Transalpina

The lofty guest post from tonight comes from Mari:

Copyright: Wikipedia

She is blonde, she is sexy and she gets along with the president of Romania (even better than his wife does, malicious tongues would say). And she invites everybody to "Explore the Carpathian garden", the official Romanian tourism slogan which was launched last year. If you're a guest in our country and came across this blog by chance (or not), you probably don't have a clue whom I'm talking about. Well, folks, there is a name you all should keep in mind: Elena Udrea, Romania's controversial minister of tourism (I'm kidding, ok?? I'm not a fan of her, I don't even know for sure what her role in the ministry and the well-being of our country is). Actually, this is all I know about her. Oh, I also know that she is married to a wealthy man and that she is fond of brand name handbags and high-heeled shoes which she wears irrespective of the weather conditions, place or occasion. 

Copyright: Wikipedia

I wouldn't have mentioned her if I hadn't had this trip in the Parang Mountains last Sunday, which reminded me of the famous slogan. Because I'm sure there are plenty of places in Romania which are worth exploring but are not promoted enough. Such is the case with Transalpina, located in the Parang Mountains, which is considered one of the best and most spectacular roads of Romania, crossing the mountains from Oltenia to Transylvania. It is 148 km long and its maximum heights are reached at Urdele Pass, 2.145 m above sea level. The view is magnificent, you just have to go and see it! And, if you're a lazy bum or a cold hater, you don't even have to stop and get out of the car to take pictures; you can do this out of the side window of your moving car, provided that you sit in the right seat and your camera has an image stabilization function. 

If you ask me, I haven't seen a better road in Romania and seriously doubt it that a better one will be built here in the next 10 years. Allow me to play the pessimistic role! :)

Oltenia

Today we have a guest post by Gabriela. She forgot to tell you about two important words from her region: zaibar and praz. Maybe next time.

Oltenia. Olteni and oltence! So if I come from Olt County which is part of Oltenia region, then I’m what they call “olteanca”. And by “they” I mean Calin and the rest of the country. Oh wait! Even we call ourselves “olteni”. In case you haven’t figured it out by now, Oltenia is located in the south of Romania, bordering Bulgaria. I just want to make sure that you have a clear picture of it… and also to show off a little: the village where the Americans received permission to set up their missiles defense shield is in Oltenia. And since then the other regions bear a grudge against us because everyone has been waiting for the Americans since WW2!

Brief historical info about Oltenia: it all starts with the “dacs that came from the tracs”. Then it continues with the Romans. I guess they didn’t like us much coz we ended up with the Ottomans. I do hope you know who the Ottomans were! Tough luck! They lost us in favor of the Habsburg Monarchy which we thought it was great back then but then we realized that the administration imposed by the Austrians was too rigid for our free spirits. Later, for some reason, the region became the promoter of some revolutions (check out Tudor Vladimirescu’s revolution! How cool is that??). And, finally, the “olteni” crossed the mountains in Transylvania and saved the Transylvanian people. Otherwise, nowadays the Transylvanian people would have had their capital in Vienna or even Budapest. And that would have made a lot of citizens, including Calin, so (un)happy.

The oltenians…oh my God…this is not even a word! Microsoft Word corrected me and made me choose from a bunch of other words including ‘ottomans’. I’ll be darn!! I guess even Word knows our story!!! But anyway, the oltenians are very fine people. Just look at me and you’ll see!

To be continued.