Earlier this year I took my first trip to Romania and I was really taken by the people, the history and the landscape. I highly recommend visiting and the fact that it is very favourable to any travellers budget is a bonus.
My visit was inspired by one of my friends I met while working in London who is Romanian, and is the loveliest and kindest soul you will ever meet. I went to visit her in Oradea, her home town. What I love about travel is that can meet amazing people and then go to visit them and learn all about their town and country from a true local. It is always such a special experience and this was no different.
We walked by the river, went inside a magnificent historic church and took a dip in thermal water. We ventured deep into a medieval salt mine, tried lots of traditional cuisine, soaked up the sun in the Old Town square and I even tried to order my bakery items in Romanian ( which was much harder than I originally thought 🤣, but lucky I had a great teacher!)
I found most Romanians to be friendly, even if there was a language barrier at times (not as many Romanians are fluent in English as you would find in Western European nations such as Germany and The Netherlands ) and they were so happy when I made an effort to use Romanian words to say hello, thank you or order my food. Seeing the joy in the local’s eyes when I made an effort to do this was just lovely. They were also thrilled that I had chosen to visit their country as it is less frequented on the European tourist trail.
I also came to learn that timetables for regional buses (out to the salt mine) are hard to come by and did not run as frequently as I would have thought. I was so thankful to have a local who was fluent in Romanian to work out where and when our buses would depart.
I then spent a couple of days in Bucharest before flying home, back to Australia.
In Bucharest my time was hindered by the consistent rainfall, which was a shame seeing as there are a number of parks I would have loved to explore. I did, however, manage to spend a few hours in the Museum of Romanian History and take a stroll around the Old Town, which was charming; but this didn’t last long because this Aussie does not do well with rain!
During my time in both Oradea and Bucharest I did have one major realisation, and this is definitely the history teacher coming out in me…this country has certainly been through a lot (when you think back to WWII and the Cold War) and this can show at times with their buildings and infrastructure. Some of the buildings bear a resemblance to the East German communist style buildings I have seen in Berlin. Both Bucharest and Oradea have a mixture of historic, modern and Cold War era buildings which means the aesthetic is not as developed as somewhere like London or Sydney. However, I think this gives a certain unique and historic edge that other cities can not.
I loved my time in Romania and am so intrigued by its history and culture. My plan is to return for a more extensive road trip during the summer and spend my time strolling through the medieval towns of Sibiu, Timisoara and Sighisoara, hiking the Carpathian mountains and heading to Transylvania to see Dracula’s castle for the first time.
Have you ever been to Romania ? I’d love to hear about it!
Leave a Reply