Romania

Everywhere I go seems to be unique, but Romania really is something else! At root it is a latin nation (like Spain, Italy, France, and Portugal) with its origins in the Roman province of Dacia, but since then this Roman outpost has had strong Slavic, Hungarian, and Turkish influences. It is surrounded by Slavic nations and its western lands, fabled Transylvania, used to be part of Hungary and still have a large ethnic Hungarian population. For a long time Romania was under Ottoman domination. And at times it served as a buffer state between the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empire. During these struggles, in the 15th century, what is now Romania was home to Vlad III Tepes Dracula. Fascinating as Vlad is, there's a lot more to Romania than dear, dear, Papa Vlad!

The capital city, Bucharest, was built up by Vlad III to be his capital and is now a large, bustling city with unique architecture, much of it from the early days of Romanian independence in the late19th and early 20th century. Capitalism has been hard on Romania and I was told that the average Romanian had a lower standard of living (when I visited in 2004) than under the Stalinist Ceausescu regime. While the large monumental buildings of that unique Romanian style are being neglected and falling into disrepair, western-style glitz is crowding in. Chic youngsters crowd into McDonald's and Pizza Hut, all of which I avoided while seeking Romanian cuisine and atmosphere -- none of which is hard to find either!

The old Royal Palace is now an art museum with a splendid collection of impressionist and post-impressionist art. The artists are almost all Romanian, largely and undeservedly unheard of in the West, but Constantin Brancusi, Stefan Luchian, and Nicolae Grigorescu are among the greats whose works are well worth going to see!

There are huge open boulevards and plazas, crowded markets, and dense traffic. People are eager to practice English, but French, Italian, and German are also widely spoken.

The Princess Balasa Church is a typical example of Romanian churches with the raised domes unique to that country.	French and Slavic architectural styles blend in enormously proportioned buildings.
The Patriarchal Palace is home to the religious heirarchs.	Ceausescu wanted his Parliamentary Palace to be the largest building in the world. He fell short, and this monstrosity is #2 behind the Pentagon.
This hybrid of old and new architecture is among the more graceful efforts.	Alas, the new government is eagerlly promoting commerce and neglecting maintenance of heritage and infrastructure.

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