EXPLORING UNSPOILED TRANSYLVANIA Charming Guesthouses, Exquisite Landscapes, Distinctive Wine and Cuisine

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use, please contact client relations at 1-866-831-4314 or email [email protected]. INSIDE: MAGICAL DISCOVERIES IN THE TIMELESS COUNTRYSIDE OF TRANSYLVANIA + NEW BOUTIQUE HOTELS IN CHICAGO FEBRUARY 2019 SINCE 1979 Traveling the world in search of truly enchanting places Bran Castle near Braşov, popularly known as “Dracula’s Castle” EXPLORING UNSPOILED TRANSYLVANIA Charming guesthouses, exquisite landscapes, distinctive wine and cuisine oday the remarkable scenic beauty scapes in Europe, as well as to discover 1998. Having been “totally overwhelmed by Tof Transylvania, a vast province Romanian culture, history, food and its unique beauty and its extraordinarily in the heart of Romania, remains as crafts. There are few areas like it left, rich heritage,” he has since become deeply miraculously unblemished as when I first which is doubtless why it has won over involved in initiatives to preserve the glimpsed it nearly 30 years ago. What has such discerning travelers as Britain’s region’s traditional way of life, one based changed, however, is that this undiscov- Prince Charles, who loves the region so on small-scale agriculture. ered corner of Europe now has a number much he now owns several properties I first laid eyes on Transylvania of atmospheric guesthouses, along with there, including one you can rent. through the windows of the Orient Express, some very good restaurants, which make The prince, who claims distant kinship aboard one of the first trains to run from it a pleasant and comfortable region in with Vlad the Impaler, the 15th-century Istanbul to Venice after the fall of the which to travel. Wallachian ruler on whom the Irish Iron Curtain. On that journey, we spent a ALEXANDRU DUMBRAVEANU / SHUTTERSTOCK / ALEXANDRU DUMBRAVEANU Transylvania is a place to spend time novelist Bram Stoker based his 1897 novel, night at a hotel in Bucharest. Reboarding amid some of the last preindustrial land- “Dracula,” first visited Transylvania in the following morning, we headed north. Hideaway Report editors travel anonymously and pay full rate for all lodging, meals and related expenses. Since the launch of the Hideaway Report in 1979, featured hotels and restaurants have been selected on a completely independent basis. For comments and inquiries, please email [email protected]. Braşov historical center, and Biertan fortified church, a UNESCO World Heritage site Looking up from my book and glancing three-room Vila Katharina, an intimate drivers of several horse-drawn wagons of out the window half an hour later, I was property in a restored 18th-century house freshly mowed hay. astonished by the beauty of the country- in the center of town. Eventually, I arrived at C ou nt side. Shadowy forests gave way to neatly There, the multilingual staff were Kálnoky’s Transylvanian Guesthouses, tilled fields, meadows dotted with grazing welcoming and helpful. My sunny Onyx an inn with 10 accommodations distrib- cows, orchards bright with red apples and Room, with its parquet floors and art uted among several whitewashed houses wildflower pastures that reminded me of deco-inspired wallpaper, was spacious, and farm buildings. I was greeted in an OV: MLADENSKYOV: / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES BIERTAN: ANDREA RICORDI / MOMENT RF / GETTY IMAGES the intricate prettiness of medieval embroi- comfortable and furnished with an antique antiques-furnishedUKRAINE salon by the manager Ş dery. Perched on hilltops were villages wooden bed, a chestHUNGARY of drawers and a and offered hazelnut cookies and a shot BRA of pastel-painted houses and fortified small sofa. The bath came with a deep MOLDOVA white-walled churches. I knew little about tub and a white-marble washstand with 0 30 MI Romania in those days, but having read brass fittings. In the morning, an excellent 0 30 KM CARPATHIAN recent newspaper accounts of the blood- breakfast was served on heirloom porce- MTNS soaked demise of the dictator Nicolae lain in a small, elegant dining room. The Ceaușescu, I hadn’t been expecting such Vila Katharina is an atmospheric little TRANSYLVANIA beguiling panoramas, landscapes every place that is more than adequate for an bit as enchanting as those of Tuscany or overnight stay. COPȘA MARE SIGHIŞOARA Provence. Studying a map, I discovered Brașov is also a good base from which BIERTAN MICLOȘOARA that we were traveling through Transyl- to visit the dramatic 14th-century Bran MĂLÂNCRAV VISCRI vania and immediately vowed to return. Castle, 18 miles to the southwest, which BRAȘOV SIBIU is popularly but inaccurately billed as t is an 11-hour flight from New York to Dracula’s Castle. (Most historians agree BRAN CASTLE UKRAINE IBucharest, via London or Frankfurt. On that Vlad the Impaler never set foot there, my recent return visit, I headed straight and there is no evidence that Stoker knew UKRAINE HUNGARY to Brașov, the gateway to Transylvania, anything about it.) MOLDOVA a city located a three-and-a-half-hour BUCHAREST drive north of Romania’s capital. Despite aving driven for 45 minutes to the ROMANIA commercial and industrial zones on its north of Brașov, I arrived on the H TRANSYLVANIACOPȘA MARE SIGHIŞOARA MEDIAŞ MICLOȘOARA outskirts, Brașov has a beautiful medieval outskirts of Micloșoara just as the cows BIERTAN VISCRI BLACK BRAȘOV SERBIA SIBIU BRAȘOV center. Wanting to be within walking were coming home for the night, creating a DANUBEBRAN R. UKRAINE SEA distance of the principal sites — the Piața bovine traffic jam that was announced by Sfatului, or Council Square, which has the metallic clang of their bells. Wearing BUCHAREST BULGARIA been the heart of the city for more than 500 straw hats and vests, the farmers leading SERBIA BLACK years, and the huge 14th-century Biserica the cattle shrugged and grinned to excuse DANUBE R. SEA Neagră (Black Church) — I stayed at the the wait they were imposing on me and the BULGARIA 2 HIDEAWAY REPORT FEBRUARY 2019 of locally distilled kümmel (caraway seed In contrast, the horse-and-cart excursion nect from the rest of the world to become eau de vie). He explained that the room delivers a slow-motion experience of the deeply engaged with Transylvania. On a price included a hearty country breakfast Transylvanian countryside, led by an cool day, the tiled woodburning furnace and a table d’hôte dinner with wine in English-speaking naturalist, who explains in the room was hot to the touch and was the evening, plus an optional excursion the flora and fauna (including brown bears fed constantly by staff with access to an each day. and wolves) of the region. outside door. A spacious tiled bath came We found the two most worthwhile The guesthouses are the project of with a combination tub and shower and excursions to be “The Land of the Szeklers” Count Tibor Kálnoky, who grew up in organic local bath products. tour and the “Horse and Cart Ride.” A bit exile from his native land. The Ceaușescu Dinner that night was rather like a of Transylvanian history explains the regime was particularly hostile to the party. The other guests included a friendly particular interest of these outings. For Romanian aristocracy, so it was a risky English couple, a charming Irish woman centuries, much of the region was governed trip that Kálnoky and his father made to and her two daughters, and a witty Amer- by the Hungarian crown. In 1143, King Micloșoara in 1987 in order to visit their ican trio from Philadelphia. Conversation Géza II invited German settlers, now family seat. It was also an awakening for flowed freely, as did the excellent local locally known as Saxons, to relocate to the the young count. After the fall of Commu- wine, while we consumed a traditional lands along Transylvania’s western border nism in 1989, he immediately set about ciorbă (soup) made from vegetables grown as a way of repopulating them after years buying back his family’s former proper- in the guesthouse gardens, a goulash-like of war and preventing encroachment by ties, his goal being to create a new type beef stew with fried potatoes, and an the Ottoman Empire. Here the Germans of rural tourism that would offer work apple cobbler with thick cream, dishes all joined existing populations of Romanians, to the locals, preserve Transylvania’s prepared by women of the village. gypsies and Szeklers, a Hungarian- natural and historical heritage, and offer As in Tuscany or Provence, many speaking people who had lived in the an authentic and intimate experience of days in Transylvania are spent exploring region for centuries. The Szeklers tour the region to visitors. the region’s picturesque villages. Among includes visits to a working water-driven My large room in a village house was the most attractive and interesting are flour mill built in 1835, as well as to tradi- furnished with a pair of antique wooden Biertan, with its fortified church (with OV: MLADENSKYOV: / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES BIERTAN: ANDREA RICORDI / MOMENT RF / GETTY IMAGES Ş tional craft workshops, including those of beds topped by extremely comfortable an amazing wooden lock), Copşa Mare, BRA a woodcarver, a weaver and a blacksmith. wool mattresses specially made for the Criț, Mălâncrav, Meșendorf, Saschiz inn, painted wooden wardrobes and and 13th-century Viscri, which lies a marriage chests, a writing desk and local 45-minute drive from Micloșoara. Viscri woven rugs on wooden floors. However, became better known after Prince Charles the room lacked a telephone, a television bought a house there in 1996 and it was and Wi-Fi, a personal decision by the subsequently awarded UNESCO status count, who hopes his guests will discon- as a World Heritage site.

Load more