Romania
The bad thing about going to all countries in the world is that you have to go to places like Romania, when you don't want to. Both me and my friend Andreas didn't want to go so we made Romania a quick stop on the way to Cyprus, so that we would only have to spend one night and the next morning in the capital of Bucharest.
When we arrived we quickly understood that Dracula was the superstar even though we weren't in the area of Transylvania. Many things were named after him like alcohol called Draquila and so on. When we got in to the city center we could see that Bucharest is made up of massive areas that are empty, because everybody has to use cars because of the long distances, so no one walks. It's ironic but at the same time quite funny.
When we got to the hotel and stepped out on the balcony my expectations about Romania quickly changed, yes it still seemed like a poor country but not in a bad way. It was worn down but had the charm and the nice vibe that I always search for in a country. So I would stop being prejudiced and start to embrace Bucharest when we hit the streets to see what the big city would have to offer.
We found the busiest pedestrian street that was filled with bars, strip joints and restaurants and people trying to sell you anything, one guy even suggested he had anything for sale and just asked us what we would like. The sellers were quite annoying so we found a calmer side street that turned out to be for alternative people, even though I hate that term. One bar was even called Alternativ Bar, but it was empty, so we sat down at the bar next door instead and bought some cheep Romanian beers. It was in the beginning of May and since Romania is much warmer than Sweden it felt like the first day of spring. We could sit outside and drink and watch people pass by, and also look at the interesting people of the punk bar called 1974 at the opposite side of the street. We sat right in the clash of the punk music from that bar and the music from our bar, which seemed a bit confused, playing everything from 80's synth pop music to Marilyn Manson to about everything else.
There was a guy sitting in front of the punk bar that looked like he could be a band member of Turbonegro and we were trying to drink enough to have the courage to make contact with him and his angry looking woman beside him. The first step was to change bar and so we crossed the street and sat outside the punk bar instead. The second step was, too late, they left. So instead I tried to make contact with some girls sitting next to our table with questions that I didn't even care about the answer to, like "so what can you recommend to see while we are in Romania?". One of the girls asked for how long we were staying and I laughed and told her that we had just arrived and would be leaving in the morning, so she told us recommendations for the next trip to Romania instead, like going to Transylvania. In return she wanted to learn some Swedish bad words, and the worst I could think of at that time was "knulla" which means "fuck". We asked her for some bad words in Romanian and we quickly understood that they are best in the world to swear. The sentences were so sick that I can't even retell them here, you just have to believe me, they were the worst I've ever heard, in a good way! The people seemed really nice and I was surprised when we ended the evening by Andreas telling me that he wished we could stay for longer in Romania, but at the same time I agreed!
That night was one of my worst nights ever, I never felt asleep, instead I felt like I was tripping on LSD and I hate when you're out of control like that. I don't know what they put in their beers in Romania, but damn! I had never had such a dream before and I hope I never will again.
Despite this I was still eager to get up early to enjoy Bucharest as much as I could in the short period of time we were there and we went to Carol Park.
In contrast to this when Andreas went to McDonalds, they are such a poor country that he had to pay for the ketchup, because you can't give away "food" for free.
To give you an advice, don't be scared of going to Romania, except if you're going to Transylvania, then bring garlic and holy water to stay safe!
* Best things about Romania – the country really surprised me in a good way and I wish I could have stayed longer or revisit it to make it grow even more on me, right now it has gone from "I think it will suck" to "hmm, I think I like this place", and who knows how far it can go next time
* Most mediocre thing about Romania – I love the myth about Dracula and Transylvania but I was in the wrong part of Romania to experience it, so next time I will make sure to visit it!
* Worst things about Romania – for Romanian people the poverty is probably the worst thing, for me as a tourist I was mostly annoyed by the sellers on the streets and the huge areas that makes everything to a huge walking distance, even though I like the grandness of it
Best countries in the world according to the nerd (will be updated with every post):
1. Croatia
2. Montenegro
3. Andorra
4. Cyprus
5. Greece
6. Italy
7. Monaco
8. Malta
9. Netherlands
10. Iceland
11. Denmark
12. Lithuania
13. Macedonia
14. Portugal
15. New Zealand
16. Ireland
17. Belgium
18. Poland
19. Estonia
20. Kosovo
21. Romania
22. Finland
23. Latvia
24. Norway
25. France
26. Bulgaria
27. Luxembourg
28. Liechtenstein
29. China
30. Bosnia And Herzegovina
31. Albania
When we arrived we quickly understood that Dracula was the superstar even though we weren't in the area of Transylvania. Many things were named after him like alcohol called Draquila and so on. When we got in to the city center we could see that Bucharest is made up of massive areas that are empty, because everybody has to use cars because of the long distances, so no one walks. It's ironic but at the same time quite funny.
When we got to the hotel and stepped out on the balcony my expectations about Romania quickly changed, yes it still seemed like a poor country but not in a bad way. It was worn down but had the charm and the nice vibe that I always search for in a country. So I would stop being prejudiced and start to embrace Bucharest when we hit the streets to see what the big city would have to offer.
We found the busiest pedestrian street that was filled with bars, strip joints and restaurants and people trying to sell you anything, one guy even suggested he had anything for sale and just asked us what we would like. The sellers were quite annoying so we found a calmer side street that turned out to be for alternative people, even though I hate that term. One bar was even called Alternativ Bar, but it was empty, so we sat down at the bar next door instead and bought some cheep Romanian beers. It was in the beginning of May and since Romania is much warmer than Sweden it felt like the first day of spring. We could sit outside and drink and watch people pass by, and also look at the interesting people of the punk bar called 1974 at the opposite side of the street. We sat right in the clash of the punk music from that bar and the music from our bar, which seemed a bit confused, playing everything from 80's synth pop music to Marilyn Manson to about everything else.
There was a guy sitting in front of the punk bar that looked like he could be a band member of Turbonegro and we were trying to drink enough to have the courage to make contact with him and his angry looking woman beside him. The first step was to change bar and so we crossed the street and sat outside the punk bar instead. The second step was, too late, they left. So instead I tried to make contact with some girls sitting next to our table with questions that I didn't even care about the answer to, like "so what can you recommend to see while we are in Romania?". One of the girls asked for how long we were staying and I laughed and told her that we had just arrived and would be leaving in the morning, so she told us recommendations for the next trip to Romania instead, like going to Transylvania. In return she wanted to learn some Swedish bad words, and the worst I could think of at that time was "knulla" which means "fuck". We asked her for some bad words in Romanian and we quickly understood that they are best in the world to swear. The sentences were so sick that I can't even retell them here, you just have to believe me, they were the worst I've ever heard, in a good way! The people seemed really nice and I was surprised when we ended the evening by Andreas telling me that he wished we could stay for longer in Romania, but at the same time I agreed!
That night was one of my worst nights ever, I never felt asleep, instead I felt like I was tripping on LSD and I hate when you're out of control like that. I don't know what they put in their beers in Romania, but damn! I had never had such a dream before and I hope I never will again.
Despite this I was still eager to get up early to enjoy Bucharest as much as I could in the short period of time we were there and we went to Carol Park.
It was beautiful, and big and empty like everything else in this city. Since it was so huge it needed a lot of gardeners and cleaners to keep it in shape and it was fun to see that they outnumbered the guests. I sat down and wanted to enjoy the park but Andreas was in a hurry to see the Palace Of Parliament, so we left almost as soon as we arrived. The palace is the largest administrative building and also the heaviest building in the world, and it's so weird that 70% of it is empty at the same time as people are starving in the streets. That says everything about the world in general, we have the power to provide for every human but instead greed destroys it all. Thousands of people have died by building it, the construction started in 1984 and even now it's not finalized with its 3500 tonnes of crystal, monumental doors and velvet curtains with gold embroideries.
The revolution starts here
In contrast to this when Andreas went to McDonalds, they are such a poor country that he had to pay for the ketchup, because you can't give away "food" for free.
To give you an advice, don't be scared of going to Romania, except if you're going to Transylvania, then bring garlic and holy water to stay safe!
* Best things about Romania – the country really surprised me in a good way and I wish I could have stayed longer or revisit it to make it grow even more on me, right now it has gone from "I think it will suck" to "hmm, I think I like this place", and who knows how far it can go next time
* Most mediocre thing about Romania – I love the myth about Dracula and Transylvania but I was in the wrong part of Romania to experience it, so next time I will make sure to visit it!
* Worst things about Romania – for Romanian people the poverty is probably the worst thing, for me as a tourist I was mostly annoyed by the sellers on the streets and the huge areas that makes everything to a huge walking distance, even though I like the grandness of it
Best countries in the world according to the nerd (will be updated with every post):
1. Croatia
2. Montenegro
3. Andorra
4. Cyprus
5. Greece
6. Italy
7. Monaco
8. Malta
9. Netherlands
10. Iceland
11. Denmark
12. Lithuania
13. Macedonia
14. Portugal
15. New Zealand
16. Ireland
17. Belgium
18. Poland
19. Estonia
20. Kosovo
21. Romania
22. Finland
23. Latvia
24. Norway
25. France
26. Bulgaria
27. Luxembourg
28. Liechtenstein
29. China
30. Bosnia And Herzegovina
31. Albania
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