The Ultimate Base for Exploring Transylvania (and it’s Surprisingly Affordable)

Jillian considers this fun but she seems to forget   that I have an incredible  fear of heights here we go because the lineup and the tour groups were  just Bonkers wow it's just amazing up here   this is wonderful in here this is my new  favorite restaurant in the world let's be   honest brush off is a little on the small  side you can definitely see all the main   sites within a single day in fact we're covering  off one of the main sites right now we're here   in the heart of Old Town the council square  and having now visited a number of European   cities I think that this square is a pretty  nice example it's been very well preserved [Music]   now you might be wondering why we decided to stay  in such a small place for a whole month oh and by   the way site number two is just over there is the  black church a medieval Church in the gothic style   and it's really quite striking it really wasn't  that easy to put together our plan for Romania   I mean they're just so many wonderful sites to  visit that we even consider doing a road trip   but spending just a few nights in each Place week  after week sounded a little exhausting instead   we decided to base ourselves right here in the  city of brashoff and we're so glad that we did   okay wait let's check this out this is supposed to  be one of the narrowest streets in all of Europe   certainly it's a narrow Street in Romania I think  it was built for firefighters so that they could   get from one part of the neighborhood to another  and now it's kind of a free-for-all for graffiti   but quite a nice photo op I would say so I  think this whole passageway is normally just   full of people during peak time of day but we're  here pretty early so we have it all to ourselves   we've been able to see the sites that  Transylvania is so famous for the castles   The Villages the mountains and we also stayed in  a really comfortable Airbnb with what I can only   describe as a truly spectacular View isn't this  view so incredible I think you can basically see   the whole city of Russia from right here with the  month winding down we wanted to share our usual   highlights Reel with you guys we're covering all  the fun stuff we did where we stayed what we ate   and of course we're also going to share  how much it all costs and I can tell you   that that lovely apartment we stayed  in came with an equally lovely prize and our tour of Old Town continues so we've  reached another of the major historic sites   this is Catherine's gate and I believe it dates  back to the 16th century and it was probably   the primary way to get in and out of the city and  today it's just this beautiful historic building   and I think what's very notable about it are the  turrets at the top so it has a real medieval look well we're just ticking through the site so  we're now walking along I guess the outer   walls of the city there's a lovely Canal here  and it's a really picturesque spot we're making   our way to another major site and what we've  discovered about touring around in Central   Europe is wherever you have a hill and a good  defensive position you're almost always going   to have some kind of fortification of there  so that's what we're heading to Next [Music]   if you ever want to have a really amazing  Icebreaker with the locals then what you   should definitely do is travel everywhere in  the world with a dog and everyone will come   up to you and make a conversation  whether you understand it or not one of the things that we really  love about living in brashov is   that we're always just a few steps  away from some beautiful Park land   here we are at the Black Tower and this is where  we come and we want to soak in an absolutely   beautiful view of bra shop wow it's so amazing  up here in the morning light just look at it brush off is really one of the most beautiful  cities that we've been to I just love the way   we've got this compact old town and then the  whole thing is ringed by these gorgeous Green   Mountains it's really quite spectacular by the  way if you're brand new to our Channel never   seen this before we'll do some quick intros so  I'm Stephanie this is Jillian we've got a little   Jasper and Huxley down there we travel the world  full time and share it with all of you as we go   good morning everyone it is 6 a.m and we have  woken up bright and early for one specific reason   and that's to climb all the way up to the top of  Mount Tampa now it has been very hot for the past   week so we wanted to get up and beat the heat  and beat the crowds and be maybe the first ones   up there so hopefully within an hour or two we  should be waving at you from the rash off sign   now it is possible to take a cable car all  the way up and I think this is where you pick   up that cable car but we just spent the week  hiking all the way through Transylvania so I   think we kind of have an imperative to hike  our way up there [Music] the only thing we   need to figure out is what is the right path  to take up but hopefully there's a sign here [Music]   it's looking nice and green here already [Music]   here we go buddy [Music] a lot of back and forth on this Trail this has got to be the world's tiniest  safest via ferrata I've ever seen   it's nice to have it here though here we go guys well that was a solid 45 minutes of serpentining  our way up to the top without even having a cup   of coffee first but it feels pretty good to most  likely be the first ones here in the morning and   I'm pretty sure we're going to be rewarded by an  amazing view and here we're passing right behind   that big Brash off sign wow it's just amazing up  here I mean from here we're not only getting the   views over Bradshaw but the whole region and  the mountains into the distance just gorgeous   now here's the part we sort of forgot about  now we have to walk all the way back down one thing that Romania does really well  are beautiful castles in Scenic locations   and that's what we're here for today we've  come an hour outside of brush off to see   not one but two beautiful castles that are  basically right on top of each other [Music]   I am taking things off with a look at Palace  Castle right over here and it's looking very   Regal indeed so this was built back in the 19th  century when Romania got its very first king and   when it became an independent state and I'm  very excited to get inside [Music] foreign just wonderful so this is not an empty Castle  this Castle is filled with all sorts of lavish   furnishings and it's just a beautiful place to  explore now a few Pro tips for you there are   three floors to the castle and you have to pay to  go to each floor and we just paid for the first   floor and actually there was quite a lot there I  mean it's all of the formal staterooms and they   are so are made and just so ostentatious they're  wonderful to walk around in now the other Pro tip   is you're going to want to get here pretty early  in the morning and I would strongly recommend   buying your tickets online in advance because  the lineup and the tour groups were just bonkers   all right now I'm heading over to  Castle number two so polish Castle   which you just saw was for King Carol  and Palestine Castle was built for his   nephew who was next in line for the  throne I guess the king wanted to   keep a very close eye on him because the  two castles are practically side by side [Music] well that was quite a treat compared to  polish Castle it's a little more modest if   that can be said about a castle it had lots  of Art Nouveau touches which is my absolute   favorite I mean I could definitely make a  home there no problem at all and the lack   of crowds certainly made it a much more enjoyable  visiting experience so if you make the trip out   here I would recommend taking the time to see  both because they really are quite different   since we are in Transylvania we kind of had to  sort of come to Bran Castle which is supposed to   be Dracula's castle it really is one of the most  popular sites in all of Romania but we also knew   that we didn't want to spend hours in a lineup  just to be elbow to Elbow with other tourists   shuffling through the castle so instead we decided  to drink in the views from outside so that's it   it's Rand Castle right behind me it looks really  spectacular and I think that's good enough for us   once you've seen a few castles really  the best thing to do here is to go on   an amazing hike so we've come to the  ski resort and we're about to go to   the top of the mountain but first we have  some very important business to attend to   I told Julian that there is no way I'm doing  a big hike today unless I get a nice big lunch   so that's what we're here for wow look  at this place this is wonderful in here [Music] this is my new favorite restaurant in the world   one of the things that I really love about  Romanian Cuisine is that you are basically   guaranteed soup with every meal and that is  no matter how hot the temperature is soup   seems to be a really big part of the food  culture here we have ordered what smells   like an absolutely delicious chicken soup and  this one comes with homemade noodles all right yes I love chicken soup this is an amazing example  this is exactly what I would want if I was at   home with a cold it's so nurturing piping hot and  delicious absolutely amazing so our second course   has arrived but before we get into it I just  wanted to make sure that you guys are enjoying the   music here as much as I am we're actually right  below the speaker so we're really getting the   full effect of it anyway we have this wonderful  vegetable dish here we were a little worried   that we might encounter too many heavy meat dishes  coming here to Romania and there is a lot of meat   on the menu but they're also really interesting  vegetable dishes and this one is a mushroom stew   so it looks like it's in quite a Savory gravy  here and I can see some peppers and tomatoes   and onions so it's really fully stew and then we  have this wonderful scoop of polenta beside it   which is always the perfect side when you have  a nice rich stew so I'll give it a try [Music] it's great it's got a nice rich flavor it  is very Savory very tomatoey and it's very   robust because as I said it's not just  mushrooms or a lot of other vegetables   in here and it looks like it's gonna really  power us through for the rest of our afternoon when we were first researching coming to  Romania and having this trip I kept seeing   photos of this dessert everywhere we look  and I honestly think that I wanted to come   to Romania just to try this this is called  a papa Nash and it is basically a beautiful   fresh-made donut so it's got this face that's  a large donut and then another smaller donut   on the top and then it has this beautiful  sour cream all over it and then a beautiful   fruit on top and it looks so gorgeous I can't  wait to try it I've been so excited about this   okay I'm just trying to figure out the best  way to get at it without totally destroying   it but I just had to start somewhere oh my gosh  it's so wonderful just collapsed right away see [Music] and then the sour cream combined with  the you know the tart sweet fruit it is exactly   what I hoped it would be it's so delicious  if you come to Romania order this right away   well that was an amazing meal but now comes  the really fun part we could hike our way up   to the top but instead we're gonna take  the cable car and then hike our way all   the way back to rashov which is should  be a pretty solid afternoon of hiking you are uh two people uh just going  up okay got our tickets right here looks like the ski hills are pretty  fun for cyclists in the summer season Jillian considers this fun but she seems  to forget that I have an incredible fear   of heights I'm usually quite terrified in  these things we'll see how it goes good [Music] here we go oh we'll just sit very far away from the doors  in case there's some problem and they don't   close and we fall out Stephanie  you ready we're about to take off   oh my goodness oh it's really picking up speed  we've been in a number of cable cars and some   of them had quite a tremendous height from  the ground I think this one is higher than   I want to be but still at a reasonable level so  the trick is don't look down and hold on really   tight to your poodle and I think if I can just  do those things we can get through this okay I mean you really can't beat the view from up  here I'm just waiting for it to be over self   soothing I'm self-soothing while I wait for it  to be over okay I have to emotionally prepare   for the dismount everyone hold on does it okay  then we just like rush out just take your time   slowly make your way okay while it's still moving  like this [Music] and it's over thank goodness well I thought that was pretty fun but now  it's time for us to hit the trail I've got   the map right here we have a gorgeous day a much  better temperature than we've had for the last   week or so it's the perfect timing and about  11 kilometers ahead of us till we get to rashov now it's time to take a look at our  Airbnb and this time we didn't rent   a place that was right in the center of  town we're actually way up in the hills [Music]   we normally prefer the convenience of being right   in the center of town but this time  the place that we really liked just   happened to be up a very Steep Hill in  fact those are the Hills right up there over the course of the month we've discovered  that there are both pluses and minuses to our   location way up in the hills so on the minus  side whenever we want to go anywhere at all   if we need anything a loaf of bread we want to go  through the old town we want to go for dinner we   have a big walk down and then we have an even  bigger walk back up on the plus side this is   basically an Airbnb with a built-in exercise  plan so if you're looking to get in shape I   would say come to Brash off rent this Airbnb  and then just do this walk every single day okay here comes the big push come on buddy  we can do it and another plus when we get   to the top when we get to our Airbnb you're  going to see what makes it all worthwhile and we made it no worse for wear but  definitely a little out of breath all right let's take a look [Music] so here we are and we have just loved this  apartment it's just so spacious and so bright   and I think that the owners did a really nice job  with the decorating it was definitely the most   Charming place that we saw on Airbnb the kitchen  is a little on the cramp side I mean it does have   basically most of what we needed to cook meals but  there really wasn't room in here for two of us at   the same time we did try to cook meals together  but those ended in some light disagreements I'll   say and the design of this space is a little odd  so you have to close the kitchen door if you want   to get out the fridge which is way back here  the bedroom is fine I mean it's nothing special   design wise but it does have a very comfortable  bed and in the end that's what's most important   of course the real reason that we were so excited  to rent this place is what's going on out here isn't this view so incredible I think you can   basically see the whole city  of Bradshaw from right here so really I know it's a lot of work to get  up and down that hill but honestly it's like   living in a park here it's just so beautiful all  right a month in rash off let's talk costs okay   for entertainment I would say that brush off  is very much a create your own adventure type   of destination yeah I mean once you've toured  the main science there's really not that much   going on in town so you really need to head  out of town if you want to make the most of   this location yeah so that could be a hiking trip  it could be a visit to polish Castle it could be   going to the beautiful little town of sigishwara  there's also the seven ladders Canyon which was a   solo mission for me because there's really zero  chance of me getting Stephanie up on a ziplock   yeah she is not wrong about that so some of these  activities have a fee to enter But others are free   except of course for your transportation to get  there so we ended up spending a total of eighty   dollars on entertainment and then another 110 on  our transportation and that covered off a couple   bus rides some cabs uh we also had a car rental  for a few days too yeah now moving on to the next   category dining out and we really didn't hold  back as well we certainly did not there are a   number of very excellent restaurants right here  in the old town now they did tend to be a little   on the pricey side for Romania but it still cost  a lot less than dining out in the other cities   we visited this summer so we went out for a nice  meal I would say every couple of days and it was   usually around 25 U.S so in total we spent 335 on  dining out and then another 500 on our groceries   finally our Airbnb okay so if you guys have  been following our videos this summer you'll   know that we've been spending quite a lot on  our accommodations the Airbnb inflation has   been very real yeah so to the point where we  actually spent more on our month in Budapest   than we have spent in any other City during  the past four years of travel and I mean that   apartment was fine but it certainly wasn't  luxurious no yeah it wasn't luxurious at all   okay so for this apartment here in brashoff  we're here during the peak summer season we   spent a total of 825 dollars for the whole  month which is just amazing it really helps   make up for the ridiculous price we paid in  Budapest and pretty much everywhere else this   summer and that brings us to our total for our  month here in Bradshaw all in all we spent just   1850 us which is really not very much at all  it's pretty incredible it actually makes brasha   one of our lowest cost destinations on par  with what we paid in Belgrade or Tirana yeah   and brush off really does hold up as a destination  even though it's so small that's right in fact   what we've shared with you in this video is  really just a small sample of what you can   get up to in Transylvania so we actually spent  a week hiking through the region and it was a   totally Unforgettable cultural experience well  it's amazing for such a Tiny Town I mean I think   it's literally one street we managed to get  slightly lost all right it is breakfast time   I'm gonna say that I'll probably not dive into  these raw onions as a kindness to Jillian oh   this does not look like the Natural Energy okay  it's not the easiest oh my gosh it's the bathroom

Channel: Our Freedom Years

Views: 5,102

Keywords: how to retire early and travel, retire early and travel the world, life in early retirement, life after early retirement, our freedom years

Id: ZcDYGk7uYM4

Length: 21min 47sec (1307 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 10 2023