Travels Through Romania – Underrated Destination

Travels Through Romania – Underrated Destination

welcome to no borders with Brian and
Carrie in this episode today we are
going to be discussing when we traveled
to Romania and uh just our experience as
we went through the country we spent
about two and a half months there yeah
one of our favorite countries and we we
happened on it um not by mistake but uh
out of circumstance right yeah it really
was a place that I would say
absolutely surprised us um we’ kind in
in and in such a wonderful in a great
way we we’ve said before um Romania is
an underrated country and there are some
that kind of took offense to that um
really not understanding what we were
meaning right and what we’re meaning is
it’s is it’s underrated people don’t
think of Romania as one of those
vacation destinations and it should be
and it should be yeah and recently so
one of the reasons how we got to Romania
was because we had to exit the shangan
area um spent our 90 days we had to get
out right and so we went to Romania and
like we said we spent that two and a
half months which was wonderful for us
but unfortunately now Romania is part of
part of the sh Shang it’s going to be
hit real soon yeah yeah so fortunately
we got our time in there when we did and
um didn’t necessarily have to use up
that time but I think that anybody who
is looking at vacationing and um I’m
sure that Romania isn’t one that tops a
lot of people’s list but we hope that
through some of the things we talk about
today maybe we intrigu you to look into
it a little bit more at least yeah I I
think so you know um it’s got everything
it’s got history it’s got food um it’s
got um everything that you might want um
without mass tourism right yeah one of
the people that was there told us that
it’s basic it’s set up for tourism
without the tourists right so they they
they have everything you need the
tourists just really don’t there yet
right right so we started our travels
and we went into we started in Bucharest
right and and uh we were only in
Bucharest a couple days we’re in
Bucharest for a couple days I really
think that’s all you need um now we were
on foot so we did a lot of walking uh
that day um and we we hit all the key um
historical points of interest we mainly
stayed in Oldtown now the Old Town um
they are refurbishing and cleaning up
and trying to make it more um hip I
guess would be the right word for it
because it it is quite the nighti it’s a
quite the night life but it also was
just this super cool food Hub I mean you
just we well in to add to it the cost it
is so incredibly affordable so you know
we could go out and eat very very well
for incredibly affordable prices um and
one of the things right out the gate in
Bucharest that we were so excited to
find I know what you’re going to say he
knows what I’m about to say um is some
people had told us like they have a
pretty cool craft beer scene there and
if you know anything about us we love
our craft beer scene especially being
from where we are from and so that was
one of our first stops when we were in B
rest is we had got there you know travel
day and it’s like let’s go grab a beer
and we went to our first craft beer
location and a little shop that guy had
set up super friendly guy suggested a
number of different beers and I would
say we are beer connoisseurs um I sold
beer for a living for a long time so I
know a little bit about it and I can
tell you these beers were good they were
really good and I think at that moment
we were so excited because we knew we
were on day one of 2 and a half months
we’re like if this is what we have not
to mention we were paying like $3 for a
craft be not the $7 we’re paying back
which we used to paint seven yeah so um
we tried numerous it wasn’t just like
there was one Brewery there was multiple
different ones that we could go to so
yeah that was a really fun uh fun thing
that we found when we were there that
we’re excited about and I also think
Romania was was it a bit more because we
we were coming from Spain with a an
incredible transportation system uh you
know fast trains um trams just a real
ease of getting around the country and
now we’re in Romania so we’re going to
figure out how to get from Bucharest to
brav and brav is another place in
Romania town in Romania with a lot of
history but to get there you have to
take a train yeah and well if if you
don’t have if you don’t have a car that
is right now we don’t do cars we do
public transportation and the train
system in Romania is not quite what it
is in Spain to say the least well in one
of kind of backtrack so one of the
reasons that we didn’t do a car also cuz
it’s actually incredibly affordable to
rent a car in Romania in like the spring
fall and and in the winter months but in
the summertime it’s not necessarily the
cost it’s the avail
they just aren’t even available so but
we we typically Veer away from renting a
car anyway but it wasn’t a there are
plenty of cars so if you want to do that
we hear the countryside and everything
like going back we would probably choose
to rent a car we prob country rent a car
and when you when you say explore the
countryside you you’re meaning maybe go
up north um go to some of the smaller
communities uh we went to the really to
be honest the main well-known well known
towns of Romania Transylvania area in in
Western Romania which is great it’s a
great place to start your
uh you know your experience in Romania
um but to get to those other parts um
having a car would be key yeah would
make it a lot more enjoyable a lot
easier um that is one thing that we did
find right away in Romania is the
transportation system in comparison it
definitely lacked a little bit but uh
you know that was probably the the only
thing that lacked so but yeah so we make
our way to brov which right away we were
just in love with I know for me it still
goes down as one of my favorite stops
that we’ve made so far um at this point
we had been away from home for a while
and it felt as much as kind of coming
home as what we probably could have had
because we had the the hillsides
had yeah and um what a beautiful Town
absolutely beautiful it goes down as one
of our one of our favorite um and again
the budget was there it was inexpensive
um we saw Top Gun yeah we saw top gun
Maverick while we were there there and
that was a really nice movie theater we
CAU it it was it was the nicest movie
theater I’ve ever been in it was so nice
and um it ended up being we caught it on
the very last day that that movie was
showing in the theater and we don’t go
to movies but that’s one that you wanted
to see you got to go to to so that was
exciting they had absolutely and that
was that same one that they had the mall
that was so massive and the grocery
store that was I mean if anybody’s been
in a Walmart in the states um it was
like a Walmart on crack it was this
massive yeah grocery store so um yeah
and then the the Oldtown probably I
don’t know M go down is one of my
favorite old towns I loved walking
around BR Old Town fairy tale esque m is
what how I describe it and again they
had some great craft beer they had some
breweries there as well um and they ALS
we also found a place where they were
selling the uh the oldw world European
Western European uh beers that have been
around for hundreds of years that are
also oh that’s right very very fantastic
beers that’s how craft beer got started
really but uh yeah so brob goes down as
one of our top it did yeah and you know
that was a great place for anybody who’s
looking for a place to SA you’re an
outdoorsy person that likes to hike um
we took the the gondola up to the hiking
area up top and you got a really pretty
view over the city there was another
area you could hike it to we decided to
the gondola it was hot um it was hot
that day yeah but that was an area you
could go there winter summer any time of
the year it’s going to be a beautiful
area because people go to that area as
well to ski right well and there’s also
day trips out of there too we went to
pelish Castle and um if you’ve never
heard of pelish Castle before uh it’s
really cool and a lot of history there
um that’s a great day trip there’s um a
couple other things we went to another
Castle I’m I’m not remember Brun Castle
it’s Dracula cast Dracula Castle yeah
not quite as impressive as pelish Castle
but uh but there are day trips you can
take out a brob as well plenty to go see
and plenty to see bus rides that are
very easy and just an amazing food scene
I mean we really enjoyed trying all the
different foods there so now from there
we went to shora yes and uh we only did
two days there and that is about all you
need you really only need maybe I would
suggest a night just because we always
like to stay in a place at least
overnight a town during the day uh feels
very different at night you know when
the lights are on and you really get to
kind of see that not the night life cuz
we’re usually asleep by the night we’re
usually sleep by night anyway yeah but
to be able to just see it in the evening
maybe after a lot of tourists have left
and it calms down a little bit so we do
like to spend the night at least but we
did spend two nights there it was
insanely hot and and that’s where the uh
the um what is it called
um oh Dracula was born there oh that’s
right his his house or his but Dracula’s
a a fictional character so how could he
have been born there but that’s what
they go off of they go off uh um this is
the birth place so it it does take you
back in history quite a bit but that
town was the most fairy tale looking
little picturesque town that was so fun
to wander through um we really enjoyed
that we stumbled across that little um
what Pub area that was member in the
back it was all treed with really cool
seating um we absolutely love that and
spent some time it was a great place to
get out of the sun it was all shaded in
it was kind of a hippie joint yeah you
know with bean bag chairs later around
and everything uh but yeah it was it was
a neat place and I would suggest going
there uh as a stop by mhm yeah so now
from shur we went to
CW CW is a bigger city MH um but not to
be missed yeah you know we were there
for two and a half weeks I believe MH we
enjoyed it I mean I think that for
people that want more activities of
stuff to do it is a great place to be
because their their old town as well was
a walking Old Town it was a great Old
Town we loved it um you know the
downside for us I think that kind of
took a little bit of the fun we didn’t
care for our Airbnb right our Airbnb
wasn’t very good um it’s one of our few
fails when it comes to accommodations um
but but we were able to do it we didn’t
have to move out or anything like that
and the location was great there was
also a lot going on that time of year
there was the Red Bull um motorcycle
races that was a lot of fun that was a
lot of fun I saw a guy break his arm we
saw a couple of guys get really bad M up
pretty that was that was a fun
that sounds so so to say that way but
there’s some there’s some historical
churches there’s some museums again the
food scene um and again they got some
great beer the beer yeah that that’s
just followed us around we we love that
this a lot of the same breweries that we
would find followed us around uh all the
different places we stopped in Romania
we did find that one restaurant that
somebody had recommended to us to go
there that was like that was like super
traditional Romanian food and I think in
hindsight we wish we would have gone
there earlier on our stay in CB cuz we
would have gone back because it was so
good yeah I think we went there the
second of last night and we missed the
rest that we could have done more but
yeah that was down in a Cellar and dark
and super the staff was so kind and
accommodating and you know to anybody
who worries about the am I going to be
able to communicate am I going to be
able to understand we really had no
trouble in Romania at all if anything
the we were on the bus or on the train
and that um little girl you were saying
hi to her she was very young and the mom
um was telling her to say hi and said oh
she loves practicing her English
practicing her English yeah and so that
was really cute so we found that every
place that we went uh English was very
widely spoken well we talked to the
hostess in Bucharest and we got in a
conversation with her about education
and politics and everything else going
on in Romania
and and she was telling us that pretty
much anybody under the age of 30 can
speak fluent
English so that’s something to know and
if you’re over the age of 30
obviously the chances are you know the G
of it you know yeah and and that’s uh
now it’s always best to learn a few
phrases whatever country you’re in uh
please and thank you and a smile go a
long way the smile is any language but
if you can say please and thank you in
in their native language then that’s
it’s always best mhm yeah so now we were
done in uh CW and we headed off to Alba
ulia and uh we actually stayed in a town
that was just near there because we had
somebody reach out to us online and
offered us to come stay at their uh
their it wasn’t an Airbnb it was through
booking.com uh and so offered that to us
and offered us their card too and he
kind of gave us a itinerary um because
one thing we really found with Romanian
people is they wanted you so very much
to love their country uh we have not
experienced that to that same level at
all not even close any place else that
we’ve traveled um and to this day we
still have a lot of the people that
followed us when we went into Romania
and we’ll send messages of when are you
coming back you coming
back no it’s been it’s been great you
know um one of the things that that I
I’ve noticed about the Romanian people
is there’s a large a sense of Pride you
know this is who we are um come and
visit us come and see what we’re all
about um because we are a pretty cool
place you know and and uh you know it’s
one of those deals
where you you kind of feel like the
western side of the world looks down
upon you um and that’s just not the case
and if it is the case it shouldn’t be
the case no not at all no we yeah we
absolutely the people people so
welcoming and and just like you said so
much pride in their country so um so in
Al albaa we um did quite a few day trips
that we could do because we were only
there a couple days uh and we did a
couple of the places that he had
suggested that we go and travel to and
then we went into the actual City Town
Center there uh and then once again we
beautiful area absolutely gorgeous yeah
um love that area and but we stumbled
across a the big rig oh oh totally done
up like yeah the semi the semi truck
festival yeah and these these it was so
fun yeah you know again this is in the
middle of Romania um and you got these
semi truck show and with the most
elaborate uh cool the paint there was
like the
transformer Spider-Man nothing like I’d
ever seen before it was incredible yeah
so that was a lot of fun to walk around
and once again we grabbed a few uh had
had a beer garden so we had to but their
beer garden you didn’t have to stay in
we could walk around you go get a beer
then you can walk around so Carrie and I
are always up for a beer garden yeah but
that’s how we met was in a beer garden I
know so that kind of goes hand that’s
why we do yeah so yeah so we really like
that town uh we did go to a restaurant
that um said that it was probably
probably the best place in town that’s
what the sign said uh when you’re
exiting out of
alalia Alia anyways and as we’re exiting
out that is the sign probably the best
probably the best it might not be might
not be but it could be and we were so
hungry and we had been wandering around
and doing our thing and had plenty to
drink at this point and we’re like we
need to go get some food and so we went
to the probably best and we will tell
you it was probably not the best
probably not the best it was probably
far from the best it probably wasn’t
very good no but they uh the their
selling point and I guarantee it’s why
people go there is because of how cool
the inside of the building was you once
again felt like you were in a cave um
and it looked very cool the food was
just far from it but but that’s uh that
was our probably our only not good bad
experience we had in the whole time we
were there so from there we moved on to
clge the largest city in the western
half of Romania it was a big city it’s a
college town yeah um it wasn’t our
favorite spot in Romania but they did
have have a great beer scene once again
they had some historic churches they had
the favorite pizza that you’ve ever had
right they had the oh that’s right I
forgot about amazing and we found and
the guy was so nice I forgot about that
that yeah that was the best pizza I’ve
ever had we spent 2 and a half months in
Italy in Romania that was still the best
I don’t know what it was day to this day
yeah and then we went to go back there
before we were leaving and they were
closed that day it was a holiday so
bummed it was a holiday weekend so we’ll
to go back just for that well I’d go
back just for that yeah but clug was not
our favorite it was more of a bigger
city feel uh you had to walk quite a
distance to get to places but once again
they did have a lot of the really good
um the different breweries and little
pubs tap houses yeah and so that was a
lot of fun we went to a rooftop bar that
overlooked the city um so we really
enjoyed the town we were there for about
a week um and you know more than enough
time you really only need a couple days
there but there are some day trips you
can do out of there as well yeah we did
the salta turta salt mines yes and that
was a day um that goes down as an epic
Brian and Carrie fail Big Time fail we
tried to take the city bus to get out to
the salt mines um we couldn’t figure out
how to find the bus and by now we’re
starting to navigate pretty good you
know so it’s not like we’re just there
were there were no clear instructions
there was no clear instructions we
finally figured F out we’re at the wrong
bus station well we were the bus stop
where it was supposed to come to um and
clearly everywhere on online was saying
you you wait at this bus area and never
came so we just went directly to the bus
station which was a cluster because it
was buses just pulled in all over we had
no clue which bus we’re supposed to take
I think at this point we honestly were
thinking to ourselves should we just not
do thisday well I can’t believe we did
cuz it got worse yeah we waited about an
hour for that bus that we finally
figured out this is the bus but in to
backtrack a little how many people
recommended we go to this like we had so
many people tell us you have to go to
the have to do this you have to go so we
so we figur we had to do we had to go we
get on the bus and and in the back of
our minds we are thinking let’s just not
do this but we do anyway we get to the
town outside of where the salt mines are
at where you have to get off the bus you
have to get off
then you have to catch another bus to
get out to the salt mines but we don’t
know where to catch that bus well no it
specifically said catch the bus in front
of whatever this building is that it was
right so we get to that building and
remember they were doing road
construction I do I remember but the bus
let us off yes well before we got to
that spot but we knew that and we were
going to get an Uber into the other but
remember the Uber thing wouldn’t work
the app so then we had to walk then we
find the place that we’re supposed to
catch the bus it was just a mess and so
see I’m forgetting a lot of this cuz I I
I blocked you block it’s protection mode
and so we finally find another block up
you know to go find this bus uh we could
have walked there faster at this point
as far as from the Town Center we could
have just walk there and so we get on
the bus and we get to the salt mines
which then we were having trouble there
because they were saying like no cash or
no cards but you could only use cash we
had to go get cash out anyway
and uh so we finally get in there and to
a lot of people it might have been very
cool yeah it might have been it was very
you know I we don’t want to diss it and
say that it wasn’t cool but for what you
got and what you had to go through to do
it it wasn’t worth it for us soon as you
got into the salt mines it was
impressive but to then enjoy the salt
mines we had to go down all those stairs
right then you get down the stairs and
let’s just make it very clear that it’s
oneway kind of thing so you are
navigating people going up the stairs
and people coming down the stairs and
you get down there which took forever
because it’s a lot of freaking stairs
because you have to go down to the very
bottom I can’t remember how he flights
it was you get down to the bottom and
then you kind of look over and you see
the line to take the stairs to go up and
it’s like oh my gosh and the elevator
there’s an elevator but that line is is
is incredibly long so we’re not going to
do that so anyway we get out of the salt
mines we get back to AR and be and we
think why did we do that yeah it was a
mistake it was a mistake we wouldn’t do
it again we survived we wouldn’t do it
again but like we said to some people
they absolutely love it so we don’t want
to diss on it I know they kind of call
it like the Disney of of Romania because
it’s got um when you’re down there you
can go on some boats that are down in
the bottom and stuff so there’s there’s
a few things if you have kids to go do
in there but I guess for us the amount
of work that went into it wasn’t worth
it right so we enjoyed clug for the week
that we were there could have made it a
shorter stop just I think because we
enjoyed the small town so much more
right right and from there we did go to
a small town mhm probably one of our
favorites yeah it was Aradia and I
wouldn’t call it I baraj was still my
favorite yeah Aradia was the cleanest it
was such a beautiful town a beautiful
city a River run through it um the
churches again the history um you know I
would say I would say two days would
probably be enough in Aradia but it was
a place that you know being slow
Travelers like we are it was one place
both bajav and Aradia to us went down as
places that we could have seen ourselves
staying longer stretch because Aradia
had so many areas to walk alongside the
river and once again like you said it’s
so clean that it just you just felt like
you could just kind of just keep walking
around and it was just so pretty a lot
just Tak it was very it was very well
well done and then back to it had one of
our favorite breweries because they had
we hadn’t had that same favorite Brewery
for a few towns since and so we had that
and um once again a lot of really good
food and yeah we really enjoyed that
town and so then we from there we moved
on to our final stop in Romania which
was Timur right and Timur you know the
it’s known for their um Town Square in
the colorful buildings um it was it was
it lived up to that expectation there
wasn’t a lot to do out outside of that
area but but we did enjoy it if I
remember correctly it was
101 yeah the entire time we were right
there in the center we were August so
middle of the summer uh and so that kind
of took a little bit of the fun out of
it but we did we enjoyed Timur but I
think because we appreciated the other
towns so much Timur wasn’t our favorite
of the stops and I know that when we
kind of gave people an itinerary of
where to go through Romania because it’s
kind of off the beaten path little bit
it’s not in an easy you know roundabout
area to get to um and we had a path that
we were going cuz right after that we
were heading into Serbia and so it made
sense um but it would be if somebody had
to cut something off their list I would
say they could cut Timur off personally
yeah I don’t know if I would go that far
because I enjoyed
Timur but but again if you’re comparing
it to other places that we really liked
a lot um depends how much time you have
to go through and how much time you want
to spend in each location you know and I
think that if you have a car because to
get to those ones it was like a long bus
rides you know in between some of those
so it kind of just depends how much time
you have Rel it depends how much time
you have they’re all worth going to I
know that much Romania is very much
worth going to Romania is 100% worth
going to and I know that there were so
many areas that we missed and that um
like we said the people were so so
welcoming that we had so many people
reach out to us and let us know of
different places we should go to when we
come back right A lot of them were like
I can’t believe you didn’t go here or
here you had all this time why didn’t
you go there yeah well you’re right
right we should have and we definitely
plan to go back unfortunately our list
is just so long of places we want to go
to that we haven’t been to at all yet um
and then the UN unfortunate part of it
being added to shangan really makes it
more challenging um but I think that we
could take a month out of our shangan
time and like go travel to that Northern
Northeastern side and hit um because we
were told kind of the coast area and I’m
trying to remember the names of some of
these towns that mentioned I can’t
recall them now um but yeah I know that
we want to go back there and explore my
I want to go and have some of their food
uh love their food love the beer um just
love the people yeah if food uh history
beer and people are something that
you’re interested in uh while you
vacation and just cool architecture yeah
then then Romania would be a place that
you should put on your list yeah for
sure well we hope that you enjoyed this
kind of walk through Romania with us um
if it has not been on your list to do I
would look further into Romania and
maybe just see if it might be a place
that you would add to your vacation list
uh now if you want to find us any place
else off of the podcast you can find us
on the social media on Facebook
Instagram and then also of course on
YouTube at Brian and Cary and then also
you can find us on our website which is
Brian andary travels.com
so we will catch you next time cheers

Get ready for an exhilarating ride through Romania, the ultimate hidden treasure for adventure seekers! Join us on our podcast, “Traveling through Romania – Underrated Destination,” as we uncover the wild, the wacky, and the wonderful aspects of this Eastern European gem.

From sipping local beers in one of the many breweries to traveling by train through the mystical forests of Transylvania, we’re here to show you why Romania is a must-visit destination for wanderlust enthusiasts, digital nomads, and travel couples alike.

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