Northern Transylvania

Bistrita is located in the northern part of Transyvlania. Yes, that is the land of Dracula and the people of Bistrita are quite happy to associate themselves with this western legend even though it was pratically unknown to them until 15 years ago. Enterprising locals have quickly seized on this tourism opportunity and Bistrita, along with a few other counties around Transylvania, now offers its own version of Dracula's Castle. We have no opinion on the quality of this tourist attraction because we didn't bother to visit it (even though we were there during Halloween) much to some of our Romanian friends' surprise who thought our only reason for being there was to visit the castle.

Of course, we were there for more important business such as taking photos of the beautiful (and more authentic) countryside and hanging out with the local shepherds (more on this later).