Romania - Land of Dracula

by Günther Eichhorn

In June 2003, during a tour through Central Europe, I briefly visited Romania. Coming from Hungary, I crossed over into Romania near Nadlac. From there I drove to Arad, then north through Chisineu to Oradea. That afternoon I drove east just getting into the beginnings of Transylvania. This is a very beautiful area with wooded hills and deep valleys. I didn't have a chance to see any Vampires since I was there only during the day

Oradea was my overnight stop. I stayed in a fairly good hotel there. The next morning I headed back to Hungary.

Romania is the economically least developed of the central European countries. Most farm work is done by hand and with horse power. Horse drawn carts are everywhere. The cars on the roads are mostly Dacias. While the small cars in Poland, are descendants of the Italian Fiat, these are descendants of the French Renault. Romania started building them in the late 60's under license of Renault. In recent years the company experienced economical problems. France's Renault has now bought back the Dacia factory, which hopefully means that the company will be able to recover from the economic problems. There are also plenty of old Soviet era cars still around too.

The western parts are like the Puszta in Hungary, with the same type of buildings, the wells with the large wooden poles for drawing up the water, and the storks. Storks are even more plentiful in Romania than in the other central European countries.

Having heard stories about potential problems in Romania, I felt a little less comfortable driving around than I did in the other central European countries, but that may have been unjustified. The roads were not in quite as good a shape as in the other countries in the area, but at least in the part of Romania that I visited they were quite decent.

It is clear that Romania has a lot of catching up to do, compared with the other countries in Central Europe. Hopefully they will do so soon

All pictures are © Günther Eichhorn

Church styles are somewhat different than in the other countries around. (108k)
Romanian village. Streets are often unpaved. And their life stock is often on the streets. (132k)
An example of the most common cars in Romania, the Dacias. (141k)
Horse Cart. They are used frequently. (114k)
Much fieldwork is done by hand and with horses. (114k)

Even harvesting hay is done by hand with a scythe. (132k)
Shepherd with sheep dog. (133k)
Puszta in the western parts of Romania, similar to Hungary. (65k)
Puszta well, it looks just like in Hungary. (63k)
Stork nest on a utility pole. Every village at least one, often several nests. (105k)

Stork nest closeup (113k)
View into the Transylvanian mountains (115k)
Valley in Transylvania. (125k)
Valley in Transylvania. (131k)

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Church styles are somewhat different than in the other countries around. (108k)	Romanian village. Streets are often unpaved. And their life stock is often on the streets. (132k)	An example of the most common cars in Romania, the Dacias. (141k)	Horse Cart. They are used frequently. (114k)	Much fieldwork is done by hand and with horses. (114k)
Even harvesting hay is done by hand with a scythe. (132k)	Shepherd with sheep dog. (133k)	Puszta in the western parts of Romania, similar to Hungary. (65k)	Puszta well, it looks just like in Hungary. (63k)	Stork nest on a utility pole. Every village at least one, often several nests. (105k)
Stork nest closeup (113k)	View into the Transylvanian mountains (115k)	Valley in Transylvania. (125k)	Valley in Transylvania. (131k)