This past weekend I went on a trip to Romania, Transylvania specifically. I know what most of you are thinking, "Why Romania?" Well I can answer that with two simple words, "Why not?" I got that question a lot in the few weeks before my trip. So many people couldn't understand why I would choose to go to a place with a struggling economy and a bad reputation over all the other beautiful places I could go for the weekend. Italians have a prejudice against Romania, calling it unsafe and a waste of a trip. After having visited I can say for certain that that is absolutely false!
Our Agenda for the Trip: (Pictures on Facebook)
Day 1:Arrive in Tirgu Mures (rainy day), find our hotel and roam around the city for a little while.
Day 2: LONG DAY! Wake up and take the 3 hour bus ride to Brasov. Get lost in Brasov looking for the bus that would take us to Bran to see Dracula's castle. Finally find the ONE bus station that would take us there and ride for another hour. Wandered around Bran and saw the castle but couldn't go inside because it was closed :( Beautiful city though. Then ride back to Brasov and wait seemingly forever for the bus to take us back to Tirgu Mures. Get home super late!
Day 3: Wake up and go to Sighisoara. Adorable little Medieval town about an hour away, do lots of exploring and get back to the hotel in time to walk around the lake near our hotel while watching the sun set.
Day 4: Try to shop in Tirgu Mures, but everything is closed on a Sunday :/ Give up and go to the Airport early before flying all the way home to Italy!
It is definitely true that Romania is currently struggling. I could see it everywhere, people are mostly poor and work on farmland. I would say that from what I saw, most of the country is agriculture based. However, it was also obvious that Romania is a country going through drastic change. In between the tiny farming towns, there were expanses of land that are being transformed into industrial economies. We were not quite sure what kind of industry is being developed but it was very apparent that Romania is trying to change. Taking a bus ride through the country was extremely interesting because of the stark contrast between agriculture and industry.
As for the accusation that Romania is unsafe for travelers, I would say that it is no less safe than traveling in any other country. Wherever you travel, you have to be careful and pay attention to your surroundings. That is just common sense! This rule applies to Romania as well, as long as you are aware and pay attention to the people around you then you won't encounter any issues. Throughout the course of the trip I did not feel unsafe at all. However, the smaller cities are definitely better than the larger cities. In the small cities we visited, the people were very willing to help. In fact, many people even went out of their way to help us. For example, when we landed at the Transylvania airport we quickly saw that we were in the middle of no where. Before we had a chance to start thinking about how to get into town we were approached by a mother and daughter who immediately offered to give us a ride into town. They were so nice and did not even accept our offer to pitch in for gas money, they just wanted to help us. On the way into town, they gave us advice on what cities to go to and what the best mode of transportation to use is.
One of the amazing things about the trip was the complete lack of tourists. We quickly realized that Romania is not a tourist attraction and is therefore not accommodating towards foreigners. Instead of making our trip less successful, it added another element of adventure. We had to rely on random people to get information about transportation and directions. This also enriched our experience because it allowed us to really observe the culture of Romania, nothing was sugar-coated. We saw everything as it is. we saw the poor people working in the fields, we say the gypsies on the street. Because of this, we had a cultural experience instead of a tourist experience and I am very grateful for that.
This trip made me realize why I love traveling. We met so many people that were eager to talk to us and learn more about us as well as share their lives with us. Even though there was a language barrier that made it difficult to communicate, people still wanted to communicate with us any way they possibly could. We were the only Americans and instead of avoiding us like the plague, they welcomed us into their country. I could tell that many people wanted to change the bad reputation that Romania has. They no longer want to be known as an inhospitable country where everyone is out to get you. I can say that I would not hesitate to suggest a trip to Romania for the adventurous traveler.
I realized that we all get comfortable in the cities we live in. We all forget that there are amazing, unique places out there. On this trip I realized that it is good for you to get thrown into a place that you know nothing about and where you are totally lost because it gives you a chance to be amazed at the variety in the world. The variety of people, landscapes, cultures... everything. When you travel to places like this, you see that we are all people and we all have things in common no matter where you are from. Traveling is about making connections to the world, not just taking a picture and moving on.
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