Beautiful Balkans; Mike Smith takes a journey into Eastern Europe's little-known treasures.

Byline: Mike Smith

THIS was a trip to really get my teeth into. Like Jonathan Harker, in Bram Stoker's Dracula, I was in Budapest at the beginning of a journey that would take me deep into the Carpathian Mountains and the land of the undead.

Who could tell what surprises and adventures lay before me as our bold expedition delved deep into Europe's little-known Eastern territories?

Well, having already studied that mystical text, the Cosmos Balkans and Transylvania itinerary, it wasn't to be too much of a surprise.

Adventurous, yes, but every day was carefully charted and ran as smoothly as a gentle heartbeat.

The beautiful fantasy on the Danube that is Budapest is a city you can visit over and over again, to admire the Neo- Gothic and Art Nouveau architecture, sip coffee and tuck into hearty fare.

Before heading farther east, we did indeed sample all the above-mentioned, but on this visit gave the hot baths a miss.

Instead, we chose a restaurant for our return two weeks later.

The allure of the trip was venturing into the Balkans; a brief visit to Serbia before getting to know Bulgaria and Romania, culminating in a taste of Dracula's Transylvania.

Once out of Hungary (and the EU) and into Serbia, we had entered the Balkans.

After lunch in Novi Sad, and one of many currency exchanges, we headed into Belgrade.

It is hard to believe this is a city we bombed less than a decade ago; modern, comfortable and familiar, it is brimming with young people and full of life.

BEFORE settling into a restaurant, we milled around the city's sparkling shops, made a tour of the sights - all wonderfully illuminated - and strolled around Kalemegdan Castle, which dominates the sweep of the Danube as it joins with the tributary Sava.

Our all too short stay in Serbia over, we entered Bulgaria heading for the comfort of our hotel in Sofia. It might be one of the prettiest names for a capital city, but it has a long way to go before the gloom and blandness of half a century of state Communism is erased.

It is interesting to see mosques and churches co-existing peacefully and, the rain having stopped the next day, admire such gems as the ornate Aleksander Nevski church, a monument to the Russians who helped end Turkish rule.

It proved quite a trek, but our itinerary took us to the most famous of Bulgaria's monasteries at Rila.

Surrounded by snow-packed mountains, the monastery retains its charms despite vast number of tourists, although we did arrive, it has to be said, on a national holiday.

The years have also been kinder to the city of Plovdiv, a more picturesque town boasting wonderful architecture from the Turkish period all lovingly restored.

After days of sightseeing and evenings in taverns, watching folk dancing and supping local beverages, it was goodbye to Bulgaria as the bulk of our stay in the Balkans was in Romania.

Our increasingly merry band headed for the Paris of the East, Bucharest.

Again, Romania's brand of state Communism has not been kind to the vast, sprawling city.

While money was lavished on grand projects, it seems the city's former elegance was swept aside, along with churches, some of which are now tucked behind modern buildings.

But there is major redevelopment work, particularly to the charming cobbled streets lined with Frenchinspired shops, bars and restaurants.

For now, most interesting are the grand public buildings, smart embassies and the megalomaniac building projects carried out by Ceausescu's regime.

The Palace of Parliament is the world's second-largest building (after the Pentagon) with chilly marble corridors, sprawling meeting rooms and galleries.

Our guide gave us a fascinating account of the fall of Ceausescu from her own memories, while standing outside the former Communist Party headquarters looking up at the balcony where he made a speech in December, 1989, but to a jeering crowd, before a helicopter whisked him away to execution rather than exile.

Less known and infinitely more conventionally appealing is Veliko Tarnovo.

The ruins of a huge fortress dominate what was once Romania's capital, the remains of the 13th-century home of the country's tsars who briefly established an independent kingdom.

Across more mountains, we entered Transylvania, that most mysterious of places, which now beckoned us across the hills for what was possibly the most revealing part of this tour.

The history and ethnic mix of Transylvania is as complex as its daft image in Western popular culture is limited.

Medieval towns pepper the tranquil scenery that mask the turbulent times that have seen waves of peoples come and go.

The most recent to depart were around 1m Germans who left the region's Saxon towns and villages in the wake of 20th-century war. What remains are chocolate box towns with gorgeous architecture, including the Black Church, the largest Gothic church between Vienna and Istanbul, in the city of Brasov.

And, yes, we did join the legions of Dracula fans in search of the famous vampire making the pilgrimage from Brasov to Bram Castle.

Fortunately, we learned instead about Vlad Tepes, who many believe was Bram Stoker's quasi-historic model for the blood sucker.

Vlad wasn't even really from Transylvania but was a Prince of Wallachia, back over the mountains, and never visited Bram Castle, marketed as his lair.

That hasn't stopped a tourist market being established in the village below.

So better informed, although still clutching one or two Dracula souvenirs, it was across Transylvania and back into Hungary and the return visit to Budapest, that well deserved extremely meaty feast, followed by a little clubbing with some fellow creatures of the night.

MIKE SMITH was a guest of escorted touring specialist Cosmos Tourama. A 13-day Treasures of the Balkans & Transylvania tour costs from pounds 969pp including return flights from Gatwick (pounds 1,068 ex-Manchester) and airport transfers, 12 nights B&B, sightseeing and the services of a professional tour director For a copy of the Cosmos Tourama America, Canada, Europe and Worldwide brochure, visit www.cosmostourama.co.uk or call 0871 622 4167.

CAPTION(S):

The Chain Bridge and Houses of Parliament, in Budapest, by night; The People's Palace, in the Romanian capital of Bucharest; Bram Castle, in the heart of Transylvania; The Fisherman's Bastion is situated on the banks of the Danube