Daniel Grad

One of the cities really worth seeing in Romania.

I spent this New Year’s Eve there and was a nice place to visit, but it’s not as spectacular as any of the other places I visited so far.

The place named Dracula’s Birthplace was merged with Sighisoara, since this is where Dracula (Vlad III The Impaler) was born.

• Palatul Parlamentului (“Parlament’s Palace”, formerly known as Casa Poporului: “People’s House”) – this is suggested by most guides. It’s the second largest building in the world, after the Pentagon (very close to it; Ceausescu wanted it to be the largest in the world, but accurate information about the Pentagon’s size was confidential). It’s big, ugly and forever unfinished, but still an impressive site. What is worth visiting for though is the new National Museum of Contemporary Art which is located inside the building (sepparate entrance, you may want to ask around for directions)
• Lipscani – this is what is left of the old Bucharest (which was world renowned for it’s beauty, and was called “Little Paris”). It’s buildings are very deteriorated now, but it’s still nice to wander around the alleys. It’s mostly inhabited by gipsies and very poor people, and this gives a powerful contrast between what once was and what is now Lipscani… There are a lot of antique shops here (mostly on Covaci street), and also in this area is Curtea Sticlarilor (courtyard of the glassmakers), located on Şelari street, where you can watch glassmakers at work.
• Muzeul Ţăranului Român (“Museum of the Romanian Peasant”) – all things related to the rural life in Romania. The museum also holds fares before and during important holidays, where you can buy traditional Romanian items (made and sold by Romanian peasants). Also interesting to see here is Ciuma Roşie (“The Red Plague”), located at the basement of the building. You can see here some of the items showcased by the earlier Communist History Museum (housed by the same building during the communist era).
• Grădina Cişmigiu (“Cişmigiu Garden”) – the oldest (1847) and largest (17 ha = 42 acres) public park of the city center with a lake, sitting benches and chess boards. Nice place to spend a lazy afternoon. Here you can see Rotonda Scriitorilor (“Writers’ Rotunda”), a round alley with busts of twelve important Romanian writers, a lot of other statues like Monumentul Eroilor Francezi (“The Monument of French Heroes”) and Izvorul Sissi Stefanidi (“Sissi Stefanidi spring”), some rare vegetation like the Ginko tree from Japan, and Izvorul lui Eminescu (“Eminescu’s spring”), where it is said that the poet used to come to relax (the spring is now coming out of a water pipe, but it’s still the same place)
• Parcul Carol (“Carol Park”) aka Parcul Libertăţii (“Liberty Park”) – a very beautiful park, full of history (1906), with a lake and beautiful gardens. Here you can see: Monumentul Eroilor (“Heroes’ Monument”), The Giants’ statues, Cantacuzino Fountain, the Monument of the Unknown Hero and the Roman Arenas (which a capacity of 5000 people, it’s still used for large open air concerts)
• Arcul de Triumf (“Arch of Triumph”) – a triumphal arch located in the northern part of the city, on Kiseleff road.

In Amsterdam Cafe you can buy a beautiful map of the Lipscani area, made out of thousands of real photographs of the buildings (and with the cost of some jail time for photographing forbidden sites). The map is available in more languages.

_{Note: I am not connected in any way with the map makers (in fact I don’t even know if the map can still be found). I just find it to be a very useful resource for someone discovering the area}

_{above picture is taken in Piatra Craiului Mountains, part of the Carpathians}
 
I have lived here all my life and traveled a lot around the country, but there are still a lot of beautiful places that I haven’t seen.
Romania is definetly worth visiting, but I would recommend to get as much information as you can from someone who knows (and likes) the country. Most cities are not tourist friendly, so you might just miss everything there is to see in a place and not even know it.
Bucharest is not the first place to see here, there are a lot of better cities to see first (like Sighisoara, Sibiu, Cluj, Timisoara). Places I recommend: the wooden churches in Maramures and Maramures in general, the Carpathian Mountains, the painted curches of Bucovina, the medieval castles and fortified churches in Transylvania and many many other places.

For vampire enthusiasts, you should know that I have never seen any vampires in Romania :). The legend of Dracula is inspired by Vlad Tepes (meaning “Vlad The Impaler”). He was called the impaler because his favorite form of execution was impalement . He is also known for his cruelty. He set up a large banquet table where he would sit (eating and drinking wine) while watching people die (he liked impaling many people at once). In Romanian schools we learn about the great Vlad Tepes as a symbol of justice and a great leader. But for the non-Romanians, only his cruelty is known. The name of Dracula means “the son of the dragon”. This is because he was the son of Vlad Dracul (“Vlad the dragon”), called this way because he belonged to the Order of The Dragon. “Dracul” also means “the devil”, so Dracula was also called “son of the devil”. So this is the story in short.
If you want to visit Dracula’s castle you should know a little bit of history here too: Dracula (Vlad Tepes) was born in Sighisoara and he spent his young life there. Then, during his reign he lived in Targoviste (not Bran!) which he made his capital city. So that would be the real Dracula Castle. But unfortunatelly, there are mostly ruins there now, so not much to see. He is also the founder of Bucharest and his only connection to Bran Castle is that he was there (so it would press the “I’ve been here!” button :) ) a few times. Another “Castle Dracula” is the castle at Poenari, which was build under Vlad Tepes’ orders by the old boyers he arrested (and built another nobility, loyal to him, by giving away the old boyers’ possesions). All workers died building that castle.
 

Also to see are the beautiful Romanian villages. The simple life here and the simple people will make you never want to leave.

 
There are also a lot of hidden treasures in Romania, with absolutely no publicity, so always ask someone who knows the country:
 
_{the stone church of Corbii de Piatra}

impressive sculptures

nice place to relax

nice place to just hang out

very impressive. a lot to see here