Our bus headed north from Bucharest on highway A3 through Romania's Carpathian Mountains, away from the bustling capital city; away from the indelible stamp of communism on drab buildings housing 2.5 million residents now looking to democracy for a brighter future.
Grey seemed the prevailing color for all the socialist architectural statements.
History has not always been kind to Romania, to her "citizens of the Roman Empire," but that's another post altogether. History aside, I discovered the largest country in Southeastern Europe has much more than Transylvania and Count Dracula to offer the world, thank you very much Bram Stoker.
You can thank yours truly via the comments for today's highlights, 7 Things You Might Not Know About Romania. And to think a few months ago I couldn't even find Romania on a world map. It's wonderful what travel does for one's view of the world.
You can thank yours truly via the comments for today's highlights, 7 Things You Might Not Know About Romania. And to think a few months ago I couldn't even find Romania on a world map. It's wonderful what travel does for one's view of the world.
Remember those tests in geography where you had to fill in the names of the countries on a blank map?
Romanian inventors introduced to the world insulin (Nicolae Constantin Paulescu), the fountain pen (Petrache Poenaru), the modern jet engine (Henri Coanda), the study of organisms living in caves, otherwise known as biospeleology (Emil Racovita), the first car with the wheels inside its aerodynamic line (Aurel Persu), and the parachuted chair (Anastase Dragmar), an early version of today's ejection seat. Romanian chemist Lazar Edeleanu was the first to synthesize amphetamine; he also invented the modern method of refining crude oil.
The King's summer residence sits majestically in the city of Sinaia in Romania's Carpathian Mountains.
The first city in Europe to have electric street lighting (in 1889) was Timisoara, the largest city in western Romania. Timisoara was also the first European city to introduce the horse-drawn tram (in 1869). Johnny Weissmuller, Hollywood's original Tarzan, was also born in Timisoara.
Would you believe the very first European castle to have electricity was Romania's Peles Castle? Sure you would given today's post is all about Romania! I saw the electricity with my own eyes; not in 1883 when Romania's King Carol I stepped into the 20th century with his forward thinking (it helped he had his own plant for producing the electricity). I was there a few days ago. Seems King Carol I went for broke and also had central heating and vacuuming installed in his summer home in Sinaia in Romania's Carpathian Mountains.
Very enlightening visit!
Would you believe the very first European castle to have electricity was Romania's Peles Castle? Sure you would given today's post is all about Romania! I saw the electricity with my own eyes; not in 1883 when Romania's King Carol I stepped into the 20th century with his forward thinking (it helped he had his own plant for producing the electricity). I was there a few days ago. Seems King Carol I went for broke and also had central heating and vacuuming installed in his summer home in Sinaia in Romania's Carpathian Mountains.
Very enlightening visit!
The Carpathian Mountains form a semicircle around Transylvania, one of Romania's 9 provinces.
Romania's Carpathian Mountains are home to one of the largest virgin forests in Europe. Four hundred unique species of mammals, including he Carpathian chamois, call the Carpathian Mountains home, including the largest population of European brown bear.
My last encounter with a chamois was while washing the car. Just saying.
My last encounter with a chamois was while washing the car. Just saying.
This side view of the People's Palace measures 240 meters in length.
Romania's Palace of Parliment is the most expensive civil administration building in the world and the second largest building in the world behind the Pentagon in the US. After two world wars and a devastating earthquake in 1977, Romania's Communist dictator Nicholas Ceausescu, at the height of his power in 1983, set about demolishing most of Bucharest's deteriorating historic districts to make way for his own vision of a socialistic society. That vision included demolishing 19 Orthodox Christian Churches, 6 synagogues and Jewish temples, 3 Protestant churches (8 churches of various denominatios were relocated), and 30,000 homes to make way for a lavish palace to house all the functions of his socialistic state as well as his residence (Ceausescu and his wife never lived in the Palace). In all, one-fifth of central Bucharest was razed for Ceausescu's 'Casa Poporului', the People's House.
The People's Palace, as it came to be called following the revolution and subsequent execution of Ceausescu and his wife on Christmas Day, 1989, is 12 stories tall with an undisclosed number of underground levels (at least 8) in varying states of completion. Estimates of the Romanian materials used to construct the 1,100 rooms totaling 3.9 million square feet include 1 million cubic meters of Transylvanian marble, 3,500 metric tonnes of crystal for the 480 chandeliers and 1,409 lights and mirrors created , 700,000 tonnes of steel and bronze, 900,000 cubic meters of wood and 200,000 meters of woven carpets.
Isn't socialism wonderful!
The People's Palace, as it came to be called following the revolution and subsequent execution of Ceausescu and his wife on Christmas Day, 1989, is 12 stories tall with an undisclosed number of underground levels (at least 8) in varying states of completion. Estimates of the Romanian materials used to construct the 1,100 rooms totaling 3.9 million square feet include 1 million cubic meters of Transylvanian marble, 3,500 metric tonnes of crystal for the 480 chandeliers and 1,409 lights and mirrors created , 700,000 tonnes of steel and bronze, 900,000 cubic meters of wood and 200,000 meters of woven carpets.
Isn't socialism wonderful!
Originally a Catholic church, when the reformation swept through Europe, the church became Lutheran.
The Black Church in the Romanian town of Brasov is home to the largest pipe organ in all of Europe. Originally named Saint Mary's Church when construction began in 1380, Romania's leading gothic church was nicknamed the Black Church after the Great Fire of 1689 blacked the walls of the church. Between 1836 and 1839, a 4,000-pipe organ, weighing in at 41,000 pounds, was built by Berlin's famous organ builder, Buchholz. The Black Church is also home to one of the largest collection of old carpets from Brussa, Usak and Ghiordes regions in Asia Minor dating from the 17th and 18th centuries.
Wish I had a good set of pipes!
Wish I had a good set of pipes!
The Romanian currency "Leu" and the U.S. "Dollar" share the same origin. Both currencies are derived from the Dutch coin 'lowentalar'. The Romanian Leu (plural Lei) got its name from the roaring lion (lowen) engraved on the tail of the lowentaler while the US Dollar was named after the second part of the Dutch coin 'taler' (pronounced daler and means silver coin).
And you can take information to the bank.
And you can take information to the bank.
The tallest rock sculpture in Europe (135 feet tall), the collosal head of Dacian king Decebalus, looks out over the Danube River from a rocky outcrop near the Romanian city of Orsova. The ancient Dacian (Dacia was the early name for the region known today as Romania) king is regarded as a great Romanian folk hero for taking on the Roman Empire before falling to the armies of Emperor Trajan in the year 105.
The moustached and wide-eyed rock sculpture was commissioned by wealthy Romanian businessman Iosif Constantin Dragan in 1994 (Iosif purchased the mountain before commissioning his sculpture) and took 10 years to complete.
Talk about a heart of stone!
The moustached and wide-eyed rock sculpture was commissioned by wealthy Romanian businessman Iosif Constantin Dragan in 1994 (Iosif purchased the mountain before commissioning his sculpture) and took 10 years to complete.
Talk about a heart of stone!
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