Romania

Has anyone ever been? I'd love to hear some experiences or suggestions!

I've never been, but a friend of mine was in a relationship with a Romanian man for 3 years, and went there every few months.  She travelled to a few different parts of the country and loved it.  I'll get more info from her on exact areas, etc.

Cool, thanks!

I lived in Transylvania for a year, and (while I admittedly may be biased) think that that is the best region for visitors, especially if it’s your first time there.  The actual landscape is gorgeous, and there a lot of beautiful towns and cities to visit.  Brasov is really near Bran Castle, and has a really nice pedestrian area in the center of town with lots of shops and restaurants.  Cluj is bigger, and not quite as popular with tourists, but has good train/bus links with the rest of the region and might make for a good base.

Sighisoara is also one of the most popular towns to visit, and with good reason – it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site, and is an incredibly beautiful (and well-preserved) medieval city.  It's a smaller town, and I only spent a day there, but it was fun to just wander around and climb up to the citadel.

If you want to get out into the countryside, you should definitely think about Maramures.  It’s very rural, and thus a little harder to get to/around, but there is an entire way of life still existing in the villages and countryside that you just won’t see anywhere else. 

I haven’t been back in a few years, but I’d be happy to try and answer any questions that I can!  How long are you planning on going for?

This is great, thanks!

How long would you recommend going for? This would be our honeymoon, so at least 10 days I would imagine. Is it hard to drive there?

Is it hard to drive there?

When the in-laws went with their friends, they had a Sat-Nav that was telling them to turn onto roads that hadn't been built yet!  Lol!

When the in-laws went with their friends, they had a Sat-Nav that was telling them to turn onto roads that hadn't been built yet!  Lol!

Yeah, that's why I'm a maps and signs kinda gal!

Oh, and is September a nice time to visit?

September is beautiful!  The weather should be cool enough that you won't be dying from the heat, but the nights will get chilly, so make sure you're prepared for that. One of the things I also remember loving the most about the fall was the farmers markets.  You could buy not only the freshest, most flavorful, veggies, but a lot of the vendors there would also be selling the jarred preserves and spreads that they had been canning.  Delicious!  Try to find some zacuscă - it's basically a vegetable spread made with eggplant, beans, tomatoes, and... some other stuff.     It's one of those things that every family makes differently.

I never drove there, so I can't really speak from personal experience, but at the same time, there was definitely a reason I never drove there!  A lot of the roads are still not in very great condition, and if you don't know where you're going, it can be very easy to get lost.  Taxis are plentiful though, and at least back then, were very cheap (and honest - in an entire year, I only ever had one problem with a driver trying to charge me more than the metered or agreed rate, and that was at a seaside resort where there were more tourists).  When my parents came over to visit me, we hired an English-speaking taxi driver for the day to drive us from Targu Mures to Sighisoara, as well as to a local salt mine and to another village.  For the whole day it was about $40.  Granted, that was a little over five years ago, so I imagine prices have gone up somewhat, but they're still not going to be anywhere near what they are in western Europe or the US. 

As for time, I would say to go for as long as you can!  Ten days would, I think, be the minimum to visit a few cities and maybe get out into the countryside as well.  (Oh!  I just remembered - the painted monasteries in Bucovina are also super cool.) If you have longer though, there are so many interesting places to visit and it's still affordable enough that you can extend your trip without having to budget like crazy.

Good luck with the planning, and let me know if there's anything else!  Congratulations on your wedding!   

This is really great! thanks! We were looking at the website for responsibletravel.com and they have some interesting tours.

Oh, and my husband wants to know why you were living in Romania....and I want to know too! 

Glad I could help!  It's nice to have an outlet for my usually pretty useless Romania knowledge.   

About what I was doing there... short story is that I was teaching English.  Longer version is that I was working in NYC for a few years and was kind of burned out from the city and looking to get away for a while.  I was working in international ed. and had had some volunteer TESL experience, and suddenly the opportunity to teach English (and, somewhat randomly, US History) at a public Hungarian high school in Targu Mures, Romania fell into my lap.   I hemmed and hawed about it for a few weeks, but after deciding that the opportunity wasn't likely to come by again, I packed my bags and left for the land of block housing and sour cream.  (kidding.... sort of)

Anyway, the year had its ups and downs, of course, but I've definitely never regretted going.  And now I get to try and convince you to go!