Let’s find out more about Romania.

Around 82 AD, on this territory lived several tribes of Getae and Dacians (native populations). At that time there was a king named Burebista who managed to unite these tribes under a single state called Dacia. The name Dacia is used today in Romania, representing a car brand, which is becoming more popular all around the world, with  the new Dacia Logan, Sandero or Duster models. 

Thus, the newly established Dacia is the source of the interest of the Roman Empire, which conquered under the leadership of Emperor Trajan, Dacia. At the beginning of the 100th century, Trajan carries more wars with Dacia led by Decebal and had a long-standing resistance from him. In Decebal’s memory there is today, in the area of the Danube Boilers, carved in the mountain rocks, the image of this great leader . The image is similar to Mount Rashmore in the USA. Today in Rome (Italy), on the famous Column of Trajan there are scenes from this conquering battle. Being under Roman domination (400 years), Dacia knows a remarkable development and organization. Some of them can still be admired today. The ruins of Alba Iulia Fortress, the thermal baths Herculane and Felix, the Daco-Roman spiritual and cultural center Sarmizegetusa Regia and Ulpia Trajana. The Romans built the first urban settlements, built roads and the first bridge over the Danube. Through this infrastructure, they mainly exploit the gold from the Apuseni Mountains (mountains belonging to the Carpathian Mountains). 

In the time of Emperor Aurelian, The Roman Empire withdraws from Dacia south of the Danube due to the danger of barbarian peoples, especially the Mongol people. At that time the Danube bridge was destroyed by the Romans (to increase the defense of the Empire). Fortunately for the people of Dacia, the Mongols did not invade this territory, because the great Mongol ruler, Genghis Khna, died and the invasion stopped. 

Thus, Dacia remains independent, but no new leader is able to rise to the position of head of state, because the peoples of independent Dacia were simple peasants, engaged in animal husbandry and agriculture (they were not warriors). For many hundreds of years on the territory of independent Dacia, many migratory peoples are passing through: Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Cumans, Hungarians, Germanic and Slavic peoples, each leaving behind different linguistic influences.

Only, around the 13th century, several leading kings appear, Dacia being divided or even better, regrouping in three major regions: Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia. But these territories are on the border between East and West, located at the intersection point between the great Habsburg Empire and Ottoman Empire, the regions being under many years under the influence of one empire or another. Habsburg habitats are seen in Transylvania: Saxon houses, Corvin Castle and Bran Castle. The Ottomans leave their mark in Wallachia: ports, markets and commercial areas. Moldavia region was under Habsburg Empire control or under Ottoman Empire control. But the three regions had very brave and dedicated leaders, but especially very faithful, supporting Christianity to the last drop of blood, carrying long and heavy wars, out of the majority of the winners. As a result, today the Romanian people are 95% Orthodox Christians, the Ottomans fail to impose their religion (Muslims) as happens in Romania’s neighboring countries, such as Serbia, Bosnia or Bulgaria. After each battle won, the rulers built a Christian monastery in gratitude for divinity. In Romania today there are many unique monasteries in the world. An example is in the northeastern part of Romania, called Bucovina, where there are a series of 9 fortified churches included in the UNESCO heritage, unique for their exterior paintings created around 1400 AD – 1500 AD, preserved in good conditions until today. 

Famous characters of history are the rulers Stefan cel Mare (Stephan the Great) and Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler). 
Stephan the Great ruled in Moldavia for 47 years, a reigning record for that time. He had countless wars with the Ottomans, and although they were numerically inferior, he was able to win the battle. 

Vlad the Impaler ruled in Wallachia and remained known in history for the brutal way of punishing the corrupt boyars. His favorite method of execution and torture was the impalement (the penetration of human body by an object such as a stake, pole, spear or hook). Around this character, the writer Bram Stocker created the famous Dracula (Bran Castle and The Castle of Horror). 

At the same time, the habitants of the three regions wished to join together to form a single independent state, as in ancient times (they want to recreate Dacia). The unification of the three states was to take place in the year 1600 AD, when the ruler of Wallachia, Mihai Viteazul (Michael the Brave) decided to conquer Transylvania, removing the vassal of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the throne. A few months later Michael the Brave also removed the vassal of the Ottoman Empire from the throne of Moldavia and thus became a ruler over the three regions. But he had one year to rule until 1601 AD when he was killed after a festive dinner by the boyars (Michael had “disturbed” too much the great powers of the time, so they decided to kill him and to regain territorial areas of influence).

Only after 200 years, more precisely in 1859 AD, a notable event will take place, namely the union of Moldavia with Wallachia under the ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza. This union took place, not through battle or war, but by speculating on the conditions imposed by the Ottoman Empire in the two regions. The Ottoman Empire asked the boyars of the two states to designate a ruler. Therefore, Wallachia chose Cuza, and 10 days later, the boyars from Moldavia also chose Cuza (the Ottomans omitted to specify that separatist rulers would be in the two countries, and the Wallachia and Moldavian boyars speculated this thing). Thus the Ottomans had no choice and recognized Alexandru Ioan Cuza, the ruler of Wallachia and Moldavia, but they accepted this ruler only for 7 years. 

After 7 years, the ruler Cuza wanted to remain on the throne, but the Ottoman Empire would never have accepted this. So the Moldavia and Wallachia government decided to remove Cuza from the throne and replaced him with a German king from the Hohenzollern family, Carol I. 
Through this “movement” made by the Moldavia and Wallachia government, the new state became a monarchy and took its name from Romania. After that the Ottoman Empire was forced to recognize Romania as an independent state (to avoid a conflict with German people). Throughout this period, Transylvania was under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the habitants of Transylvania continue to dream of union with the new state of Romania (to recreate again the old state Dacia).

The great powers continue the wars between them, Romania remains at the point of intersection, being a very important player in the First and Second World Wars. Both the Russian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire insist that Romania enter into war with them, each promising part of the territories inhabited by the Romanians: Transylvania or Basarabia – the part of Moldavia under the rule of the Russian Empire (the Russian Empire took over from Romania, after unification between Moldavia and Wallachia, a part of Moldavia – Basarabia region). It’s a difficult decision that the country has to take. Although initially remained only 1/4 of the territory, at the end of the First World War, through the resistance from Marasesti, Marasti, Oituz (3 strategical battle points), Romania came out victorious (on the Russian Empire side). Thus, at the end of the First World War, Romania managed to join the region of Transylvania and with little luck the region of Basarabia (thanks to the Maria Queen of Romania). It was the third time in the history of this land (1918 AD), when people who speak the same language are united under one country (Romania) – after Burebista’s Dacia (82 AD) and the union of Michael the Brave (1600 AD).

It follows a very prosperous period, under the command of the kings who put their mark on the western development of the country (witnesses being the castles of Peles, Balchik and Elisabeth). In the interwar period due to its beauty, the capital of Romania, Bucharest, was called Little Paris.

The Second World War followed, when Romania joined Germany, convinced that it had made the right choice. But seeing the horrors produced by Adolf Hitler, Romania, through King Michael I, chooses to remove the leader of the Romanian armed troops (Marshal Antonescu) and turn his weapons against Germany. Historians say that through this movement of Romania, the Second World War ended 6 months earlier.

But entering the war, at first, with Germany cost us dearly.

The first price that Romania has to pay was the region of Basarabia. Russia wanted this territory again under its influence. Romania has failed to maintain the region of Basarabia, as is the present-day independent state of the Republic of Moldavia. Over time, there have been some timid negotiations between the two states for a new union, but Russian influence in that area has left deep traces, and the current political context does not allow the union. But who knows what our future will hold?

The second price – communism was established in Romania, and King Michael I was sent into exile. In the early years of communism, Romania experienced a wide development and modernization under the leadership of the dictators Gheorghe Gheorghiu Dej and Nicolae Ceausescu. Streets, dams, hydroelectric power stations were built, electricity was introduced, factories and apartment blocks appeared. All this until Romania entered the crisis and all kinds of shortcomings began to appear, especially basic foods, the right to free speech, the right to leave the country, the right to faith.

Romanians did not support the situation, and in December 1989, with the fall of communism, Romania held the revolution, managed to move to democracy. It is true that Romania is still struggling with the break-up from the communist past and corruption.

But the new generations, the young people born after 1989, are daring and have a new mentality, they are connected to information, they are more free to express and more open to Europe. The proof of this fact is given by the big IT companies that have come in the country, due to these enthusiastic, intelligent and very technical skills of the young generation. Companies such as Apple, Amazon, Ericsson, Huawei, IBM, Dell are on the Romanian market.

Due to this history Romania remains a country full of contrasts from green and traditional place where the peasants still live in villages without electricity, on the ski slopes and on the beautiful beaches of the Black Sea.
Romania is known for its nightlife in Bucharest, with the most beautiful girls and international music festivals such as Electric Castle, Untold, NeverSea, Garana.

Romania is very much loved by Prince Charles (heir of Great Britain) for the tradition and landscapes of Viscri village, it is also loved by celebrities for fun and girls.

It’s enough to come to Romania once and you will fall in love.
Romania is to everyone’s liking regardless of the type of vacation you want.

We offer a series of tourist routes that you can do yourself with a rented car or by foot through Romania. We will create an itinerary and help you with accommodation. Please take a look at the “Choose a destination” section on this website.

Let’s discover Romania together. You can go to the Walking Tour section to choose one of the available options to get to know Romania better.

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