Chris Dyson's Travel Blog

Today I would be heading back home to the UK after spending a week travelling around Romania. The airport transfer pickup was 03:45am and was only a quick drive to the airport, ready for my first flight just after 6am to Munich, Germany. I would be flying once again with Lufthansa and it was on time departing Cluj-Napoca. The airport was quite small so everything ran smoothly with the gates and boarding. A few hours later I landed in Germany and had a couple of hours to pass the time. I had to change terminals so this helped before leaving on the final flight of the journey home to the UK. I eventually landed in Manchester just after 09:30am. I collected my luggage and waited for my train home. I enjoyed my time in Romania, but I don't think it will challenge my top 3 countries that I have visited. With no current plans for the rest of the year, it's time to earn some money again ready for next year. A video of my journey home can be found here:

We had breakfast at 08:30am this morning and it would be our last full day together as a group of 10. We departed Apuseni National Park at 10am and by lunchtime after a couple of hours driving we were in Cluj-Napoca. We were fortunate enough to be able to check-in early as the hotel had everything ready for us. St. Michael's Church in Cluj-Napoca. We took our luggage to the rooms and then had a walking tour around the city. A few of the key buildings in the city were under renovation unfortunately, so a few photos didn't turn out as well as they would normally. After walking for around 90 minutes we broke away for lunch. Japanese section of the Botanical Garden. In the afternoon I walked to the Botanical Garden. It was nice walking around here as the sun came out at just the right time. The Japanese part was of interest as it reminded me of my time in Asia last year. As the evening approached I grabbed a Subway for dinner as my flight the following day was a 03:45...

The group had the chance for a good rest this morning as breakfast was not until 08:30am. At 09:30am most of the group went on a hike to get some nice views of the lake in Apuseni national park. After around 3km we split and a few people turned back. 5 people including myself continued on to do another 14km around the park before arriving back at the lodge around 13:30pm just in time for some lunch. Low water levels on the lake in Apuseni National Park. In the afternoon we had the chance to rest around the lodge, where there was a tennis court, table tennis table and an indoor swimming pool. We met up again the evening for dinner after enjoying some time to ourselves. Indoor swimming pool. A video from this day can be found here:

We started the morning by walking around the town centre of Sighisoara. We arrived around 18:30pm the previous night so it was nice to see the different shades of colours on the buildings in the morning sunlight. Just after 09:30am we started the long drive to the next destination of Alba Iulia. The colourful buildings around Sighisoara. We walked around the grounds of the citadel and also got our lunch here. The city has an overall population of about 63,500. At 14:30pm we were back on the road again heading towards Apuseni national park where we will stay for the next 2 nights. An entrance gate to Alba Iulia citadel. We arrived just before 18:30pm to check in with our group dinner 1 hour later. There are lots of activities around the guest house such as table tennis and a swimming pool. A video of this day can be found here:

We had a slightly later start to the day with breakfast at 07:45am. We had a small selection of cereals and continental meats to choose from at the guest house before loading the coach to leave at 08:15am. Our first stop of the day was only 30 minutes away at a bear sanctuary. The Libearty sanctuary in Zarnesti has just under 100 rescued bears which are looked after and is located around 25km south of Brasov. Construction of the site started in 2005 and has over 70 hectares of land. 2 rescued bears at the Libearty Sanctuary. After a small rest stop at a service station we were back on the road again to Brasov. We would have a 1 hour walking tour here, then enjoyed some free time to further explore and get some lunch. At 2pm we gathered near the town centre fountain and departed Brasov on the coach. The central square in Brasov. In the afternoon we made our way along some bumpy roads to a place called Viscri. We had a tour around a local blacksmith and had chance to ri...

We loaded our luggage after our 2 nights stay in Bucharest and made our journey to the next destination on the itinerary. It would be around a 2 hour drive which would take us to Sinaia Monastery. The monastery has 2 courtyards and is surrounded by the lower buildings. The original church was built in 1695. We then walked further taking a look at the stunning Peles castle. We were only allowed to admire it from the distance as there filming taking place inside the grounds. A view of Peles Castle from the side. We continued on the motorway before hitting some roadworks. We were pushed for time as it was now October and Bran castle's last admission was 4pm during the winter season, but we made it just in time. Bran castle is where the legend of Dracula could be based on. The fortress is located on the border between Transylvania and Wallachia, almost in the very centre of Romania. Inside of Bran Castle. After leaving the castle we then drove 10 minutes around the cor...

We met in lobby at 8am after getting our first breakfast of the tour. After a quick day briefing we had a short drive to our first planned stop by 8:30am which was the Romanian Athenaeum concert hall. We briefly checked out a few other buildings and monuments before making our way to the Palace of Parliament building. Inside the Bucharest Palace of Parliament. This is the 2nd largest parliament building in the world behind the Pentagon in the USA. The architecture inside is very impressive as we explored the many rooms. We finished the tour by looking out from the balcony over the city of Bucharest. A view from the balcony of Palace of Parliament. Next we then drove to Dimitrie Gusti National Village Museum. This is an outdoor museum located in the Herăstrău Park showing traditional Romanian village life. We spent about an hour here before driving to Bucharest's Old Town in the late morning. We explored some more key buildings before we had some free time in the afte...

I had a very early 03:30am wake up on a Saturday morning to make my way to the train station and then onwards to Manchester airport just after 7am. Today I would be flying to Frankfurt in Germany before connecting onto Bucharest, Romania. Waiting to board a Lufthansa flight at Manchester Airport. Everything was on time and the whole process went smoothly. There was a gate change during the connection but I navigated my way easily to the new location. After both flights there was somebody waiting for me in the arrivals hall just after 6pm ready to transfer me to the hotel. After a long day of travelling I rested up ready for the tour ahead, with a morning city tour planned tomorrow. A video of this day can be found below: