Home again: Brasov, Romania and Romanian wines

Four years passed without a trip to see my family in Romania, so I was especially pumped up to visit my hometown Brasov once again in the fall of 2022. The other exciting part of my visit this time was a special trip to one of the many wine regions in Romania and touring a few wineries.

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2022 Year in Review: Cheers to the New Year and to New Travels!

This year flew by quickly for me. I guess it’s true when they say time speeds up as you advance in years…. Although we didn’t travel as much as we would have like to, we had some good stops in the U.S., like Golden and Granby Lake in Colorado, Miami, Florida, and Salt Lake City, Utah. We also finally traveled abroad again to Romania and Greece with a short stop in Munich, Germany. Each one of our trips offered a different experience, and we enjoyed them all. Here are some highlights.

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Romanian Christmas Traditions

If I were in my childhood’s Romania, winter and the holidays would be the best time of the year. I remember the anticipation of the first snow and how as soon as we saw the white flakes start falling, our attention would shift from the classroom to the window. Our teachers’ best choice was to let us go outside and enjoy it. The snow would start falling sometime in late fall and keep piling up through the winter, blanketing everything in fluffy and sparkly white coat.

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Greetings from uncle Dracula

I hate to burst your bubble but what you may know as Dracula’s Castle is called Bran Castle and it wasn’t in fact his… Although born in Transylvania, in Sighishoara, Vlad was the ruler of Walachia, a territory south of Transylvania at various times from 1456-1462. Like most people in the area back then, Vlad was involved in fighting the Ottomans – and was effective at it – but he didn’t actually live in Bran Castle.  Continue reading “Greetings from uncle Dracula”

Brasov and Schei – a walk through history

While our friends Ben and Linda took a trip to visit Sighisoara, Dracula’s birth place and an exquisite medieval town, and Peles Castle, another stunning objective, my husband and I took another relaxing walk through downtown Brasov and the old neighborhood of Schei, taking in all the beautiful views and appetizing smells coming from the bakeries along the way. Continue reading “Brasov and Schei – a walk through history”