If you're looking for associations, what would be the first thing that pops to mind when you hear Romania? How many things would be good and how many bad? How many of them would be stereotypes and how many facts? A few months ago a friend and I made an almost spontaneous trip to Romania and successfully broke some stereotypes about the land and got a nice surprise.
1. The people are really friendly
The most stereotypical thing about Romania is about their people. Usually they are described as lazy, law breaking and just plain no good. OK, you get to meet mean and nice people everywhere you go. But it might be that while expecting the worst I got to see more of the nice sides of the people, even the stories people tell about how other strangers see them. A cab driver showed us a walking trail, an elderly woman gave us two pretzels, a bus driver got off the route to take us to our destination, people on the train were talking to us telling their stories. It's a fact they were all quite bad in English, but made their best efforts and wanted us to understand – and that made them even nicer and made us feel more welcome.
2. The trains run on schedule
The roads in Romania are, in the eyes of the locals and tourists, really bad and that's why I suggest the railway. It's a good experience. The trains are fast and a good way to get from one place to the other. They run regularly and on time and are cheap.
3. Beer for half a Euro
A full litre of beer, I must say. Even not thinking of alcohol, Romania is a country that will not break your budget. They have their own currency and I can say that for one week in Romania 900 New Leu (equivalent of 200€) are enough. You can get to sleep as cheap as 4€ per night (per person) with breakfast – in the national capital.
4. Dracula's castle is not the nicest
Romania is known for the myth of count Dracula. There are many films, cartoons, Halloween masks and so on made on this cult character. So most tourists think that Dracula's castle is the thing to see. But in reality it's just one of many. And there are many more castles and fortresses nearby, with their myths and characters that are also worth visiting and are even nicer. Many have concert halls and movie sets.
5. The town of Brasov has a copy of Hollywood hills
Not only that Brasov features the Holywood sign (but with the name Brasov) on its hills, it's also a very nice town in its own right. It used to be Stalin's town, but is today a neat tourist town, near many castles that you can reach within an hour. You can also go up the hill to the famous sign and climb it.
6. Sandy beaches with many shells
The biggest surprise I've got was in the city of Constance, known as a port. But I've been to the city beach and as it was not the swimming season it was more or less empty. Still the long sandy beach was really nice and there were small bars with straw roofs and sunscreens inviting to a summer retreat.
7. Horse drawn buggies are prohibited in the city
No kidding! There are still signs that show where you are not allowed to go with horse drawn buggies. Otherwise Romania is a country that can develop a lot of its tourist potentials especially as more and more people of all generations are visiting it.
The things I've described outline my positive experience of Romania and I really was delighted to have visited the land and am sure I'll return someday. I also hope that more tourists will visit the country so that the negative stereotypes will vanish and people will see the good of it.
Volunteer Tina
