This image shows the real landscapes beyond the commercial Dracula’s castle near Bran. The image was taken by Ionut. Please check his blog to see more images of beautiful Romania.

The houses you see are part of villages without street  or house numbers. They measure the village’s size by the number of chimneys not the number of people.

Kids from these families go to school by walking down the valleys every day for hours. Their classes start later in the day to allow them to get there and finish early to give them time to get home while there’s still light outside. Their school terms are also shorter cause winter shortens the day further.

I remember i used to envy them as a small boy. It seemed to me they get to play to get to and from school, they have less classes and longer holidays.

But i now realise their life is so much harder. They work hard everyday helping out with the animals that are their livelihoods or on the small plots of land that give them a few vegetables at the end of the summer. When i was a kid my parents used to say these kids are more afraid of cars than of bears with whom they learn early age to deal with.

Their most prized possession is not their bike but their dogs. Big shepard dogs from the only romanian dog breed called the carpatian shepard dog: Ciobanesc Carpatin. They have red cheeks and big smiles, are humble to unknown measures for city people.

They are the people that give romanians the well deserved title of some of Europe’s most hospitable people. They have little but are ready to share it all. Through out romanian history, they have gathered everytime our history required them to take up arms and defend their land.

And will forever have my utmost respect.

Cezar

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