After a good group dinner at a restaurant in the main square in Sibiu and out until late, it was up early to pack be ready for our minibus foray into the countryside. Luggage space available meant that only an over-night bag could be taken and remaining luggage was left in the hotel.
First main stop on the route was Bran Castle; not just a castle but a town within the castle which amongst other things provided lunch before our guided tour. Both towns and countryside have an Austrian flavour and it is interesting that many of the schools teach in German rather than the Romanian language; some locals are critical of this as it encourages the brightest to go off to university and jobs in Germany rather than staying at home.
From Bran, we went on to Miclosoara, a small village where the party divided into two groups. One group overnighted here in a typical farmhouse while the other, including us, journeyed another 50 minutes along increasingly bad roads to the Prince of Wales’s Romanian retreat where we were to rest. It was certainly a quiet and remote spot with the Prince decreeing that there should be no wifi and internet so we could more properly chill out. We took up all the rooms bar one which was occupied by an Aussie girl who was chilling for four days, but then she was on a four month world tour career break. However the beds were certainly 5* comfort even if some of the other aspects such as dinner and breakfast were not.
Next day again up early to fit in a long day in the minibus; first job was to go back and collect the other group. But a puncture delayed us and we never recovered time for the rest of the day. Difficult to say which group had the better deal but our perception is that probably the other group did – they drank the local eau de vie after dinner which we did not!
From there to Sighisoara to see another castle (interesting but not dissimilar to Bran Castle) with a guided tour and a side trip to see a couple of houses in another Saxon village, so named because of the very wide front doors and reflecting that large numbers of inhabitants came from Germany and Austria two or three centuries ago. Most have since returned there.
Then a drive back to Sibiu arriving in time for a ten minute break before we set off on an hour’s walking tour of Sibiu, ending with dinner at a Portuguese restaurant, the only one which could take a late booking for 16 people on a busy Saturday night. Back to the hotel after midnight; at least we were spared the flight planning chores and we are rather looking forward to a quiet day tomorrow!