What do you think about Romania. About the people,the places,the buildings?
Bună dimineața! SE here. This is the third time I’ve been to Romania and in short I think the people places and buildings are great.
I’ve spent time in quite a few towns, cities and villages around the country and I’ve always found the people to be extremely friendly and patient in understanding my poor Romanian language skills. Romanian’s are full of great stories. I’ve had some really interesting discussions with people from various generations about everything from politics and the revolution to architecture to football learned an incredible amount about the subtle differences in the ways families, communities and countries are shaped by the county’s rich and turbulent history.
Romania has so many different types of places it’s hard to speak in general terms. The distinct regional character of each place is something quite special and I still feel like I have so much explore in this country. Cities like Bucharest and Ploiesti which have been strongly shaped by the communist era differ a lot from cities like Sibiu or Cluj. While I’m aware of some of some of the very complex and often controversial geopolitical reasons for these differences I think I’m lucky that I’m still a bit ignorant to some of them, allowing me to simply admire these places for what they are today. There are places of such beauty and history in Romania and I really hope the ‘people in charge’ are willing to put in the thought, effort and money sort out some of the problems that occasionally undermine the incredible potential Romania has.
Obviously the buildings go hand in hand with the places but there are some things about Romanian buildings which I’ve found fascinating. I absolutely love the mediaeval cities with their chaotic terracotta roofscapes and narrow streets which draw you on a journey through lightness and darkness. Although many of these places are quite dependent on tourism, they’re still lived in and operate as fairly genuine places rather than purely as a stage sets for visitors.
Some of my favourite buildings I’ve visited in Romania aren’t even actually buildings. The staircase in Sighisoara and salt mine at Turda are among the most special architectural spaces I’ve ever been in and neither were ‘designed’ in the conventional sense. These are obviously in stark contrast to the communist architecture which is very much designed to evoke a sense of power and authority.
It’s a combination of all these things (and a lot more) which make Romania such an interesting place to be. We’ll be posting some stuff about some of the places we’ve been recently which go into more depth and hopefully explain a bit better what we feel about the different places.
Thanks a lot for getting in touch, have a great day!