Product Description

The updated fourth edition of the Rough Guide to Romania is the definitive guidebook to one of Europe’s most extraordinary nations. A brand-new full-colour section introduces the author''s highlights ''the things not to miss'' of the country. There are detailed accounts of all the attractions, from the Danube Delta to the bustling capital of Bucharest and the gothic castles of Dracula’s Transylvania. The guide reviews the best places to eat, sleep and drink, for every budget. There are practical tips on everything from tracking wolves in the Carpathian Mountains to making the most of the country''s many vibrant folk festivals. In the contexts section the authors delve deep into Romania’s history, culture and wildlife. This new edition boasts a bigger section on Bucharest and more detailed hiking information throughout the country.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #296287 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-29
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

From Library Journal
A trip to Romania may be made with confidence using either of these reliable, up-to-date guides. Though Williams's volume is more detailed overall, Burford and Richardson's covers pop culture especially well. Lonely Planet helpfully lists regional highlights at the beginning of each chapter and includes coverage of neighboring Moldova.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Excerpted from The Rough Guide Romania (Romania (Rough Guides)) by Rough Guides. Copyright © 2001. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved
The best of Romania, though, is its countryside, and in particular the mountain scenery. The wild Carpathians, forming the frontier between the province of Transylvania and, to the east and south, Moldavia and Wallachia, shelter bears, stags, chamois and eagles; while the Bucegi, Fagaras and Retezat ranges and the Padis plateau offer some of the most undisturbed and spectacular hiking opportunities in Europe. In contrast to the crowded Black Sea beaches along Romania's east coast, the waterlogged Danube Delta is a place set apart from the rest of the country where life has hardly changed for centuries and where boats are the only way to reach many settlements. During spring and autumn, especially, hundreds of species of birds from all over the Old World migrate through this region or come to breed.

Few countries can offer such a wealth of distinctive folk music, festivals and customs, all still going strong in remoter areas like Maramures and the largely Hungarian Csango and Szekelyfold regions. Almost any exploration of the villages of rural Romania will be rewarding, with sights as diverse as the log houses in Oltenia, Delta villages built of reeds, watermills built entirely of wood in Maramures, and above all the country's abundance of churches, which reflect a history of competing communities and faiths. In medieval Transylvania four religions (Roman Catholic, Reformat, Lutheran and Unitarian) and three "nations" (Saxon, Hungarian and Szekely) were recognized, a situation stigmatized as the "Seven Deadly Sins of Transylvania" as the Romanian majority and their Orthodox were excluded.

In Moldavia and Wallachia Orthodoxy had a monopoly, but the clergy were as likely to be Greek as Romanian, and as late as the nineteenth century held services in incomprehensible Slavonic rather than the native tongue. This religious mix, together with the frequency of invasions, accounts for Romania's extraordinary diversity of religious architecture. In Moldavia and Wallachia masons and architects absorbed the Byzantine style and then ran riot with ornamental stone facades, most notably at the monastery of Curtea de Arges and Iasi's Three Hierarchs church, and in Oltenia, where the "Brâncoveanu style" flourished, with its porticoes and stone carving derived from native woodwork motifs. The frescoes so characteristic of medieval Orthodox churches reached their ultimate sophistication on the exterior walls of the Painted Monasteries of Bucovina, in northern Moldavia, which are recognized as some of Europe's greatest artistic treasures. Fine frescoes are also found inside the wooden churches of Maramures, with their sky-scraping Gothic steeples. The Orthodox Church maintains dozens of monasteries (many in fact nunneries), the most famous, after those in Bucovina, being Snagov, where Vlad the Impaler is buried, and Horezu, Brancoveanu's masterpiece.

WHEN TO GO
The climate is pretty crucial in deciding where to go and when, since life can be literally at risk during winter unless you come fully equipped. Even in the capital, Bucharest, it's not always easy to find hotel rooms where the heating functions properly and, in winter, temperatures regularly fall well below freezing. Conditions improve with spring, bringing rain and wildflowers to the mountains and the softest of blue skies over Bucharest, and prompting the great migration of birds through the Delta. By May the lowlands are warming up and you might well find strong sunshine on the coast before the hordes arrive in July. Summer or early autumn is the perfect time to investigate Transylvania's festivals and hiking trails, and to see the Painted Monasteries of Bucovina, while flocks of birds again pass through the Delta towards the end of autumn.

Customer Reviews

Good, but dated
Romania is so rapidly becoming a hip tourist destination that any guide over two years old is sure to be out of date. This guide is no exception. Use it for a crash course in Romania history, culture and geography, but plan to rely on more local sources for the best places to sleep and eat.

This book irritates the hell out of Romanians because it states some painful truths. First, Romania is a poor country. It's a place where "the dollar goes a long way," to quote the overused phrase. And while it's becoming less poor, Romania still lags behind other former Warsaw Pact countries in developing a healthy economy. Don't expect modern conveniences and a cheery service ethic... yet.

Second, quite a few places in Romania that you might think would attract your attention (such as Bucharest and the Black Sea coast) are really not worth your time. Bucharest has more in common with Minsk than Prague, so don't expect an undiscovered carbon-copy of that famous Bohemian city.

Third, forget about Dracula and all that related misery. Learn something about the local history before you visit stunning Transylvania. The mythological hype may leave you disappointed with the reality, so it's best for you to know something about the reality first. This guide will help you do that.

Finally, the lovely Transylvanian towns Romanians love to brag about were founded and built by Germans. Ouch! Of course, it's the Romanians who have maintained, and are now restoring, these beautiful far-flung outposts of the Holy Roman Empire, but the authors of any good travel guide (such as this one) will refer to places like Cluj, Brasov and Sibiu as "Saxon" towns.

One can infer from the text some important conclusions about your potential destinations.

Most over-rated destination: Bucharest - likely to be just your point of entry and exit.

Second most over-rated destination: Bran (Dracula's) Castle - without all the attending mythology, what do you really have? Interesting architecture, which Romania is blessed with.

Most under-rated destination: Iasi - Capital of Moldavia

Second most under-rated destination: Sibiu - medieval capital of the Saxon colonies

A new edition is forthcoming from Rough Guides that will help address stale information.

Dense reading
The book appears to contain a great of timely information. It's just hard to access and it is dense information. Not many pictures.

Somewhat disappointed
I am currently in Romania, with this guide in my hand, and I must say that I am quite disappointed with the content.

- The map for Iasi is very inaccurate - so much so that I had to buy an other map and since then I did not get lost

- I am traveling to Brasov this weekend and was pretty excited as this guide mentions that there is a festival of Junii that occurs on the first Sunday of May - this was incorrect as I found out on an other site - it is actually on the first Sunday after Easter...somewhat different, somewhat dissappointing.


My suggestion to travelers: On the whole it is ok - but it will not be your only source of info, so you might want to look at other guides as well.

As a sideline, I had traveled to India with the Rough Guide, and was very satisfied with the content. I never had problems with maps, I liked the way it was organised. I guess this does not hold for all Rough Guides, which is highly disappointing.