Day 21: The tour to the three castles left at 9am today and we were up at a ridulously early time to make sure we were ready to go and had everything we needed. We ended up sitting around for nearly an hour waiting anyway but at least it wasn't too hot. There were 14 of us on the tour and the guide hadn't been able to make it. So basically we were to be driven to each location by a driver who spoke no English and find our own way around. Not ideal but the castles are a long way apart and this was our only chance to see them. First up was Rasnov fort/castle. This is an old castle that was used as a defensive fort during medieval times. Inside was a little village where all the locals used to hide whenever barbaric hoardes roamed nearby or when the Turks decided to attack etc. The fort itself was never breached (if you google the castle and see the photos/position etc you'll see why!!!) which means all the artefacts there are in excellent condition. There was everything from an old sewing machine (about ten feet across!!) to weaponry and armour. Unfortunately most of the notes were written in Romanian and with no guide it was a frustrating not knowing the significance of what we were looking at. Nonetheless the hour we had there was fascinating and the views from the top were incredible. Next up was Bran Castle. This was the one we were all looking forward to and was billed as Dracula's Castle. When we got there it was so far removed from what we expected. We can honestly say it was one of the biggest let-downs of our lives! It was basically a quaint big house on a hill - that used to be a home to the Romanian royal family for a few years. The walls were all white, the rooms were mainly closed off and there were no vampires anywhere!! However, the market/souvenir shops were great and we picked up a couple of random bargains before heading back to the bus. Next stop was a hillside restaurant overlooking a beautiful valley - where we lunched on salad (AGAIN) and took in the views. Finally was Sinaia Castle. This was a little way away and we had a fair old climb to get there but when we did it took our breath away. There was a compulsory guided tour here (luckily) and it made all the difference. The inside was unbelievable and very hard to describe. The castle took 40 years to finish (1874 - 1914) and every single detail was a masterpiece. It also contained the old king's weapons collection - with over a thousand pieces. Every chair, every carpet, just everything made you think "wow - bet that cost a bit" Not sure if there are any pictures online (we weren't allowed to take any inside) but if you can find any it's stunning. On our way back to the bus we saw a few puppies wandering around aimlessly - seemingly having been abandoned just a few minutes/hours beforehand and were saddened by the fact there was nothing we could do for the little cuties!! :o( Even worse was when we came across a man (not a human being though) with a bear on a chain. He was charging for pictures of the bear and frankly we wanted to feed him to the poor thing. Again there was nothing we could do and it sucked. We arrived back at the hostel at around 7pm, tired and pretty hungry. We went in to town to get dinner and were seconds in time -as the entire town was drenched by a massive thunderstorm!! We were sat outside under a brolly and stayed pretty dry despite the downpour. We were told about a great little patisserie by a Candian couple who we had befriended on the tour and bought Ellie's breakfast in advance hehe. We got home and hit the sack - next stop, Bucharest. James and Ellie xx