The Tullmann Travels: Romania 2014: Targoviste and a Walk in the park (part 10)

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Saturday, July 5, 2014

We spent time sleeping in and resting in Targoviste, Romania at Marius’ home. Later in the day, the rest of the Moreni group came over for lunch and a dessert extravaganza. The Moreni group includes Lidia (Alina’s mom), 2 aunts, and 2 nieces.

We went for a walk in park in the city. Romanian parks are very large, well kept, and very beautiful. We took a group picture, played at a play ground, and stopped at a Restaurant for refreshments. We ordered a pizza for the girls, beers for the boys, and a few orders of prajitura, the traditional Romanian donut with jam dessert.

Vlad III Tepes (Son of Vlad Dracul)

Vlad Dracul II (Father)

Vlad Dracul III (Son-- Vlad the Impaler/Dracula)

While hanging out at the restaurant, we signed into their wifi network, and Mirela made a Skype video chat to her husband in Florida. We passed around the iPad to greet him and Alina and I decided to FaceTime my parents in Virginia. They had just sat down to a waffle breakfast, while it was well past lunch in Romania. We chatted with them and introduced them to the Romanian family. They got to see Antonia, Alina’s niece, for the first time, which was special.

We said goodbye to my parents and continued walking to the other end of the park, admiring the Ruins of Curtea Domnească (voivodal palace) and the Chindia tower, which was built by Vlad Tepes the III ("the Impaler”), the legendary origin of Dracula. Vlad was a ruler in Romania, the Transylvanian region from 1456-1462. According to Wikipedia, "As the cognomen 'The Impaler' suggests, his practice of impaling his enemies is part of his historical reputation.[2] During his lifetime, his reputation for excessive cruelty spread abroad, to Germany and elsewhere in Europe. The name of the vampire Count Dracula in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula was inspired by Vlad's patronymic.[2]^”His statues and monuments were found throughout our travels.