Romania Summer Expedition 2018

Will we meet the Romans in Romania(*)?
Ne vom întâlni romanii în România?
Numquid sunt in Romania Romani?

We’re sure you are curious what we want to see in Romania and what is our plan day by day. So here we go. We hope it will be a good inspiration for you and maybe you will visit Romania too.

Every day we visited a lot and drive a little (besides transit days).
For each day we mention only the most important attractions, we plan to see a lot more.
Every day we added real photos of the visited places. You should check this note every day then.

Day -1

From home to the wooden house in the middle of nowhere, nearby the Slovakian border.

House in the middle of nowhere

Day 0

From Poland thru Slovakia and Hungary with closed eyes (yes, we know there’s a lot of interesting places) to Romania. Oradea: citadel and… Starbucks. Maybe you already know, we are Starbuck’s mugs collectors.

Mission accomplished

Day 1

From Sinmartin to Hunedoara

Devi Citadel, Corvin Castle. Is Vlad at home? We want to meet him!

That is all the plan for this day.

Devi Citadel – admissions: 20RON adult, 10RON kid. Cash only. 45 minutes is enough.

Must see.

Castle from a fairy tale. Admissions: 30RON adult, 5RON kid. You probably will spend here 2 hours. You should try a nougat from a wooden booth at the front of the castle.

Day 2

From Hunedoara to Sebes

Two very interesting places:

Sarmizegetusa Regia (capital of ancient Dacia) and Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa (capital built by Roman emperor

Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa

Who knows Latin?

Admissions – adults: 14 RON, kids 4 RON, as usual, cash only. You need at least 2 hours to see everything. Small but interesting museum on the opposite side of the road. Good ciorba de burta at the front of the entrance. No ancients Romans found – probably because of the rain. Who would like to wear wet tunic? 😉

Sarmizegetusa Regia

Admissions – adult 14RON, kid 5RON. 1 hour is enough. 2km walking from the parking to the entrance.

Day 3

From Sebes to Novaci

Transalpina makes us think about narrow Norwegian roads like the Trollvegen. Expect lots of beautiful photos and videos.

One photo as an example. We will upload later on. One short notice: take care of your brakes. Ours were really tired.

Transalpina <3

If help is needed.

Day 4

From Novaci to Bucharest, by Drobeta-Turnau

Ruins of Traian Bridge (bridge built in 105AC by Roman emperor Traian in order to pass Danube river and conquer Dacia. Destroyed by the next emperor – Hadrian).

Traian’s bridge.

Baths.

Admissions (internal and external part of the exhibition) adult 12RON, kid 6RON. Do not expect any single word of explanation or description in English. You should be prepared to visiting by yourself. Sad but true.

A modern model of the fragment of the bridge

Day 5 

Bucharest

The key place to be visited was the Romanian Parliament. If you want to see it, you should book a trip one day before (+40 (733) 558 102). When buying a ticket in the ticket office, you must show your ID. Prices: adult 40RON, kid 10RON. The trip takes 75 minutes. This is a Must See in Bucharest.

Theatre

We also have seen:

• Stavropoleos Church (https://goo.gl/maps/Y97KozXCmb72)
• Patriarchal Cathedral (https://goo.gl/maps/ZRGvtQA7zxB2)
• Biserica Sfantul Anton (https://goo.gl/maps/NDbGE7bVe8F2)
• Curtea Veche (https://goo.gl/maps/B7B1rUP39f42)
• Caragealiana Sculpture – unusual sculpture presenting characters from Ion Luca Caragiale’s works (https://goo.gl/maps/UjPZSXG1Nfy)
• Lupa capitolina monument – a gift from Italy on the occasion of the 1800  anniversary of the colonization of Dacia by the Romans in 106 (https://goo.gl/maps/FR7vpAASFxQ2)

We would like to recommend a very tasty Romanian lunch at Hanul lui Manuc. Especially mamalyga with cream and cheese.

Here you can see our route from all day:

And some photos:

We extended the Bucharest tour to Friday.

We have seen

• House of     Free Press – we can see the similarity to the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw.
• Arcul de Triumf – hmmmm. Have we seen something similar somewhere else? 🙂

And the most interesting place: Țiriac Collection. Take a look at the picture. You will understand why we wanted to stay there forever.

We would like to see more in Bucharest, but we need to continue our trip. We already know we need to go back here.

Day 6

From Bucharest to Constanta

Finally, the Black Sea. And of course Constanta and its excellent archaeological museum. You should also visit the separate building with Roman mosaics.

Admissions (museum+mosaics): 25RON adults, 6.25RON kids.

Day 7

From Constanta to Tulcea

This day begins with our daughters birthday on Mamaia beach. Next, we will drive towards the Danube Delta. We already have seen the Danube in Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest, so it’s worth to see it’s final end.

In the meantime, we’d like to see Cetatea Histria, ruins of ancient Greek colony and Cetatea Enisala – a medieval fortress.

Cetatea Histria

Cetatea Histria

Cetatea Histria

Cetatea Enisala

Day 8

From Tulcea to Sinaia

Suprise! Bit of Iceland! Mud volcanos Vulcanii Noroisi. We didn’t expect that it will be so beautiful! Take a look at this video:

Day 9

From Sinaia to Brasov

Yesterday we have been to Iceland, so today we are in the Swiss Alps.

We will visit two beautiful castles in alpine style, one of them was the summer residence of the Romanian king Carol the 1st

Next, we went to Bran Castle. Is it interesting? Sure. Is it beautiful? Yes, it is. Did we enjoy it? Not exactly. If you like crowded places, where every moment someone pokes you and trod on your feet – this is the place for you.

Interesting fact: construction of this castle started in 1212, by Teutonic Knights.

Looking at the castle from the outside, we expected a much more interesting interior. It’s better to save 100RON (ticket for 2 adults and 2 children) and go for a coffee and cake for a cafe at the foot of the castle.

Day 10

From Brasov to Curtea de Arges

A beautiful city, worth recommending. If you have time, it is worth spending some nice moments here, enjoying the peace and aesthetics of the old part of the city.

MUST SEE: Râsnov Citadel. Do not even try to skip this place. You will regret until you come back.

Admissions: 12RON adult, 6RON kid. The same price for a cable car on the hill. Cash only, as usual.

Day 11

From Curtea de Arges to Sibiu

Something special for our car: Transfăgărășan. Second Norwegian-like narrow road.

Like in the mountains, the weather was very changeable. Sun, rain, sun, rain, sun in the rain. At the very top, it was very nice, on the other side of the tunnel – rain and fog. As in the mountains.

This road is much more popular than Transalpina. There is a lot of traffic. Expect many cars in scenic locations.

Day 12

From Sibiu to Baia Mare thru Cluj-Napoca and Zalau

Sibiu – beautiful historic city surrounded by a defensive wall with towers.

A city in which the houses are staring at people.

Moigrad-Porolissum

Have you ever walked on a real Roman road that is over 2,000 years old? From the commander’s house to the gate in the defensive wall.

Very interesting place outside the main routes, ridiculously cheap tickets (about 16RON for 2 adults and 2 children). Unfortunately, it was forbidden to fly a drone, we do not know actually why.

Day 13

From Baia Mare to Atea

A uniquely beautiful and colourful cemetery in Săpânța

Admission: 5RON – adult. Kids for free.

Something characteristic of the Maramures region: a wooden church with a high tower.

Day 14

From Atea to Muszyna

In Satu Mare, there is the Dacia Museum. It’s not so easy to get to him. to get to him, you need to find someone who has a key and opens the door. Inside you will find interesting cars as well as photographs and exhibits from ancient Romanian times.

The last Romanian melon, the last Hungarian langos, the last bottle of wine in Tokaj and we are in Poland.

Rakoczi Pince

Day 15

From Muszyna to Warsaw

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