Romania
I took my son to Romania for his graduation present. Not the country I would have chosen, but he that is where he wanted to go. Romania can be summed up in two words: beautifully heartbreaking. It is not for the thin skinned, sensitive tourist, you’ve got to be pretty tough to tour Romania.
Much of the country has been ravaged by war and communism. Many of the historical buildings were destroyed and replaced with ugly communist block housing in the previous dictator’s never ending quest to make all things “equal”, i.e. boring and exactly the same. But many of the beautiful old structures remain, and the current Romanian government is trying to preserve what is left of their heritage.
The cities abound with stray dogs (called “community dogs” in an attempt to fix the problem by giving it a prettier name). Most of these dogs came from the many cities Nicolae Ceausescu razed to the ground to make room for his new palace. The people who lived in those cities were relocated to communist housing and could not take their dogs, so the dogs were left to wander, breed, and starve on their own. It is awful to watch these dogs scavenge through trash cans, sleep in the train stations, and wander about aimlessly. The “community” pretty much ignores their dogs, preferring to feed the pigeons their left over food rather than the dogs.
To further detract from the visit, there are very aggressive beggars EVERYWHERE! (In Brasov, one woman followed us for about two miles begging for money for her baby, we had to duck into a coffee shop and stay there for a half hour to get away from her.) Evidently racism is still rampant in Romania, and the darker skinned Romani population still struggles to find work, housing, and food – so, they have to beg for whatever they can get. The situation with Romania’s orphans is overwhelmingly heartbreaking. During the communist period, Romania was notorious for “selling” orphans to well paying people – whether to loving, adoptive parents or human traffickers made no difference as long as the money was good. When Romania joined the EU, one of the many conditions placed on the country was to stop adoptions outside of the country. This has led to an overwhelming number of orphans in Romania begging on the streets and scavenging through garbage cans for food. We gave away a lot of food, drinks, and money to the begging women and children.
The transportation in Romania is terrifying. I never prayed so hard in my life as when I was at the mercy of a Romanian cab driver. Horn honking is mandatory, but turn signals seem to be an option, marked driving lanes are merely a suggestion, seatbelts are non-existent, as is the defrost for the windshield, which has been replaced by a dirty rag used to wipe the windows while the driver weaves all over the road. One driver, realizing he had made a wrong turn, actually stopped in the middle of 6 lanes of traffic in Bucharest, threw the car in reverse, and backed up until he could get in the appropriate lane to make his turn. Trains are still widely used as a source of transport, and the trains are actually very punctual and the schedules rather dependable. But, the trains are sadly out of date, left overs from the loving care of the communist regime. We bought first class tickets for all of our train rides because they were so unbelievably cheap! Well, you get what you pay for. Most of the cars had no air conditioning and no functioning windows. The seats in some had been patched with duct tape and repaired with scrap plywood. Any seats near a bathroom were uninhabitable because of the smell. My son had grand visions of touring Romania by trains like the ones in the Harry Potter movies. He was horrified when he saw his first Romanian train and I had to make him get on it. He spent the entire trip looking nauseous and scared and was a great source of entertainment for me!
All the negatives aside, Romania still has some terrific qualities. It is a very inexpensive place to visit. Most of the hotels are very cheap and clean (except for the Astoria Hotel right by the train station in Bucharest, it’s the kind of hotel your mother would be appalled to find out you slept in, and she would wash & disinfect everything you took in there). The Hotel Funny Time (great name!) was surprisingly nice. It is in Bucharest (costs a fortune to get there from the airport via taxi) in a very scary looking part of town. It is in an ugly communist block building with green industrial linoleum on the floor of the lobby. But, the staff was so nice and spoke flawless English, the rooms were darling (all newly appointed with beautiful victorian style furnishings), the restaurant was, as are all restaurants in Romania, spotlessly clean with an amazing wait staff. Lost in translation, my son ordered pancakes and bacon for breakfast – he was horrified when they set down a plate of beautifully arranged raw bacon in front of him. I laughed so hard at his expression, then told him it was pancetta. For his “pancakes” he was served chocolate crepes. No wonder the waiter thought he was crazy when he ordered his meal. He also had hot chocolate, the best he’s ever had – made with warm milk and sugar and real chocolate shaved into it. I, of course, had my traditional breakfast of coffee and cigarettes. Oh yes, you can still smoke in all of the restaurants in Romania. Ahhh, a little bit of heaven for me.
The people in Romania are the friendliest people I have ever met. Most speak at least some English, many of them are very fluent. In the travel books I read leading up to the trip, many writers stated that you don’t need to reserve hotels, just get off the train and hang around the train station & someone will offer to take you home to stay with him. While I would not travel like that by choice, it is true! We were offered many opportunities to stay with local families. One blessed angel found us wandering aimlessly in Brasov, towing our luggage behind, after the taxi driver abandoned us “near” the hotel we were looking for. The hotel did not exist. But this woman saw us wandering, looking very confused and American, and took us to her sister’s house, where her sister had a room to rent. On one train ride, a pair of very nice teenage girls helped to make sure we got off at the correct stop. On another, I met an actual card-carrying communist gentleman who tried so hard to converse with me, although he spoke very little English and I spoke no Romanian, he kept it up for hours, much to my exhaustion and frustration. My son said the man was trying to hit on me and it freaked him out a little.
The dining experience in Romania is, well, an experience. American restaurants could take some serious lessons from Romania. All restaurant, even the most inexpensive, were incredibly clean, beautifully decorated, and staffed with highly trained waiters. Nothing was simply served, it was all presented with flourishes and ceremony, even pouring a drink was an art. But, DON’T try to pour your own soda into your own glass, the waiters will be appalled. They will do it for you, and they will do it right. Most of the food was wonderful, but at times difficult to order. All meals are ordered a la carte – there are no combination platters or set dinners. If you order baked trout, you will get just a baked trout on a plate and nothing else. If you want side items (Romanians call them garnishes) you have to order them. There are some foods to be avoided in Romania – hamburgers (made with pureed “beef”, softly fried & served on a bun with french fries on the burger, not beside), pizza (no pepperoni in Romania, I don’t care what the picture on the menu looks like, we got a “salami” and four cheese pizza, the “salami” tasted like hot dogs and one of the cheeses used was blue cheese – a very bad taste to encounter when you are expecting mozzarella. Also, they serve their pizza with ketchup… don’t ask me.), stuffed cabbage (I know it is supposed to be great in Romania, one of their local delicacies, but it is made with the same pureed “beef” as the hamburgers). We did, however, have the best chateaubriand, veal, pasta, and fried pastries! Mostly, I recommend ordering French or Italian food while in Romania. Go figure.
We went to Bucharest, Brasov, Sighisoara, Sibiu, and Constanta. There are still some beautiful old buildings and adorable towns in Romania. The current government is trying to get many areas declared World Heritage sites, and they are working hard to preserve and beautify these areas. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves, but here are some highlights.
Bucharest: nothing remarkable about Bucharest, it is the capital city, huge, sprawling, and showing the most communist influence. We did not spend a lot of time in Bucharest, and we don’t really feel that we missed anything there.
Brasov: friendliest people, great restaurants, most of the town is pedestrian traffic only & a joy to walk around, the beggars are numerous and won’t take no for an answer. There is a wonderful old church in Brasov that covered their old artwork with concrete to hide it from the destruction of the communists. They have since uncovered most of the artwork and it is amazing!
Sighisoara: our favorite town. We stayed in the citadel in a lovely house built in the 1400′s. The owner at the time of our visit was a master carpenter and had restored the entire house to it’s original condition and filled it with furniture he made himself. Such an amazing place! The citadel was under renovation (gotta get water, electric, & internet into the old buildings without sacrificing the historic integrity) so we had a hard time finding a taxi to take us from the train station to the hotel, but we eventually got there. The streets were ripped up so utilities could be updated & new cobblestones laid. The very frustrated hotel manager said the construction had been ongoing for the past three years, and she doubted it would ever get done. The citadel was amazing: museums, shops, restaurants, and hotels high on a hill overlooking a bustling shopping district below. I cannot say enough good things about this town.
Sibiu: a crazy maze of a town with cobblestone and brick streets, wonderful shops and hotels, very modern stores in many areas, an active night life, and the worst pizza on the planet.
Constanta: a beautiful old port town with lots of Roman artifacts and great museums. Note: the museums are closed on Saturday & Sunday. We had to do a lot of walking to get to see the sights in Constanta, but it is the town that most sums up Romania: beautiful old buildings sandwiched between modern construction and bombed out shells, nice areas of shopping and dining squeezed in between slums and scary sections of town. We stayed in a lovely modern 4-star hotel that was divine and very inexpensive.
