It all started the summer of 2019. I had spoken with some friends and told them I wanted to spend 10 days visiting some less-known countries in Europe. After checking flights options, we ended up booking 3 flights: Madrid-Bucharest, Timișoara-Bucharest and Bucharest-Madrid. We paid around 130 Euros to Ryanair and we made sure to include “priority” in our flight tickets. And, just like that, on November the 1st, 2019, we got ready to spend a little less than 4 hours on the air. Next stop: 7 days in Romania!
By the way, for those of you who don’t know it, priority doesn’t just allow you to get onto the plane earlier, but it also makes it possible for you to enter the plane with your carry-on and small bag without having to pay more money. This same summer I flew to Budapest and I didn’t choose priority because I felt I didn’t care much about boarding the plane sooner or later. I had paid for my carry-on. But, as I was boarding, they told me that, without priority, either I checked the carry-on or I had to pay (extra) 25 €. Since we were already boarding and I couldn’t go to the counter anymore… Do you guess what happened next? Damn you Ryanair!
About Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It has borders with the Black Sea to the southeast, Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, and Moldova to the east. It is the 12th largest country and also the 7th most populous member state of the European Union, having almost 20 million inhabitants. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, and other major urban areas include Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara, Iași, Constanța, Craiova, Brașov, and Galați.
The language, being a latin one, seems to be a mix of Italian, Spanish, Catalan and French, being more predominant the Italian part. Sometimes, as we were walking around, I would hear people talking and I would thought I was in Italy, rather than in Romania lol. Just to give you an example, when entering to some shops, people would welcome you with the word “ciao”.
Modern Romania was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The new state, officially named Romania since 1866, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877. In 1914, during World War I, it declared its neutrality. In 1941 the country entered World War II on the Axis side, fighting against the Soviet Union until August 1944, when it joined the Allies and recovered Northern Transylvania. Following the war, under the occupation of the Red Army’s forces, Romania became a socialist republic and member of the Warsaw Pact. After the 1989 Revolution, Romania began a transition towards democracy and a market economy.
Currency and expenses
Romania entered the European Union in 2007 but they still conserve their own currency: LEI or RON. 1 LEI is around 0,20 Euros. There are some places where you can use Euros, like when renting a vehicle or paying some services. But, overall, when you come to Romania, you should withdraw or exchange Euros to LEI. That being said, during our trip, some locals told us they would start using Euros in a couple of years… I guess you know the meaning of that, right? Prices will shoot up. So, go to Romania now! 🙂
Overall, Romania is cheaper than Spain, but not that cheaper. I mean, Romania is not Indonesia. I will give you some examples now so you can have a better idea:
- Menu of the day at Hanu’ Lui Manuc: 30 RON
- Local beer at a supermarket: 5 RON
- 0,5 l of local beer at a restaurant: 10 RON
- Full insured van for 2.5 days: 1720 RON
- Dinner at a fast-food place: 20-30 RON
- A night at a regular hostel: 50 RON
- Entrance fee to a castle (Peleș or Corvin): 30 RON
We withdrew the money from ATMs and we didn’t use the Currency Exchange booths. But, there were plenty of them all around. Most of us didn’t encounter any issues while withdrawing money, but some did. So, just make sure to speak with your bank before arriving in Romania to make sure you can withdraw money once there.
4 typical Romanian dishes and where to try them
Throughout the trip we tried different typical Romanian dishes and we found them all very tasty. Just to give you some ideas:
Polenta: usually a side dish for sarmale or served plain with sour cream and Romanian cheese, mămăligă (polenta) is made from corn flour boiled in water with a pinch of salt and a few drops of sunflower oil. The first time we tried it was at Manuc’s Inn (Bucharest) when we ordered “cheese soup”. It looked like this:
Mici: a typical Romanian dish which literally means “small ones”. They are some sort of small sausage-like portions made of minced pork and beef mixed with garlic and spices. We tried it at Caru’ cu bere (Bucharest).
Sarmale: it is made of minced meat (usually pork or in combination with poultry) mixed with spices, rice and onions. All the ingredients are rolled up in sour (fermented) cabbage leaves, and boiled for hours in a special sauce made of sauerkraut juice, tomato juice, and other secret ingredients. We tried it at City Grill (Bucharest). It normally comes with polenta as a side and it looks like this:
Papanasi: a typical Romanian dessert. This caloric bomb was originated in the northern part of the country. It looks like a donut but the inside of the hole is covered with cottage cheese and semolina mixture. It normally comes with sour cream and jam on top and usually a single order comes with two pieces. We tried it at City Grill (Bucharest). My advice, if you are two, order just one. We were 7, ordered 4 and struggled to finish the last one.
Bonus: this one is not a typical Romanian dish but a typical Romanian (and other countries in Central Europe) drink. The Pálinka is a traditional fruit brandy in Central Europe, with origins in Hungary and invented in the Middle Ages. It can be made of any locally grown fruits but, the most common ones are plums, apricots, apples, pears and cherries. You can find it pretty much at any bar/restaurant in Romania. It looks like this:
Itinerary for 7 days in Romania
While you always feel like you want more, I think 7 days in Romania was a good amount of time to enjoy and get to know a little bit about this beautiful country. People were nice, food was good, architecture and landscapes were beautiful and, overall, we had an amazing time. Thus, if you are considering to travel to a less-known country in Europe, I would absolutely advise you to give it a try. I’m sure you won’t regret it 😉
From Madrid to Bucharest
During the first part of the trip there would be 7 of us. There were 4 people from my village (Paco, Nacho, Pedro and myself), one guy from my village who was living in France (Manolo), one guy from Barcelona (Pau) and another one from Mexico (Fabrizio). I had met the last two while doing Erasmus in Sweden and while finishing my studies in California. That’s one of the things I love the most about travelling: making friends you can meet later on in any part of the world.
So, Paco, Nacho, Pedro and myself were starting the trip from Jaén. We drove all the way to Madrid and, after leaving the car at SHS office, we were taken to T1. They have very good prices. We paid 42 euros and that included leaving the car in the parking for 10 days and the transport from their office to T1 and back. Thus, in case you are going to fly from Madrid and don’t know where to leave your car, check it out!
It was 05:00 and our flight was taking off at 07:00. We had to wait a couple of hours but, nonetheless, we would be the first ones arriving in Bucharest. Then, there would come Fabrizio, Pau, and lastly, Manolo. I couldn’t wait for it. Back on 2016 I had been in another “Eurotrip”. That time we visited Berlin, Prague, Vienna and Budapest. We spent around 7 days and we felt like we needed more. That’s why, this time, we were going to spend 10 days between Bucharest, Brașov, Sibiu, Timișoara and Belgrade 😉
The weekend in Bucharest
The weekend in Bucharest didn’t disappoint. At around 21:00 we were all finally reunited. It was nice to see all seven of us getting ready to see what the city of Bucharest could offer us on a weekend. And it offered us quite a lot: delicious food, beautiful buildings, interesting history and plenty of entertainment options at night. Do you want to get to know more about our weekend in Bucharest? Then, click on the image below 🙂
Peleș Castle and Brașov
After the amazing weekend in Bucharest we decided it would be nice to get to know Transylvania. To that extend, we rented a van for 3 days. Our first journey driving through such a beautiful area had two main stops: Peleș Castle and Brașov. The first one was an amazing piece of art. It was incredibly beautiful and astonishing both from outside and inside. From there, we drove all the way to Brașov, where we spent one night and one morning sightseeing. Do you want to find out more about Peleș Castle and Brașov? Then, click on the image below 🙂
Bran Castle and Sibiu
We left Brașov and drove to Bran Castle, aka Dracula’s. We liked Peleș Castle better but we were happy about learning the myths and truths about Bran Castle and Bram Stoker’s main character. From there, we drove to Rasnov Citadel. It was on the way to Sibiu and we decided to stop there. And it was a pretty good choice. We enjoyed some incredible views from inside the fortress. And, our last stop of the day was the city of Sibiu, where we spent one night and one morning sightseeing. Do you want to get to know more about this area of Transylvania? Then, click on the image below 🙂
Corvin Castle
After the morning sightseeing in Sibiu, we drove to Corvin Castle. It was the last castle we would be seeing in our trip. I can’t really pick one between Peleș and Corvin Castle but, I can tell you, they both were my favourites. They both were impressive yet completely different. I liked all the different parts of Corvin Castle, which made me feel I had travelled back in time to the Medieval Age. The castle was amazing from outside but it was also pretty interesting from inside. Do you want to find out more about this masterpiece? Then, click on the image below 🙂
3 days in Timișoara
After Corvin Castle, it was turn for our last drive in Transylvania. We drove to the city of Timișoara, aka Little Vienna, and we spent 3 days there. The city is called the Little Vienna for a reason: it is incredibly beautiful. We went sightseeing, we tried amazing food and we also enjoyed its night ambience. It was the last stop of our 7 days in Romania trip and I felt like we couldn’t have chosen a better city to put an end to our trip. Do you want to get to know more about the beautiful Timișoara? Then, click on the image below 🙂
