OfftoEurope.com published a top of the most interesting 25 castles in Europe. Subjective, of course, but nonetheless instructive for places to see, many off the beaten track.
To my delight, Romania has two castles in the top 10, and 3 in the top 25. This is remarkable especially since Romania doesn’t have many “internationally competitive” full-fledged medieval castles – the country is much more well-”equipped” with smaller-scale fortresses, ruins, medieval urban and religious architecture. In terms of castles, it is nevertheless about quality, not quantity : Peles, Bran and Hunedoara are indeed worth international recognition, both in terms of architectural merits as well as the stories around them. What makes Romania really interesting is the context around what you see.
“Italians were masons, Romanians were building terraces, the Gypsies were coolies. Albanians and Greeks worked in stone, Germans and Hungarians were carpenters. Turks were burning brick. Engineers were Polish and the stone carvers were Czech. The Frenchmen were drawing, the Englishmen were measuring, and so was then when you could see hundreds of national costumes and fourteen languages in which they spoke, sang, cursed and quarreled in all dialects and tones, a joyful mix of men, horses, cart oxen and domestic buffaloes.”
(Excerpt from the journal of Queen Elisabeth of Romania, about the Peles construction site. Source: good old wikipedia.)
See the whole European castles ranking here. You will want to pack your bags at once and do a road trip to see all of them. For more details on the Romanian ones, don’t hesitate to ask.
While the title is cynically addressing inhabitants with “immigrational” thoughts, the album is a good starting point for anyone to discover some really good insider tips, along with better-known highlights of Romanian landscapes.
Click on the screen shot below to go check it out; if you’d like more info on any of them make a comment to this article and we’ll gladly oblige.
One day Cantemir Gheorghiu, known as “Cante”, a young Romanian-born designer living in Berlin, had fun cutting a pair of glasses out of a piece of colorful cardboard, and wore it in a club instead of a “fashionable” pair of horn-rimmed glasses. The bar-tending girl liked it so much that she offered him a free cocktail in exchange for the “glasses”. Which sparked an idea and unleashed an entire entrepreneurial whirlwind: Cante started producing and selling these accessories with steep success. A website and a web shop, and there goes a full-fledged start-up fashion label.
Will he get rich from selling articles costing between 0.9 and 4 EUR? Well, on one hand, it depends how many he will sell, on the other hand – does it matter? As long as it looks good… (the product slogan is: “schärfer aussehen”, a pun between “see well” and “look good”)
To find out more about Cante’s venture, and maybe get a Pappbrille in time for one of your late summer parties, there’s an article in German here and one in English here.
Romanians have outstanding records. While cell biology, the Coanda effect, cybernetics, the Procopiu magneton or the discovery of insulin do not generally ring a bell, any respectable gentleman/lady would agree that Count Dracula the bloodsucker would do the trick. Same goes for John Dillinger, the beloved bank robber of the 1930s, whose reputable half, Ana Cumpănaş, fingered him to the FBI. These days however people tend to overlook this fascinating country as a “just another dull eastern European nation”, and for no good reason.
Take this summer, for example. We`ve witnessed black magic performed live against the presidential candidate, wages cut off by a quarter, sedition acts that would put John Adams to shame, flooded orphans on high heels and tyrants exhumed for a role call.
We`ve been having a blast. Yet it makes me wonder why is this Piccadilly Circus so obscure in terms of advertising. Perhaps I should promote it myself, so you`ll see what you have been and still are missing.
Just as dainty rays of sun announced the middle of May Continue reading →
James Appell lives in London and writes a sports blog in an “informed, alternative way”. And enjoyable, I might add.True to that credo, here is an excellent photo-report from a football match in the… Romanian league, of all. How come? Handing over to James:
“A weekend in Bucharest – hardly the most romantic of holidays, you might think.
Well that depends on your priorities. For me a trip away necessitates a change of scenery, and there’s no greater antidote to the sterility of orderliness in the UK (respect for rules, queueing, attentiveness to other people’s private space) than spending a few days in the relative anarchy of Eastern Europe. I was looking for a place to spend a couple of days getting away from London, and Bucharest seemed like just the ticket.
[...]
But [...] the main reason for Bucharest as my destination of choice was the football.”
Has your Romanian friend been somewhat distant of late? Don’t worry, it’s got nothing to do with you. (S)He has just been preoccupied – engaged in a multi-headed monster debate that has been raging across the nation.
Apparently, in its infinite wisdom, the Romanian tourism ministry has attempted to Continue reading →
A rare 100% fresh rating on rottentomatoes.com – I don’t remember seeing something alike, and that after 17 reviews.
“Amintiri din Epoca de Aur” actually literally tanslates “Memories from the Golden Era”, but I guess “tales” fits well too, as the movie consists of several short stories based on “urban legends” from the Communist time.
“Taking a wry and sly approach to skewering the oppressive system under which they all grew up, it exposes in amusing fashion the fear and absurdities the proletariat of late-1980s Romania had to deal with daily. Though not nearly as bleak as Mungiu’s previous film, the ironic, comedic tone used to depict these assorted urban legends always has a grim punchline to remind us that life under Ceausescu was no laughing matter.” Full review here.
“The dark laughter involved is Romania’s way of staying sane, not merely at the time but, also, in a way, right now. Comedy is a way of looking back at the horror without the rage and despair becoming unendurable.” Full review here.
An overview of all reviews, including the one quoted above, here.
Steven van Groningen is the CEO of a large bank in Romania. That alone would’nt have caused this post, but the combination with Tanti Baba: Mr. van Groningen has a blog, where he shares thoughts and photography about his experiences in Romania. Since for this website we are constantly looking for “non-Romanians” who do just that, we are delighted to have obtained permission to quote and post a link to his thoughts and – in this case – memories from Bucharest in the early ’90s:
“Our kids loved Salomnia. They called her Tanti Baba (Tanti means “aunt” and Baba means “old woman” in Romanian). She played with the children, made them their favorite food (coltonasi cu branza) and helped in the household where she broke more glasses, cups and plates than I imagined possible. This probably explains the amount of luck in our happy family.
Vasile made some wine every year. Now I like to make things and he was proud to show me how to make wine. And so it happened [...]“
Read the whole post about Tanti Baba and the 40 bottles (of wine) here, and enjoy the rest of the blog.
Stumbled upon this study, Country Brand Index by futurebrand, the 2008 edition, and my eyes were automatically drawn to the first flag of the “in vogue” section:
Click on the image to see it larger. Comments open.
In the bus, a man asked us where we are from. 'Germany', said my friend. "Germany? Aaa... eyn, tzway, dry, oufeederseyn!", said the man proudly. "And you?" "Romania." "Romania. Hm. Hmm..." and then suddenly smiling: "are you a vampire?"
The maVerick's visits to Romania made for a juicy travelog. Read it here.
"...As I am still rubbing my eyes, searching for a name, the train starts to crawl. A clock at the station says it is 1.30am. Bacău! This is where I was supposed to get down. Should I „pull the chain to stop the train” and get down? Neaah…"
Watch videos at Vodpod and other videos from this collection.
OfftoEurope.com published a top of the most interesting 25 castles in Europe. Subjective, of course, but nonetheless instructive for places to see, many off the beaten track.
: Peles, Bran and Hunedoara are indeed worth international recognition, both in terms of architectural merits as well as the stories around them. What makes Romania really interesting is the context around what you see.
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