still looking for suggestions

Here are two trip reports for my holidays in Romania.

In Search for the Little Paris

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34859356

and From Hay Stacks to Water Lillies

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34858589

Happy reading!

any additional suggestions

We had a wonderful trip to Romania in late September. It was made prettier, as Clifton mentioned, because of the fall colors and the harvest - we saw workers in the fields hand harvesting hay and forking it onto the distinctive Romanian hay stacks. Also pumpkins, potatoes and onions.

I wrote up my trip, but have not edited it into a trip report (right now, it's almost as long as Clifton's wonderful report.) I'm sure I will have done posted it by October, though! I made a 222 page book for my father for Christmas from my journal and some of our 3700 pictures. It was an unforgettable destination for us.

With 15 days, you will be able to see a good bit. Here are my initial thoughts:

Bucharest - a few days here, see the Folk Museum (I think its called the Museum of the Romanian Peasant), as I've heard it is quite good. We were tied up with relatives and saw just a bit of Bucharest. Cismigiu park is quite nice on a pretty fall day. I know you have already lined up your hotel but we loved the Rembrandt, right on the edge of the pedestrian district. Also nice is the Opera.

The real beauty of Romania is in its amazing countryside. Transylvania is worth 5 days or so: see the 3 major medieval cities - Sighisoara, Sibiu, and Brasov. All are worthwhile. We gave a day to the Saxon fortified churches, and wish we could spent at least one day more. I am really obsessed with these romanesque and gothic churches; their story is fascinating. You can explore at: http://www.saxontransylvania.com/ and other sites.

2 days for Bucovina's painted monasteries - it's a long drive up there, and we didn't get to do it on our trip (we had only 10 days)

3 days for Maramures, including a Sunday if possible. The wooden churches here are quite striking, resembling the Scandanavian stave churches. The houses are wooden as well, with fanciful cut outs and scroll work. The lifestyle here is very traditional; you will see countless horse carts and people in traditional dress. On Sundays, apparently, they don the festive dress - we missed that but still loved seeing the 'everyday' dress - the women in the head scarves, thick stockings, and pleated skirts. You will be within a few miles of Ukraine.

For the remaining time, I'd go to a much less traveled area, such as Oltenia or Moldavia.

As for transportation, we hired a driver/guide for the time we were not with relatives. But we had myself (50 year old woman), my brother, 48, and my father, 80. This worked out well for us, and when I go back (in the next 18 months, I hope; Romania is changing literally before your eyes) I will again hire a guide. I would not say this is a 'must' for everyone, but the thing I liked the best is the ability it gave us to communicate better with the people we came across in the countryside. It was also quite helpful for our guide to be able to find and negotiate with the people who had the key to the village churches. It sounds like you are quite used to adventure travel, so your needs my well be different.

Further info on language: I found French and German helpful - the youngest generation or two knows some English, but older people not as much. German is especially useful in Transylvania, even though most of the ethnic Germans have gone back to Germany (after 800 years in Romania!).

As you can tell, these are random thoughts off the top of my head. Let me know if you have any questions, and I'll try to answer them. The easy thing about Romania is that there isn't very much info on this forum, so you can find everything available without too much digging. My planning thread is:
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34832950

Oops, forgot to mention that Maramures is nearly always done via home stays.

noe---thanks very much for this excellent info!!

i had thought about a guide but i think for now have ruled it out...we find that language problems often make a trip much more interesting

Regarding driving.

I have driven in over 30 times, mostly in from Budapest. Cris-crossed the country a couple of times but most time in Banat, Western Romania.
Roads are generally OK and there are some real good ones. GO waaay off the track and you can find some mountain roads that are on the map but seem to be logging roads. Big fun if you have the time and enjoy meeting people waaay off the beaten path and don't mind discovering what most tourists will never hear about. Potholes exist as they do on any lonely country road and they can be ugly. Paying attention will avoid most problems.
Lots of mud due to farm vehicles entering the road from a mduddy field. Lots of horse drawn carts but some main country roads prohibit them.
Do not drive at night outside of town. People walk the road for what seems to be a place in nowhere to another place in nowhere. (Never can figure out where they are going!) BIcycles too. Many local drivers have bought a western car that can go fast but still do not know how to drive safely. Passing at bad times and tailgating is typical. I enjoy the challenge of driving there but you need to pay attention.
Night time photo radar is in place, I got a ticket but negotiated down to about 300,000 lei. (was $10 at the time.)
Gas, unleaded, is easy to find (fara plumb).

Have fun. Going by car is the only way to see a place. I discovered a wife there in '83 and it was the best take home gift ever.
Al

always looking for more advice...

still looking

more suggestions??

Just been to the "Caru cu Bere" (The Beer Wagon) restaurant, which was renovated recently. It is as old as 1879 and it re-creates the atmopsphere of the old times.

Go there and have a good time.

Here's the web page, click on Contact and see how to reach them.

http://www.carucubere.ro/

So when are you going? Do you have an itinerary yet? when you do - please post it, so we can see and others can give you more good ideas!

roughly here is our plan

arr bucharest oct 16...intercontinental hotel for 3 nites....rent a car
drive north with first two nites in sibiu at casa mararu...
continue north to satu mare via cluj-napoca and stay two nites at dana hotel...
continue to sighetu marmatiei via sapanta and stay at vila royal, as perla sigheana is overbooked...one nite there...
continue east to gura humorvivi and stay two nites at casa elena...
continue to piatra neamt and stay two nites at central hotel...
head south to sighisoara and stay two nites at legenda hotel...
then head finally to sinaia via bran and brasov and stay at hotel bastion...

in each area we plan to see as many sights as we can and to sup up the local culture...

our final day, nov 1, we leave sinaia and head to bucharest airport to drop off car at a local hotel and then fly to london....

we will be in sinaia on halloween...
\
all comments positive and negetive are welcome...

arr bucharest oct 16...intercontinental hotel for 3 nites....rent a car
drive north with first two nites in sibiu at casa mararu...
continue north to satu mare via cluj-napoca and stay two nites at dana hotel...
continue to sighetu marmatiei via sapanta and stay at vila royal, as perla sigheana is overbooked...one nite there...
continue east to gura humorvivi and stay two nites at casa elena...
continue to piatra neamt and stay two nites at central hotel...
head south to sighisoara and stay two nites at legenda hotel...
then head finally to sinaia via bran and brasov and stay at hotel bastion...

Not too bad. As far as places to go, not sure if there's a draw to Satu Mare for you personally. We went through, didn't see a lot but not saying there wasn't something less obvious.

On the hotels...

Sibiu - don't know the Casa Mararu. Stayed at the Impartular Rominalor (sp?). Kind of a faded old dame, but huge rooms and pretty nice. Mainly suggest staying close to the Piata Mare, where ever you choose.

You aren't missing anything by not staying at the Perla in Sighet. We did. Average room, below average overall.

Casa Elena in Bucovina. Not fancy at all, but the people were very nice and it was clean and comfortable. Got a giggle from a waitress with my Noapte Buna on the way out of the dining room, but I *think* it was in a good way. :)

Legenda is a nice little guesthouse, with doors on several of the rooms to an external pathway (still behind a gate though. Homey little place, but run more hands off like a tiny hotel than a B&B. Pass on the breakie though. Orange soda and cold raw bacon. Go up to the Wagner for a hot breakfast.

Don't know the Bastion in Sinaia either. We splashed out for the Palace as walk-ins, with no regrets. Besides the Peles Palace, don't miss the monastary above the town too. Easy walk up - check out the old church and the interior of the side buildings (we found the mural in the side buildings because a handy man waved us over quietly)

We were Sighisoara on halloween. It wasn't too bad really, and thats where ole Vlad was born. Sinaia should be pretty quiet. The next morning though is the day of the dead. Families get up and take candles and flowers to the cemeteries, so you'll see lots of flowers for sale the day before.

I'm also not sure about Satu Mare for 2 nights. Cluj-Napoca is fine, but imo the 3 jewels of Transylvania are Sibiu, Sighisoara and Brasov. I'd say spend a night in Brasov - it may have been our favorite.

Our hotels:
Sighisoara, Hotel Sighisoara - large, right off the square, in a building that was the old town hall, I believe. The restaurant was quite nice.

Sibiu, Imparatul Romanilor - as Clifton describes it. We had these odd loft-type rooms. Great location, really good breakfast.

Brasov, Aro Palace - old Art Deco hotel, much enlarged with newer tower added. We stayed in the old part, in these amazing huge rooms with all kinds of built in furniture and 2 bathrooms each.

Cluj-Napoca, Onix Hotel - really did not like the location or the hotel although the room itself was fine.

thanks for those comments....

ttt

any last minute suggestions....we are really looking forward to this trip.....any food suggestions??

Bob/Karen:

So you guys are finally off to Romania. I never heard from you after our first flurry of notes. I would have been glad to give you additional suggestions.
Is there anything I can do at this 11th hour? If I recall, you're off on October 15th..wow!

Stu Tower ([email protected])

I've only been to Constanta. I don't think that this is the right time of the year for the Black Sea.