With Dacia through Romania

Romania is a country, which is only a couple of hours away from Slovenia and is easily accessible because of the beautiful Hungarian highways. It has more than 20 million inhabitants. The country offers a lot to its visitors - from the sea, the mountains, endless plains, wonderful underground, poverty and wealth.

Dacia cars and horse yokes on the road

The roads are incredibly bad in rural areas. One hole is next to the other hole. They are certainly more appropriate for horse yokes than for cars. In rural areas, you will most likely see either a horse yoke or a Dacia. There are plenty of Dacia cars, from old to new ones. But horse yokes are still really important for people, living on the countryside. It is not strange for a horse yoke to force its right of way. After that, you can’t move on because the road is closed by the flock of sheep, followed by a herder or shepherd dogs. In autumn, there are even more of them because they take their sheep to the valley. The feeling that you’re completely cut from the civilization isn’t negative, it’s just a completely different way of life. Horse yokes were very common in the past, but with development, more people earned enough money to buy a car. Simple farmers became workers. They built better roads and some highways. In the more developed areas, there are less horse yokes, but Dacia cars are still there. You are able to see many old and new Dacia cars and some expensive cars.

Countryside

Our visit of Romania began on the north-west where the landscape is hilly and there are many farms, small poor villages, macadam roads, and wonderful underworld. The following was the reason to visit this part of Romania. The area was as if we returned to the past. Villages with muddy roads and gutters were really interesting. In front of the houses, we could see some chickens and older people. This is the image of modest rural life where people’s mainly live from farming. You don’t see that on the west. It took us a few hours to finally arrive to the hills and to the typical Romanian house. Romanian speleologists have taken care of our accommodation. The landscape is nice, but not interesting enough for tourism. We were there to get to know the Romanian underworld. Romania has over 12,000 caves, many are definitely worth a visit. Some are open for tourists, but of course, if you’re a caver, the most interesting caves are those, who are not open just for everyone. Descending on ropes, climbing the narrow areas and through the mud payed off with beautiful dripstones.

Count Dracula

Tourists visit Romania for the famous story, which is really only a story. Dracula and vampires in the books and movies are only fictional characters, but are known throughout the world. Bram Stoker wrote his famous novel about count Dracula, based on stories. Count Vlad the Impaler or Vlad Tepes in Romanian, means “terrifying” in translation and lived in Transylvania. In the middle ages, it ruled Wallachia and got its nickname because he supposedly stuck his enemies on stakes. Many parts in Transylvania is marked by count Dracula. Romantic city of Sighisoara, where the count was born, Bran Castle, where we still don’t know if he actually lived there and less famous castle Poenari, where the count lived. Poenari Castle is not as popular, because we can only see ruins of the castle, but there are 1480 stairs leading to it. Dolls in front of the castle tell the story of sticking enemies on stakes. The count showed the Turks what will happen to them if they get too close. He wasn’t merciful even to women, elderly or children.

Romanian cities

The cities are a complete opposite to the countryside. They are tidy, modern and rich in the centres. They have a diverse history and are developed for tourism. Because of the country’s development, it also became the member of European Union. Romanians still have their own currency, Romanian leu. You can pay with Euros only in some places. Sighisoara, Brasov, Sibiu and Cluj are some of the bigger cities. Each city is developed, clean and nice with many buildings, worth seeing. The cities give you a feeling of complete safety and visitors don’t feel threatened even for a second. In some cities, one can still see the Saxon way, as everything happens in German language. The most important city is Bucharest. The Romanian capital is very special, mostly because of the former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. The city still gives a socialist vibe. Their enormously big parliament takes your breath away. It’s the second biggest building on Earth and if you want to go around it, it will take you an hour.

Taking one of the most beautiful roads in the world

One of the most beautiful roads in the world, Transfagarasan, is a road that was dedicated to the military. Today, this road is one of the most important tourist attractions in Romania. Tourists drive it by motorcycles, bikes, and cars. Some of the beauties in this area found their spot in some Hollywood movies. The road is 90 kilometres long and is very winding. It is located between towns Sibiu and Pitesti. On the second highest road in Romania, one can see peaks, glazier lakes, untouched nature and much more. The highest point on the road is 2034 metres above the sea level. The highest mountain road in Romania is Transalpina, which is 2145 metres above the sea level. Transfagarasan road was built between 1970 and 1974, and unofficially, hundreds of workers died while building it. It had a military purpose. If Soviet Union attacked Romania, the military would have a quick access on that road. The road isn’t open in winter because of snow, it is opened from May to October. It had happened that the road was closed because of snow in the summer. Cycling Tour of Romania happens here every year. Some shots from Lord of the Rings were also filmed here. On top of the pass, there is the longest tunnel in Romania. It is 884 metres long and only 3.6 metres high. Buses, which are higher than 3.6 metres for around 10 centimetres can still go through the tunnel, but there’s a problem if a large vehicle comes towards the bus. Glacier lake and this area is also accessible by a cable car, which operates throughout the year. The most special thing in the winter, however, is the ice hotel, which is being built every year and then closes when the ice melts. Every year, it is built differently. The ice hotel has 14 rooms, and the temperatures are around -2 to 2 degrees Celsius. The bed are covered in skins of reindeer so that guests wouldn’t be cold. Near the hotel, there is also an ice church where they have weddings and baptisms. Chairs and tables are also made from ice and a dinner is 45 Euros per person. Price for one night is 40 Euros.

Many people ask us, why we chose Romania. The decision was definitely the right one. This country offers so much – from the wonderful caves to beautiful nature, interesting history and wonderful cities. Many Europeans are convinced that Romania is dirty, poor and even dangerous, but those are just stereotypes.