went to the "Hungarian Theater" where a friend of her was performing in art mix between video, live classical music with a DJ mixing in the beats. Probably should be best observed with some kind of influence. Truly great stuff.

Apart from others I met one other guy that sticks out. He was claiming to be from Jordan and now being a fashion designer in London. He was gay and unorthodoxly dressed so it made sense. He slept in our hostel without checking in, he had a tab at my favoured bar that he never paid, so the poor student behind the bar had to work a day without salary, he burrowed 800 USD from a South Korean (apparently the SK was not aware of how much he actually gave to this guy) and many more free cigarettes and beers while going out. Eventually the South Korean got suspicious and confronted him outside a club, where the "fashion designer" was arguing with some locals about a separate money issue. Afterwards he claimed that he doesn't have any money left and the South Korean snapped and hit him several times and found 400 USD in his pocket. The police later on explained that he is a famous Roma, who goes from city to city and scamming people. Not even the Romanians noticed that he was Romanian. I am sightly impressed by his performance that lasted several days involving about a dozen people.

Finally my camera broke again (this time the lens) and I bought my 6th camera of my trip. Then I was on to Hungary.

Sighisoara

I arrived in the afternoon, I supposed to leave in the morning, but I had to wait 4 hours at the train station. The waiting part is a pattern in Europe. Especially if you don't have a smart phone. Sighisoara is a small town with an elevated old town. I was the only guest in the Burg Hostel and enjoyed the privacy. To walk around the old part you need about 3 hours. The church and the cemetery at top offer the best views. The narrow streets of the old town have some nice angles and are overgrown by bushes. Many American tourists were there during my stay. I also had a lengthy chat with a Romanian Film Artist who is making a video for tourism about Sighisoara. He comes here at least every second day to take some new shots. Apparently he wishes to go to Hungary where salaries are slightly higher. Sadly for him the EU has not yet granted Schengen status to Romania. People often speak German and the town is very relaxed. The food is very good.

Brasov

To be found in the south of the Carpathian mountains. Hilly, green landscape gives you the feeling of being on the countryside. It is in the Transylvania region. The duke Dracula used to live in castle near by. It is just rubble nowadays. But a different castle is now promoted as the original residence of Dracula. The cute little Bran castle gives the impression of being in a fairy tail.

Even though it is just a small village they have a 3D cinema that plays the same Dracula movie 24/7. Later on I visited with a Japanese cannabis farmer the Rasnov fortress. As a structure not impressive, but the location on top of a steep hill makes it special.

Brasov itself has no castle, but a nice old town with various defences and gates. Bears come down from the hills every evening to feast from the garbage residents leave in their containers outside their homes.

Bucharest

Another very soviet style city. Here they built the second biggest house in the world. Only second to - surprisingly non soviet - the Pentagon. It is used as the Parliament and Chaucescus home. He ruled here after the fall of the Iron Curtain. The road in front of the Parliament is exactly one meter longer than the Champs de Ellises - not a coincidence. 

Bucharest is not really popular throughout Romania. The revolution that brought down the dictator, didn't start here, but further west. Huge buildings dominate and a make up the impression tourists take with them. I went out with a Bulgarian couple - the guy turned out to be a Racist who sympathies with Adolf Hitler. I couldn't help him because he would not even listen to his embarrassed girlfriend. So I helped myself by ordering more liquids. 

Beautiful monasteries and golden roofed churches are to be found behind the main avenues.

I didn't enjoy my stay here too much and left after 2 days with the train to Brasov.