After our big trip seeing all things Dracula we decided to take it a bit easier for our next day in Brasov, we chose two things that we wanted to see and went out for a stroll. We decided to go see the black church and rope street, both were located in the town centre. Our apartment was right by the train station and I feel I should mention that it was not a nice area to stay, although you can get ok accommodation, there was a large number of homeless people there and they were very pushy at asking for your money or a cigarette if they see you smoking. Upon arriving and standing outside the station to smoke I was surrounded by a man a women and three children all asking me for a cigarette, I refused as I would recommend you do as well, threw my finished cigarette on the floor and when I walked off they didn’t follow me. Another instance was where Katie walked to the shop outside the flats where we were staying, it must of been about 8pm (20:00) and when she walked back in to our flats the lift had stopped working, so she took the stairs and a homeless person was sitting in the stairwell he followed her up 10 floors even when she was trying to walk as fast as she could, he would speed up when she would. He didn’t speak English and she said he knew that he was scaring her, in Serbia and Romania we always had the same problem of people approaching us as soon as we walked out the train station, which we didn’t like! But this was the first time we actually stayed close to a train station and will definitely be the last.
As soon as we had walked 10 minutes from where we lived, aiming towards the town centre, the atmosphere definitely changed for the better, I don’t want you to have a bad image of Brasov because it really is a lovely city and there is a lot more I would of loved to see if time allowed. Just outside of Brasov city centre we came across a small park with a large cross and some graves and tomb stones, it seemed like they were of some importance, I believe religiously but I have been unable to find any information on why they was there. It was a lovely little park though so we took some pictures.
Just after the park you come to one end of what is a really attractive high street, its really wide so loads of room for all the people slowly strolling down its path. If your a fan of pizza . . . of course you’re a fan of pizza, there’s is a small hole in the wall on the right hand side where you can buy a small pizza cone snack, its really tasty, basically just a cone filled with melted cheese and toppings and only costs the equivalent of a euro.
The inside of the black church is extremely beautiful and has so much history inside it, make sure to read all the information that they have on offer there, I found it really interesting. Unfortunately you are not aloud to take pictures inside the church so I only have ones from outside, but this at least shows you the sheer size of it, you walk in to these impressive high ceilings, with curved arches and bright colours, I think I stood at the entrance for 5 minutes just admiring the initial view. My favourite parts of the church was the alter and the organ, I’ve found a picture of the organ just so you can understand its size, it took up about half the width of the entrance side of the church and extremely tall. Brasov sent for famous organ builder Carl August Buchholz, and requested he make them one of his finest organs, he made them the largest organ he would make in his career, and to date it is the largest piece of mechanical equipment in Romania, the church does three organ concerts a week so you should definitely try to attend one. The alter, you was not allowed to go that near, it is the most sacred part of the church and is roped off, in front of the alter was a large chalice, the oldest piece in the church.
Another famous part from the church is the Turkish rugs that line the walls, but to explain this I should explain why the church is called the black church, it wasn’t always so, it is just a nickname the church gained after a great fire that decimated the church in 1689. The fire spread through the town and was impossible to put out before it reached the church, the fire worked its way through the entirety of the church, it caved in the roof, and melted everything inside. The walls were left stained black and hence called the black church. This was a very sad time for the people of Brasov, the restoration of such a large church would take a long time and would not be completed till 1772, to aid in the restoration of the church, parishioners and guilds were encouraged to replace the rugs that had been burnt up in the fire. They are a symbol of the ottoman empire and Brasov has the largest collection in the world with 104 being displayed in the church alone.
By the Black Church is a large square, it would be really nice on a day with better weather than we was having, we past through it on the way to rope street also known as Strada Sforii, it is the narrowest street in Brasov and Europe with a width of 1.3 metres. It’s intention was to be used as a private street purely for firemen to have access between Portii and Cerbului streets.
