Radio România Internațional

Tag: tourist attractions

  • Best holiday destinations in 2018

    Best holiday destinations in 2018

    The destinations we invited you to discover were the most varied in order to cater to a large area of tastes. Our shows took you to various mountain resorts but we also roamed the cobbled streets of the medieval citadel of Sighisoara, in central Romania. We invited you to some of Romania’s best spas but didn’t leave aside the huge potential of the Danube Delta in southern Romania. In 2018 we also showed you some of Romania’s best-known nature parks and reserves as well as its regions renowned for ancient traditions and customs. And because 2018 was a special year for the Romanians all over the world, who celebrated 100 years since the formation of the modern Romanian state, we invited our listeners to participate in a quiz whose big prize was a one-week stay in Alba Iulia, central Romania, the city, which a century ago, saw the Union of the regions inhabited by Romanians. Jonas Sell of Germany, who eventually won the contest and visited us in September said, quote: “Breathtaking views, historical sites, exquisite cuisine…all these are promises of a holiday you are going to recall with pleasure long after it has ended.”



    Early 2018 was also devoted to a different kind of trips, that we designed to be incursions into the country’s history, tradition, culture and cuisine. The first destinations included Bucharest, Mures County and Alba Iulia. Then we introduced to you a couple of Romania’s most famous ski resorts and you found out that the country boasts no less than 44 ski resorts, most of the ski slopes, 23, being located in Harghita County. According to data released by the National Tourism Authority, Prahova, Brasov, Hunedoara and Maramures Counties add on the list of the regions with the best ski slopes in Romania.



    Later we took you to the Prahova Valley, Romania’s most developed mountainous region, which boasts a wide range of ski slopes with pistes for beginners and advanced skiers alike. Then we spoke about the Danube Delta, Hunedoara County, Sovata, the Romanian Black Sea resorts, all holiday destinations on offer at Romania’s Travel Fair in February. Then we tackled rural tourism as this branch of tourism has developed considerably in Romania in recent years and our listeners were offered the chance of getting acquainted with a fascinating world with breathtaking views and millennia-old traditions.



    The Vanatori Neamt nature park was founded 19 years ago and although it has registered the largest number of tourists in summer or during the winter holidays, it makes a perfect all-season holiday destination.



    At the foot of the mountains, in the north of Neamt County, tourists can see wild animals which are on the verge of extinction in other places. That is why we took you to the Aurochs County in 2018. Later in the year we celebrated Easter. We chose to take a tour of well known tourist attractions in Maramures and Bukovina in the north, and we also made a stopover in Bistrita Nasaud, in the Sovata spa. Delighted with the much appreciated traditional Eastern dishes we headed for Dobrogea, in the south. There, we visited archaeological sites which boast a fascinating and rich history, breathtakingly beautiful gorges, centuries old monasteries and the Danube Delta.



    In the summer of 2018, we took you up Transylvania’s hills and opened the doors of old fortified churches. We also extended you the invitation to purchase the “Transilvania Card”, a powerful tourist instrument, which offers discounts and may give you ideas to follow interesting itineraries. What’s more, if you purchase this card you support the restoration of old monuments. Then, we headed for the sea and visited one of the best known resorts on the Black Sea Coast, Mamaia. We stopped there, because it hosts some of the biggest festivals and where you can meet the best DJs and party until morning in the most luxurious clubs on the coast.



    Boasting breathtakingly beautiful landscapes, historical monuments of national interest and picturesque villages with rich traditions, Suceava County impresses all visitors with its simplicity and originality. So, we visited Suceava together, the Suceava Citadel, the Bukovina Village Museum, the Ethnography Museum as well as the Vatra Dornei resort. In November we also took you to the second edition of Romania’s Tourism Fair. We also visited Reghin, dubbed the town of violins, the city of Bacau and Valcea County.


    Did you know that there is a Confectionary Museum in Romania? We’ve spoken about it, just like about the Electric Tram Museum and the Wine Route, mansions and fairy tale-like castles, the landmarks of Mures County. We ended the year 2018 at the Christmas Fair in Sibiu, as well as in Maramures, ideal destinations in the winter holiday season. In the end, we mentioned some of the most successful New Year street parties, which attracted lots of revellers.



    That much about our travel destinations in 2018, join us again this year, to discover together the most interesting travel destinations in Romania.

  • Tourist Attractions in Sibiu

    Tourist Attractions in Sibiu

    Lying at the centre of Transylvania, Sibiu is one of the wellsprings of culture and civilization in Romania. However, it is a fun place too. It is the place where you find one of the best Christmas fairs in the country, between 16 November and January 3rd. Anca Nitoi is an archaeologist with the National Bruckenthal Museum, specialising in the Middle Ages and in medieval weaponry. Here she is talking to us about the history of the city:



    Anca Nitoi: “Sibiu is first documented in the 12th century, in 1191, when Pope Celestine II grants to the city of Sibiu the title to the surrounding lands, recognising its ecclesiastical authority over the region. The Saxon settlement started by the Hungarian king Geza II in the 12th century, had several waves, and covered the whole of southern Transylvania. Two major cities thus emerged, Sibiu and Brasov. Sibiu, which developed faster, had greater administrative importance in the medieval period. Sibiu was an ecclesiastic centre, but it was also there that we find the most important guilds. And in the 15th century, the Saxon University was founded there, which made it a nexus of culture to this day. Proof in this respect is the fact that in 2007 Sibiu was European capital of culture, in recognition of its cultural importance.



    In Sibiu you will also find the first art museum in the country, which opened its gates in 1817. It is a Baroque style building, erected between 1778 and 1788, and was built as the residence of Baron Samuel von Bruckenthal. He was the only member of the Saxon community in Transylvania to be granted a major administrative role in the Austrian state reigned over by Empress Maria Theresa.



    It is when he was staying in Vienna that he built his impressive art collection, mentioned in 1773 in the Almanach de Vienne as one of the most valuable collection of paintings to be admired in the Viennese cultural circles of the time. Alexandru Sonoc, Ph.D., is the head of the Bruckenthal Art Museum and our guide today:



    Alexandru Sonoc: “Right now, the museum is managed by a council. Half of its members represent the authorities, the other half are appointed by the Sibiu Evangelical Church community. This is an experiment that is unique in Romania. The collections that belonged to the church will be given back, but will be exhibited and administrated by the museum, being made available to the public in line with the baron’s will, who put them up for everyone to enjoy. Within his Enlightenment context, the baron realised that his paintings could contribute to the development of science, culture, and the arts in Transylvania, and wanted them to be made available to the public on certain days of the week. To this end, he set up a foundation, and pressed the church and its scions to make them accessible to the public.



    The coat of arms of the city of Sibiu can be seen all over the town, on buildings, on stained glass windows, and on bridges. In the Small Square, all the buildings used to belong to guilds. Remarkable are the skylights, which look like eyes, the so-called ‘eyes of the city’, which, legend has it, watch over the town at night. Here is Anca Nitoi, archaeologist with the National Bruckenthal Museum, telling us about the cultural agenda of the city:



    Anca Nitoi: “Sibiu is the capital of theatre in Eastern Europe. The International Theatre Festival, now in its 25th edition, is the second biggest of its kind in Europe after the one in Edinburgh. It brings to Sibiu hundreds of thousands of tourists every year, because it is an innovative festival, with modern experiments. If you want to get to know the traditions of the Romanian people, you can come to the Mountain Song Festival. We also have the Astra Museum, where foreigners can get to know the history and traditions of Romanians. Every weekend we have one event or another. The Christmas Fair is held in winter, and I may be partial here, but I think it is the most beautiful in Romania. It can be compared with the fairs in Vienna or in Prague.



    Andrei Dragan Radulet, the manager of the event, told us how the fair attracts tourists:



    Andrei Dragan Radulet: “Many such events throughout the country rely on large scale concerts, but we took a risk and did away with most of those. We have a festive inauguration, where we invite a famous artist, but after that we focus on the fair itself.



    This does not mean that Santa will be missing from the event:



    Andrei Dragan Radulet: “Santa comes on 23 December and gives gifts to the kids. He has a small stage next to the Christmas tree. We have another fun event for kids, Santa’s Workshop. The people of Sibiu are familiar with it, but for others it can be a novelty. It is a large house that hosts weekly workshops, which are atypical. The best known is the candle making workshop, where kids make candles from scratch. They get a wick which they dip repeatedly into the wax, in different colours and combinations. We also have a gingerbread painting workshop, and another one for making cookies. In the latter, the kids get the batter, which they model and bake there, then they take the cookies home.



    If you have any spare time left, you should visit the region of Marginimea Sibiului, well known for its many B&Bs, its fine cheeses, its traditions and crafts preserved to this day. The region also boasts a fine nature heritage. Most of the region is part of the Natura 2000 network, set up to protect valuable natural areas.


    (translated by: Calin Cotoiu)

  • Tourism in Bistrita

    Tourism in Bistrita

    We dedicate this edition of Travelers Guide to a new competition launched by RRI called “Holidays in Bistrita-Nasaud”. It will take us to the northern part of Romania, to a county with great tourism potential, with lots of cultural, historical and nature attractions.



    Ovidiu Teodor Cretu, mayor of the city of Bistrita, provided us with a short history of the place: “Bistrita was founded by Saxon colonists in the 11th and 12th centuries. Linguistic data indicates that they came from the area of Luxembourg, but things are by no means clear. What is certain is that a document dating back to 1241 found in a Luxembourg monastery certifies that the city of Nosa, as Bistrita was known back then, was raided by Tartars, who left 6,000 dead. This is an impressive figure for 1241. It is the first documentary mention of the city of Bistrita. It took hold as a Saxon colony, and it developed along with its crafts. The development of the city was influenced by the fact that the inhabitants were historically well oriented. In 1330, Hungarian king Louis the Great was fighting some Hungarian noblemen in this area. The Bistrita Saxons sided with the king, who, after defeating the rebellious noblemen, rewarded them by bestowing upon them the title of royal city, the right to hold a grand fair like the one in Budapest, and have their own seal and courts.”



    The old city center reminds of the wealthy past. The oldest historic monument in the city is the former minority church, right now an Orthodox church, built between 1270-1280. The Evangelical Church in the center is a symbol of the city. In addition, you will find yourselves in a city with rich cultural activity, according to Gavril Tarmure, the manager of the County Cultural Center in Bistrita-Nasaud.



    Gavril Tarmure: “The county cultural center runs its activities on two tiers: one deals with traditional culture, rural culture in general, the other deals with urban culture. Therefore we have a dedicated service for researching, promoting and preserving traditional culture. We have a very solid chamber music season, we have an exhibition program at the citys most important art gallery, we have literary events, and large scale festivals. As part of the permanent music season, in addition to the offer of the Concert Society Foundation, which we founded in Bistrita 20 years ago, the County Cultural Center organizes about 60 chamber concerts and over 15 symphony concerts every year.”



    One of the favorite destinations for tourists is the so-called Mountain Seaside, which is how locals call Colibita, a mountain retreat on the shore of a large lake, where people live a quiet existence, raising farm animals.



    Here we talked to Vasile Corutiu, owner of the Fishermans Resort B&B: “We are at the foot of the Calimani Mountains, 40 km away from Bistrita, 17 km away from Tihuta Pass, known from the Dracula legend, we are in a superb depression, which gives us a great advantage in terms of geography and climate. We have the cleanest air in the world. The ozone has its greatest concentration here. We basically have mountains, but also something of a beach, hence our slogan, Mountain Seaside. We can accommodate 80 people, we have a restaurant with 250 seats, a wine cellar, a small spa center, for recreation and recovery, and a small fitness room. We have outdoor sports courts, and boats on the lake. We have fishing sessions, off-road trails, trekking with guides to Calimani peak, 18 km away, 2.000 meters in altitude. Soon we will bring in horses for rides and for pulling carriages, or sleighs in winter.”



    Head of Bistrita County Council Emil Radu Moldovan told us that his county has a superb scenery and very hard working people: “It is a medium sized county, with around 330,000 inhabitants, 62 territorial units, a county seat, three cities, and 58 rural communes. The landscape here is beautiful: two national parks, the Rodna Mountains National Park, the Calimani Mountains National Park, with the richest ozone in Europe, scientifically proven, in the area of Colibita Lake, the legendary Dracula Castle, and the area where Bram Stoker went before writing his novel, on which Francis Ford Coppola based his movie. Further on, on Somes Valley, we find Sangeorz-Bai, the resort with curative mineral waters, natural cures for lots of internal conditions, for the stomach, the gall bladder, the spleen, and a whole range of other conditions. Higher up we get to the Rodna Mountains National Park.”



    If you like legends, if you like adrenaline, dont miss Dracula Castle Hotel. Ana Maria Muscar, manager of the hotel, told us that this is supposed to reproduce the atmosphere in Bram Stokers novel: ”This is an imposing construction, with very high points and very low points, with crenellations, lots of stone structures, and lots of natural elements, with very attractive interior decorations: lots of red, lots of black and dragons. We have two points of interest in our castle. One is Count Draculas crypt, the other, newly built, is Count Draculas Tunnel. This is a longer trail, a few dozen meters long, which leads to the counts crypt. From the dark atmosphere to the somber music and down to our programs, which I am not going to disclose anything about now, its supposed to be a surprise, we create an experience tailored to people who love adventure. We have theme parties on Halloween, like the Witches Ball. These are large-scale events, with thematic theater and flame juggling. During these events we have purifying fires, Swedish torches, which call the tourists to the catacombs of the hotel. They all peak with Count Draculas Ball.”



    (Translated by Calin Cotoiu)