Peleș Castle

I visited Peleș Castle, an incredibly beautiful castle in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania. It is on the route linking Transylvania and Wallachia. Interestingly, it was the first castle to be built with central heating pre-installed. Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to take photos of the stunning interior, so I only have exterior shots of the building, but suffice to say that no expense was spared on the interior of this thing. It is truly spectacular and well worth visiting if you are ever in the area.

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Me (Ryan Hellyer) at Peles castle

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Peles castle

Rustic Romania

There are a lot of abandoned buildings dotted around the Transylvanian countryside. Combinations of factories, mills, farm houses and empty apartment blocks falling to pieces are a common site whilst travelling through the countryside.

Building in Transylvania

Building in Transylvania

Factories in Transylvania

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Cluj-Napoca

I stayed in Cluj-Napoca for a few days following the WordCamp Transylvania conference. I had a great time in Cluj. It was terrific meeting up with Ivelina who was visiting from Bulgaria, Remkus from the Netherlands, Scribu in his homeland and making new friends including the delightful Anda, one of the local WordPress geeks who can you see a pic of below.

Cluj-Napoca in all of it's rustic charm :)

Cluj-Napoca in all of it’s rustic charm 🙂

Anda at the hack day

Anda at the hack day

Scribu, Remkus and me

Scribu, Remkus and me

Ivelina and I

Ivelina and I

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Ivelina

Cluj river

My cute little hotel

I stayed in a rather eccentric little hotel called Pension Déjà Vu.

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Anda and I

Anda and I

Thanks to Ivelina for some of the photos.

WordCamp Translyvania

The organisers of a web development conference called WordCamp Transylvania invited me to come give a presentation at their event. I enjoyed my last trip to Romania so much that I decided to head back again this year. I had never been to Transylvania so it was a great opportunity to see the countryside while I was at it. Everyone I talked to in Bucharest last year told me I would enjoy Transylvania more, and they were correct 🙂 The people are nice and things more move slowly in these parts.

Me at WordCamp Transylvania

Me at WordCamp Transylvania

Remkus de Vries

Remkus de Vries

Scribu, aka Cristi Burcă, discarding the pizzas on hack day.

Scribu, aka Cristi Burcă, discarding the pizzas on hack day.

Paul Gibbs getting animated

Paul Gibbs getting animated

Remkus de Vries discussing business in WordPress

Remkus de Vries discussing business in WordPress

Anda Pop at the hack day

Anda Pop at the hack day