October 2025. Sighișoara. There are two main challenges writing these foreign blogs. One is finding the right button on the phone for the mysterious “comma below” in Romanian names, the other is limiting the number of photos so you don’t get too bored reading the posts. Not that many folk do read the posts to…...

October 2025. Sighișoara. Romania. In the Uber on the way back from the bear cuddling Mrs RM devised a radical plan to boost her blog views. Leaving our room in Brasov for a night we caught a Flix bus from the main bus station, where the coffee, costs as much as the loo, which has… Continue reading A rainy night in...

October 2025. Brasov. Five days into our Romanian trip, and it’s time for bears. Mrs RM had decided we could do better than Bran Castle (“a bit Disney), but a visit to Libearty Bear Sanctuary to cuddle grizzlies was a must. What do you mean I don’t get to cuddle them ? These are the… Continue reading CONTRADICTORY...

October 2025. Brasov. Romania. Following lard and brownies at Szimpa Mrs RM needed something more substantial before we left Sfantu Gheorge alone to the tourist rush these last posts will no doubt create. So, for the record (i.e. to jog Mrs RM’s memory when she comes to her own blog), here’s the carbonara and Ursus…...

October 2025. Sfântu Gheorghe. Romania. “Not ANOTHER Top 100 pub, Retired Martin !“. Yes, I know I promised that I’d maintain a one in, one out system, so let’s boot out Derby’s Ye Olde Dolphin, which I read has lost its Bass pump. It may be back. I like having the odd non-UK pub on… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS –...

October 2025. Sfântu Gheorghe. Romania. A week in Romania seemed a bit of a risk with Dad and Mrs RM’s folks on the decline; most of our trips have been a 5 day blur. But you need the extra time to tackle Transylvania’s problematic transport. And so it proved, as Bran Castle, inspiration for the… Continue reading...

October 2025. Brasov. Romania. Four nights in Transylvania, longer than we’d normally spend in one place but Pension Casa Timar was to prove the perfect base to explore the land of impalement and Pale ale*. Brasov is an odd place to negotiate, the rail station in “Tractor District” a mile north of flashy new town…...

October 2025. Brasov. Seven days, five cities, 3,568 calories worth of apple strudel. Romania is a gem, easy to negotiate, bar the painfully slow rail network. 2:34 hours on the train to Brasov (pop. 237k) in the centre of the country, your gateway to the lands of Vlad the Impaler and Count Dracula, neither of…...

October 2025. Bucharest. The last of the Bucharest posts, you’ll be delighted to know. If nothing else, Mrs RM will find them useful when she comes to her own more forensic blog and wonders “Where was that fancy meringue ?”. This was Tort de Bezea, one of numerous upmarket cafes in the snappily named Sector…...

October 2025. Bucharest. We concluded the quartet of Bucharest taprooms at Hop Hooligans in the (relatively) genteel suburbs east of the University. Yes, a gorgeous looking home for Romania’s best known (more Vocation than Brew Dog) purveyor of murk. The bars themselves didn’t change that much, but Hop Hooligan,...

October 2025. Bucharest. More cultural and culinary highlights from our 3rd day in Bucharest, as we leave the unprepossessing surrounds of the Ironic Tap, and stumble upon this oddity; “Don’t go in there” I warn Mrs RM. Mrs RM goes in anyway. This western edge of central Bucharest (Lipscani St) isn’t that edgy, but...

October 2025. Bucharest. The Young Boys of Bern had told us that Bucharest’s Ironic Taproom was an essential visit, and as Mrs RM wanted a blog post called “four essential craft bars” it was easy to drag her from the seedier part of the Old Town, past the majestic Stock Exchange, to the less than… Continue reading...