We left the hotel with a map and a guidebook to discover the sights around town. Brașov is the sixth most populous city in Romania with a population of about 400,000. From the city square, we could see the white “BRASOV’ sign high on the hill.
We took the cable car to the top of the hill for a scenic view. From the top (and next to the Brasov sign) we had a birds-eye view of the city. We walked on some trails in the wooded area high above the city and admired the blooming wildflowers. The dandelions seem to attract butterflies and bees. We also saw edelweiss and a type of wild geranium.
The view from the top is stunning. The yellow arrow in the photo shows the main square of the city and the green arrow points to a prominent landmark, the Black Church.
Back down on the cable car, we went inside the Black Church. Some say that the name “Black Church” is from damage caused by a fire started in 1639 by invading Habsburg troops – though neither the interior or the exterior look particularly black to us.
Today was “Free Museum Day” so we couldn’t resist a visit to the Ethnographic Museum. There were many displays showing historical artifacts from Romanian daily life. We enjoyed the colorful costumes.
It was day full of discoveries, a little hiking, gelato and some drone flying. We returned to Hotel Bella Muzica shown in the photo below with the Black Church in the background. Dark clouds in the sky didn’t produce any rain today – hoping for more good weather tomorrow!
