julies

We visited Romania several years ago, and it has stayed at the top of our list as far as favorites (we've been to Spain, France 4 times, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary. Austria, Germany, Italy, Iceland) even though we've seen a lot of Europe. Last night we had our pictures out and it brought back all of the memories of what a special place this is. If you are interested in visiting a truly scenic countryside, friendly people, and visiting a place where in many ways time has stood still, visit Romania. In the remote Maramures area, near Ukraine, in particular it is like visiting what Europe must have been like prior to WWII. The Bucovina area with its painted monasteries is also a glimpse of another world. Transylvania has gorgeous scenery and the mountain resorts have hiking, scenery, and fabulous homes of the former royal family. Put this on your must go to list if you are someone who is somewhat adventuresome, not interested in being pampered with fine dining, and are a traveller, not a tourist.

Clifton

Julie,

I just wanted to say thanks for having posted your various comments on Romania. I've read a few of them as we've planned for this fall's trip. Maramures, Transylvania and Bucovina are on the probable route.

If you ever have a moment, I'd sure appreciate asking a couple of logistical questions of someone who has done the car method of transportation. We're beginning and ending in Budapest and have a few gray areas when it comes to border crossings and getting currency. As I said, just if you get a few minutes.

julies

Hi Clifton--

I'll try to check this today to see what your questions are. We flew into Budapest and picked up our rental car and then spent the 1st night about an hour out of Budapest. We had intended to go into Romania right away, but our transatlantic flight stopped for an emergency medical evacuation causing a big problem with connections and a subsequent 8 hour late arrival. Crossing into Romania was quite interesting as we had read about guys at the border disinfecting cars, and sure enough there they were. We paid the dollar or two just to not have to deal with the hassle. Actually, going into Romania at thge border we saw some of the most scary looking and seamier people we saw on the whole trip. In Romania we used ATMs all the time and never had a problem. At times we wished we had had more US currency because I think many people would have preferred that to lei. Lei is not convertible back to other currencies (we learned the hard way) so make sure you don't have a lot of Romanian currency left when you go back into Budapest. We were spending a couple days in Budapest at the end of our trip and were lucky that the agency we'd rented through sent someone to out hotel to pick up the car, so we just drove to the hotel, parked the car and they came to pick it up. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Clifton

Thanks Julie. You've answered a number of things that were in my head in that last post of yours. I'm curious as to whether that couple of bucks was above or below the table?

Where did you cross the border? I've heard stories of some long waits at some former eastern bloc borders and some hints about separate lines for trucks vs cars and was curious what your wait times were and if the 2 line system applied where you crossed? We're planning a few days first in Budapest to get our legs and allow for delayed luggage (BA on the last leg is sure to make us check our 21" bags due to weight). A couple of days across NE Hungary and then over at the crossing nearest Satu Mare and hope for the best on an ATM there in town before heading for Sighet. Trying to make sure we allocate enough time to get into Sighet before dark. Great tip about not being able to convert lei back.

We haven't decided yet whether we'll exit Romania nearest Oradea or Timisoara. We're sort of playing that by ear. I take it the crossing <i>into</i> Romania was the most eventful?

I appreciate your time!

julies

2 more quick thoughts. If you can arrange to be in the Maramures area around Sighetu on the 1st Monday of the month, be sure to do so. It is the local agricultural market where people bring in their livestock to sell. Nearly all of the people are dressed in traditional dress, and the market itself is fascinating. However, I don't know if we would have found the place ourselves without a guide. We knew we wanted to visit the market and told the guide so. I don't think this is exactly on the top list of most tourists lists because the guide was surprised we wanted to do this. It was unforgettable. We also timed our trip to the area to coincide with a local festival. If there are any festivals during your stay, be sure to m ake it a point to visit them. We have never had a guide for anything before or since, but we were really glad we hired our guide, He was also our host at our homestay. We arranged our homestay through the tourist office in Vadu Izei, and they were really good. In fact, we met the Peace Corps volunteers who were in charge of helping the village establish a tourism base. Try a homestay in the area, it really makes the trip. The other lodging recommendation I have is for Bran. (I should also qualify this by stating that we are not upscale travellers, and don't look for luxury.) We stayed at the Vila Bran which is outside of town. Rooms are nothing fancy, but are clean and modern They are set up high on a hill and have a terrace with lovely views of the surrounding countryside. We ate our meals there on the terrace. As far as meals in Romania, don't expect anything fancy. For the most part, we tended to just eat where we were staying because there weren't a lot of choices, we didn't want to drive after dark, and our main purpose was just to fill our stomachs rather than to have a dining experience. My last 2 tips, driving times are quite slow so don't expect to cover long sdistances. I relied heavily on the Lonely Planet book and the Blue Guide to Romania. Write back if you have any more questions.

palette

Because I was reading Jason Goodwin's &quot;On Foot to the Golden Horn: a Walk to Istanbul&quot; (he's English and began the walk in Poland - a wonderful read, by the way) and part of his walk (early 1990s) was through Romania, I did some internet searching and stumbled upon the following, cottage rentals by a young Romanian Count as a means to support his efforts to renovate his family's ancestral home in Transylvania now returned after the fall of the communist regime. Obviously, I haven't experienced it but just pass it along for what it's worth.
http://www.transylvaniancastle.com/

BTW, Goodwin's impression of Romania was that it was the saddest of the countries he walked through; of course, this was just 2-3 years after the fall of its dictator; it sounds as if things have definitely improved in the past decade.

Clifton

Good stuff Julie. I'm thinking we may not be in the right place on the 1st monday, as we're starting mid-month. I did find a website though awhile back listing the various days when there are markets in the different Maramures villages though, so I have high hopes. On the 1st of november, I'm anxious to see the Orthodox customs related to the Day of the Dead that another poster shared here, so if that comes to pass, I'll come back to share.

You all sound like your travel habits are similar to our likes and dislikes. Mind you, we don't mind a nice meal every now and then, but we're not fussed about it. Basic and simple and on budget is best for us. We also steer clear of guides and tours usually, but your experience sounds interesting and we may pop into the local tourist office in Sighet to see what we see. Hoping to dig into a few local dishes though, and not ask what's in them. We'll look into the homestay option too.

Palette, I'd seen the Transylvania Castle sight on some searches. Thought about it but it may be more than we're thinking for this budget. It is in the Szkeley area though, which sounds very interesting so maybe... Depends too on whether he'll take walk-ins. We aren't setting any reservations and sort of drifting, so we can stay longer or shorter in areas that capture our imagination (or don't). The book does sounds interesting. Perhaps something for the plane.

Thanks much for the insights.
Cliff

julies

We crossed in near Oreada. We entered quite quickly, and yes there was a separate line for cars. (The worst line we ever saw was on a trip where we went from Austria through Slovakia on our way to Poland. We heard there that the truck line could be a day wait.) We couldn't tell if these disinfectant guys were official or not, but our assumption was that they were just trying to make a little money off unsuspecting people. We paid because we figured $1-$2 was nothing to us and a lot to them. I also just remembered that we did change maybe $50 or so at the border because we were unsure as to where we'd find a cash machine. As I said, the characters were rather unsavory so my husband sat in the car to guard it while I walked over to the currency exchange booth. We crossed back into Hungary near Satu Mare and actually had more of a problem there. Apparently the guard at border when we went in had screwed up and stamped our passports with an exit rather than an entry stamp. So it took several higher ups and an extra 20 minutes before we were allowed to leave. I should also warn you about the only two things I disliked about Romania. 1) A lot of beggars, and I have problems with this just because of apprehensions about safety. In the larger towns there were a lot of people begging at the stop lights where they would approach your car and ask for money or wash the windshield. There were also a number of children who had been taught to beg by their parents. 2) The one other thing I didn't like was the fact that the litter in the countryside was terrible. Apparently there isn't the infrastructure for trash removal, so people would just pull over and dump their trash wherever. By the way as far as northern Hungarygoes, we enjoyed Eger, Tokay was okay, but don't bother going into Holloko which is written up as a quaint village. It was out of the way and nothing compared to what we'd seen in Romania. Also, I am not a big shopper but I did buy a handmade rug and a handmade tablecloth. Each tourist area seems to have a different monoply on handicrafts, so if you see something you are interested in, buy it because you might not see that type of handiwork again.

Clifton

Yeah, I think I'd toss them a couple of bucks too, either way. Interesting that there was a exchange there at the border (if I'm reading that right). We'll bring a bit of extra US funds just in case, tucked away.

Your two warnings - those I have read quite a bit about. Lonely Planet mentions a couple of things and The Rough Guide is pretty frank. Not pleasant things, but then my work used to, long ago, take me alone into East St. Louis from time to time, so... well, anyway. We've been warned and yet still remain without good sense Always up for a challenge to comfort zones.

I'm glad you said what you did about Holloko. I'd been trying to decide whether to try to fit that in, but honestly Eger and Sarospatak seem more substantial. Debrecen too maybe, time allowing, as it's well spoken of.

We're about 2 months out now, but looking forward to the trip. Thank you!

twoflower

Interesting report. It's a country I want to go to. My son tried to get there last year, with some Romanian friends, but was turned away at the border for having no visa. He waved a Lonely Planet travel guide at them in which it said that travellers could buy visas at the border, and the guards waved back a piece of official-looking paper which (presumably) said the rules had changed! He went back to nearest consulate at Budapest to apply for the visa, they led him to believe it was a quick and routine matter but kept him waiting 3 days, then said &quot;Good news, your application has been approved; come back in 2 weeks time and we'll have it ready for you!&quot; You don't want to hear what happened next; let's just say he didn't make it into Romania on that trip. Cruised around Hungary and Croatia instead, and enjoyed it. He plans to do Romania later this year.

julies

Twoflower--

I'm wondering what country your son is a citizen of. We had no visas, but we have US passports.

Clifton

twoflower, my guess is you're Australian? They did change those rules for Australians awhile back. Found that out in research as my wife is Australian. When we heard about the visa change, we hurried up and got her Irish passport up to date as EU citizens also don't require a visa. I read someone on the LP board say that they were pretty easy to get in Canberra though.

GMT2272

julies- if you were going back to Romania or planning a trip for someone who wanted to see the Romanian scenic countryside (instead of spending alot of time in Bucharest) how would you plan your trip? How would you break up your time and where would you stay. Special places you wouldn't miss? What time of year did you go?

Herschey

This has been a fascinating discussion.

I'm hoping to make my first trip to central/eastern Europe in October. I figure I have 10-14 days total. Initially I planned on Prague and then Vienna and/or Budapest. But I've always toyed with going to Romania as it's where my paternal grandparents are from (Maramures, right near Sighet). My gut says I'm best off leaving that for a separate trip so I can possibly mix in some geneological research on my great grandparents and so on and don't try to do too much at once.

At any rate, my questions are:
1. Why did you choose to travel by car? Is that better than train for Romania?
2. How did you arrange for a guide and roughly how much does it cost?
3. How was the language barrier?
4. This might seem a weird question, but I'm planning to travel with my Filipina girlfriend. Is that going to raise eyebrows significantly? I figure I'll be pegged as American anyway, but at least I figure I look somewhat similar given my heritage. Anyway, just something that's crossed my mind.

Thanks!

julies

I'll try to answer all the questions if I can. We went the very end of April in 2001. We were lucky and had beautiful weather. We had read nothing good about Bucharest so were not at all intersted in visiting there. Plus, there were cheap plane tickets into Budapest so that made the decision for us. Additionally, there used to be a guy from Romania who posted on Lonely Planet all the time; he lives in Romania and had nothing good to say about Bucharest. Try posting there to see if he still monitors the site. He was very helpful.

We really like the freedom and flexibility that a car gives us when we travel outside of major cities. We had read all the cautions about driving in Romania and had a few apprehensions beforehand, but really felt fine with the driving (we never drove after dark however). In retrospect I rally don't know how we would have managed trying to find trains and buses and their schedules. The thing we found most different about Romania was that there was really none of this developed tourist infrastructure that we are so accustomed to in the rest of Europe. There were certainly no signs pointing to tourist information offices for example. Another example was when we went to visit the Peles ?? castle in the Brasov area. There were a few very small signs pointing in its direction, but we really had a difficult time finding it.

I speak some French and had thought that perhaps that might help because I had read that it is the second language of Romania. Never found one person who spoke French. We learned a few basic phrases in Romanian before we left, and they served us okay. We did run into some English speakers at some of the hotels. By the way, other than our homestay, we had no lodging arranged ahead of time. Things may have changed in the past three years, but in many of the places there is not an excessive network of hotels or places to stay. We relied heavily on our guidebooks to tell us where we would find lodging. In some instances way out in the ocuntryside there was only one place to stay for maybe forty or fifty miles. So, if you are terribly picky about your lodging, this isn't the place for you.

There is a lot of prejudice (even among the more educated people) in Romania against the gypsies who typically have darker skin. But, I don't think the Phillipina girlfriend should cause any worries. Frankly, our clothing (and we dress conservatively and not expensively and are usually mistaken for Germans in other parts of Europe) made us stand out as foreigners. But, that was fine because it was one of the only places we've been where Americans are wholeheartedly embraced. I think I'll put the rest in another post since I know there is alimit as to how much can be entered in these posts.

WillTravel

I don't claim to be entirely rational. But I read a while back that Romania, or at least Bucharest, has a stray dog problem. That really tends to put me off going there, because I am rather frightened of aggressive, loose dogs. How bad is this problem?

julies

As I mentioned earlier, we had a problem with plane connections so that cost us a day of our trip. Also, we had the homestay set up so we had to rush to get there. We also lost a day because someone ran into our car in a parking lot and made a very minor dent in it. This was on May Day when everything was closed, so we had to spend an extra night there so that we could go to the local insurance office there. Seeing how differently things operate there is a tale for a different time. But, it also made for a fascinating experience because the guy felt so badly about all this that he and his family invited us for dinner at their apartment. We went because it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. How often do you get the opportunity to visit a real family in a Communist era apartment in Romania?The daughter was in college studying to become an English translator so the language issue wasn't there.
Transylvania is lovely and we probably would have spent another day or two there is we had the time. Personally I don't know if I'd go back to Sighisoarsa again. It is another one of those places that is trying to develop tourism based on the Dracula legend. (Also, skip the Dracula castle in Bran). Sibiu was interesting and had a really good open air museum of old houses set in a big park. There were also some lovely outlying mountain areas near there. All of the Transylvania area near Bran, Brasov and the mountain resort of Sininai (sp??) was very lovely and had lots to do. So, as I said we would have spent more time there if we'd had the time.
As I said, the driving times were quite slow all over as there are no four lane roads and there are frequently animals and horse drawn vehicles on the roads. One day we even saw gypsies in traditional dress walking behind their horse-drawn wagon. We had read the horror stories about potholes, but they seemed no worse (and often better) than those we have in Minneapolis at the end of winter. The Bucovina area was interesting and we were also short on time there. Everything seemed to take longer to do and to get to than we had anticipated. (I believe we only had a total of 8 days in Romania). Once again, the driving was slow from there into the Maramures area. Also, speaking of driving another intersting thing was the hitchhikers. There aren't a lot of cars. Even the policemen flag down cars and get a ride to the next village. Since we don't speak Romanian we were a little leery of picking anyone up, but one day we did pick up one of the nuns outside one of the monasteries in Bucovina. Luckily she introduced us to another nun in her monastery who spoke English so that was intersting too.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had found the e-mail address of the local tourist office in Vadu Isei in the Lonely Planet book. This was the only tourist office I ever really had any luck with getting a response from. They are developing a network of agrotourism and guides in the Maramures area. They arranged the homestay for us. We stayed with a family in a small village. He was something like an forestry engineer, but there were no jobs so he was trying to develop a business serving the needs of tourists. His wife was the local doctor. We stayed on the second floor of their home and ate all of our meals there because there were no restaurants there. We had only planned to use him as a homestay host, but after we met him and found out how inexpensive guide services were ($20 for all day using our car) we hired him. I don't know how much more it would have been if he had driven us around in his car. He spoke fluent English and took us to some incredible places. We visited a local distillery in someone's backyard, we went into several local homes of traditional weavers, we went to church services, his kids' school, all of the wooden churches, the painted cemetary in Sapinta, the market in Sighet, a local festival etc. I know the experience was definitely richer for having hired him. I am embarassed to say that I think the total bill for the 2 of us for a room with private bath for 3 nights, breakfasts and dinners and 3 days of guide service was $150. We paid in lei, but I know he would probably have been happier with US dollars. So, obviously the Maramures area is definitely one that I would recommend. In fact, we would like to revisit the country and spend some more time there in the future. I think I've answered all the question, but if you have any more, let me know. I too had read about dogs (even some rabid ones I think) in Bucharest before we went, but since we didn't go there, I can't comment other than the fact that I remember reading that they were trying to deal with the problem and eliminate a lot of the dogs.

GMT2272

How was the food in Romania? Were the menus only in Romanian? I'm not expecting any gourmet food and usually prefer the local food whenever we're traveling. I just don't like to be suprised with unusual body parts in my soup.

julies

The food way okay, nothing special abd the fiarly typical meat, vegetable and starch. I think once or twice we may have found English menus. Other than that, have a phrase book handy. Remember too that we spent 3 days in a homestay where we just ate what was put down in front of us. Actually I don't think we had any real lunches. We bought cheese and bread a couple of times. Once or twice we stopped along the side of the raod for these ubiquitous grilled sausages. Romania was different because normally we just love to visit the grocery stores. The one or two times we went into grocery stores, it was depressing. There were only very basic foodstuffs and pretty uninteresting foods. We actually stopped on our way out of Hungary and bought quite a few snacks to hve for the remainder of our trip. We were glad we did. By the way, bottled water is also a must.

flanneruk

WillTravel:
The dogs. We've had flats in Bucharest for some years. The dogs are around in some parts of town, and not in others: you actually don't encounter them in the usual walks between the major hotels and restaurants, though there are quite a few in the areas behind Ceausescu's extravagances.

They're as frightened of us as even a scardey-cat like me is of them. It's easy, if you go wandering round the area, to encounter packs of them. Just stamp your feet if they approach. It actually sounds worse than it is.

GMT: food
No odd body parts. If you're driving, Shell Select have a slightly wider range of convenience foods than most roadside places (though very limited by UK standards), and there are now lots of normal supermarkets in and round the big towns (though sadly the Bucharest Marks and Spencer doesn't do food), But it IS easy to find shops whose selection can be limited outside the main towns.

As far as menus are concerned, restaurant food rarely strays beyond a score or so dishes, and it really isn't difficult to remember what they mean. After a while you stop laughing at the fact that the Romanian for carp is 'crap'

Street markets sell Europe's best-tasting vegetables.

Main railway stations are good for self-selection food: both picnic stuff (their cheese is pretty mediocre, but their salamis are fine) and for ready meals: Bucharest's Gara del Nord has a bad reputation for feral children (just stay very alert in taxi queues, or go straight to the metro platforms), but has a nifty range of cafeterias where I usually eat if coming back on the train.