Arad
Intro
Arad is a city situated on the right bank of the Mureş river. It is a modern city, containing many beautiful buildings. The city is also the seat of the Romanian orthodox bishop. According to the last census, more than 180000 people call Arad “home”.
The proximity to the western border of the country played a large role in making Arad one of the most prosperous cities in Romania.
Location
The city is situated in Arad county in western Romania, a couple of tens of kilometres east of Romania’s border with Hungary.
Getting to
Arad has an international airport, 4km away from the civic center, that links the city with major European destination, especially in Germany and southern Europe.
Bran Castle
Bran Castle is situated 30 km from Brasov, between the Bucegi and Piatra Craiului mountains, on the border between Transylvania and Wallachia (Muntenia).
The castle is famous around the world as being Count Dracula’s (a Bram Stoker character based on Vlad the Impaler) castle despite having little to do with the mentioned character. This nickname is the result of the castle being “cast” in multiple film adaptations of the “Dracula” book by Bram Stoker. Fortunately, the local economy speculated this connection to the maximum, many t-shirts and other souvenirs with Dracula and the castle being available for tourists.
Brasov
Intro
Brasov is one of the biggest Romanian cities with a population of over 300000 inhabitants and the capital of Brasov county.
The name derives from the Pecheneg word “barasu, meaning “fortress”. There was also a Romanian citadel on the Tampa hill named “Brassovia” which gave the name of the city.
Its German name, Kronstadt, means “Crown City”. It was shortly named as Stalin City (“Orasul Stalin” in Romanian) between 1951 and 1961.
Braov is first mentioned in a document dating from 1252 as “Terra Saxonum de Barasu”.
Temperatures vary around 23°C from late spring to early autumn.
Cluj-Napoca
Intro
Cluj-Napoca (mostly referred as Cluj by Romanians) is the capital of Cluj county and one of Romania’s largest cities, being home to over 300000 people.
The name Cluj comes from “Castrum Clus”, a name used in the 12th century for the medieval citadel. “Clus” in Latin means “closed”.
The city was called Kolozsvar from 1600 to 1918. Afterwards it was known as Cluj until 1974. That year the name changed to Cluj-Napoca in order to reflect both its antique and medieval name.
Cluj is one of the main economic centers in Romania and many important companies reside here such as the Ursus beer maker, Banca Transilvania or UPC-Astral (major ISP). The IT sector is well represented as well, the city being home to over 100 software companies and two universities that feed those companies with quality engineers.
Maramures
Intro
Maramures is a pictoresque region of Romania as well as a county with Baia Mare as capital.
Almost half the surface of the county is occupied by the Gutai, Tibles and Rodna Mountains with its tallest peak Pietrosul (2303 m). You can almost reach the summit of Pietrosul by foot from the small town of Borsa in less than a day. The scenery is nothing short of fantastic and there’s also a small small lake shaped almost like Romania near the top.
The Tisa River, which makes up the border with Ukraine, is crossing the region as well as its affluents such as the Iza, the Mara or the Viseu.
Oradea
Intro
Oradea is a major city in Crisana, Transylvania, capital of the Bihor county. The city is home to about 205000 inhabitants according to the latest census, this not including the metropolitan areas which brings the total to slightly over 220000.
The city is considered by locals to be one of the unknown toursist gems in Romania. Many times Oradea is overlooked by tourists in favour of more fashionable Transylvanian destinations such as Brasov, Sighisoara or Cluj-Napoca.
Sibiu
Intro
Sibiu, home to 170000 people and known in German as Hermannstadt, is the capital of Sibiu county and one of the most important Romanian cities.
Sibiu has always been known as being one of the centers of the German minority in Romania. Even today there’s a German minority present and the mayor of the city is of Germen descent despite 95% of the population being ethnic Romanians.
It could be argued toat Sibiu is Romania’s cultural capital, attracting tourists as a result of it’s charm, landscapes, medieval landmarks and fine cuisine.
The city will become European Capital of Culture in 2007. A big influx of tourists is to be expected due to this and thus the major infrastructure works underway.
Sighisoara
Intro
Sighisoara is a city in Transylvania, Romania. It is located in Mures county and it is the home of about 32000 inhabitants.
The city used to play a strategic and commercial role for Central Europe for a couple of centuries. That’s how it became one of the most important cities in Transylvania. During the 16th and 17th century, Sighisoara hosted 15 guilds and even more, 20, handicraft branches.
One of the most famous persons born in Sighisoara was Vlad Tepes in 1431. He’s the one who issued the first document in which the city was called by its Romanian name, Sighisoara.
Timisoara
Intro
Timisoara is a city in Banat, Transylvania and the capital of Timis county. No less than 315000 people call the city home according to the latest census.
The name is a derivate of the name of the Timis River, known in Roman times as Tibiscus.
Timisoara was first mentioned in history as a fost Castrum Temesiensis in a decree of King Andrew II of Hungary in 1212. As a city, Timisoara was mentioned first in 1474.
The city was the first in Europe to have electric public lighting on the 12th of November 1884, a mere four years after New York City.
But the most important moment of greatness in the city’s history came on December 16th 1989 when a crowd in front with a pastor named Laszlo Tokes rose against the efforts of Communist secret services to deport the latter. The next day there was a huge riot against the Communist rule over the country and Nicolae Ceausescu. This marked the beginning of the Romanian Revolution of 1989 and the end of over 40 years of Communism.