"ROMANIA" a Romania Travel Page by Fam_Stoica

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10 reasons to choose Romania as travel destination :
1) One of the deepest hospitality in Europe (especially in rural areas)
2) A lot of UNESCO Heritage List sites
3) Some fine examples of eclectic architecture
4) No mass tourism
5) (still) Cheap accommodation, transport and food
6) Excellent mineral waters, fruits and vegetables
7) Gourmet-oriented cuisine
8) Mountains, sea, woods, plains at your disposal
9) Interesting traditions
10) Low crime rate

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Official name: ROMANIA

Geographical position: Romania is situated in the SE Central Europe, north of the Balkan Peninsula, on the lower Danube and bordering on the Black Sea. Romania lies between 43o37'07" and 48o15'06" Latitude North and 20o15'44" and 29o41'24" Longitude East. The 45th parallel of Latitude North (midway between the Equator and the North Pole) crosses Romania 70 km north of its capital and meridian 25o Longitude East (midway between the Atlantic coast and the Urals) runs 90 km west of Bucharest.


Boundaries: 3,175.1 km.

Romania borders to the north-east and east on the Republic of Moldova (681.3 km), to the north and east on Ukraine (639.4 km), to the south-east on the Black Sea (234.0 km), to the south on Bulgaria (631.3 km), to the south-west on Serbia&Muntenegro (544.3 km), and to the west on Hungary (444.8 km). Two-thirds of its frontiers follow the courses of rivers (the Danube, the Prut, the Tisza) and the seashore (the Black Sea) and one third is traced on the land.


Area: 237,500 skm (11th in Europe).

Population : 22,721,000 (1 January 1995); 95.3 inh/skm

The Romanian culture, basically Western and Latin in origin, has preserved fascinating remembrances of its archaic roots and a vast variety of nuances and meanings from its troubled and complex history at the crossroads of East and West. Centuries upon centuries have served to refine Romanian folk art, traditional music and dance, wood carving, pottery, architecture, weaving and embroidery into a treasure of outstanding richness. Great Romanian creative minds have drawn inspiration from these traditions, and adapted them to significantly enrich the culture of their own country, and of the world. What they accomplished is a synthesis of these deepest held traditions and the substance of modern European culture.

Great minds have equally developed in sciences. Romania's medical school and biology-related sciences have been an international point of reference for more than a century now. Romanians have pioneering works in fields like cell biology, virusology, neurology and gerontology. Emil Racovita (1868-1947) was the founder of the science of bio-speleology.

The first Nobel Prize awarded to a Romanian scientist was for biology: Professor George Emil Palade, now living in the U.S.

The first flight in the world, by a self-propelled engine, was made in a prototype designed by Traian Vuia (1872-1950) in 1903. Pioneers in airplane construction and flight were also Aurel Vlaicu (1882-1913), as well as the father of jet planes, Henri Coanda (1886-1972). Hermann Oberth (1894- 1980) was a great achiever of the space science and rocket engineering. As early the 16th century, the visionary Conrad Haas (1509-1579) was designing rockets in the city of Sibiu. In the 20th century Gheorghe Buzatu helped to develop the Apollo rocket.

Other Romanians have added important discoveries to: mathematics - Traian Lalescu, Gheorghe Titeica, Grigore Moisil; physics - Horia Hulubei; electrotechnics - Dragomir Hurmuzescu; civil engineering - Anghel Saligny; sociology - Dimitrie Gusti; ecology - Grigore Antipa.

Another famous Romanians :

* Science :

Nicolae Paulescu - the real inventor of insuline

* Sport :

Nadia Comaneci - the greatest gymnast of all time, the 1st who had received the note for perfection : 10 (Olympic Games, Montreal, 1976)

Ilie Nastase - outstanding singular tennis player, the first no. 1 in ATP range (1971)

Ivan Patzaichin - the greatest canoeist of all time, 4 golden medals at the Olympic Games, 8 times world champion

Gheorghe Hagi - brilliant football player

Elisabeta Lipa - the best rower of the 20th century, 8 medals at the Olympic Games

Ion Tiriac - talented tennis player, the best tennis manager and promoter

Cornel Otelea - the only one handball player 3 times world champion

Iolanda Balas-Soter - one of world’s best athletes (high jump), 5 Olympic and 14 world records, 140 consecutive wons (Guiness Book record)