Romania

Visited: September 2007, August 2022

Duration of visit: 10 days

Capital city: Bucharest

Population: 19.3 million (2022)

• Walking inside splendid Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest, the second largest administrative building and officially the heaviest building in the world.
• The country’s largest sea port – Constanta, is also an important cultural and economic center, with historical monuments in the old city.
• Relaxing on the sandy beach, swimming and paddle boarding in one of the most popular beach destinations – Mamaia beach on the Black Sea.
• Walking the narrowest pedestrian street in Eastern Europe – Strada Sforii in Brasov.
• Tasting salty walls in the biggest European salt mine Salina Slănic Prahova (Mina Unirea).
• Peleș Castle – the most beautiful Romanian castle, combining different features of classic European styles.
• Bran Castle – a mayor Romanian tourist trap that attracts fans of Dracula from all over the world.
• Eastern Orthodox convent of Sucevita Monastery – the last of the 22 painted churches of Bucovina with the largest number of painted images.

“Authentic, Natural and Cultural, are the words that best capture the essence of Romania, a dynamic country, rich in history, arts and scenic beauty.”, is the official invitation by Ministry of Tourism, inviting foreign visitors to experience and discover Romania.

Romania is recognized by strong communist leader in the past, the capital city of Bucharest – Paris of the East, Transylvania region with castles and Dracula’s enigma, painted monasteries of Bucovina and Black Sea coastal resorts in Constanta area.

I visited Romania on various occasions for business and pleasure, while exploring the country on public transport and by my own vehicle; as a solo trip or accompanied by my family. However, the extensive exploration occurred in 2022, when travelling around Eastern Europe by my own vehicle Romania was one of the main destinations.

Romania has been developing very fast since becoming a member state of European Union in January 2007, but big differences between the cities and countryside are still very obvious. Horse drawn carriages on the main roads, lack of basic infrastructure, such as water and sewage systems, are very normal in most of rural areas.

I was observing water wells along the roads, thinking that these were mainly used in the past, when Romania was struggling under strict communist leadership. Staying in a traditional house in Bucovina area and talking with locals, I realized that they still use the wells with water pumps as the only alternative for water supplies. Even new constructions in the area have a back-up well installed, just in case.

Crossing the border from Bulgaria on the coastline road at Vama Veche was very straightforward. We were all very hungry and the first mission was to find a decent restaurant. It was Saturday, nice warm, sunny day in the early afternoon, almost impossible to find a parking on the main road where most of the eateries are located. A buffet restaurant was one of those pleasant surprises that you sometimes find by coincidence, without planning.

The food was displayed in separate containers, freshly prepared and apparently delicious. For the children, I chose stuffed peppers with minced meat in tomato sauce. For me, fish cutlet with rice and vegetable side dish. All portions of each type of food were weighed and a sticker with a bar code containing the information of weight and price was attached to the plate. At the end, the cashier scanned a set of slips and payment was quickly made with a credit card.

In general, the food in Romania was good. Since I don’t eat meat, fish was frequently on my menu. Fruits and vegetables are inexpensive, many locally produced, with rich flavor. They would be promoted as biologically produced in Western Europe and charged much more than regularly offered products.

My favorite Romanian dessert is Papanasi. When I ordered it for the first time in a restaurant, I was surprised when the waiter warned me: “It will take up to 20 minutes to prepare it. Are you OK with that?” Papanași is a traditional Romanian and Moldavian donut-shaped pastry with a small sphere on top. It can be fried or boiled, and it’s filled with a soft filling. The fried papanași are usually donut-shaped and can be served with fruit jams, a dollop of sour cream and powdered sugar on top.

The capital of Romania since 1862, Bucharest, so called Paris of the East or Little Paris, is the biggest city, center of Romanian culture, economy and public administration. Heavily marked by decades of socialist planning and strong hand reigning of Nicholas Ceausescu regime, it has been recently growing in population and transforming to gain popularity among other Eastern Europe capitals.

Unfavorable temperate continental weather that marks up to 10 degrees colder in the winter and over 5 degrees warmer in the summer then the rest of Central Europe, has been changing recently. Winters are apparently not that cold anymore and while the whole Western Europe has been struggling with heat waves in the summer of 2022, Bucharest was pleasantly warm.

Bucharest is among the most congested European capitals; I didn’t even try to drive around by my own vehicle. Instead I commuted with metro, which is preferred and the most convenient mode of transport. Wagons are wide and hardly ever completely full; platforms are well-organized, tickets are inexpensive and easy to buy at vending machines. Trams, buses and trolleybuses complete the public transport infrastructure, but beside using metro, I mostly walked to reach the main areas of interest around Bucharest.

Bucharest’s Old Town is at the location of the city’s origin. A mix of old, renovated buildings, restaurants, bars, museums and passages has been renovated after years of negligence. 18^th-century Stavropoleos church, Stock Exchange Palace and especially stunning Cărturești Carusel bookstore are unmissable.

It is not common, that a bookstore is one of the highlights of a big city, but Cărturești Carusel is really a special place, that overwhelmed even my kids, so I will describe it more into details. The bookstore is spread over six levels, offering a space for reading, socializing and artistic exploration. There are many young people or groups who jointly read, conversate or study. The elegant 19^th century building, owned by famous banker family Chrissoveloni since 1903, was confiscated and turned into the store named Familia during the communist period. After 1990, the building was recovered and rehabilitated through an innovative layout, but still preserving its historical substance. Books, posters, cards, specialized sections, a gallery and cafeteria offer a great environment for cultural inspiration.

The other cultural extreme is night life. Emerging from the shadows of its Communist past, a huge variety of bars, pubs and clubs began popping everywhere in the city. You can find just about everything in Bucharest these days: beer gardens, pubs, rooftop bars and jam-packed noisy clubs.

The most popular and crowded spot in town is undoubtedly on the main streets of Bucharest downtown: Centrul Vechi (the Old Town) and the pedestrian streets around Lipscani. The atmosphere here is quite unique, with bars and clubs crammed into each other, blasting out loud music. At night many bars are turned into night clubs with semi naked strippers who perform on improvised dancing tables for mostly international male public. I don’t remember seeing so liberal atmosphere, strippers dancing in bar windows red light district in other Eastern European cities that are well known as party or bachelor parties’ destinations for Western youth.

Number 1 landmark of Bucharest and wider is the gigantic Palace of the Parliament, the second largest administrative building in the world and officially the heaviest building in the world.

Many people believe that Ceausescu use it to reign the country for decades, but he actually only planed it and started the construction. He ordered the demolition of an entire neighborhood to make room for this megastructure, where all governmental services would jointly operate.

Simple facts speak for themselves: height of 84 meters, 12 floors above ground; the basement extends 92 meters below ground level. 240 meters long and 270 meters wide with the floor area of 365,000 m², the weight of 4.10 million tones. It took 13 years to build The Palace of the Parliament; from 1984 to 1997. Over 700 architects worked on design of 23 sections and 1,110 rooms. Many of them are still unfinished, others also unused. The materials for the building are almost exclusively from Romania. The Palace of the Parliament is valued at €4 billion; only the cost of electricity and heating exceeds 6 million US$ per year.

During the tour around the Palace we visited a dozen of well-maintained rooms and halls, checked the view from the balcony to Piața Constituției and Bulevardul Unirii, which is a bad copy of Champs-Élysées. The building is used for government offices, protocol events and also private events.

So, anybody (who can afford it) can hire a room or a hall for a private event. I always wonder, how many beneficial works could be done with all the money, time, materials, workforce and knowledge that was invested in the Palace of Parliament.

After touring around the heaviest building in the world it is hard to find anything similar that would impress me. Nevertheless, I also visited the Spring Palace – Palatul Primăverii, Ceausescu’s private residence for a quarter of a century. Even though located in a posh neighborhood surrounded with villas of other high-ranking officials, it has been well protected and isolated from neighbors, so the dictator could be safe and calm with all his fear and paranoia about the dangers that threatened him from unruly fellow citizens.

The neoclassical residence was used as a VIP residence for official delegations until it was opened to the public in 2016. It is incredible how well preserved it is and how it survived all massive destruction of everything connected with the dictator immediately after his resignation.

It is a demonstration to the division of Romanian society during the hard times of communist regime, when obviously some privileged people were more equal than others. The highlight of the tour is a visit to the bathroom, with water taps made of gold.

Impressive collection of paintings, a wide variety of handmade tapestries, mosaics, luxurious swimming pool and precisely manufactured wooden pieces, show the luxury that Ceausescu family enjoyed in the impoverished country.

My walking tour around Bucharest was completed with the visit of Romanian Athenaeum and Arcul de Triumf, before heading to King MihaiI Park.

Romanian Athenaeum is a beautiful neoclassical concert hall, opened in 1888, rests among lovely gardens auditorium, home to the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra. The overall style is neoclassical, with some more romantic touches. I didn’t have a chance to attend events in the auditorium, but only walk around to observe majestic stalls, 52 loges and huge 75 by 3 meters long fresco by Costin Petrescu, which decorates the inside of the circular wall of the concert hall.

The first, wooden, triumphal arch was built in a hurry, after Romania gained its independence in 1878, so that the victorious troops could march under it. Arcul de Triumf as it stands today, with concrete skeleton and plaster exterior of elaborate sculptures and decoration, replaced the original one on the same site after World War I in 1922. In 1935 the current much more sober 27 meters tall arch of Neoclassical design was raised, more closely reminding on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Each 1^st December military parades are held beneath the arch, when Romania’s national holiday is celebrated.

Right next to it is King Mihai I Park also known as Herastrau park, the largest park in Bucharest and, moreover, the largest in a European city. Many outdoor activities can be practiced here. The park offers wide promenade areas with rich vegetation, water activities, summer theatre, exhibition pavilions, cafes, clubs and restaurants. In a pleasant shadow area with deckchairs, tables and cushions, I rested after a long walk, had an ice cream and gathered energy before returning to the apartment.

I like Bucharest. It offers a special mix of socialist architecture, good food, relaxed vibe. Efficient transportation system, relatively little international visitors, big contrasts between modern and traditional. The most important landmarks are outstanding, while parks are beautifully maintained and an oasis to fill up with the energy, when it becomes to hot in the summer.

Salina Slănic Prahova is a large salt mine, two hours’ drive north of Bucharest and a great stop on the way to Brasov. I’ve got a feeling that not many foreign visitors are aware of this mand made natural attraction.

We were sited in vans to be transported through an excavated transport tunnel to the interior of the mine, since due to the accident in 2014, the elevator was closed. Rust is the main reason why the elevator shaft without metallic parts is unique.

Indoor temperature is the same year around (12°C). The salt mine was operating between 1943 and 1970. The exploitation was done downward from the ceiling to the basis in successive slices of 2.2 meters with a horizontal cutting at the basis and vertically along the walls. These levels are visible from 10 meters opening to the ceiling and 32 meters wide chambers on the ground. With a height of 54 meters and a wall inclination angle of 60 degrees, all 14 chambers have a form of trapezoidal profile.

Since 1970, the mine has become a tourist attraction, offering exceptional natural conditions as a result of its microclimate, rich in aerosols, effective in treating respiratory disease. A kind of strange activities are available during the visit of the mine: table tennis, billiard, golf, movie theater; all at very accessible prices. I played a round of mini golf with my kids and really enjoyed the atmosphere, while wandering around enormous chambers. The walls are absolutely stunning and it is hard to believe that the nature did all decoration, colors, lines and forms on partitions.

The last part of driving through small towns and villages on the local road from Slanic to Brasov was a real adventure. Google maps shortcuts on this route don’t take in consideration the status of the shortest route, which is not in good conditions.  In the late afternoon I reached the city of Brasov, one of the most beautiful and visited places in Romania. Fringed by the peaks of the Southern Carpathian Mountains and resplendent with gothic, baroque and renaissance architecture, Brasov used to be located at the intersection of trade routes linking the Ottoman Empire and Western Europe.

The most outstanding city attractions on the Old Townhall Square (Piața Sfatului) is Black Church, darkened by the flames and smoke of the ‘Great Fire’ of 1689, the largest gothic structure in Romania. In the old town, there are some colorfully painted and richly ornately baroque structures, stone gates of Poarta Ecaterinei and 3 archway Șchei Gate for pedestrians and traffic.

The funniest place to visit in Brasov is Strada Sforii, a simple corridor, a tiny pedestrian street. It was created to help the work of the firemen in 15^th century, who had problems to circulate between long blocks of main streets. At just 111 centimeters at its narrowest point, it’s officially the narrowest street in Eastern Europe and the third narrowest on the continent. It is still used for pedestrians as a shortcut, but mainly being a famous tourist attraction.

One of the most popular regions for visitors today is Transylvania, mostly known for its myths about vampires and the blood-thirsty count Dracula. Bran Castle commonly known as Dracula’s Castle is marketed as the home of the title character in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. However, there is no resemblance in Stoker’s description of Dracula’s crumbling fictional castle and Bran Castle. This character is often confused with Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler), sometimes known as Vlad Dracul, who was a Wallachian Prince with a castle, now in ruins, located in the Principality of Wallachia.

Bran Castle is the only castle in all of Transylvania that actually fits Bram Stoker’s description of Dracula’s Castle. This fact probably led to the understanding that Bram is the castle known throughout the world as Dracula’s Castle. Thousands of foreign tourists (especially Americans) make this castle one of the biggest tourist traps in the country or region. Beside specialized tours, events and stories, there are dozens of stalls selling any kind of products that might be somehow inspired by Dracula spirit.

Honestly, I am not a big fan of castles, but I would really avoid visiting Bram castle, if you are not a big fan of either Dracula story or castles in general.

Probably the most beautiful castle in Romania is a Neo-Renaissance Peleș Castle, constructed for King Carol I, between 1873 and 1914. South of Brasov on the main road to Bucharest, in the southeastern Carpathian Mountains, he fell in love with the magnificent mountain scenery and decided to build his summer residence in the area.

More than 300 men worked between 1875 and 1914 to build the palatial alpine castle combining different features of classic European styles, mostly following Italian elegance and German aesthetics along Renaissance lines. International specialists from various European countries left a magnificent legacy – furniture, decoration, canvases, paintings, weapons, all sort of curiosities combined with a good taste.

It was the first castle in Europe to include central heating and electricity. Even though I arrived there early, many tourists were already queuing to get the tickets. I believe the Peleș Castle has been inspired by similar styles as Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany. Surviving wars and Communist regime (which mostly ignored it) is now visited by half a million tourists per year, as well as many famous political leaders, artists, performers and celebrities.

The historic region of Bucolic Bucovina on the northern slopes of the central Eastern Carpathians and the adjoining plains, is dotted with slant-roofed village houses, famous for painted monasteries.  Fearless children riding bareback on horses and enterprising locals selling wild mushrooms along curvy road that lead through forest, can be picturesque and funny to watch, but the main reason to navigate this region are monasteries painted exterior walls, which are decorated with elaborate 15^th and 16^th century frescoes. Featuring portraits of saints and prophets, scenes from the life of Jesus, images of angels and demons, and heaven and hell are one-of-a-kind architectural sites in Europe, protected by UNESCO.

Sucevita Monastery, founded in 1581 was the last of the 22 painted churches of Bucovina and has the largest number of painted images. Almost completely covered by mural paintings from inside and outside, it boasts a magnificent depiction of the Ladder to Paradise. The paintings date from around 1601, which makes Sucevița one of the last monasteries to be decorated in the famous Moldavian style of exterior paintings. Only the western exterior wall of the church is not covered with frescoes.

According to the legend the work stopped after one of the painters fell from the scaffolding and died. Sucevița was a princely residence as well as a fortified monastery. There is a small but excellent museum that presents an outstanding collection of historical and art objects; some of them are over 600 years old and still in perfect condition.

Driving through the winding roads of the dense forest soon brought me to the longest zipline in Romani at Tiroliana Pasul Palma, which is actually installed between the upper part of the mountains, stretched above the valley and ending 1 kilometer further on the other hill. The zipline was rather hidden a few hundred meters from the main road, but thanks to the local host, I knew exactly where it was.

The only question was if the kids want to join me and which style I am going to choose: the usual position, where you sit hanging from the zip line or a Superman position flying with open arms and head forward. The second one was slightly more expensive, but worthwhile. Gliding in a Superman style tens of meters over the forest was an adrenaline-full experience. Short, but sweet and exciting.

My perception of Romania in 2022 is very positive. A big country for European standards with poor road system, which enables travel speed at maximum of 50 kmph in most directions, therefore makes it even bigger for visiting. Friendly people, who speak a language that reminds on Italian; sometimes easy to understand, but usually a mystery.

Wide variety of food, inexpensive services and accommodation outside of beach resorts in the high season. Very little Western tourists outside of tourist trap in Bran Castle, memorable architectural creations; from 16^th century monasteries to socialist monsters in Bucharest are really impressive.