ROMANIA - General Section - practical information
Romania intrigued by this I choose the people we invaded, but also for the nostalgia of the rural world in which I was born and abandoned as a kid because exodus from Istria, my native land.
In
Romania as much as 40% of the population is employed in the fields to cultivate potatoes, maize, hemp, tobacco, cabbage, grapes and many fruits.
In small fields in the north you can see groups of 3-4 people who work in the vast countryside slowly as you cross to get to the Black Sea not meet anyone and do not understand how they have been planted and cared for.
Purely bucolic scenes I've seen a few and I was disappointed, but in any case, the landscape is always amazing with many forests that provide all the Romanians who use wood for heating in the cold winter arrives in less than 25 ° and the construction of heavy furniture and inlaid found in guest houses and hotels frequented.
There are beautiful mountains, green valleys and lots of water: streams, rivers and many lakes. The Danube Delta is a paradise that we have come with a boat motor Iuli accompanied by a twenty year old who hosted us while in his campsite Murighioi equipped with two comfortable bungalows with bathrooms and showers nearby.
The things that impressed me most of the country are:
- The kindness and education of Romanians will always respond with kindness and often in perfect English but sometimes even in Italian, the languages they learn from TV films broadcast in their original language, there are also many Romanians who have lived for a time in our country and then have returned
- The cleaning of the city but also manic campaign, a map is not around and you see the cleaners even in the mountain roads away from population centers
- Care of the houses and gardens filled with colorful flowers and the parks often and with every comfort
- The beauty of the central squares in each city represent the salon in which the Romanians organized film festivals, theater, music and the nearby pedestrian streets with outdoor bars and restaurants covered by umbrellas advertising of brands of beer (Peroni , Becks, Stella Artois, etc ...) under which the Romanians drink beer with friends, cocktails and various soft drinks because the heat that we have found
- The modernity of the country that made me feel like Italian appartanente a country almost the most backward and do not joke about it: giant billboards and signs that broadcast movies, a healthy youth, educated and well dressed supplied with all accessories and electronic communication, providing many local fast food sandwiches, sweets and snacks at very low costs
- The tourist facility with extremely smart guesthouses with private bathrooms, TV, minibar and hotels of international standard with very professional and inviting.
If anyone thinks of the judge
Romania is definitely out down the road. The reason why so many Romanians left their country is only for commercial reasons. By the end of communism, Ceausescu, the accession to Europe and the introduction of the capitalist system, most of the giant combinat (industrial plants) have closed and are rusting in the industrial suburbs, and many Romanians have lost their jobs. Those who are not able to recycle even preferred to emigrate because the salaries are low (200-300 euro per month) while the cost of living, convenient for us, it is not for them, having to pay even the food at prices far our (too many steps because the intermediaries between the producer and consumer).
Many Romanians a surprise miss Ceausescu's regime for his work, but others strongly deny, pointing out a dictatorship that denied them freedom and opportunities for the future
. Romanians are friendly and help you in order for us unthinkable. A man climbed into the car with us to accompany the entrance of the motorway and then back downtown for its own account. At the airport I could not find the seat of the rental company to return the car and
Romania has followed me around for half an hour to help me. In my first exit from Bucharest did not find the hotel and a guy phoned her cell phone at home to locate the hotel with my home computer.
The Rumanian language is Latin with some words of Slavic origin and apart from the accents that change vowels and some verb conjugations, it is fairly easy given that many words resemble our simply truncating the final vowel.
I studied
Romania for a month or so before the start pretty well and I arranged the surprise of Romanians unaccustomed to a foreigner who speaks their language, but flattered by the effort.
If they see you running now in difficulty in perfect English and current in Italy do not even speak to the teachers at school.
The cuisine is traditional Rumanian peasant, tasty and rather fat. Remember that the Valtellina ounces polenta with cheese and a lot of eggs and pork, good salami, tomatoes, cucumbers and cabbage and cabbage ....
As the first great that Ciorba soup with meat and vegetables, the tripe that is the most popular and taranesche with veal.
The house wine is not that good a pitcher and costs about 4 €, but the bottles Feteasca, dry or semi-sweet white wine is really good, but it costs around 7 €. In return, the Romanians drink beer like water are good and cost around € 1 a pint. They all international liqueurs including our digestive tract. Good ice cream brand Betty Ice, for which the Romanians line up kiosks .. A giant cup cream in a restaurant costs around € 2.5 and two balls in a cone or bowl less than half a euro.
Along the streets and in city markets sell many cherries, strawberries and apricots at about 1 euro per kg. And many buying opportunities of schnapps, cranberry and strawberry jam, honey with pollen and propolis, pine cough syrup, creams and oils of the legendary Gerovital and local cheeses, smoked provole € 4 per kg.
Thank goodness that when booking I paid 10 € for extra luggage weight from 15 to 20 kg because after these purchases of products I came to 19.80 kg after leaving a pair of shoes and a backpack filled to the maximum hand.
I apologize for this diary a bit 'bumpy but perhaps immediate and spontaneous.
If someone prefers not to eat
Romania, but for example Italian, no problem. All restaurants offer pizza done well and even our meal and then there are Italian restaurants of luxury reserved for rich tourists to
Romania or step classes.
In the days of hot weather we have abandoned the traditional dishes and threw ourselves on the salads, the famous Greek black olives and feta cheese and the Bulgarian, which also contains onions, another type of cheese and ham cubes. They cost about 3-4 euro, with a beer and we'll add 5 €'re fine and fresh.
The coffee is good, the espresso Scurti (short) or long (American). On the border with Bulgaria are the turkish coffee. Always costs less than 1 €. For lovers of sweets
Romania has a special care. First, the cozonac which is a dry and empty cylinder with a sheet on which to apply the various ingredients like walnuts, almonds, etc. .. The papanasi, sweet dumplings stuffed with chocolate or jam and topped with whipped cream. The legendary Placinta that apple strudel.