Mon
10
May '10
Romania Month continues with my picks for the best World Heritage sites.
Take a look at the voluminous full list of Romania’s World Heritage sites and you might be tempted to assume that Romania has naked pictures of World Heritage’s sister. They’re everywhere and, more importantly, each one is super cool.
I’m linking to proper descriptions below, and it’s not a small amount of reading, so without further babbling, my Romania World Heritage picks are:
- The fortified church of Biertan (15th-century Saxon double-walled church and cover model for the 2010 LP Romania guidebook)
- Village of Viscri (excellently preserved/restored Saxon village and fortified church)
- The Painted Monasteries of Southern Bucovina (among Europe’s greatest artistic achievements, some of the amazing murals have the the unusual distinction of being painted on the outsides of the churches; pictured)
- Historic center of Sighişoara (hill-top citadel and clock tower, 500 year old, colorful buildings, a collection of arresting museums and the birthplace of the real life Dracula)
- Wooden Churches of Maramureş (a series of thriving peasant villages with hand-built, ancient wooden churches)
- Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve (Europe’s second largest delta)
- The Monastery of Horezu (unusually large, ‘stern, but at the same time welcoming fortress’ built in 1694)
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May 10th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
I always seek out World Heritage Sites and I’m headed to Romania next year. So for me this post is full of win!
May 10th, 2010 at 8:15 pm
Does Viscri still have the bad-ass duck posse roaming around holding up traffic on the (only) road?
May 13th, 2010 at 4:13 am
I thought Romania would receive world heritage recognition anywhere you won’t find a stray dog or hear a car alarm, but these sites look really nice. Definitely want to visit… with my new R&M LP book!
May 13th, 2010 at 11:04 am
The fortified church area it’s a must indeed – I don’t know these days but they didn’t get too much promotion – that’s both good and bad.
There’s a map here: http://photoraid.dordeduca.ro/stationery/harta_zoom/zoom_map.htm and a photo gallery: http://photoraid.dordeduca.ro/photo
May 13th, 2010 at 4:29 pm
I plan to ride EuroVelo 6 sometime in the next few years. Hopefully the route will bring me near some of these sites.
May 13th, 2010 at 6:30 pm
@Stephanie – thanks!
@Katie – yes, the duck mafia was still going strong when I visited Viscri last summer. No one messes with them.
@Lucas – well it certainly seems that way. they’ve already got tons of WH sites and another ton pending consideration.
@Pax – thanks for the links!
@Jerod – and hopefully the roads in Romania will be in good enough shape by then so you don’t have to fear for your life.
May 14th, 2010 at 3:12 am
Nice article!! My husband and i have been planning a trip to Europe….this will definetly help us!! Thanks!!
May 14th, 2010 at 5:41 am
thanx for the great tips! i never really thought much about romania until one of my trips to spain and i met up with a group of very cool romanians. they just had this great vibe about them, abnd their language was amazingly beautiful, and i’ve been wanting to visit their country ever since. i hope i get to do that one day, thanks again! JR@TheDriftersBlog
May 14th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
@ Leena & JR – Yes, I’m still convinced that Romania will the next go-to place in Europe. They need to deal with a lot of infrastructure issues and learn how to do decent PR before that can happen though.