Piața Sfatului, or Council Square, was lined with restaurants and bars and has got to be the place to be in the summer season. And winter! In autumn, it was still beautiful and blessedly uncrowded. I have seen so many pictures of the iconic BRASOV sign on Mt. Tampa back there and it felt beyond surreal to see it in real life. It’s the little things!

Strada Sforii! It’s one of the narrowest “streets” in Europe, only wide enough for two people to walk down side-by-side and was intended for firefighters to use it as a quick accessway. This is a must-do in Brasov and I was stoked that we made it there in between hordes of tourists! I have seen videos where people are pushed through in a crowded line – no fun in that!

I would say the top complaint I have seen across the board about Romania is their unhinged graffiti problem. We definitely saw less of it the more rural we got, obviously, but once we started making our way south toward Bucharest again, the tags began popping off. Brasov was a clear indication that while the buildings were old as shit, we were in more urban land for sure. Graffiti doesn’t bother me – as long as it’s not on churches, etc. Probably, it shouldn’t be here either but I felt like it added some flavor, I don’t know! It was fun to go through and look at all of the different languages. I didn’t see it in my pass-thru but on one travel vlog I watched on YouTube, I saw something written in Korean!

I knew if I looked hard enough, I’d find at least ONE Kpop reference, lol. #StanATEEZ

I took pictures with the good camera too and haven’t had a chance to even LOOK at them. Basically, I’m saying these Romania posts have no end in sight. I’m sorry.

Huntr/x representin’!

I mean, I don’t know! The graffiti gives it a grimy, sleazy flair! I think it would be such a cool backdrop for senior portraits. I have no idea why that was my first thought.

After moseying around town some more, we stopped back at the room to chill for a bit and I had to stop and take a million pictures from the catwalk thing that lead to our room. I just couldn’t get enough of this sight! It’s the main reason why I booked this room.

Then on the way back out, it was darker so I had to take more pictures LOL. Me one day in the nursing home: “Have I ever shown you my BRASOV SIGN pictures?” Every nurse under employment: “YES. ALL 87 VERSIONS.”

Brasov has a Romulus statue too!

I loved the lighting on this building!

After some shopping, we ended the night at a bar near our room called AFTAR STUBE.

Henry for some reason asked to sit outside and it was SO COLD. I was visibly shivering and although Henry was ignoring my frost-bitten status, the waiter noticed and asked if I needed a blanket.

YES, PLEASE.

He grabbed one from a stack inside an old telephone booth and brought it over to me and I was so grateful. He had come off very brooding and dark-vibey up until this moment (not that I minded, we were in Transylvania for fuck’s sake, ride that stereotype my guy).

Even though it was so chilly out, it was a great atmosphere. Groups of people came out here and there to smoke, so it wasn’t like we were ostracized but I still wished we had sat inside where the action (and heat) was.

I don’t want to paint myself like some kind of hop ho, but I was openly moaning while lapping up this sexy glass of sweet froth.

(FORESHADOWING: for as much as I loved this in moment, I feel extremely queasy just thinking about it right now. Ugh.)

This was a classic Romanian beer – very delightful! Bere Czell toasted my check-in on Untappd! (It was Henry’s beer, but I stole a few sips lol.)

Then this confident girl strutted onto the patio! The blurry picture is the result of me being slightly inebriated, my hands shaking from the cold, and the cat not standing still for even a split section.

One of the younger servers told us her name – it sounded like Video but that wasn’t it – and said she is a neighborhood stray who comes there for food every day. After I said, “aw” to the stray part, he said, “She is….” and after struggling for a moment to find the fitting English word, finished with, “living.” LOL. She definitely looked happy and healthy!

That was one thing I noted very quickly about Romania – they love their stray cats. It seems that many local restaurants have quid pro quo relationships with them – they keep the rats away, the restaurants give them scraps.

“Video” was following the younger server around like she owned the place. I loved it.

We split this veggie pizza – it was perfect with beer!

I stopped after my Hop Hooligans dessert beer, but I made Henry get this IPA from Clandestin because I follow them on Instagram and wanted to taste it lol. Also, it’s worth noting that I kept the labels of both cans, of course. I’m Captain Packrat.

What a great end to our first night in Brasov!

No comments