Romania

Romania houses Transylvania a name which conjures up images of vampires, creepy old castles, dark and forbidding woods, howling wolves and medieval Saxon towns peopled by folk with pitchforks and torches and the occasional stake. And to be honest it is all that, minus the vampires. And the pitchfork carrying Saxons have also mostly abandoned ship.

Romania is a fascinating country, where the inhabitants still call themselves Romanus (citizens of Rome), and speak a Latin based language despite the fact that the Romans left around 1700 years ago. How’s that for dedication! As an aside, the Romans themselves called the region Dacia, which is now the name of a car. It’s a nation where fairy tales are made, and the occasional nightmare. If Hans and Gretchen exist it is likely they are living somewhere in the vast forests of Romania, near one or another cute Saxon township that looks like it came right out of a film. Together with Count Dracula. Obviously.

So hire yourself a Dacia and ride around this bizarre and beautiful country where time seems to have stood still. According to Top Gear it houses the most spectacular road of Europe. I would say it houses the most spectacular villages, scenery, castles and people as well. To be safe bring a bag of garlic, and a stake with you.

Romania is truly a country you have to visit. It should be high up on any would-be traveller’s bucket-list!