Medieval Tours Romania - a total mess

Hi all,

We always liked to post our travel experiences though it is the first
time we ever post anything here. Passionate travelers, my wife and I
have already been around the world a couple of times. So far we reached
country number 105 and counting.

Early in the year we decided to return to Eastern Europe and see the
changes in places such as Albania, Bulgaria, Romania and end up in a
incresing popular Budapest. Not exactly prime destinations except for
perhaps Hungary. Since Albania looked a bit on the tricky side we
thought we'd skip it this year. What was left? Right. Bulgaria, Romania
and Hungary.

Why revisited? Well, we have been to all these countires when they were
still under the Soviets. A 1988 Romania offered a sad image of a
formerly rich country. In those years Bulgaria wasn't too far either.
To Budapest we have already been four times since the 80s and it is
always great to spend a few days there.

So, with all on track at home we contacted travel agencies for Bulgaria
and Romania. Some folks say it is a challenge to find such. We
disagree. Except for a couple of American based travel agencies we
found Bulgarian and Romanian based ones gallore. One of our neigbors
(great guy, too well traveled) gave us a hint. He suggested we address
directly to private tour guides who organize it all and have better
control of it, including a decent price. So we did.

Our Bulgarian guide, Petko Vladeikov, whom we contacted back in March
was definitely adept at putting together an itinerary which was meant
to open Bulgaria to the most interested. One thing we liked about this
fellow was the fact he knew to avoid most of the churches Bulgaria has.
Don't get us wrong. We believe churches are great, but so far we have
seen close to probably a thousand and have a pretty good idea.

We flew on Lufthansa to Sofia and this is where we met the tour guide.
The tour included hotels but for the centrally located, five star and
great! Sheraton Balkan Sofia we booked ourselves. With the first two
days in Sofia we got to see quite a bit. The changes compared to the
late 80s are major. A capital of a still poor and corrupted country,
Sofia was revelead to us as a very progessive city with sophisticated
people, Western standard stores, late model cars and a bustling night
life. The countryside is evidently a different story.

We drove to Rila Monastery which is a gem, then off to Plovdiv. Lots of
deserted villages on the way. Where are the people? In Italy and Spain
came the answer. A bit depressing but all true with the rife
unemployement of Bulgaria. Plovdiv, new to us, has some outstanding
Roman ruins which we Americans always like. The Trimnzium Hotel, said
to be the best, was a highlight. Modern, clean and friendly, it offered
a great location and great meals.

Some of the other highlights of Bulgaria were the Thracian mound tomb
in the north, found...by accident. What a marvel.

The last two days we spent in Veliko Tarnovo - one of the ancient
capitals of the country. All built on a hill, Veliko, even dilapidated,
shows proof of a great past. We visited the Taretvs fort and spent time
on Samovodene Street, a must see. This is where various artists have
their workshops. The Gurko Hotel was our base there for two nights. It
is a boutique hotel, right in the old centre. Reservations here need to
be made in advance as the place is small and...popular.

Our last stop was Ruse. The largest Bulgarian port on the Danube, Ruse
looks like it has no sanitation service, or if there is one, these guys
might have been on long strike lately. What hits you here is the lack
of any town administration, like there is no town hall, no mayor to
take care of things. Where it should be grass there are filthy bushes,
where is suppose to be a side walk there are some improvised walkways.
Sad. Other than that the city has some nice old architecture but it
took us a while to see "the little Vienna" there.

In order for us to get to the neighboring Romania and over the border
(which is of course, the Danube) we took a train. We said good bye to
Petko. He was just great. He knew to go out of his way to accommodate
our needs, was always patient with us taking tons of pictures, answered
ALL our questions and overall exceeded our expectations. We highly
recommend him.

Bulgarian trains are not the best we have seen but it did the job.
Boarding in Ruse, we cleared customs right on the train, then off to
Gurgiu, Romania. Border guards come on the train making it easy it for
passengers. Late in the afternoon we arrived to the Northern Railway
station in Bucharest - the capital of Romania.

Our arrangements in Romania were done thru a local tour guide by the
name of Eduard Popescu from (his own) Medieval Tours. This is when
trouble started.

It was back in March of 2006 when we started our reserach on all these
three countries. As stated, local private guides seemed (and overall,
are) a better option. Even though we found over ten different Romanian
tour guides with their own transportation, able and available for us,
we decided for Eduard Popescu. Bad decision.

This guy has a web site which looked pretty much all right. Then he
claimed he had over 17 years of guiding experience in Romania. He also
provided a rather short list of names of former clients like all the
others did. On paper, each day of his tour looked like an ennumeration
of sites which some explanation to go with it. Turned out it was all
copied from various travel guide books.

He offered hotels which were all obscure, even though not bad. Very few
centrally located. The worst was Palace Dumbrava "four star" outside
Sibiu whereas all other hotels in town were in the centre. In all
fairness, not all were real hotels as some were (clean and modest) bed
and breakfasts. The problem was that we were presented all acommodation
as being high(er) standard whereas some were rather simple and
definitely cheap. But, what did we know?

Then, his English is not one of the best. We could figure that out thru
his e-mails to us.

Bottom line we made a mistake hiring Eduard Popescu. He does not have
17 years of experience, but something like 2. He just got on the
market. He used to work in the office for the Romanian Tourism
Authority until he got kicked off. He is an amateur in search of
unaware and naive Americans. As a guide he is weak. He does not have
any leading skills and the problem is that he can not be trusted.

Another major issue is the pacing of his tours having no connection to
reality. In order to attract clients he included lots and lots of sites
daily which - given the road conditions of Romania and the fact that a
private tour should be more flexible - were impossible to see. We were
rushed from one town to the next and spent an average of 5 hours of
driving daily.

There were no meals included except for breakfast. The price of the
tour with Eduard was higher than any other offer we had for Romania
(and some included half board). This is where we made the mistake:
thinking if it is more expensive it should be better. It wasn't.

Coming back to the itinerary, I will say that Bucharest became a great
European capital. Over five years of economical growth translated into
1 million cars on the streets of Bucharest daily. Indeed traffic jams
everywhere but it was great to see how people advanced from a drab and
depressing Bucharest of the Ceasescu's late years to a cosmopolitan
life today. One highlight is the huge Palace of the Parliament which we
managed to visit. This is where the country's money went to in the 80s
while the entire people suffered of hunger and repression. Do not miss
the charming open air Village Museum. Established in the 30s this is a
true gem of rural life and architecture.

Our next stop was in Sinia, a Carpathian Mountain resort. Used to be
popular at the turn of the 20th century where lots of the Europe's rich
used to go and gamble in the local casino. There is a summer palace -
Peles (pronounced Pelesh) where the kings of Romania used to reside. A
fantastic place which was recently open to the public and probably due
to close soon.

Dracula's Castle is not his. But a medieval structure in pretty good
shape which receives some 2,000 visitors a day in season. Make sure you
get there early in the morning. When we got there was around noon time
and was hectic.

The next night we stayed in Sighsoara. This is a small German town in
the heart of Transylvania. Listed on the World Heritage List it is
truly a authentic and charming place and we should have been there two
nights instead of one. Our three star hotel in the Upper Town was nice
and clean, though rather basic. We got to see the birthplace of Vlad
Dracula, nowadays a brand name helping Romanian tourist industry.

The last two days in Romania we spent in Maramures. This is an area in
the northern part of Transylvania and "off the beaten track". Not much
so as we got to see lots of buses full of Japanese. Our hotel was
suppose to be "in Calinesti, a few miles from the town of Sighetu
Marmatiea. At least this is what our amatuer tour guide stated in the
itinerary. In looking for it turned out it was right in the center of
town and not in some other village. This is how we were played around.

The Casa Iurca there is a cross between a hotel and a larger bed and
breakfast. Very clean and offering great food it is though located on
one of the busiest streets in town and the noise of the traffic puts
you to bed much later than usual.

Maramures is worth spending a few good days. Better than hotels are the
many home stays there, lots of the villagers have large villas and
offer great service and food. We got to visit a couple since there were
signs for accommodation just about everywhere. The wooden churches in
the area were out of this world. Quite amazing how these farmers, some
illiterate, were able to built such gems or engineering and artistry.

From Cluj Napoca we took a train to Budapest, Hungary. As a conclusion
we highly advise Mr.Eduard Popescu from Medieval Tours to be avoided.

We got to Budapest in the evening and were met by Sandor Mester -the
Hungarian tour guide whom we contacted in early spring. He took us over
to Mercure Korona Hotel which is a beautiful property in the Pest side.
After the Romanian experince, Budapest seemed to be a vacation indeed.

Sandor has a open personality. It is obvious he is used to work with
Americans as he knew from the very beginning how to run the tour.

The next day we took a city tour which included the Hero Square and
later on the Buda side the Fishermen Bastions and the Royal Palace
grounds.

The last day in Hungary we spent taking a so called Danube Bend
excursion. Sandor took us to the Roman ruins of Aquincum which are
actually in the north of Budapest, between Communist apartments. Later
we got to the artists' village of Szenteendre which does not have that
many artists nowadays but was a good place to visit and the lunch there
hit the spot. We ended our day with seeing Visegrad citadel where Vlad
Dracula was imprisoned.

As a conclusion Budapest and Hungary for that matter are much better
off than both Bulgaria and Romania. The reforms here started earlier
though and so was the foreign investment. Pricewise Hungary is close to
any of the other European Union members.

We highly reccommend Sandor Mester for his high standards, excellent
knwolegde of the places visited and flexibility. He is a professional.

Overall, the trip was rewarding.

And that's that............

Mark & Lisa Johnson

In article . com,
() wrote:

*From:*
*Date:* 2 Nov 2006 05:11:20 -0800

Hi all,

We always liked to post our travel experiences though it is the first
time we ever post anything here. Passionate travelers, my wife and I
have already been around the world a couple of times. So far we reached
country number 105 and counting.

Interesting trip report - might be better off in rec.travel.europe?