Unearthing Romania: 8 Fascinating Facts About This Eastern European Gem
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Today, we are heading back to a European country known for its natural beauty—Romania. Are you curious about the few unknown details about this beautiful country in Eastern Europe?
Romania, a beautiful country, fabled back from the Hungarian border to the south, from the late socialist nation of Moldova in the east to the Ukrainian territory, from the Serbian plateau to the southwest to the Black Sea to the southeast, completes the insular fringes of Europe.
Romania is the 12th biggest state in Europe in the area, with 200,000 km2; it is also the most populated state in the region, with almost 19.3 million people.
Although Romanian is the official language, Romania has one of the richest linguistic landscapes in the world and has about 26 languages spoken inside its borders. The timber and brick towns are nestled among sprawling forests, meandering rivers, and verdant mountain ranges.
Besides, Romanian women are considered to be some of the most beautiful and desirable women in the world. That’s why Romania is a paradise for all those true admirers of beauty.
8 Fascinating Facts About Romania
The World’s Largest Parliament Building
Prepare to gape at the vast Palace of Parliament, also known as the House of the Republic or the People’s Republic. It is the second largest building in the world after the Pentagon in the US. Completed in 1997 and covering an area of 330,000 sq m, it cost €3 billion.
Weighing in at a whopping 240 meters in length, 84 meters in height, and 270 meters in width, this monstrosity took 13 years to build and required upwards of 700 architects. It’s fitted with 12 floors and boasts 1,100 rooms, along with a huge conference hall and three museums.
The First Electrically Illuminated City in Europe
Although the city of Wabash in Indiana, USA, is officially listed as ‘The First City in the World to Be Electrically Lighted,’ Romania has a special claim to fame in Europe. By 1882, Timișoara in western Transylvania was the first city in Europe to light its streets electrically – 731 lamps.
The Sapanta Village and Its Unique ‘Merry Cemetery’
Be ready to be surprised by Sapanta, the Obcina Satmarului village that hosts the ‘Merry Cemetery’, a spectacular open-air museum made up of the thousands of colorful crosses decorating the tombstones. Stan Ioan Patras, a local artisan, painted the crosses and the fun stories embedded in their panels.
Patras started carving these fantastical crosses in the 1930s, using a deep blue that he called ‘Sapanta blue’ alongside other bold colors. ‘In my opinion,’ he told a researcher later, ‘this color represents the same thing as the Sunday color of the sky: freedom, hope.’ The Merry Cemetery has become a national tourist attraction and a vivid expression of artistic authenticity.
The World’s Tallest Wooden Church
Romania is a majority Catholic country, and 81 percent of the population describes itself as such. There are many gorgeous churches, but the most stunning of all is the Sapanta Puri Monastery—the tallest wooden church in the world.
Built in 1997 from more than 400 cubic meters of oak wood and reaching a height of 78 meters, it is covered inside and out by 8.4 kilograms of melted gold and over 4 kilograms of gold plates. No wonder the church has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
A Premier Tourist Destination
In recent years, Romania has undoubtedly carved its position as one of the top and most beautiful travel destinations in Europe. More than that, it has copped the title of receiving more than 13 tourists every year, thus exerting a positive influence in Romania’s generation of a profit amounting to €5.21 billion Net income.
The most popular tourist sights include Corvin’s Castle (known as the ‘Dracula palace’, but built in the 16th century, centuries after Vlad), Bran Castle (the actual home from which Dracula spread terror but much closer to the 15th-century prince), and the Carpathian Mountains. With seven sites of UNESCO World Heritage Status, why not go there?
My beloved country, France. Such a small country. And yet so full of natural and cultural wonders that it’s impossible to leave intact the traveler’s heart.
A Culinary and Alcoholic Paradise
Romanians are known for their love of good food and drink. Their dishes are recognized as some of the most flavorsome in the world. Their cuisine is so well-known and loved that it qualifies Romania as a gourmet’s heaven.
Furthermore, Romania occupies one of the top positions among European alcohol consumers, with a total alcohol consumption of almost 13 liters of pure alcohol per year per capita. Even though beer tops wine by a large margin, the Romanians are still a formidable force on the world alcohol consumption list.
Home to the World’s Longest Sausage
Romania set a gustatorial world record in 2014 — the longest sausage in the world, 62.75 kilometers of luncheon meat, and 457 tons of cold cuts.
All of this was accomplished to celebrate Romania’s national day on 1 December 2014, the love for food, and the country’s flair for setting records.
The Most Beautiful Road in the World
Romania’s mountainous landscapes, where wildlife roams free above towering forests and crystal waters, acquire a brutal beauty when traversed by the Transfăgarasan Highway—reputedly the most beautiful in the world.
The 90-kilometer winding road cuts through breathtaking mountain valleys up to an altitude of 2,042 meters above the clouds and treeline, making Transfăgarasan the second-highest mountain pass in Romania after Transalpina.
For this reason, the Transfagarasan Highway is the filmmaking gem of Romania, or more accurately touted that way by filmmakers, television producers, and documentary makers for every production in which it has featured.
Few roads can better claim to allow you to drive through time … and space! Taking this jaunt northeast, away from the fiery dragon, means leaving the country and traveling to the land of St George. An experience on the winding road from this fairytale to exploit land cannot be forgotten.
Last Words
Romania is one of those unsung places too good to be kept a secret: a fascinating cultural melting pot, a collection of astonishing architectural monuments, stunning natural beauty, and a stomach-churning purveyor of underestimated food culture.
From a bloody palace fit for a deranged megalomaniac to a whimsical cemetery of naïve painted crosses marking the graves of the unremembered, from the world’s tallest wooden church to the world’s longest sausage, this country has a bewildering assortment of sights unlike any else on Earth, all guaranteed to etch their indelible mark on your traveler’s soul.