Romania Off The Beaten Path

  Timisoaras first electric lamp
by edvin_br
 
  • Timisoaras first electric lamp
      Timisoaras first electric lamp
    by edvin_br
  • at center of deva
      at center of deva
    by hanspeter_W.
  • castle of deva
      castle of deva
    by hanspeter_W.
  • Mamaia
      Mamaia
    by JessieLang
  • Poiana Brasov Hotel
      Poiana Brasov Hotel
    by JessieLang
 

Reviews from VirtualTourist Members

See the Painted Monasteries of Bucovina

by tiganeasca

It's sad to think that anyone would miss the Painted Monasteries in Bucovina. They are in the remote northeast near Ukraine and are difficult to visit without a car, but they are unquestionably worth the effort. These few medieval monasteries are UNESCO World Heritage sites and as unique as they are exquisite. The frescoes are painted on the OUTSIDE walls of these tiny fortified monasteries. The paintings often look as fresh as though they were done yesterday instead of five hundred (!) years ago and you cannot help but be stunned and amazed at the work and the artistry.

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Maramures

by AndreSTGT

This remote region in North-Western Romania is one of Europe's best-hidden treasures. Time seems to stand still in the villages, horse carts are the standard means of transport and most buildings are made of wood. If you want to see how people throughout Europe lived one hundred years ago, visit Maramures, it is one of the last places where this can still be witnessed.The wooden churches in the beautiful Iza Valley are UNESCO World Heritage.

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Troita (pronounced troitsa; I...

by tiganeasca

Troita (pronounced troitsa; I can't reproduce the proper letter here). You will find these roadside crosses sprinkled throughout Romania. These are hand-carved wooden crosses (or crucifixes) sometimes centuries-old. These crosses were common in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when travel, a dangerous undertaking, would be preceded by prayers at a cross to insure a safe journey. Crosses can be found by sharp-eyed travelers but are increasingly scarce. Bram Stoker even referred to them in Dracula.

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Fagaras Mountains

by AndreSTGT

The Fagaras Mountains are Romania's activity wonderland. There's skiing in winter and hiking in summer, bears and wolves included.The up to 2500m high mountain range is traversed by the spectacular Transfagaras Highway, a beautiful drive if you have your own car. The road is in excellent condition and the views are fantastic.

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Cheile Bicazului NP

by AndreSTGT

We accidentally came across this beautiful national park on our way from Suceava to Sighisoara. It's near the town of Bicaz and well worth a visit if you happen to drive through this area.The narrow road leads along a river through a beautiful canyon with steep rock walls.

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Southern Bucovina's painted monasteries

by AndreSTGT

Well off-the-beaten track in Northern Romania in the beautiful region of Bucovina are four painted monasteries : Moldovita, Sucevita, Humor and Voronet.They're all well worth a visit, but allow plenty of time if you have to rely on public transport. With a car they can easily be seen in one day. If you only have time to visit one monastery, make it Sucevita. It's the largest, best-preserved and most beautiful of the four.

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Cotnari Wine

by ovidiu_nan

Cotnari comes from history, like a ship from far away, from the horizons of the sea. Sometimes, a wave raises it, making it visible, at other times big and foamy waves let us imagine the rowers' and steersmen's life-and-death fight. The vineyard and the town of Cotnari flourished like never before during Stephen the Great's reign.The name "Cotnari" originates in the craft of measuring barrels.In 1599 Cotnari (having 3500 houses) was one of the largest towns in Moldavia, after Suceava (6000 houses) and Bacau (4000 houses).In the beginning most of the lands around Cotnari belonged to the community of the local free peasants and townsmen, who maintained their supremacy until the second half of the 16th century; the ruler also owned large surfaces of land (one of the hills is still called The King's Hill).Beginning with the second half of the 16th century, the Cotnari vineyards started...

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Wine Cellar

by ovidiu_nan

An hour of driving away from Bucharest we come across a former boyar mansion, modernized and transformed by the people from Cramele Prahova – Hallewood. A leisure trip to Urlati will be spiced up with everything that is supposed by the wine tourism, in fact with almost everything. Nothing is left here but for some clever villagers to fit out a few guest rooms. And then the superlative will set over their offer by itself. However, it is good to know that here you will find wide cellars with barrels that shelter ones of the best red wines in Romania. The oenologist is a good guide and also a hospitable host. Then a tasting room, barbeque, terraces, belvedere and fresh air... A proof of the fact that “people bless their place”, as an old proverb says, and that what is happening in Urlati is no hazard is the change at Pivnitele Rheir (Rheir Cellars), also belonging to the same...

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The Danube Delta

by ovidiu_nan

The Danube Delta, a buffering interface between the Danube river catchment (805, 300 sq. km and the Western Black Sea (5,165 sq. km) is a unique place not only in Europe, but also among other deltaic ecosystems due to its high biodiversity, to its renewable natural resources and to its beautiful scenery doubled by its cultural sites remnants and worth. The Danube Delta is a large scientific laboratory for a whole range of research-workers and explorers, whether ecologists, biologists, botanists, zoologists, ornithologists, geologists, geographers .This is the largest continuous marshland in Europe which includes the greatest stretch of reedbeds probably in the world. The marsh vegetation is dominated by reeds Phragmites australis which form floating or fixed islands of decaying vegetation ('plaur') with some Typha angustifolia and Scirpus sp. Reeds cover some 1,700 sq. km and 'plaur'...

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Lost Cabans in the Mountains

by Elweb

I strongly recommend Ranca Caban, or stay a night at the Ranger's house in the middle of the forest! Just escape the town and go wild! Make it a escape from the cotidian, in a place with no phone, no horns, no cars, no civilisation. Just you, birds, forest sounds, and great home made meals, hunting if possible, traveling on foot on forest roads. Belive me is great!

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Top 3 Hotels in Romania

JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel  Bucharest

 7 Reviews and 145 Opinions  The Bucharest Marriott Grand Hotel is primarily a business hotel, located close to the main business... 

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Bella Muzica  Brasov

 6 Reviews and 59 Opinions  We stayd at this hotel in february 2010. The hotel was perfectly located in the the senter of... 

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Hotel Binder Bubi  Sighisoara

 21 Opinions

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Questions and Answers

animsoc profile photo

Q:  Buna Ziua all! It's the marshmallow/Christmas-tree/asks-too-many-questions guy! Lol! So, I feel I asked about this once but,... 

animsoc profile photo

A: Ooops, I didn't mean "dinner" for 2 but, MEALS for 2. :p 

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