Clifton

Would anyone have any first hand knowledge. or even web links, of any traditional type of festivals in Romania in early October?

Did a search but there's not a lot available. Thanks!

BATUFFOLINA

Check this site, it is in romanian but you will have a list of events which take place every year: http://www.infotravelromania.ro/evenim.html

Clifton

Thanks Batuffolina. I'm going to have to figure this Romanian stuff out soon, so this is a good start. Some of it seems like it makes sense.

Hopefully we find something unique going on somewhere there in that timeframe. We're hoping to visit Maremares, Bucovina and Transylvania. I think it's going to be an adventure.

BATUFFOLINA

My father is romanian and I have visited Romania 4 times up to now. The regions of Maramures and Bucovina are famous for the bizantine churches which have those wonderful biblical frescos painted on the outer walls. Also the orthodox monastries are fascinating. Transylvania is a beautiful region too. Worth to be visited are: Bran Castle (aka Dracula Castle, but there is nothing gloomy or scary about it, the interiors are white washed and there are some pieces of oak furniture), Peles Castle, Brasov, Poiana Brasov (mostly for walks, and there are hotels among the mountains), Sinaia. If you need some help in understanding the romanian web site I can give you a hand, No problem!

BATUFFOLINA

Here you are some translations:
festival castanelor= chestnut festival
Festival dansului barbatesc= festival of Men Dancers
Cantecele Romanilor de Pretutindeni= songs of the romanians from everywhere
Festival minoritatilor= festival of minorities
Targul artistilor populari= exhition of popular artists
Festival "crizantema de aur"= "golden chrysamthemum" festival.
I hope to have cleared your doubts

Clifton

Thanks again Batuffolina, you've been a great help. It's not easy finding Romanian translation! (I just barely started trying to teach myself Italian) Some of those festivals sound quite interesting and I'll follow up.

We were planning on seeing at least a couple of the painted monastaries - Sucevita and at least one more. Do you have a personal favorite? All the places on your Transylvania list are on our "see" list, except that I'll add Poiana Brasov. We do love mountain views. We're also wanting to spend some time in Sighisoara and Medias as they seem to have that medieval look to them.

BATUFFOLINA

Hi Clifton. I have visited the churches and monasteries in Moldova, like Voroneti (which has a fabulous painting of the last judgment, whose dominating colour is red -each church has a dominating colour, I remember someone told me-), Moldovita, Neamt, Bistrita and Putna. They are all great, though to a profane eye like mine they all looked similar, so it is hard for me to remember which ones I visited (it was in 1992, last time I have been there).
I particularly likes the town of IASI (pronounced IASHHH), because it has sooo many things to see, like the Palace of the former prince Stephan the Great (palatul Unirii) which has a good collection of romanian artefacts, the National Theatre, the Copou Park with the statue of the National Bard, Mihai Eminescu, the church called Trei Hierarchi (of the 3 Hierarchs). It is a very lively town and it has plenty to see...
Brasov also is lovely, the central square is interesting and I also suggest a walk (or just take the funicular) at Timpa from where you can have a lovely view of the town.
What else? Around Brasov (driving towards and around Bran Castle) you will also find some typical small villages, that were built and that preserve german names. This is a so called german "island" because in the past (around the 6th century if I recall well from my university times) some groups of germans were brought there. They preserved their language (that is now an old version of the german spoken in Germany), their uses, their building styles (you will see little houses with high fencing walls, an old german characteristic, I have been told).
Last but not least, the FOOD you should try once in Romania:
SARMALE (minced meat balls wrapped in grape leaves), served with sour cream, really yummy, ICRE (a kind of caviar but it is creamier and fluffier), GOGOSI (pronounced go-goshhhhh) that reminded me of krapfen, MUSACA (cream of red peppers that you spread on bread), BACLAVA (reminds of eggplant parmigiana, but MUCH heavier), PLACINTA CU BRINZA (cheese cake), PLACINTA CU NUCA (walnut cake) and PAPANAS (pronounced papanashhhh) another dessert made with sour cream and breadcrumbs.
I hope not to have confused your plans and ideas....
If I have some more ideas, I'll drop you some other message!
PA (which in romanian means BYE)

Clifton

Oh no, no confusion. We don't have a set plan yet, so all these are good things to add to the list. I know we can't do it all in just one holiday, but it's always nice to have a full list of choices.

Thanks too for the information on food, especially pronunciations. We had just been talking about that the other night. We'd rather try the local dishes usually than just finding generic restaurants. All of this is very much appreciated.

Clifton

Batuffolina,

I was wondering, have you ever been there in early November or late October? The trip's been delayed by a month. I'm a little concerned about driving in the more remote mountains if there's a possiblity of unplowed snow. Any thoughts?

BATUFFOLINA

Hi Clifton,
No I have never been to Romania in Oct/nov, only around Jul/Aug and sometimes it was HOT (especially in the plain area from Bucharest to the Black sea called Dobrogea), sometimes it was cold (especially in the northern regions like Moldova and Transilvania). From what I recall (having been told by friends and relatives) in OCt/Nov it CAN be cold, especially in the northern regions. As I have always said, weather is unpredictable...
Have you checked this site?
www.romaniatourism.com
It is in english and it has lots of info!, maybe also some about the weather

Clifton

Ah, thank you again for taking the time to respond. Our other choice was to go earlier, but August didn't sound like fun if there was another heat wave!

I always like to double check those online places that give you the yearly averages in weather. We've looked at some of the places we've lived (like here in Memphis or my wife's home in Melbourne) and some of those websites are *way* off.

I will check out that site. More information is always, always a good thing.

BATUFFOLINA

Hi Clifton
August could not be a bad idea if you choose to visit the northern regions or Transylvania (Carpathic area anyway). Poiana and Sinaia are always fresh havens when the heat strikes, you know. Lots of woods, walking tracks on the mountains, and if you go up to BABELE (the tonic accent is on the A) which are perched on top of the mountains near Sinaia, it is chilly!
Also, in Transylvania (but that's also all around the country), there are natural spring water spas, with swimming pools. You can have massages, swim in water of different temperatures, even have some treatment if you have some ailing pains. I remember going to Malnash-Bai when I was 8 with my parents, it was fun.
OR.... if you like sea, sun and sand, there is always the Black sea. Lots of hotels, very lively in August (Costinesti is the fave resort for young people, there is a music festival in Constanta if I remember well), lots of restaurants with terraces facing the sea (by the way dont forget to try MITITEI, spiced grilled meat balls. Great with a COLD beer!)... Have a short boat trip of the Danube Delta, or even to Varna, Bulgaria.
What else can I say? the possibilities are MANY as you can see: sea, mountains, art, history...
I would avoid Bucharest in August, it is a hot pit!

Clifton

It seems like there's so much to see, I just wish we had more time! (I always wish that though). We're going to spend a few nights in Budapest and then take the train into Romania. Now we're left with figuring out what we most want to do. That's enjoyable for me though. I got some fall weather advice from Alex, who's lives in Romania, over on the Lonely Planet board and it doesn't seem like it *should* be too bad. You never know, but we kind of like the cold weather anyway. Seems like a lot more people ask about Romania on that board than here.

Still haven't decided what order to put things in, but the list right now includes a short 1-2 day drive through Maramures and Bukovina and the rest in maybe based in 2 or 3 central Transylvania locations, with hopes to see some of these (but probably not all):

Sighisoara
Sibiu
Medias
Biertan
Brasov
Hunedoara
Sinaia
Curtea de Arges
Hunedoara
Alba Iulia
Fagaras

It's more than we have time to see, but we don't usually schedule too much, except accommodations sometimes. Always have to leave something to see next time, right?

PS, thanks for the tip in Babele. That sounds promising.

BATUFFOLINA

Right! That's always the excuse for a future ravel!
Your itinerary is pretty good and you will have quite a good knowledge of Romania.
Yes, I agree, I have visited the Thorn Tree forum in Lonely Planet web site and there are many knowledgable people there about Romania. Some are really living there like Alex.

Art

Romainian = Latin
When the Roman Empire many Romans both solders and civilians settled there with their families. Transalvania is "Beyond the forests" in Latin. If you have a friend who has studied a lot of Latin they can help you trnaslate.
BTW Plan on a night in Sigashoria and have a meal in the house where Dracula was born. We had the best meal there that we had in Romania.

Clifton

I hope to come back feeling like I picked up a little bit. We'll see...

Art, thanks for the insite and the restaurant recommendation. We'll probably stay in Sighisoara at least a couple of days, so we'll try it out on a night when we aren't in neighboring towns. I'd been reading some of you old posts on your trip, which have been very helpful.

I don't know anyone who's up on their Latin, but we're working on the basics. We'll communicate, even if we have to draw pictures and play charades. We will definitely learn hellos and thank yous and that sort of thing for sure. Hopefully more but I'm bad at soaking in language. I can understand German halfway because my grandparents spoke it, but that's it so far.

LLC

Clifton- Have you found much information on interesting places to stay? I'm interested in Romania but I'm seeing lots of concrete block hotels on the websites. Do you know anything about Castle Kalnoky? It looked interesting. I agree, there isn't much information on Romania here. Almost got talked out of Romania with the posts about having to bring your own lightbulbs and toilet paper.

BATUFFOLINA

LLC:
as regards bringing toilet paper, I am afraid but it is TRUE! When I went to a 3 star hotel in Mamaia in 92, after two days I noticed that there was not enough toilet paper, so I asked the housekeeper to be given a new roll. The answer... No, Ma'm, I can just give you a little handful (5 rounds around the hand) for today, we are out of toilet paper....
Thank God I hadn't diarrhea! (sorry about the inappropriate detail, but, HEY that was sadly true!).
I dont know about the present situation now, I guess that if you choose some small hotel, there might have some toilet paper shortage. Not so in the luxury hotels...
Also, I can suggest to have either some soap bars, cigarette packs or something like that at hand, to give the housekeeper or the concierge when asking for something. I know it sounds cheap or mean, but my cousins and I would do that (I still remember we handed Lux soap bars and cigarette packs under the counter) when we asked for a minibar (to store water or sodas) in our room or to have our sheets changed more often than they would do (always because they were short of linens), and.... punctually it worked! we had clean sheets and the minibar (when at first they seemed intransigent on that...). For the toilet paper... that was something they couldnt do much, though... they really had a little!!!

LLC

Batuffolina,
That was 92, are things still like that or has it gotten any better?

BATUFFOLINA

Yes I realise that my info can be pretty outdated, but I think it is good to know that if it seems that you can't have something while in a hotel (something like toilet paper that a hotel SHOULD have), maybe by handing a few euros as tip, the same thing can be obtained. Frankly speaking, I don't know if it still works like that, but again, it is good to know that.