It’s not as popular as Vama Veche, but it used to be, and it’s still packed with young people planning a Black Sea resort holiday on a budget. Costineşti was once “the paradise of youth and of students” – but since 2 Mai and Vama Veche became popular, this little rural Black Sea resort is no longer worth the accolades.

Yes, it still holds one of the largest open air discos in the country – Disco Ring – where the most popular Romanian artists of the moment throw memorable concerts almost every evening during the Summer season. There’s also Mega Discoteca Tineretului for even more dance and live concerts, but other than these, there’s not much to do here.

Well, you do have the usual water sports, beach fun and even an old shipwreck (Evangelia, a Greek ship beached there in the late 1960s) to challenge your imagination, but from a cultural perspective, Costineşti doesn’t have much to offer.

Mind you, this used to be a student camp during the communist era, when also Costineşti’s biggest hotel was erected, yet such activities are no longer “trendy.”

What you get is the occasional young artist, ready to pen your portrait in five minutes for a symbolic fee. You get the musician who plays a guitar tune, surrounded by a gang of lively friends. You get the typical beach parties at night, and sometimes, you can even spot a dolphin or two if your eyes are not wandering to spot Romanian topless beauties.

The resort has an official capacity of 5300 beds, but many private families in the village Schitu, which is included in the commune, offer lodging and other hospitality services. Speaking of which, you might want to try to find such an accommodation, at least for the authentic Romanian cuisine.

Summer Travel Destinations: Romanian Black Sea Resort Costineşti is a post from: Rounite

Back in the day, when Romania was one of the most advanced (technologically and economically) countries in Europe, Peleş Castle was the first European castle entirely lit by electrical current, having its own power plant. In fact, Peleş was the world’s first palace fully operated by electric power. It doesn’t only portray a time of plenitude: its Neo-Renaissance architecture reminds a lot of the castles we used to see in fairytale books in our childhood.

The castle was built at the order of King Carol I, who visited the region in 1866 and decided to buy some land. Later, he built here a castle that blended with the beauty of the surrounding scenery. Peleş was built between 1873 and 1914, following plans by Johannes Schultz and Karel Liman. The name of the castle is drawn from the Peleş Creek, that passes through the courtyard. The courtyard itself measures 1,300 acres (5.3 km2).

The castle is open to the public and it receives about half million visitors every year. From the 168 rooms of the building, only 35 are accessible to the public, but they are enough to give the visitors a feel of what the Romanian kings used to live like. Rooms have different themes, ornamented by style (Florentine, Turkish, Moorish, French, Imperial) and lavishly furnished.

Visitors can also admire items of what is considered one of the finest collections of art in East and Central Europe. Everything on display (statues, paintings, furniture, arms and armors, gold, silver, stained glass, ivory, fine china, tapestries and rugs) is an original item.

Oriental rugs come from the finest sources: Bukhara, Mosul, Isparta, Saruk and Smirna, porcelain from Sèvres and Meissen, leather from Córdoba but perhaps the most acclaimed are the hand painted stained glass vitralios, mostly Swiss.

Every castle’s history is interesting, and has a mystery aura added to it. Peleş however doesn’t hide its past. There are no ghosts haunting it, no demons hiding within its walls. It’s pure beauty, a breathtaking building surrounded by a breathtaking scenery.

The Royal Castle amongst other monuments, surrounded by extremely pretty landscape with gardens built on terraces, all at the edge of dense forests. The castle itself is very impressive through the riches it has accumulated: old and new canvases, old furniture, weapons, all sort of curios, everything placed with good taste. – wrote Kaiser Franz Joseph I of Austro-Hungary in a letter, in 1896 when he visited Peleş. Years later the castle’s visitors share the same sentiment and even more.

For more information about Peleş, visit its official website. The visiting hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m Wednesday through Sunday. On Mondays the castle is closed and on Tuesdays the hours are till 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission fee is 15 RON. Additionally you must check in your camera or pay 30 RON to take photos or 50 RON for video.

Location: Northwest of the town of Sinaia, 60 km from Braşov and 135 km away from Bucharest, Romania’s capital.

Peleş Castle, a Romanian Fairytale is a post from: Rounite

Exotic, beautiful, untamed and still carrying an ancient bliss. This is the Danube Delta: a warm, welcoming place in the wilderness, not far from the Romanian shore of the Black Sea. An enchanted paradise. Romania is an exotic location not for some luxuriant beauty. It doesn’t even have luxurious resorts for you to spend a fortune and even tell your kids “I’ve been there.” What Romania does have is Transylvania, the Mud Volcanoes, a great deal of natural beauties, some UNESCO World Heritage Centers (Sighisoara, to name one of the many), Dracula (yes, you read that right) and the Danube Delta.

As Dracula was merely a fisherman of souls and his fly rod is beyond reach, we invite you to explore a less known location: the Danube Delta.

Of course you will need the typical fishing gear for carp, perch, pike and zander – and even cat fish, which is the biggest fish in the Danube Delta with captures that reached 400 kg – but you’ll also need a few “extras.” And this has nothing to do with your typical fishing equipment.

You’ll need a few bottles of fine vodka – to open the hearts… as many as you can carry. This is the best coin there, because… there are almost no possibilities for the locals to produce their own schnapps. The Delta leaves little to no room for domestic crops. There is water everywhere and people live from the fruits of the little lots they can actually cultivate, and of course from the gifts of the canal. And no one, literally no one, would waste the crop on schnapps. So, because it is rare, it is valuable. And this is an “insider tip” you will not find on other websites.

You’ll need an OFF spray

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to keep pesky insects away. In the Danube Delta mosquitoes found a second home. They come in packs, early in the morning and at dusk, but they are not the only intruders OFF can keep away. Various species of flies and many other biting insects will stay away. Do not visit the Delta without OFF!

Stay away if you are afraid of snakes. As a rule, where there is water, snakes have a natural habitat. There are no records of poisonous snakes, but water snakes (4 species) swim and crawl free, wherever you expect them less. If you dare to catch them, they are the main dish for exquisite cuisine.

Take your binoculars. Fishing is fin, but till that fish bites, watch the birds. Unique species, some endangered, still live here, among which the great white pelican. Endangered fish? Two species of sturgeons. So take care what you catch. Some other endangered species include the European pond turtle, the European kingfisher (a bird) and the beaver.

The Danube Delta is a “lost paradise” and words often fail to describe it. But, if you can afford the flight, there is nothing else you need to worry about. You’ll find in Romania people with warm, open hearts, who will welcome you and treat you as royalty.

Exotic Locations: The Danube Delta [Photos] is a post from: Rounite

It’s been a while since I last published an entry on this blog, and I fell like I let down those few readers who never failed to make a comment that made me feel that my efforts were worth-while. Today I only want to show you a few breath taking sceneries from the Romania Carpathians.

A Visual Trip through the Carpathians is a post from: Rounite

Lugoj, is a city in Timiş County, Banat, western Romania, situated on both banks of the Timiş River. The river divides the city in two quarters: the Romanian on the right and the German on the left.

The city was the home town of famous Dracula actor Bela Lugosi Commando buy , a Romanian-Hungarian native, whose real name was Blasko. Lugosi is a derivative of Lugos, the town’s Hungarian name.

Lugoj is inhabited by Romanians, Hungarians, Germans, Roma and Ukrainians and other nationalities – with a 82.9 percentage of Romanian inhabitants.

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Lugoj is a beautiful, quiet little city, home of the Eparchy of Lugoj, an important religious establishment for the Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Orthodox.

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The images below were offered by our StumbleUpon friend Sebastian Rotariu

, a Lugoj native and a teacher of geography in his city.

I let you enjoy Lugoj, as seen through the lens of the camera.

More about Lugoj: Lugoj. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved May 03, 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/350972/Lugoj

A Virtual Trip to Lugoj is a post from: Rounite

One of my favorite destinations during the summer are the Western Carpathians (Romanian: Munţii Apuseni), an area with splendid landscapes, where the nature is green and unspoiled, the forested hills change with colorful open meadows. Numerous rivers have cut spectacular canyons and created the most fascinating caves.

Because of the difficult access roads, many of the mountain villages remained unchanged. It is one of the most interesting ethnographic regions with old watermills, typical farm buildings with straw roofs, wooden ox wagons.

The highlanders are called “moti” and they live mainly from agriculture, the wood processing, and are masters in woodcarving. In spring time, farmers are leading their herds of cows and flocks of sheep in the high mountain, where they rest until the first snowfall.

You may admire on the high pastures the “hodăi”, summer houses used by local people, while being with their herds in the mountains; these villages are the highest settlements of Romania. Everyone can experience here the very warmhearted hospitality in a region where tourism is still relatively new and every guest is welcomed as a friend of the family.

Some years ago, during a trekking session in Trascăului Mountains, I’ve discovered here a strange village. Strange because most of the inhabitants are Hungarian ethnic in a large Romanian area, and strange because it looks like it probably looked two centuries ago.

Rimetea (Hungarian: Torockó, German: Eisenburg) is unique. During the antiquity and middle ages, it was the center of iron mining for the region. In the 14th century, settled here colonists from Austria and Germany, to work in the iron mines. Once a town (17th century), now it is a quiet village resting on the foot of the impressive Piatra Secuiului Mountain (1171m).

The rich past of the village can be seen in the local ethnographic museum (since 1952) and some mine galleries still remained in the mountains.

The folk costumes keep Hungarian, German, Austrian and even Flemish influences, with the famous red boots and delicate lace, or the brides’ diadems made of gold threads.

About a half of the houses are registered in an Europe Union program for keeping the patrimonial buildings and the village was awarded with “Europa Nostra” Silver Medal for the way that traditional architecture is preserved, medal awarded by the Prince of Denmark.

Secuiului Rock is climbed by many tourists, for paragliding or to see the remains of Colţesti fortress.

Rimetea – One of the Most Beautiful Villages in Romania is a post from: Rounite

Note from Mihaela and Alina: Rounite has a new author: Adrian Olaru. Adrian is a teacher from Ludus, Romania. Together with his students, Adrian started a blogspot blog: True Romania. The blog, rich in information, shows you a Romania like you’ve never seen it before, with all her extraordinary sons and daughters, with all her amazing places, traditions and culture. Unlike Rounite Underground movie download , which has a personal note, True Romania has didactic value.

Today Adrian relates a story from his childhood, a story about the mystic symbols hidden in one of Brancusi’s masterpieces – The Table of Silence

Constantin Brâncuşi (February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957), was an internationally renowned Romanian sculptor whose sculptures, which blend simplicity and sophistication, led the way for modernist sculptors.

In 1938, Constantin Brâncuşi finished the World War I monument in Tîrgu-Jiu where he had spent much of his childhood. “Table of Silence” (RO: Masa Tacerii), “Gate of the Kiss” (RO: Poarta Sarutului), and “Endless Column” (RO: Coloana Infinitului) commemorate the courage and sacrifice of Romanian civilians who in 1916 fought off a German invasion.

I want to tell you a story that can explain the significance of one of these masterpieces. In my childhood, a long time ago, I used to spend some time at my grand-father, in an isolated village in Oltenia (a region in the south-west of Romania, part of Wallachia, where Brâncuşi was born). In this village, the traditions were well kept, the daily life was quasi-archaic and for me, a child from a large town, many things seemed strange or odd. One day, my grand-father asked me to help him to do a ritual for the ancestors of our family. And now begins one of my well-kept memories…

We settled in the center of the courtyard a traditional TABLE, round and very low, with round chairs – one for each ancestor; then we placed on the table traditional pottery with food and lit candles. After that, we said a prayer for the dead and kept SILENCE for some minutes, to let the ancestors join us and enjoy the dishes…

After years, when I first saw the “Table of Silence”, I suddenly remembered that mystic, even pagan ritual, that impressed me so much in my childhood and I understood the symbols hidden behind this masterpiece.

The Table of Silence is a post from: Rounite

Slanic Prahova is one of the most exciting travel destinations in Romania. The town is located 45 km NE of Ploiesti and it is famous for hosting the “Unirea Salt Mine”, which is the largest salt mine in Europe.

The name of the mine “Unirea” Means in Romanian “Unification”. The mine is a health spa formed of 14 rooms which host a sanatorium for the treatment of respiratory diseases. The entire area of the mine is 78000 square meters with an excavated space of 2.9 millions cubic meters of salt.

The mine was opened in 1938 and in 1970 it became touristic attraction, modified to host both visitors and patients. I certainly hope you will never have to visit the mine as a patient, but as a tourist. This is certainly a destination to remember.

To reach the “heart” of the mine you descend 208 meters. Wear clothes suitable for 12°C – a temperature constant all year round. In the mine you will be able to admire the works of sculptor Iustin Nastase – sculpture in salt – exhibited in “Genesis” one of the 14 rooms of the mine. The sculptures depict relevant elements of the Romanians’ Dacian and Roman ancestry.

Not far from the Unirea Salt Mine, there is Mihai – a second salt mine even older than Unirea. Mihai was named after Romanian ruler Michael the Brave (Mihai Viteazul) who was the first to unify the three Romanian provinces of Wallachia, Transylvania and Moldavia in 1600.

The mine was opened first in 1912. Till 1942 when Unirea was officially opened more than 462000 cubic meters of salt had been excavated. The Mihai Salt Mine was also the first salt mine in Romania illuminated with electric lighting.

In 1994 both mines suffered severe damages because of salt dissolution under pluvial waters. From the two, Unirea was damaged the most. It took four years to evacuate the water and to completely drain the flooded mine. The site was reopened in the summer of 1998.

Slanic Prahova is not famous only for its salt mine, but also for the salt lakes and the picturesque landscapes surrounding it.

The 7 lakes: Baia Baciului, Baia Verde (3 lakes with the same name), Lacul Miresei (The Bride’s Lake), Baia Rosie and Baia Porcilor (Pig’s Lake) have a high level of salinity (80 ÷275 g / l). Bathing in the lakes is recommended for the treatment of degenerative and abarticular rheumatic diseases, post-traumatic conditions (after sprains, fractures of the limb bones), peripheral neurological (light paresis, condition after polyneuritis, old poliomyelitis sequels), gynecological disorders , respiratory disorders , dermathological diseases (psoriasis), vascular diseases and more.

Other tourist objectives are the Salt Mountain, the Bride’s Cave and the Colt’s Small Hill. The Bride’s Cave is now partially collapsed due to rain erosion, but its legend kept its beauty.

A beautiful maiden, in love with a poor shepherd, was forced by her parents to marry a rich boy. The legend says that in the day of the wedding the bride ran away and threw herself from the salt mountain into the lake that’s known today as the Bride’s Lake. The lake where she first met the shepherd is called Baia Baciului (The Shepherd’s Lake).

The health resort at Slanic Prahova is opened the whole year round and it certainly has something to offer to visitors of all ages.

This post is dedicated to one of Rounite’s faithful readers – Kathy Bousquet who suggested it and who also offered some of the images above that enhance the beauty of the entry. Thank you, Kathy.

Slanic Prahova – Legends in Salt is a post from: Rounite

The Seven Ladders Canyon is a stunning destination near Brasov and it is one of the main attractions for the tourists hiking the rocky paths of the Piatra Mare (Big Rock) mountain.  Its waterfall – the Seven Ladders Waterfall – is the second in Europe as length.

Seven Ladders to Forever and Ever is a post from: Rounite

This amazing building is the Palace of Culture from Iasi, Romania.

It hosts over 8000 paintings (many declared national and universal patrimony) signed by artists like Paolo Veronese, Pietro Liberi, Salvator Rosa, Anthony van Dyck, Eustache Le Sueur and many others.

It is home of over 35000 relics from various fields: archeology, art, ancient scholastic, anthropology and so much more.

It showcases over 11000 ethnographic objects, including popular costumes, tools and folk home decorations, depicting the advance of the Romanian civilization through the ages.

It hosts a museum of Science and Technology and…

… it is one of the largest and most beautiful buildings in Romania.

The Palace of Culture from Iasi hosts four museums: Moldavia’s History Museum, the Ethnographic Museum of Moldavia, the Art Museum, and the “Stefan Procopiu” Science and Technique Museum.

It was built on the ruins of the old Royal Court of Moldavia by order of King Carol I. The construction started in 1906 and it was finished on October 11, 1925, when it was also officially inaugurated by King Ferdinand. This is considered the most outstanding work of Romanian architect I.D. Berindei.

The Palace was initially projected to have 365 rooms, one for each day of the year, but the standing construction only has 298 rooms, spanning over 36000m². The impressive edifice is built in neogotic Flamboyant style, decorated with heraldic elements on the façade, and including various gothic elements indoors.

Do make sure you visit this amazing destination when in Romania – and until then, enjoy a virtual tour online.

A Cradle of Art and Ethos: Palace of Culture, Iasi is a post from: Rounite