Travelfood

It is true that it feels exotic to travel by the Orient Express through the land of vampires, Transsylvania. It is also true that there is something dark and sinister about the forest-covered Carpathians although the mountains do not look as dramatic as the Alps. But if you consider the Romanian countryside poor only because the houses look abandoned and in need of refurbishment – then you can find lots of those also on the countryside of my home country! And that area has a much colder climate than the Romanian countryside.

As a tourist you discover soon that the Romanian capital of Bucharest resembles of Paris! The broad avenues, the lush parks and pompous palaces bring your thoughts to France – and the more pompous the palaces are, the more they look like Soviet buildings. Maybe the palaces of Stalin got their influences from something such westernous as Paris?! Anyway, the huge palace of ex dictator Caesescu exceeds everything and it cannot be compared with Paris or Moscow. What on earth will the Romanians do with this challenging, empty giant building?

After having enjoyed a while eastern-European meat focused food, such as sausages, minced meat rolls, knödels, rich soups, salty cheeses and sometimes all of those inside a deep-fried dough, it is hard to identify true Romanian specialities. Maybe more olives, vegetables and fruits are used in Romania than in most other eastern-European countries.

Romanians are friendly and the infrastructure that tourists need work well. Nevertheless, I had a strange feeling that something was quite different than I had expected. What it was, struck me not until back in my home country. We have lots of Romanian roma (gypsies) that have left their homes in Romania in order to beg publically in foreign countries. I was stunned that I had not seen any beggars in Romania. That made me think: had I not seen them in Romania, or do we do something wrong in my home country or something right in order to attract them? Or have the Romanians done something very wrong about their minorities or something quite right? During my trips I have encountered many things that are difficult to understand or accept – and the roma minority question in Romania is probably one of the trickiest.

Europe, food, Romania, travel, travel experiences