So, the latest issue of Brasov In Your Pocket will hit the presses this evening. Expect to see it on the city’s streets and in Tourist Information Centres (yes, Brasov has two!) some time next week.

This is the cover, featuring the Junii Parade, this year being held on April 11:

Each time we visit Brasov we like to stay in a different hotel, to make our experience as traveller-centric as possible. It is difficult to review a hotel properly unless you stay in it. (Also goes without saying that we can put such largess on our company expenses).

This visit we stayed at the Hotel Apollonia.

Not a bad place, the rooms are simple, and though charging extra for the swimming pool is a bit crap, at this price (200 lei) for a double room close to the centre of Brasov (you can walk to Strada Republicii in two minutes) you can’t really argue. Besides, the shower in the room was one those futuristic ones that takes 20 minutes to work out how to use. We have certainly stayed in worse places.

We made two great discoveries in Brasov this past weekend.

The first was Bodeguita con tapas, found on the site of the long gone (and much lamented by old Brasov hands) Taverna.

It’s a great place, which makes use of the small space available well, and though the tapas are a bit hit and miss (the mushrooms were not great, but the guacamole was) the paella was fantastic, and the sangria strong and tasty. It was very smoky thugh, so much so that we decided the hams hanging behind the bar were there simply to be extra-smoked.

The second marvelous discovery was Casa Krauss, found on the ground floor of the house that hosts Deane’s in its basement (at least one of our regular readers will remember said basement as Bimbo Night Club).

Anyway, Casa Krauss: best cakes in the country. No doubt about it. And then there are the truffles (which, at 160 lei per kilo are not for the tight of wallet), and the homemade chocolate and the apple tart. Everything in the shop is fantastic, and you will want to buy it all.

As for late nights, we still have a habit of heading straight for Deane’s, (even though it can be unbelievably smoky) especially on a Friday when the big man Haydn Deane himself gives us a song:

Last Friday Haydn launched his latest CD: a live, double CD recorded over two nights in the pub. Get yours here.

Brasov’s very own swing legend, the Singing Doctor Haydn Deane (also known as the patron of Deane’s Pub & Grill, on Strada Republicii), sent us a link yesterday to his new video: Brasov iubeste. Written by him and his wife it has been adopted by Radio Brasov as the city’s unofficial anthem.

You can see it here:

Anyway, having tweeted it with the tagline ‘When will anyone write any songs about Bucharest?’ we were overwhelmed with at least three responses.

So here, for the first time in one place, songs about Bucharest…

Gica Petrescu – La margine de Bucuresti

Anymore for anymore?

We really must get up to Brasov and see our dear friend Haydn Deane very soon.

Meantime, he’s been back on Happy Hour singing about Brasov.

Funny how people never write songs about Bucharest…