TLDR: Romania. If you’ve not been, go.
Hi Steemers,
Hope you’re doing well. Last year the GF and I drove through Romania. It’s awesome. We spent a few days in Bucharest (not to confused with Budapest, that’s in Hungary), hired a car, drove to Brașov -> Sighișoara (Sig-hi-shwa-ra) -> Turda -> Alba Iulia (oo-lee-a) -> Sibiu (Si-bee-you) -> Transfăgărășan -> Constanța -> Bucharest. Then back home for a rest! There’s a lot obviously, so I’ve broken it up into a few posts.
FYI, Romania has three, quite distinct areas: Walachia (Bucharest, Constanta, some of the Transfăgărășan), Transylvania (has everywhere else mentioned above, including the rest of the Transfăgărășan) and Moldova (didn’t go here, but apparently the Danube Delta is amazing. Not to be confused with the ‘Republic of Moldova’, which is a country).
The pictures I’ve selected aren’t for artistic merit, it’s what I think shows Romania at its best (I’m totally not a photographer, so any photography tips are greatly appreciated). All photos are taken on my Oneplus One.
Part 1: Bucharest
Romania’s capital. Bucharest got it heaviest during the wars as well as during the reign of their Dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu (Coo-s-co, like the Disney character), so there are very distinct architecture styles (pre-war, communist, modern) sitting next to each other. We done a free walking tour with these folks - https://bucharest.walkaboutfreetours.com/ (recommended) who spoke about the dictatorship as well as Bucharest/Romania in general. Really interesting stuff.
Romania was heavy duty Orthodox Christian back in the day. Not as much anymore, but it still has a big following and there are LOADS of churches all over Romania. This one, Stavropoleos Monastery, sits in Bucharest and was saved from being destroyed by Ceaușescu. It still sits where it was built, but other churches were saved by building rail lines along the roads, then lifting the churches onto rail wheelsets and moved to another part of the country (this was acceptable by Ceaușescu apparently, as long as they weren’t in the city). The transport of the churches was ingenious. More info on that here if you’re into it: https://tourofcommunism.com/2013/12/02/communism-vs-religion-in-romania-how-churches-were-saved-from-demolition-by-a-brilliant-engineer/
Biserica Sfântul Anton. Another beautiful active Orthadox church right in the centre of Bucharest.
This church sits right next to one of the best places to eat, Hanu' lui Manuc. Get the Papanași (Papa-nash)! This was an inn before Bucharest was even invented. Some people attribute Bucharest to this very building.
There is stunning architecture throughout the city, exampled here by the CEC (Casa de Economii şi Consemnaţiuni) Palace (it’s the headquarters of the CEC bank, but people also use it for events).
The statue of ‘Trajan and the She-wolf’ is pretty recent and became instantly infamous because of the ‘mixed reception’ it received. A lot of people are confused as to why the wolf is floating, why the person is naked, why there’s three massive wolf boobs, and why the wolf has a weird scarf thing (I don’t think this has ever been explained). It’s common for people to get a photo in front of the statue holding their dog in the same way.
This is just a set of apartments (I think). I just love the shot (annoying powerlines aside).
Herastrau park is huge, and stunning. In the park they have an outdoor museum of what life was like back in old-school Romania. It’s called Dimitrie Gusti National Village Museum and the reproduction of the buildings is very, very impressive.
Also in Herăstrău Park there’s a Hard Rock Café. Obviously you get these all over the place, but we ended up talking to one of the servers for AGES about music, which was awesome. Romanians in general are massively into music, and this guy was no exception. You can check out his band here: https://www.facebook.com/DamageCaseBand/
If you’ve been to, or are from Romania, please do leave a comment and let us know of any thoughts and recommendations.
Thanks all!
-Peace.
Next: Romania part 2