Romania, Slovakia, Austria

From Europe

OK in this post I have the rare opportunity to talk about 3 countries that we visited in the last week. We visited the town of Sighiosara in central Romania. Being in Romania is like taking a step back in time. you travel through all these small towns where the economy is completely supported by local commerce. Agriculture is king and you see very few modern machines to do the labor. Horse carts, old men and women with traditional clothing working the fields is the norm. Many houses still had outhouses. Of course this is in the countryside. The bigger cities had indoor plumbing, but the cars still had to share the road with the horses.

Sighiosara has to be one of the most authentic medival towns in Europe. It hasnt been bombed, restored or preserved in any way. Its remote location and poor inhabitants keep people from modifying or changing anything. We wandered down dirt roads gazing at 500 year old houses and buildings, remnants of castle walls and ancient churches. It really is mind blowing to think that not much has changed here in the last few hundred years. An incredible day full of amazing sights.

We headed out of Romania and went to Bratislava, Slovakia. It is a small country that used to be the other half of the Czech Republic. Bratislava is the capital city and has a very small but interesting downtown. There is also a castle on the adjoining hill, but it was "restored" in the 1950's by the communist goverment. Needless to say the restoration has to be redone already and instead of restoring to the original style its just a large concrete block looking structure.

From Slovakia we went to Vienna Austria. Home to huge museums, music halls, and all things cultural. We only had a day in Vienna, which was fine since we are getting a bit used to the sight of huge amazing 200 year old buildings. Its the same sort of feeling we had in Asia. After a while all the incredible Bhuddist temples look the same. The 2 highlights for us in Vienna was a visit to St. Michaels church. Its an amazing gothic era church with amazing details and an evening trip to a 350 year old basement wine bar/ resteraunt.

Next stop for us is Krakow, Poland.