Visit Romania!

[edyzmedieval]

Romania.

The land of Count Dracula, Gheorghe Hagi and Ilie Nastase, George Enescu and Nadia Comaneci, Constantin Brancusi and Hertha Muller, Lucian Bute and Daniel Negreanu, Stefan Odobleja and Nicolae Paulescu, Henri Coanda and Aurel Vlaicu and even George Pomutz, an American Civil War general. You may or may not have heard of the people I listed above but in their respective fields all of them have made a considerable impact.

And all of them come from a country in Eastern Europe called Romania.

Many of you have heard about this Eastern European country and with this thread I hope to shed a light on the beauty of Romania and hopefully help you make a decision with regards to a possible visit.

To start off the thread, I will present a couple of quick facts to make a better idea about Romania.

The first remains of human activity in Romania are from 42000 years ago, from the "Cave With Bones", and the earliest known written evidence of people living in the area are from Herodotus's writings mentioning the local tribes called "Getae". The Dacian Kingdoms which controlled the area later on were conquered by the Roman Empire and colonised in 106AD. Later on, the first medieval kingdom in Romania was founded in 1330 and up until the Declaration of Independence in 1878 with a new Kingdom of Romania, the territories in modern day Romania have been either independent or under foreign rule.

The creation of the Kingdom of Romania in 1878 under the reign of King Carol (Karl) I ensured stability and prosperity that culminated with the creation of Greater Romania in 1918, comprising of Wallachia, Moldavia, Transylvania, Bucovina, the Quadrilater and Bessarabia. After World War 2, Romania was a Communist country, led by Gheorghe Ghiorghiu Dej and later on by the infamous Nicolae Ceausescu.

Since the fall of the Communist Revolution in 1989, Romania has made the transition to democracy using a system of bi-chamber Parliament and a unitary semi-presidential republic with the capital in Bucharest and under the guidance of the current incumbent Traian Basescu.

And without further ado, here's some wonderful pictures taken from a great Facebook page called "273 places you have to visit in Romania."

http://www.facebook.com/273.ro

Bodi Lake



Calimani Plateau



Corcoaiei Gorges



Peles Castle - built by King Carol I



Dawn at Costinesti, Black Sea



Postavaru Plateau, 1600m




Brasov - The Black Church, centered




Curtea de Arges Cathedral



Bran Castle - Dracula's wrongly attributed residence (Vlad Tepes's castle was Poenari)



Sucevita Monastery




Viscri Monastery - Prince Charles recently bought a house in the commune




The thread will be frequently updated with more pictures, couple of videos and other information regarding Romania, including a special lengthy post about the capital Bucharest, so stay tuned. :thumbsup2

Furthermore, if you wish to visit Romania, do not hesitate to post in this thread. I'd be more than happy to give you information where to go, what to visit, where to stay... :)

Here is the official website of the Romanian tourism - http://www.romaniatourism.com/

Thank you and I hope you enjoyed this.