Visiting guide to Brasov.

Situated in central Romania, Brasov could be your next favourite location if you ever find yourself yearning for a blend of medieval beauty with just enough originality to keep you guessing. I came prepared for a quiet mountain town. Instead, I discovered a location where vivid Carpathian views, gothic churches, and pastel-colored houses mix as if they all unintentionally showed up to the same party and chose to stay.

The Old Town's absurd beauty grabs your attention first. Council Square is the centre of Brasov; it has cobblestones, café tables, and locals who can look calm even as they run to catch a bus. Get a chair, get a coffee, and take in the scene as visitors meander about, attempting to pronounce the Romanian phrases on the placards. You might try to, but chances are you will mess it up. I most definitely did, and I am now persuaded that Romanian was developed primarily to maintain modesty in travel.

The Black Church towers over the square. It is nearly aggressively dramatic, enormous, and gothic. Unless you capture it during a dark rainstorm, it also isn't really black. Though it originally burned centuries ago, it now has a "weathered charcoal" hue and yearns to be grey. Still, Brasov's pride and delight, walking inside provides you with the kind of respectful quiet that makes you rethink every loud idea you have ever had.

Brasov is the kind of city that expects you to appreciate the natural world. Tampa Mountain is like a warm, friendly monster that wants you to walk more just next to the Old Town. You can ride the cable car to the summit, but if you decide to hike, be prepared for the path to alternate between a leisurely woodland walk and an unexpected stair-climbing workout that makes you reevaluate all your life choices. From above, though, Brasov truly flexes. For a moment, you feel like the main character in a movie about self-discovery as the crimson roofs stretch out beneath you, the mountains fade into the distance, and the hills roll away into the distance.

Naturally, no discussion of Brasov is finished without admitting that Dracula-related tourism is nearby. Though the historical Vlad the Impaler most likely never resided there, the inhabitants have wholeheartedly welcomed the eerie branding; Bran Castle is only a short drive away. If you search carefully, you'll locate vampire magnets, vampire T-shirts, vampire wine, and perhaps even a vampire-themed sandwich. Accept it. Buy something outrageously absurd. Vacations are exactly for this.

Brasov decelerates in the evenings. People fill the terraces, the mountains fade into silhouette, and the air cools just enough to remind you that you are indeed in Transylvania. It is warm without making an effort. Perhaps Brasov's hidden strength lies in that. It does not push itself upon you. Until you realise you love it, it just exists charmingly and boldly.

Go then to Brasov. Walk about the streets. Lose yourself. Find yourself. Perhaps even scale a mountain before your coffee goes cold. That kind of place it is.