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Dr. A. Cula
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May I suggest including Romania? Nice country, if it weren't inhabited by romanians.
If you're the outdoors type of tourist, avoid Bucharest (probably the ugliest European capitol), avoid the Black Sea coast and head for the mountains. Here is some eye-candy.
Now, for some really nice looking towns, you should visit the old parts of Brasov, Sibiu, Timisoara or Iasi. I think you just missed the medieval arts festival in Sighisoara, one of the last Europeean towns with the medieval part still intact and inhabited (or so I'm told). Oh, and the old fortress of Alba-Iulia is the last one in Europe that still serves a military purpose, as the barracks for an infantry regiment.
Also a visit to the vineyards at Murfatlar should prove interesting if you can remember it later .
To complete your cultural experience, you can tour Stefan the Great's moldavian monasteries. You can do that without being or becoming a religious nut. This man had a very interesting habit: every time he won a battle (mainly against the Ottomans), he built a monastery (and he spared no expense in doing so), if he lost he built only a church. The final score is given by the 30+ monasteries and the 2 churches he left behind. Some of these places are in ruin, but those that still function attract quite a crowd. As an anectode, Stefan the Great "helped" us once more after he died. When Stalin drew the borders of Eastern Europe after WW2, initially he wanted to include into the USSR the entire old Moldavia (ie, the whole north-eastern part of 1939 Romania). Then someone advised him that romanians would be much easier to control if Stefan's burial place at Putna were in romanian territory, and this is how Romania's eastern border is what it is today.
And a word of warning: if a travel agency offers you a romanian holiday package that includes the word "Dracula", run away. It's a scam. If you're looking for vampires, go rent a movie. In Romania you'll only find the story of the real man, who had nothing to do with Bram Stocker.
Well, I don't have the time to go into more detail, there's plenty of info on the web and if you need advice, i'll be here.
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20-08-2003 17:56
Parad urodov kakoi-to.
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