Romania 2005
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Romania 2005
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Our trip to Romania was a trip home for one of us and
a vacation for the other. Actually, the first overseas vacation for myself. Believe it or not the
experience was rather familiar. The city of Iasi was the first city we explored. The 7 hills
surrounding the city reminded me of home. Iasi has alot of history and beautiful
architectural buildings mixed in with the old communist blocks of flats. You can not visit
Iasi without visiting the Palace of Culture (pictured to the left). It's like going to
NY and not seeing the Empire State Building.
HISTORY: The Palace of Culture in Iasi
represents the last and most
Eastern manifestation of the European neo-gothic style, expression of Romaniticism in the "official"
architecture specific to the end of the century. |
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Heading west of Iasi towards the Carpathian Mountains we stopped
to see the ruins of the Neamt Citadel (shown to the left). You cannot see the site from the bottom of
the hill that it sits on. When approaching, all you see at first is the stone bridge leading to the ruins.
When you reach the entrance a guide approaches to give you the tour. Looking down at the city from inside the fortress walls was great. It was very windy and a bit chilly but, it was only March.
HISTORY: This fortress was built
during Petru I Musat ruling (1375-1391),
in the period of the consolidation of the Moldavian feudal state. |
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Driving from the city to the mountains you get to experience
the different climates. It was starting to get a bit cooler and we started seeing some of the white stuff
(snow).The picture to the left is of Bicaz Lake. As you can see the sky was blue but the ground had snow.
The trees in the foreground are still bare but it was still a beautiful view.
We were headed to the higher mountains ahead of us. At least i think they were higher mountains because, they were barely visible due to a storm that was starting. HISTORY: Bicaz Lake or "Mountain Spring Lake" sprawls over 3000 hectares north of Bicaz town. The hydroelectric dam at the lake's southern end was built in 1950, with several villages being submerged and relocated in the process. |
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Due to the storm, the roads started to become unpassable. The trip to the cabin
was coming to a halt. We had to stay at a small bed and breakfast towards the bottom of the mountain in Valtra
Dornei. This place was small, quaint and cozy. We called it home for the night while we weathered out the
storm. The picture to the right shows the view from the car after the storm.
HISTORY: Vatra Dornei is a town in N.
Romania (Suceava county)that is situated at the
confluence of rivers Dorna and Bistrita, in one of the most beautiful depressions of the Eastern
Carpathians, the Tara Dornelor. The beauty and ambiance is created by the forests covering the mountains
around. |
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 HISTORY: Raised in 1922 to commemorate Romania's Great War dead, the original construction was of wood, replaced by the present, Petru Antonescu designed, concrete structure in 1935. Standing 25 metres high, the Arc has a staircase that allows visitors to climb to the terrace on the top of the monument. The sculptures that decorate the monument were created by leading artists of the day, including Ion Jalea, Constantin Medrea and Constantin Baraschi.
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Wow, from the smaller city of Iasi, to the wintery mountains,
and back to the warmth of the capital, Bucharest. I think we covered the entire east coast of Romania.
Seeing the wealthy, the poor, the old ,the new, the sunshine and the snow. This country is just full
of contrasts. The last place to visit was the capital. Full of historical buildings and communist blocks
of flats, Bucharest is a beautiful city full of life and promise. After getting a bilingual tour of the
most important buildings and streets in Bucharest, we headed to the famous Herastrau Park. The weather was fantastic, the trees were just starting to blossom and spring was just around the corner. We strolled through the park relaxing after an 8 day tour through the country. We came upon a place to buy beer (What?? Beer in the park ? In public?). Yes, thats right, We can buy a beer in the public park and drink it. We could also stay there after dark and not get cited for trespassing. (not in america!). Anyway, at the one end of this enormous park was the Triumph Arch (pictured to the left). Are we in Paris? Great Monument. However, pay attention when taking pictures to make sure no one gets run over by all the traffic driving around the Arch.
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| Would I visit Romania again? Absolutley! The people were very
friendly and made me feel like family. The food was wonderful and the country is beautiful. One thing I
would change about my visit, I will learn the language so I can express myself to all those people who
made me feel at home and opened there doors to me. Thanks to all of you!
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