Adventuring is hard.

Yeah, it sounds like a major humble brag, but I promise it’s not. I’m someone who thrives on routine and knowing what my environment looks like day to day. I like organizing, even just in my head, the food I’ll eat tomorrow and the things I’ll wear. I like to know where I’m going and what I’ll be doing. Any of you who have traveled will know that even well planned trips will be filled with unknowns. Unknowns freak me out. Big time. I’m not by any means a “free spirit,” who enjoys going wherever the wind will take them. So, when Cole and I planned to go to Romania, very last minute, the idea of it, while beautiful and exciting, scared the tar out of me.

Cole and I took on living in a new area of the world as part of our honeymoon year to embrace new adventures. A huge part of this for me is travelling. I want to grow from new experiences and take on more of a global perspective that I know I don’t have. Better late than never?

I know many people, including Cole, have “the travel bug.” It’s an illness I’ve never come down with. Due to never having been bitten by “the bug,” I’ve never made travel a part of my priorities and never have really felt that I was missing out. I have a unique opportunity living here that I can travel to Europe, Africa, and Asia for far less than if I lived in Canada. So, why not take advantage of it and gain some new memories and outlooks?

The husband and I caught a red-eye flight to Bucharest the day after our break at school started. The same morning after arriving, Cole and I took off exploring. I was seriously impressed with our stamina after finally crashing at our Airbnb at 4am that morning- another great humble brag. We arrived during Autumn, which meant that I actually had to purchase a warmer jacket. Crazy enough, I already have gotten so used to the hot weather here in the Middle East that it felt cold to me to be in a 5-10°C range.

We took off to Old Town first. The cobblestones, old buildings, and slightly ominous vibes made for a great walk around. The architecture is amazing. At the end of the 19th century, young wealthy men travelled from Bucharest to Paris to learn the trade of architecture. The style of the homes and buildings are stunning. Some of the older buildings are from hundreds of years prior. Many believe that the area could have housed Vlad the Impaler in his Princely Court somewhere within the ruins. I was in awe. While enjoying the scenery, we stumbled upon an Instagram-worthy bookstore. The bookstore, Cărturești Carusel (meaning carousel of light), was originally a bank, built in 1903 by Greek bankers. During the 1950’s, under the communist regime, the bank was taken over and made into a general store. It was later left to rot and decay. Thankfully, after the grandson of the original owner fought hard to win it back, he turned it into the stunning space it is today. If there’s ever a time that I felt like Belle from Beauty and the Beast, it was then. It was filled with both English and Romanian books, local gifts, and unique finds. Cole and I both found some treasures there. We walked around Old Town and entered into some beautiful churches, and a few small stores. We happened to be in Old Town during a light show festival and competition in the evening. It was a cool experience to stumble upon. I kinda felt like I stepped into a flash-mob (pun intended).

We mostly wined and dined during our few days in Bucharest. It was amazing walking around, getting a little lost, finding some amazing buildings, and eating a ton of food. If you’re in Bucharest I would suggest going to Scovergăria Micăi for a dessert. I still don’t know what exactly was in that magical food I ate. Whatever it is, it’s called Scovergi. It was basically a beaver tail (elephant ear) folded with a buttload of Nutella inside. Win-win. I will definitely try to make some scovergi for a special occasion soon. Something that I won’t be eating at my next Christmas gathering is Sorici. I cannot get behind eating salted pork skin that has the consistency and flavour of a flat tire. I know I’m not one to talk as I love pickled herring (yay German heritage), but the consistency threw me off. If you’re in the mood to say you tried it for the sake of trying it, it’s not the worst thing you could eat.

Midway through our time in Romania, we had booked a castle tour. This led to my newest “first,” since being abroad. My first-first was swimming in the ocean. My second-first is that I can now say I’m the proud owner of a castle! Okay, I’m not actually, but I’m basically 50% princess and 50% sass, so being on a tour of castles felt like a perfect real estate opportunity. I won’t be buying a castle anytime soon, but I felt my imagination give way when I saw the pure opulence of my very first castle. I could imagine having a soirée with fancy guests and could picture a Downton Abbey lifestyle in such a grand space. I’m so glad Peles castle was my first. It was everything I would imagine a castle should be. Rich, dark, over the top, and of course, with a secret passage in a bookcase, I could imagine it in a story book. I went to Bran castle next and it left me lacking. Although far more famous of the two castles(thanks to Bram Stoker), it’s not so much a castle, as it was most likely a middle-ages fortress built on the border of Transylvania. It sits looming and foreboding on the outside. I can imagine someone seeing it only from the outside and imagining Dracula sitting inside, awaiting his next night-stalk. It had some gosh-awful Halloween decorations as well which didn’t really feel right so it was just an “okay” castle (is there really such a thing?). We had an amazing tour guide who was not only entertaining, but also really knew his stuff and overloaded us on great facts and gave us real, local insight. I would highly recommend booking a tour if you decide to do the castles (we booked through this company). Even Old Town would have been amazing with a tour guide.

Driving was an adventure in and of itself. Living abroad, I thought I had gotten used to the whole idea of not having rules and driving like it’s the wild west (yes making your own road out of a patch of sand is a thing here), but I was mistaken. I think I’m just learning that “no rules,” in one country means a whole different set of “no rules,” in another. There were several horse-drawn wagons that rode alongside us if that’s any indication of the skill level of drivers around us. Cole and I really enjoyed the whole experience of driving in Romania on a whole other level let me tell you; I’m pretty sure half of marriage is your spouse yelling at you because you are “just trying to look ahead at the directions,” about to miss a turn off while the other half is them is them telling you that you look cute while wearing pyjamas and stuffing your face with leftovers like a cave troll. Nothing will test your love for one another in marriage like a good fight over how you read directions.

Something that broke my heart during the driving adventure was the excess of stray dogs. I could not believe how many beautiful dogs we passed by, especially in the country, that are living on the streets. Good thing Cole has self-control because when it comes to dogs as I do not. I would take every single one of those babies home and love them to pieces- fleas and mange aside. Romania has the highest amount of stray animals living on the street in all of Europe- a staggering 600,000. This has been an ongoing issue in the country since the beginning of their communist era. With so many people forced to move into apartment blocks in cities, many people abandoned their pets as they couldn’t take them into their apartments with them. It was a problem back 50 years ago, but the problem has only become worse in recent years. Many animal organizations in the country are doing God’s work with spaying and neutering many of these animals. I love Romania Animal Rescue (click this link) for the amazing work they are doing for the animals. They have four areas of focus- spay/neuter, animal care, veterinary training, and education. Education is key. I hope in the coming years, education around these animals will ratify the issue at hand. Seeing so many organizations trying to make progress happen eases my worries.

Cole and I went to two wineries so that we could enjoy some amazing wine and see the beautiful landscape. We drove into a stunning wine region that could actually be confused for Canada. If you didn’t tell me we were in Romania, I would have thought I was back home. This region is actually the fifth largest wine producer in Europe after Italy, France, Spain, and Germany. Being a wine person, this really excited me. The first place we went to was called Rotenberg winery. This was an adventure. After driving up a tiny lane that even felt small with our Fiat 500 rental, we arrived at our destination. I think we shocked the lady who served us wine as she was not expecting to see some non-Romanians looking for wine in October. Although she didn’t speak a word of English and we don’t speak any Romanian, she was very accommodating and sold us a lovely bottle of Merlot after letting us sample a few different wines. We went two days later to our next winery. We decided on trying out 1000 Faces. It was a completely different experience. The owner of the winery gave us the history of his experience and sat with us for two and a half hours outside while we enjoyed several full glasses of wine and he enjoyed several cigarettes. This was not a tasting like in the Okanagan or Napa Valley where they give you an ounce of wine per tasting. We also learned all about the namesake- honestly my favourite part of any winery we have gone to. I feel that you really learn about the history the winery has through the etymology. Many people used to own land where 1000 Faces sits at the 45th parallel before the communist era divided and took over many land owners properties. After communism fell, the land was given back to the land original owners, many of whom were then in their 80’s and 90’s and had no use for the land. The winery purchased the land from these owners and put their faces on the bottles as a reminder of all who had their land stolen from them during communism. The story made the experience even more interesting. I left leaving very happy with our purchase and time spent at 1000 Faces.

The only disappointing part of being in Bucharest and Romania was that because so many things are being renovated for future tourism we were unable to enjoy some tourist things we had planned on. Many of the things we wanted to do were closed without online notice. Just a heads-up if you plan on going- I would certainly call ahead as many things appear to be under construction for the long haul. Communism messed things up and now there is an amazing opportunity that the locals want to take advantage of-tourism. I’m hopeful that all the progress will pay off.

I think in the coming years, Romania is going to become something seriously special. I don’t think it’s called “little Paris,” for nothing. The food is fantastic. The landscape is stunning (particularly in Fall), and the wine is not too shabby. It’s a gem in the heart of Eastern Europe that hopefully with time, will do amazingly for itself.

I’m hopeful that this homebody will keep pushing herself to adventure more and try to take on a few more trips!

Romania is in the books and I already am planning the next big adventure with friends. Ne vedem mai târziu!