Sean and I knew next to nothing about Romania when we booked our flight to Bucharest. None of our American friends had ever recommended it, it had never shown up on any Instagram feeds, and we don’t remember learning about it in school. We were lured by two things: budget-friendly prices and Transylvania at Halloween. But by the end of our first day in the country, we were completely captivated.
The more we learned about Romania, the more we wanted to know. We went on more guided tours, watched more documentaries, and read more EU reports than on any other vacation. I haven’t been so emotionally invested in a country since Cuba. (I noticed a lot of surface-level similarities between the two. Societies ravaged by communism: check. Shabby-chic cityscapes: check. Exceptionally friendly people: check.)
Romania is fascinating and beautiful, but it’s also really struggling to find its way in the democratic world. I still have a lot of feelings to untangle (and trust me, I’m working on it), but I’m also eager to share the gospel of Romania with anyone who will listen. If you didn’t know Romania before, here are ten of my favorite facts to bring you up to speed:
1. The language isn’t that foreign. Romance languages are spoken in five countries in Europe: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, and (surprise!) Romania. Romanian may look a little funny at first with all the rogue accent marks, but give it a minute. Sâmbătă (Saturday) looks a whole lot like Sabado in Spanish. Aici (here) is ici in French. Strada (street) is the same in Italian. If you know a little of those languages, Romanian isn’t so strange.
2. It’s part of the European Union, with some caveats. Romania joined the EU in 2007, but it’s not on the euro, and it won’t be anytime soon. (Romanian currency is the Lei.) It’s also not part of the Schengen Area, which means you have to go through passport control even if you’re coming from another EU country.
3. In the early 1900s, Bucharest was known as “Little Paris.” Romania’s capital is loaded with French-inspired architecture, French fashion was all the rage, and the locals were such Francophiles that they used to speak Romanian with a French accent. (Even today, the easiest way to say “thank you” in Romanian is to say it in French.)
4. It produces amazing wine. In fact, it’s the fifth-most prolific wine producing region in Europe. Sean’s former coworker introduced us to Fetească Neagră—the country’s milder riff on Malbec—and we’re both obsessed. We bought a good bottle for $4; a great bottle cost us $8.
5. Bucharest is home to the second-largest administrative building in the world. It was built in the 1980s by the communist despot Nicolae Ceaușescu as a vanity project. (He was inspired by similar displays in North Korea, if that gives you any insight into Ceaușescu’s personal brand of megalomania.) He demolished huge swaths of historic Bucharest to make room for it, and wasted a ton of Romania’s natural and human resources in the process. He also spent billions on it while allowing everyone in the country to starve. Today it’s used as the parliament building, but it’s still 70% vacant. It really is quite breathtaking, in a horrifying sort of way.
6. It’s the only Eastern Bloc country where communism ended violently. The Romanian revolution was short, chaotic, and deadly, culminating in the execution of Ceaușescu and his wife on Christmas Day, 1989. There’s an excellent ABC documentary about it on YouTube, if you’re into that sort of thing.
7. Dracula is a national hero. Well, maybe not actual Dracula, but the guy who inspired him sure is. Vlad Țepeș (Vlad the Impaler) saved the country from the invading Ottomans in the 15th century. And yes, Virginia, he really did run wooden spikes through his enemies. Quite mercilessly, I might add: Vlad stuck his still-living victims in their nether regions and allowed them to die veeeery slooooowly as their bodies slid down the stake.
8. Transylvania isn’t spooky, it’s German. Saxons started settling in Transylvania in the 12th century, and they were the region’s economic and political bigwigs until World War II. (Romania even borrowed a king from Germany in the late 19th century after they ousted their native one.) So when you’re traveling around Transylvania, you see significantly more half-timbered castles and baroque squares than bat caves and graveyards.
9. You might receive a mobile alert about bears. Transylvania is ringed by the impossibly lush Carpathian Mountains, which are packed with all sorts of wildlife from lynx, to wolves, and brown bears. Sometimes those bears make their way into town, and then they do, cell phones go absolutely berserk. It’s like an Amber alert in the U.S., but 100% more bucolic.
10. Prince Charles is a big fan. The conservation-minded monarch loves Romania (and Transylvania in particular) for its unspoiled landscapes and rural lifestyles. He even owns a few guest cottages that are decorated with Romanian antiques and devoid of modern amenities (like TV and wifi) for travelers who want a taste of the simpler life.
What’s the first thing you think of when I say Colombia? Cocaine? Pablo Escobar? Narcos? FARC? Terrorism? That’s fair. But what if I told you everything you thought you knew about the country is wrong?