Not so far from the tenth country on my list, number nine is
the incredible Romania. At present Romania is going through hard times, being
very badly hit by the economic crisis, so why not journey there and pump some
money into the economy? You’ll find it one of the most beautiful places in all
the world, there’s no doubt. It had breath taking mountains, castles galore, a
mind-blowing capital, warm-hearted people oh and you know, Transylvania, a
place too many people associate with vampires, but in fact as beautiful as any
region in Europe that there is!
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| Bucharest street near the station. |
Start with the capital. Look, it certainly isn’t the
highlight of Romania, Bucharest, but it’s at the very least an interesting
place. Parts of it still echo the name ‘Ceausescu’, the somewhat heavy-handed
brutal communist dictator, and in some ways the communist past of the city is
what is interesting. The streets are wide and leafy, the buildings often grey
and foreboding. The Peoples’ Palace is for certain one of the most impressive
buildings in the world, the cost of building to the Romanian people though
suggests it was not worth it.
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| The Palace of the People. |
There’s even a few museums, including a nice outdoors one,
and a replica Arc De Triumph, as the dictator dreamed to make Bucharest the ‘Paris
of Eastern Europe’. What he did create was certainly an impressive and unique
city.
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| Bran Castle |
After Bucharest I visited Transylvania, simply a beautiful,
green part of the world full of mountains and castles and wonderful medieval
cities such as Brasov. Not too far from Brasov is Bran, a small town up a
mountain with beautiful Bran Castle, fabled to be ‘Dracula’s Castle’, although
this is not actually true. The castle though is worth visiting, perched sort of
on a rock above the town.
Just down the road from Bran I found a place called Sinai,
where you can find a really beautiful palace. Peles Castle, which to me was more of a palace
according to the images of what is what in my mind, is stunning, a little bit
gothic, and provides the visitor with a wonderful tour where you can see much
of the inside of the castle. It was one of the many highlights for me in
Romania.
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| Peles Castle |
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| Sigisoara |
Sigisoara is a truly beautiful, again slightly gothic,
medieval town in Transylvania. A place with arch ways over cobblestone streets,
beautifully creepy graveyards, a couple of small museums and history with Vlad
the Impaler, from whom the Dracula legend was born. I adored this small
city/town. It has a wonderfully romantic (in a scary way :D) atmosphere and
should not be left out of any trip to Romania.
Outside Transylvania to the north-west of the country is
Cluj-Napoca, also just known as ‘Cluj’. The second biggest city in Romania, it’s
big but beautiful in a way Bucharest
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| Cluj-Napoca. |
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| Turda Gorge |
Finally the mountains not so far from Cluj offer more
fantastic hiking. There are small villages to be discovered and there was a
wonderful ice cave as well. Romania will always have a special place in my
heart. Like Slovakia, you won’t find it as expensive as Western Europe. Today
it’s a little more on the tourist trail than when I visited in 2004, but it doesn’t
make it any less beautiful or stunning. Most people don’t need a visa like I
did nine years ago either.
Transport is good to the main centres, trains connect a lot
of Romania, and indeed to neighbouring countries – I came in from Bulgaria and
left to Serbia. Trams and trolley buses are popular in the cities, and of
course there are always buses to the harder to reach places.
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| Salt Mine at Turda. |
Two words that sum up Romania: Gorgeous and Stunning.
So:
10: Slovakia
9: Romania
What will be number 8? Stay tuned.
Kindle writings on Romania:
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