Romania - Cluji and Brasov. How to protect against Gypsies 101.

Romania - Cluji and Brasov. How to protect against Gypsies 101.

Gypsies. Friend or Foe?

Living in Sydney and New York I never came into contact with Roman Gypsies. I have learned they're a nomadic people originating from Egypt and have been persecuted for last 500 years. I also learned that being nomadic and unskilled, their main source of income is petty theft and they're not to be trusted. (I know it's dangerous to use a "they" mentality.)

An Australian friend recently traveled to Romania's capital Bucharest. On the tram into town he was held down by seven gypsies who relieved him of all his valuables. That could be put down to foolishness, but several days later he took a cab only be driven out to the countryside and being forced to pay $150 Euro to avoid being stranded there. That was bad luck. Romania is the Gypsy homeland (over 2 million of them), so I was on guard as I crossed it's borders.

Our first destination in Romania was a university town called Cluj. We arrived in the midst of their annual Septemberfest which involved 22,000 students getting drunk and festive. This festival could easily be seen as copying Munich's famous Oktoberfest, but as Germany's beer festival is also held in September, you could give the Romanians credit for actually reading their calenders correctly.

Driving into Cluj, the "gypsy/crime/stabbed in the neck and left for dead" rumors circulated the bus. People were gripped by Hysteria. One certain crazy Irishman had a theory which ensured our safety... walk around with syringes of Ribena. Yes, he was deadly serious. I didn't have much confidence in his plan. I'm sure a gypsy would see blackcurrant juice in a syringe more as a way of getting a third of their daily intake of vitamin B+C than getting AIDS.

In Cluj we ventured to a nightclub called Karma filled with festive Romanians and cheap tequila. I spoke to an economics student named Monica. In impeccable English she told me our fears were were unwarranted. Cluj was a small country town with an equally small gypsy population. And yes, students may be poor (we've all been on that spaghetti's/baked beans diet) but they didn't resort to crime to fund their education.

Bucharest was different. Being a native Romanian Monica said even she was scared to get out of her car in the capital. For instance in Bucharest her handbag was stolen out of her car - while she was still in it! Pulled up at traffic lights an opportunistic gypsy smashed her passenger window and grabbed her bag... interesting!

Another problem plaguing the capital is wild dogs. The notorious dictator Nicolae Ceausescu encouraged (forced) Romanians in the 80's to move from the country into the capital. These rural folk found their beautiful grey-on-grey communist apartments couldn't fit Fido, resulting in packs of wild dogs roaming the streets. Apparently these dogs aren't Lassie, but rather aggressive rabies carriers that you wouldn't like to meet in a dark alley.

The next day we headed to the the town of Brasov. Located in Transylvania, it's a tourist hub for the nearby Bram's Castle. This castle was the residence of 12th century tyrant Vlad the Impaler (who, you guessed it, liked to impale people) and more famously, the inspiration for Bram Stoker's classic novel Dracula.

Brasov was quaint, actually it was very pretty, dare I say gorgeous. Located in the mountains it had a large white sign bearing the town's name. It was like the famous Hollywood sign. Was the sign simply there to remind the residents where they lived? Or maybe Brasov was in direct competition with LA? Really who would win? Brasov is absolutely stunning. LA absolutely isn't. LA has an army of motor cars and Brasov has an army of wild dogs. You decide.


After a festive night in Brasov which included a nightclub filled with Romanian toddlers (no bouncer checking ID) and Billy Ray Cyrus hairstyles we headed for Dracula's castle.

I have never read Dracula nor seen any of it's numerous movie adaptations. Actually my only meaningful vampire exposure had been watching that counting vampire off Sesame Street.



So I wasn't really into the whole blood sucking thing. But as castles go it was impressive. Vlad knew how to live in style. If alive today, he would definitely appear on MTV Cribs. The castle didn't contain any Dracula references - that was left to the city of tourist stalls surrounding it. A willing vampire could buy fake fangs or even a dancing Dracula toy. It wasn't touristy at all. Honest.





Leaving the castle we drove through the absolutely stunning, gorgeous, beautiful (I'm having fun with the Shift F7 key) Romanian Mountains. Everywhere you looked was a post card. Seriously it was beautiful, stunning, wondrous... ok I'll stop.

And the we drove into Bucharest... duh...duh. (cue ominous music.)