Leaving all behind - Backpacking around 🎒- Brasov, Romania 🇷🇴 (Day 1)

in Pinmapplelast year (edited)

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Some background

For those who don't know me, among other things, I was working for the Spanish government (in an elite rescue unit of the Army) for more than a decade, with a long-life contract but, couple of years ago, I decided to voluntarily break my contract and try to make a living in a different way.

Fortunately, due to my sacrifice during years, my hard working for saving money and invest it, my trading skills, the "momentum", some luck or, maybe, a little bit of all of that together, I managed to make some money that allowed me to take that decision in a safer way.

Despite the final result, I began having clear in my mind, more than eight years ago, that something was wrong with this system we're living in and that I didn't want to be another sheep more in the flock, so I started preparing myself for the steps to achieve that "financial freedom", taking risks and working hard for it.

And trust me, not a single minut spent chasing this path has been easy; never had any guidance, not any helping hand, not any teacher, not dad's or mom's money to start with.

Did you know I managed to lose my first $80,000 benefits in 2018 (due to amateur mistakes, after all the hard work and struggle behind for getting that money), and even more than that, being in a negative balance and owing money to the bank and the state tax agency (IRS)?

But you know what they say: mistakes teach you the most important lessons.

Well, maybe that's another story for going deeper in another occasion but if you have already read until here and in case you're wondering: yes, I managed to make more than that money back and also paying both the bank and the IRS, in a single year.

And after that, I decided to pack a big backpack and go out to travel the world and, maybe, find "my place", a new settlement, meanwhile traveling around and... who knows.

The trip

Dresden waiting for the bus, destination Romania, with 2 backpacks weighting more than 30 kilograms together.
Dresden waiting for the bus, destination Romania, with 2 backpacks weighting more than 30 kilograms together.

As part of this adventure, I decided not to pick any airplane during the whole travel so I thought that going by bus to my first destination could be a nice experience to start with.

My first destination was only at 50 hours trip (3,126 km. from Alicante, Spain to Brasov, Romania) in the non-most comfortable bus in the world.

So, even though we did plenty of short stops and tried to sleep most of hours both nights, when we arrived Slovenia for the first big stop (3-4 hours) and have lunch there, I already was feeling my body regretting having chose a bus to travel.

Slovenian roadside self-service restaurant and first decent meal during the bus trip - Pasta salad with mayonnaise and vegetables + Breaded fried chicken + Orange Schweppes (€17).
Slovenian roadside self-service restaurant and first decent meal during the bus trip - Pasta salad with mayonnaise and vegetables + Breaded fried chicken + Orange Schweppes (€17).

The bus was full of Romanian people and even though we in Spain have the wrong assumption that most of the Romanian in Spain are robbers and/or beggars, the truth is I met nice and interesting people in there who with chatted about Romanian history and stuff.

If you're wondering why I chose Romania and Brasov as first stop it's because they're, somehow, a great unknown for tourism but the truth is that they have plenty of interesting history behind, legends (who doesn't know Vlad Tepes III "Dracula"), nice buildings and beautiful Nature (in fact here they have the biggest wild bear reserve of whole Europe). Also because close to this country, there were another ones I wanted to discover, so it was the perfect country to start from this backpacking adventure.

YouTube Short arriving Brasov:

The first thing I did when arrived Brasov was heading to an exchange service and exchanged Euros (EUR) to Lei/Leu (RON).

All RON bills are beautiful and made in a special ”plastic” paper (100 RON = 20 EUR).
All RON bills are beautiful and made in a special "plastic" paper (100 RON = 20 EUR).

Second thing was heading to the hostel where I was going to spend some nights, leave my backpacks and go to some restaurant for having lunch.

Reminder of the street, just in case I got lost walking around the city.
Reminder of the street, just in case I got lost walking around the city.

The hostel was pretty regular (normal) and enough for me, ran by a girl that was years ago working in Barcelona, Spain, so she knew a little bit of Spanish language.
The hostel was pretty regular (normal) and enough for me, ran by a girl that was years ago working in Barcelona, Spain, so she knew a little bit of Spanish language.

YouTube Short trying to find a place for having lunch, in one of the main streets of old town:

Gaura Dulce restaurant (they currently have a ⭐4.1 rating on Google Maps, based on 2,232 reviews) menu board.
Gaura Dulce restaurant (they currently have a ⭐4.1 rating on Google Maps, based on 2,232 reviews) menu board.

”Sarmale Transilvane”: minced pork meat rolled into pickled cabbage leaves (similar to Korean ”kimchi”) topped with a kind of ratatouille and sided with a ball of polenta (cooked corn grits) and a fresh chili pepper (37 RON = 7.40 EUR) (1).
"Sarmale Transilvane": minced pork meat rolled into pickled cabbage leaves (similar to Korean "kimchi") topped with a kind of ratatouille and sided with a ball of polenta (cooked corn grits) and a fresh chili pepper (37 RON = 7.40 EUR) (1).

”Sarmale Transilvane”: minced pork meat rolled into pickled cabbage leaves (similar to Korean ”kimchi”) topped with a kind of ratatouille and sided with a ball of polenta (cooked corn grits) and a fresh chili pepper (37 RON = 7.40 EUR) (2).
"Sarmale Transilvane": minced pork meat rolled into pickled cabbage leaves (similar to Korean "kimchi") topped with a kind of ratatouille and sided with a ball of polenta (cooked corn grits) and a fresh chili pepper (37 RON = 7.40 EUR) (2).

”Sarmale Transilvane”: minced pork meat rolled into pickled cabbage leaves (similar to Korean ”kimchi”) topped with a kind of ratatouille and sided with a ball of polenta (cooked corn grits) and a fresh chili pepper (37 RON = 7.40 EUR) (3).
"Sarmale Transilvane": minced pork meat rolled into pickled cabbage leaves (similar to Korean "kimchi") topped with a kind of ratatouille and sided with a ball of polenta (cooked corn grits) and a fresh chili pepper (37 RON = 7.40 EUR) (3).

”Sarmale Transilvane”: minced pork meat rolled into pickled cabbage leaves (similar to Korean ”kimchi”) topped with a kind of ratatouille and sided with a ball of polenta (cooked corn grits) and a fresh chili pepper (37 RON = 7.40 EUR) (4).
"Sarmale Transilvane": minced pork meat rolled into pickled cabbage leaves (similar to Korean "kimchi") topped with a kind of ratatouille and sided with a ball of polenta (cooked corn grits) and a fresh chili pepper (37 RON = 7.40 EUR) (4).

After this meal I walked a bit around to get to know the town better before night and finally get a decent rest and recover from the two days bus trip and all the walking from the bus station to the hostel with all the weight of my backpacks. 

Park for children next to an old wall that separates the city from the Tampa Nature Reserve that surrounds almost the whole city.
Park for children next to an old wall that separates the city from the Tampa Nature Reserve that surrounds almost the whole city.

View from far of the ”Black Church”, a Gothic-style cathedral from the 14th century.
View from far of the "Black Church", a Gothic-style cathedral from the 14th century.

”Strada Sforii” (Rope street), third narrowest street in whole Europe.
"Strada Sforii" (Rope street), third narrowest street in whole Europe.

Graveyard close to the Nature Reserve.
Graveyard close to the Nature Reserve.

Old wall tower that also served as a powder magazine.
Old wall tower that also served as a powder magazine.

Up to here was all of the first day of my arrival to Brasov town and I was so exhausted that I didn't have any dinner.
In the next article we will go deep in the bear reserve on a hiking route to reach the 1,000 meters altitude of the Tampa peak.

Overall evaluation of the Gaura Dulce restaurant: 5 points out of 10.

Photographs taken with my Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G camera.

YouTube shorts recorded with my Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G camera.

Brasov and Romania tourism website.  


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Well done on stepping out of the heard and living life, enjoy the adventure 😊

Thanks @martina123
Many years (all my life) following and building my own path, away from the crowd.
Wether the result is positive or negative, I'll live my life as I decided and I always liked tough ways - Easy things are not for me.