i had a very enjoyable week in romania! i rented a romanian car (a dacia, still produced in romania as a vestige of communist-era industrial prowess), and drove a large loop around the region of transylvania over the course of a week – sinaia and the peles castle, brasov and the bran castle, sighisoara, sibiu, and cluj-napoca, starting and ending in bucharest.
i loved romania for many reasons, but especially the great value for money, history, and ease of communication, as almost all romanians under 40 years old speak excellent english.
most tourists skip bucharest, the capital, as it is mostly composed of communist-era apartment blocks. in bucharest i went to the massive romanian parliament building, one of the world’s most epic thermal spas, and some shopping malls, but otherwise didn’t have too much time. the place had a lot of positive energy though, and some of the friendliest people in europe. it is one of those cities i’d love to go back to and hang out for a couple weeks.
