Romanian style

or what I've noticed while travelling around Romania:

Campings
If the majority is from Romania, loud music is often an inseparable part of a camping. They go to nature, to see a lake, mountains, river but take a half of their home with them. Large gas bottles, loudspeakers or even small TVs are quite common. The most surprising for me was a scene just after climbing down from Pietra Craialui. There were some tents near a peaceful brook and cars playing loud music that successfully drowned out the voice of the nature.

Gipsies
They don't like being photographed. If they notice you taking a picture of them, they start to shout or try to snatch your camera. So it's better not to photograph them at all or do it from the distance.

Dogs
Are everywhere. Especially in Bucharest, where stray dogs belong to the city landscape. One tried to bite me, which was not a nice experience at all.

Colours
People dressed in original colourful clothes are not very common. And if they happen to walk down a street, almost everyone else is staring at them. But almost all my new friends from Romania where like me. Bit colourful and spontaneous so we suited each other well. A visit to a small town or country was like a journey to another world. That's at least how the local people stared at us – as if we were something exotic.

Tourists
Transilvania is their favourite destination, many of them come to the mountains as well. The sea is also popular. What surprised me was that there were not so many tourists in Bucharest. The city may not be attractive, but still – it's the capital and many start their journey throughout Romania in Bucharest. In hostels you can meet foreigners only, the locals usually stay in campings.

Children
Many poor kids are begging for money. But we preferred to give food to them. Usually they're not very pushy and quite friendly.

Parks and cafes
Are usually full of Romanians, spending there their free time. Older people are sitting on the benches in parks, younger ones are sipping their drinks or coffees in cafe gardens. Many people put a chair or bench outside their house and spend their evening there. Time goes by slowly.

Accent
I just love the way Romanians are speaking English with their accent. The intonation usually goes up, conversations are full of emotions, the language becomes more melodic. They speak English almost the same way the Spanish do – with temperament.

Food
I was surprised to see how popular the brand Fornetti is. It's a frenchise with pastry, which was also popular in Poland but about 10 years ago. Fornetti stands are almost everywhere and have always many costumers. Pretzels are very common as well. You can get them in every bakery, in various forms and tastes. And the next surprising thing is that many people on trains or in railway station eat a lot of snacks, crisps or sweets.

Conservation works
Are also everywhere. But the most 'works in progress city' was Bucharest, I think. I got the feeling that the whole city is under construction or renovation. Dug out streets are in every district and rails are being renovated, too. That's why the trains are late so often.

Travelling
Or – the endless expression of surprise when I'm saying that I'm travelling alone. I met quite many lonely travellers from round the world. As I already mentioned, it has many pros and cons but the best way is a mixed style. So a bit alone, bit with someone. Explroing a place alone and then waiting to meet someone you know, or meeting new people and then joining them even for a short time. There's always someone to wait for, there's always time for independence and loneliness.