ISCO POST: Test your travel knowledge

Hello all --

After this trip, I will be well equipped to write a book called "100 Useless Travel Tips", eg:

The Sighisoara to Sibiu minibus drops you off on a busy road about 500m from Sibiu's un-signposted rail and bus stations, which are about 1km NE of the city centre. Where do you pick up the return bus to Sighisoara?

(a) At the same spot -- easy.

(b) At the bus station, dummy!

(c) In the city centre.

or:

(d) At an unmarked car park next to a stadium, 2km on the other side of the city.

The answer, of course, is (d), which should be obvious to anyone who has travelled in Romania. The good thing about such trials is that they become less annoying after a while, and more amusing... not that the locals are as amused. Sibiu is gearing up for Jan 1, when it will wear the 2007 European City of Culture tag. As yet, it appears to have the only mediaeval town square in Europe that is yet to be declared a Unesco World Heritage site. I am not sure what that means, but as every Unesco-blessed town square is becoming bloated with by Adidas stores, Starbucks ripoffs etc, I say Sibiu should resist the temptation for as long as possible. It may also be the only town in the world without an Irish pub, another factor to its credit. (Having said that, we did enjoy Kelly's Bar in Oradea, an "Irish" pub that has probably not seen an Irishman for at least a decade. Romanian to its core, despite the obligatory Guinness posters).

We're in Brasov today, another beautiful mediaeval Saxon town in Transylvania, which has not only an Irish pub but also a Scottish one, offering fine Scottish beers and hospitality, apparently. I doubt that we'll take up that offer, particularly as we are still recovering from the excellent and copious Romanian hospitality offered to us at a magnificent tiny bar on Saturday night. Here for another couple of nights, then off to Bucharest, which I confess I am dreading -- even the Romanians we have met have urged us to avoid it.

Funnily enough, our week in Budapest wasn't as relaxing as we might have expected, and it has been almost a relief to come to Romania, which is very much its own country -- you feel as though you couldn't be anywhere else. The country joins the EU on Jan 1, and change will come quickly and in interesting ways. We will return.