AZUGA

Azuga is a short drive / train-ride (in our case) from Bucharest, and this makes it an ideal weekend getaway destination. We went there last weekend and generally loved it.

Arriving there noon-ish on Saturday, it's eery how quiet the place is. Walking for about 2 km, I encountered about 3 people and no more than 2 restaurants. Weird, particularly when compared to the bustle of other mountain resorts in the area. For example, 10-minute-drive-away Sinaia has traffic jams and full restaurants and shockingly many Porche Cayennes parked on sidewalks.

There are no street signs and no way to know the names of streets or the house numbers. Using a gps to find your accomodations is strongly recommended.

The place we stayed at, Vila Casa Alba was great though. The decor was lovely, the view was, wonderful, and it was steps away from the slopes. Strongly recommended. The one negative point was the lack of a restaurant. There was a well-equiped kitchen provided for guest use, but who really wants to cook on vacation?!

Now, for attractions and fun things to see and do, Azuga is severely lacking. There's the gorgeous view to take in and photograph. There are 3 ski slopes to enjoy (all easy ones). There are a couple restaurants, all rustic ones, from what we could tell. There's a wine cellar where you're likely to get no service (read below). There are no shopping opportunities. There is no coffee shop that I was able to locate.

If you're into peace and quiet and restful weekends away and beautiful scenery, Azuga might be a good place for you.

Whatever you do, though, do not arrive at the train station too early for your train. It is not heated and, at the time of our visit, the door didn't close properly. Brrr.

W(h)ining

I'm not frequently one to whine, but I was frustrated recently in my attempts to wine , so I figured it might be worth sharing.


A corporate Christmas party took us to Azuga this past weekend. One of the big planned highlights of the trip was a visit and a tasting, and potentially even some purchase at Rhein Cellar.




Now, let it be stated that we're not huge fans of their wines. We're nowhere near having tried enough of them to actually state a formal, informed opinion so let's just say that the bottles we tasted so far did not impress us at all.




But we were in Azuga, and it was right there, on our way to the hotel, and we love wine, and I love wineries, and I love wine tastings both as a great low-risk way to discover new favourites and as a low-cost way to get drunk on potentially-crappy wine and we shall visit friends and family over the holidays and what better way to show how much you care about them then to purchase mediocre wine?




So, we walked in to an empty, long driveway and a fairly large courtyard, empty except for a massive bus. We attempted to walk through a door labeled "reception" and that took us to an empty room. There was no bell and after waiting for a few minutes, nobody arrived. I, of course, suggested that the 3-4 bottles on display there were free for the taking, but Andrei's moral compass suggested otherwise.

Therefore we walked out and towards another door labeled "cellar". It was locked. With a large padlock. We then tried yet another door labeled "wine museum". Also locked. With a padlock. Finally, we walked into what appeared to be a restaurant-like space. That's where the former passengers of the massive bus parked outside were having a private party. We attempted to walk in, and actually did, hung around for a bit, partiers were eyeing us suspiciously but no partier asked us anything and no staff member whatsoever materialized.




Needless to say we walked out and they'd have to do some serious wooing to get me back there again.




It's one thing to have the place booked for a private party and nicely say to incoming people "We're sorry. We are closed to the public due to a private party. Maybe you can return some other time when we're open. This here is our schedule.". That is acceptable.




What is unacceptable is staff ignoring people and basically letting them wonder about the property without so much as making themselves seen or heard.




Also, as a side note, this invisible staff should not leave unattended bottles and handbags in the reception room because not everyone's moral compass is as strong as Andrei's.

TRIP TO SIGHISOARA

TRAIN TRIP

Andrei bought the tickets on Wednesday. There are a few CFR ticket agencies in Bucharest which are more convenient than queuing for 1-2 hours at the rail station before the actual trip, it really saves a lot of time and nerves. It’s cheaper to buy a return ticket. The tickets cost 98RON/person (about €26). Keep in mind that the price can be lower if you own a European student card.
We left Bucharest’s North Railway station at 16:45. The train ride was ok, just a bit crowded on that Friday afternoon (trains are always crowded during the weekend).
We arrived in Sighisoara at 21:35 although the train was scheduled to arrive at 21:15 (trains in Romania leave on time but never arrive on time).



THE HOTEL

We booked a double room at a nice location. The place is called Pensiunea Joker (http://www.pensiuneajoker.com/). The room was clean, the beds very confortable, the floor was heated. For a small fee they can prepare breakfast. A double room costs 100RON per night (aprox. €30). If you arrive at night, and if you are for the first time in Sighisoara, this hotel (like many others) can be hard to find because the streets are dark and street signs are missing. Maps of Sighisoara are not so clear, the GPS being a good way to find your way around at first. During the day it’s easy to find your way around, you won’t even need a map.


SIGHTSEEING AND ATTRACTIONS

After a good night’s rest, in the morning we went out to eat breakfast. This is how we discovered this restaurant (PERLA).

The breakfast was more than filling, the cost was as much as a normal lunch (55RON, €15). We had an omelet, pressed cheese, a cold platter with various cheeses and ham, coffee and an orange juice.
We ate at this restaurant again during our stay. We definitely recommend that you try:


Soup in bread






And…mulled wine:

It’s perfect after a full day’s walk in the cold. Spices are well balanced and the apple adds to the great taste! It’s cheap also, just 5RON (€1,5) for a 250ml cup.

Attractions in Sighisoara are numerous.
You can visit the clock tower which also houses the history museum of Sighisoara:

The view from the terrace is spectacular:

A must see in the medieval fortress is the stair passage:

The stairs lead to a church which can also be visited. It even has a crypt below the altar.

At the base of the stairs we found one of the most amazing places in the fortress. It is a wine cellar called Teo’s Distillery. Here they serve Romanian traditional liquors such as Rachiu, Tuica. All are 100% natural made after a very old family recipe. You can taste for free or have a drink of the one you really like. The atmosphere is awesome. At the end you can buy a few bottles, a small one is 20RON (€6) and a big one is 50RON (€15). If you like traditional drinks this place is a must to visit.

After a long drink at the distillery head on back to the base of the tower. There you will find a kiosk where they sell a local doughy delicacy. You can add sugar, cinnamon, nuts. A big one costs 10RON (€2,5) while a small one is 5RON(€1,25). Expect to stay in big queues because a lot of people want to get their hand on one of these.

After eating these you might want to check the other kiosks nearby. They sell souvenirs and hand crafts.

Of course be prepared for a unique and true medieval adventure if you visit during winter or during rainy days. It seems that streets were very muddy during medieval times so as to preserve the atmosphere, streets are equally muddy during our times therefore we recommend you to bring a lot of shoe polish!

Reason #67589674068743 why you should go to Sighisoara

Wonderful bean soup in a bread bowl! Mmmmm.

@ Perla, Sighisoara

If you're there, have the mulled wine as well. Really good red wine, subtle spices, piping hot- what more can you want? Oh, a green apple slice for decoration . Apple in alcohol= happy apple.

Beginnings

We love to travel, eat well, drink good wine (and the occasional other things).
We like to take pictures and share them with people.
We also like to write and enjoy giving un-asked for advice.

So, this blog was the logical follow-up to that.

Please, feel free to drop us a line with your opinions, recommendations, questions etc.

As to the photography, the usual common-sense rules apply: These are our photos, they are our property and we'd be unhappy if someone turned around and started using them for profit without our consent. In other words, please do not print or distribute the pictures unless we say it's okay. If you like something and would like to have a print, email us and we'll be happy to help. We'd be deliriously happy for people to enjoy our photography in their homes. If we'd go as far as to consider you a friend, let us know if you like anything and we'll even do the running around to print them for you.