Romania

From Imakoopedia

Romania (România) is located in between Central and Eastern Europe. With a Black Sea coast to the east, it is surrounded by Bulgaria to the south, Serbia and Montenegro to the southwest, Hungary to the northwest, Moldova to the northeast and Ukraine in both the north and the east.

While its southern regions are usually seen as part of Southeastern Europe, Transylvania, its largest region, is in Central Europe. Despite being regarded as a relatively backward tourist destination in the 1990s, it has recently begun to reinvent itself as a must-see on the European tourist itinerary, due to the fact that it is so diverse and unique. This is because, in one country, a tourist can see stunning mountain scenery, historical cultural sites such as the painted monasteries, beach resorts, and medieval towns. The country is also enjoying its highest living standard since Communist times, with foreign investment on the rise and the economy one of the fastest growing in Europe. This has given way to a series of technological developments. Therefore, we can see a fast-changing, booming Romania, and you will be amazed at how civilised, advanced, clean and of quality it is. Of course, along the way, you will be met with experiences that you are sure to remember for a long, long time.

Table of contents

1 Destinations 1.1 Regions and Cities 2 Other destinations 2.1 Itineraries 3 Understand 4 Get in 4.1 By plane 4.2 By train 4.3 By car 4.4 By bus 4.5 By boat 5 Get around 5.1 Trains 6 Talk 7 Buy 8 Eat 9 Drink 10 Sleep 11 Learn 12 Work 13 Stay safe 13.1 Emergency phone numbers 13.2 Corruption 14 Stay healthy 14.1 Healthcare 15 Respect 16 Contact 17 External links

Destinations

Regions and Cities

The main destinations of tourist interest in Romania are:

• Bucharest (Bucuresti), the capital city
• Transylvania and its cities and destinations:
  • Brasov, Poiana Brasov and Bran Castle
  • Cluj-Napoca
  • Oradea
  • Sibiu
    • Paltinis
  • Sinaia
  • Sighisoara
  • Timisoara
  • Apuseni Mountains and surrounding villages
• Black Sea Coast and its resorts:
  • Constanta
  • Navodari
  • Eforie
  • Mangalia
  • Neptun
  • Saturn
  • Olimp
• The Danube Delta and Tulcea
• Moldavia:
  • Iasi, the main city
  • Painted Monasteries
• Oltenia, and the cities of
  • Craiova
  • Drobeta-Turnu Severin

Other destinations

Itineraries

The following are some possible itineraries for Romanian travelling:

• Transylvania Triangle Train Tour
• Maramures and the Mountains Tour
• Best of Crisana Tour
• Carpathian Heartlands Tour

Understand

Soviet occupation following World War II led to the formation of a Communist "peoples republic" in 1947 and the abdication of the king. The decades-long rule of dictator Nicolae CEAUSESCU, who took power in 1965, and his Securitate police state became increasingly oppressive and draconian through the 1980s. CEAUSESCU was overthrown and executed in late 1989. Former Communists dominated the government until 1996, when they were swept from power by a fractious coalition of centrist parties. Currently, the Social Democratic Party forms a nominally minority government, which governs with the support of the opposition Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania. In comparison to other countries in its region, Romania is doing quite well, with relatively high salaries, low unemployment and higher standard of living. On the other hand, in comparison to the Western Europe, Romania can be considered as fairly poor, despite the fact that a lot of its infrastructure, society and general life is increasingly up to European standards. The economy is booming, and many tourists have noticed dramatic changes in infrastructure and wealth, especially in the past two years. The country must also address corruption and democratic reform before it can join the EU in 2007.

Get in

Getting to Romania is easy from nearly all parts of the world, due to its position, as well as the fact that it is served by an array of transport types and companies.

Entry requirements to Romania in the past few years have been liberalised, and consequently, citizens of the European Union (not including the countries joining in 2004) can stay in the country without a visa indefinitely. Citizens of the United States of America, Canada, Japan and Switzerland can stay up to 90 days with no visa. Nationals from Turkey can stay up to 60 days in Romania, while those of most former-Communist Eastern European countries can stay up to 30 days.

These visa requirements are fairly stable, and are not set to change dramatically in the next few years, even though there is sure to be a change into visa requirements to countries that are joining the EU in 2004 and 2007. Romania will most probably enter the EU in 2007, and if it does, it is bound to change its entry requirements.

By plane

Romania has 17 civil airports, out of which currently 8 are served by scheduled international flights. Depending on you destination, you may choose to fly to Timisoara, Cluj-Napoca, Oradea or Sibiu (Transylvania); Bucharest (southern Romania); Bacau or Iasi (eastern Romania). There are two important Romanian airlines: 1. Tarom, the Romanian flag carrier is based in Bucharest Otopeni and offers many international and domestic flights (www.tarom.ro). 2. Carpatair, based in Timisoara, connects this city with eight Italian and three German destinations, and also has collector/distributor flights to the following Romanian airports: Cluj-Napoca, Oradea, Sibiu, Iasi and Bacau. See www.carpatair.com

By train

Travelling inside Romania or to and from Romania by train is a fascinating experience, because they are one of the glimmering gems of this country. Train travel is usually comfortable, even though, on secondary lines, there is still rolling stock operating which is not up-to-standard. Most trains are punctual. A very new fast train called the Blue Arrow (marked as IC on timetables) is also available to most Romanian cities.

There are many international train services in Romania, including direct ones to Budapest, Belgrade, Sofia, Thessaloniki, Istanbul, Chisinau and Warsaw. Also, Romania is fairly well-connected with the European network. It is not generally advisable to travel by train to Bucharest from other countries, especially those in Western Europe, because of the huge distance of crossing Romania. However, international trains to Romania include EuroCity trains which are of a very high standard and night trains, so you will generally find yourself having a very comfortable journey. Also, trains are the ideal way of reaching cities such as Brasov, Sighisoara, Oradea or Cluj-Napoca from other parts in Europe. In 2003, Romania became a part of the Eurailpass offer so for non Europeans tourists it will be even easier to get there.

By car

Travelling by car or coach is the easiest way and a vast majority, over 60 percent of the foreign tourists use this way of transport. The steering wheel is on the left and European driver's licences are recognized by policemen.

Inside Bucharest the roads are quite bumpy and the Romanian drivers are very temperamental, they break every possible rule of circulation. There are often 3 cars per lane of traffic - one in the left side of the first lane, one in the middle of the first lane and one in the right side of the first lane.

The traffic in the centre of Bucharest is infernal. You might be caught in a traffic jam and waste a lot of time. Don't contribute to the pollution of the city and take a walk or choose subway, that has also recently started a process of up grading. The subway fare is still very cheap because you don't pay for the distance like Paris but for the service.

If you have a good car and you also like speeding be aware that Romanian police have recently bought very modern radars and a Police filter will stop you right away. Speed limits are generally 100 outside of a city and 50 within a village. The Police cars are modern, sometimes highway patrols have BMW bikes and the highways and national roads are discretely watched by Police Puma helicopters, produced also in Romania.

There is quite a high rate of accidents, the death toll is quite high every year, despite the efforts of the Romanian Police force in trying to decrease this rate through prevention. The increase of horse power and the decrease of driver's age has produced many problems lately.

There is just one fully functional motorway, Pitesti - Bucharest, and a second one partially in operation, from Bucharest to Constanta, to be completed in 2007. The Bors - Brasov motorway, also called the Transylvania Motorway, is currently the largest road project in Europe; it will connect the Hungarian / Romanian border with Oradea, Zalau, Cluj-Napoca, Targu Mures, Sighisoara and Brasov.

Most roads are just paved wagon trails and as such go straight through the center of many villages. Passing while driving is the norm rather than the exception as slow moving trucks, slower moving horse drawn carts, and non-moving herds of cows often frequent the major roads. If you haven't experienced a possible head on collision you haven't been driving in Romania.

Honking is relatively rare and flashing lights is a more common form of expression. Road closures and traffic delays occur frequently due to construction, rock slides, car accidents and the return of the cows from pasture to the villages.

By bus

Even though Romania has not been traditionally seen as a 'bus country', buses are becoming a more and more popular way to reach the country from overseas, especially from the Balkans and the former USSR. Even though trains are still the most popular way of getting to Romania from Central Europe, due to good service, train services to the Balkans and former USSR are of a considerably poorer quality and are less frequent (mainly because railway infrastructure in these countries is a lot poorer than Romania's infrastructure). For this reason, a slew of private bus operators now provide quicker and arguably more comfortable coach services to and from cities such as Chisinau, Kiev, Odessa, Sofia and Istanbul.

A general rule of the thumb on whether you should use bus or train is this: if trains are available just as frequently, and at around the same price, and take around the same amount of time, then definitely use them. Otherwise, consider the buses. Buses inside the cities are crowded and packed with pickpockets who are watching your every movement especially if you start a conversation in a foreign language. Police are trying to stop them but you better take a yellow taxi.

By boat

Cruises on Danube are available, very expensive though, starting from Passau or Vienna and having a final destination in Danube Delta. These cruises will stop in every major port along the road, in Austria, Hungary, Serbia and Romania There you can travel by rapid boats, fisherman's boats on endless channels to watch huge colonies of pelicans, cranes or small migratory birds. You can enjoy a local dish, fishermen's borsch, prepared using different species of fish, but take care, they use the Danube's river water!

Get around

Getting around Romania is relatively quick and efficient for the great distances that have to be covered in this country (this is after all, the second-largest country in Central Europe, after Poland). The transport infrastructure has been improving quite significantly recently, even though roads remain a weak point. The national roads have been upgraded but is far way till the highways that are still in project will be completed. Train travel, however, has improved dramatically.

Trains

The easiest, most comfortable and usually cheapest, fastest and most rewarding way of intercity travel is by train. Romania's railway network is one of the largest and most dense in Europe, with trains servicing every town and city in the country, and a vast majority of the villages.

Trains are run by the state carrier, Caile Ferate Romane, abbreviated as CFR. All CFR train services, except the "Personal" trains, which stop at every station and are awfully slow, are of an relatively high quality. The "Personal" trains stop at every stations and are your only option when travelling to small villages, and, even though they do make very original and rememberable experiences, are usually not-so-comfortable and very slow, albeit very cheap. The other train types, which are, in order of quality, "Accelerat", "Rapid" and "InterCity" are usually of a high standard. If you can, use InterCity trains, which connect the hubs in Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu and Bucharest to other major cities. These trains are of a Western European standard and are incredibly clean and modern, with automatic doors, futuristic ecological toilets, air conditioning, ergonomic seats, free newspapers and all the other bells and whistles. Also, they are reasonably cheap and are increasingly used by Romanians (and tourists) on business trips. The "Rapid" and "Accelerat" trains should be your second choice - they stop at more stops, but serve more destinations, and, although being a little bit more traditional, are still comfortable, especially in first class. For a change you might even try Sageata albastra( The Blue Arrow) which is faster than an inter city train. In winter due to harsh climatic conditions(snow storms) huge delays are possible so avoid travelling by train or at least watch the weather forecast. In summer the trains and cars can run slower because the rails can be deformed by heat but delays are rather insignificant. The country is investing in upgrading its railways and railway station. In some mountain cities the rail fans can travel by a small ecartament rail train, but these trips are available for small groups not for individual tourists. Groups can also rent the former Romanian king personal train or Ceausescu private train but these trips are rather expensive.

For up-to-date timetable information, see the CFR Web site (http://www.cfr.ro).

Talk

The official language of Romania is Romanian, limba româna which is a Romance language and the closest contemporary spoken language to Latin. Minority languages spoken in Romania are Hungarian, German and Romany (the language of the Roma, or Gypsies). Romany is a gypsy language dialect, who has a base in Romanian. Don't mistake the two different roots. Roma in English comes from an Indian root, Sanskrit to be more precise, rrom meaning being a Gypsy man, different from gadze, who is a non gypsy. Romania's name comes from the Latin name of Roma, the capital city of the Roman empire and now the capital city of Italy. German is a language that you will rarely need to use towards native speakers, as the German population is declining, the former Saxons left for Germany and the Saxons villages are merely deserted even though it is still learnt widely as a foreign language, and due to formerly large minority populations, is used as a second or third official language is many parts of Transylvania. The heir of the British throne, Prince Charles, is the leader of a British foundation for preserving these villages and he also made some lobby to save Sighisoara, one of the finest medieval burgs in Europe, from the construction of a theme park, Dracula land. Romany is never used officially, and very rarely ever used in a spoken manner, because nearly all Roma know Romanian, and that is the language they are expected to speak at most times when dealing with non-Gypsies. However Romanian is not so easy for French, Spanish or Italians because of the influx of neighbouring countries' vocabulary, especially words coming from Hungarian, Old Slavonic, Bulgarian, Polish, Russian, Turkish, Serbian. Neologisms have been imported from French, Italian, German, and recently English. The slang has either French, German or Gypsy origin. The language uses the Latin alphabet, the Latinate roots from Latin helping tourists to understand signs like Alimentara (a place where you can buy aliments, food) Farmacie (Pharmacy, Drugstore), Politie( Police), etc. Some signs are just false friends, for example Librarie means in Romanian bookstore not library, Teatru, theatre hall not cinema and so on. If you have a decent conversation guide you can avoid such funny confusions.

Hungarian is used fairly widely in Transylvania, and if you know it, then you are at an advantage, because many people, even Romanians, speak it, and it is widely used as a both official and unofficial second language in counties such as Covasna and Harghita, as well as in cities such as Oradea and Cluj-Napoca.

The Romanian language is generally seen as a difficult language to both learn and pronounce, and nearly all non-Romanians have a very strong accent in Romanian. It is abundant in vowels, it can have series of diphthongs and even triphthongs, that gives the language a melodious sound and makes it very musical. Trying to learn or speak Romanian can have mixed receptions - some people will love you for it and strongly appreciate the fact that you are making an effort to speak their language, while others will sneer at you for not properly being able to speak what they see as a very 'easy' and phonetic language. The fact that Romanian is phonetic is true, and its written form is fairly easy to grasp. The Romanian alphabet is nearly exactly the same as the English alphabet, even though it has five extra accented letters, or diacriticals, a, s, t, â, î.

Some people however feel that Romanian is an extremely easy language to learn if you already speak a Latin based language such as Spanish, French or English. This is especially so in contrast to Romania's Slavic neighbors. Romanian linguists are proud that Romanian is a Romance language in a sea of Slavs.

However, there is no need to fear - English is fast growing in Romania, and most people, especially the younger generation, speak it with a considerable deal of fluency, both in speaking and writing. Romanians have a special native skill for speaking foreign languages, and English has become compulsory for getting a better job and it is the second language spoken after Romanian. Consequently, it is usually good to ask before starting to speak English, but other than that, it is safe to go ahead. French and German are also learnt by most people in schools and are therefore spoken with some level of fluency by some people, but make sure you ask before you start speaking to people in foreign tongue. But globalization have made these languages less and less attractive. A well educated Romanian who graduated from an average university can speak English and one of the European languages mentioned plus Spanish and Italian or Russian.

If you want to find out some common phrases/words in Romanian, see the Romanian phrasebook.

Buy

Romanian transactions generally take place in cash. Although some places will accept Euro or USD you will generally be charged an additional 20% paying by this method. The best method is to pay by local currency - lei. Credit cards are not widely accepted. Gas stations do seem to display the credit card logos for Visa and Mastercard but using the cards within the stores is problematic. The processing machines ask for your pin which even if you have one fail to work. Sometimes you can get the station attendant to use the manual carbon copy machine but they have to phone verify with the credit card company in addition to taking a swipe and the credit card company verification offices are not always open - Closed Sundays. Using credit cards in the banking machines for cash advances using your pin work well as long as your pin is four or less digits you know the numbers for your pin without use of the alphabetical mnemonics.

The national currency of Romania is the leu (plural lei), which, literally translated, also means lion in Romanian (international code ROL for ROmanian Leu). Due to former high inflation and a formerly weak economy (now the economy is growing at 4.9%, five times more than some Western European countries), the leu used to devalue highly in former years, especially against the US dollar and the euro. Nowadays, it is more stable, but it has reached a stage where many Romanians are earning 20,000,000 lei a month - which, despite sounding grand, is only about 500 euro! The average salary is about 8,000,000 lei (200 euro or US$240) in 2004. This means that it is hard to keep track of prices in Romania over time, while there is the added discomfort of constantly having to calculate in hundreds of thousands and millions of lei, as you won't find barely anything cheaper than 2000 lei! On the other hand, inflation has stabilized, with the monthly rate in August 2003 being a healthy 0.3%, an overwhelming improvement over the monthly 5% or more recorded in the past years. Annual inflation in 2004 is destined to be between 7-9%.The heavy leu(leul greu) a denominated currency will be introduced starting from 1 st of January 2005, in preparation for the introduction of euro, log time after the country will join European Union in 2007. The Central bank will cut four zeros from the actual rate of exchange, and the two currency will be parallel for 2 - 3 years. But this after this year when the country's economy will reach the one figure inflation target.

However, Romania is relatively cheap by Western standards - one US dollar buys about 34,000 lei and a euro buys nearly 41,000. With this, you can buy a lot more in Romania then you can in Western Europe and North America, especially local products. However, be warned that although you can expect food and transport to be inexpensive in Romania, buying import products such as a French perfume, an American pair of sport shoes or a Japanese computer is as expensive as in the EU or those respective countries. Clothing, wool suites produced in Romanian under German Steilmann brand, Braiconf shirts, Gerovital cream, cotton socks made in Sibiu, a huge range of Italian shoes, white and red wine bottles, Capsa chocolates, Poiana Jacobs Suchard bars of chocolate, Sibiu salami, a wide range of local cheese, inexpensive Cisnadie leather jackets or expensive and fancy fur coats are possible good buys for foreigners.

When changing money, it is extremely advisable to change at change bureaus or to use cash machines (which will provide ready access to most foreign bank accounts). Absolutely avoid black market transactions with strangers: in the absolute best of cases, you might come out ahead by a few percentage points, but that best of cases rarely happens. Most apparent black marketeers are actually con men of one sort or another, who will either leave you with a bankroll that turns out to be full of worthless Polish zlotys or will simply engage you in conversation for a few minutes, awaiting the arrival of their confederates who will pretend to be the police and try to con you into handing over your wallet and papers. (This con game is known as a maradonist.)

Change rates are often consistent across places, but not always across time, as they can change significantly from day to day on occasion due to the nature of the leu. Typically this is not a problem, the rates don't fluctuate violently anymore, for instance since mid-2002 until mid-2003 one US Dollar went from buying 33,500 lei to 32,500 lei, while the Euro fluctuated from 31,300 to 38,000 lei. If this happened through 52 weeks, and the economy is in a continuous process of stabilizing itself on a healthy base, it's easy to conclude that during an average vacation of a few weeks in Romania the exchange rates will typically not fluctuate significantly. But if you want to make the best of the hard currency in your pocket, make sure you always exchange hard currency into lei as late as possible. For instance, do not change your whole budget into lei in the first day of visit, go to the exchange office at least once a week to take advantage of the changes in the exchange rate. As shown above, this will not result in any spectacular savings, typically less than 1.5-2% for less than a month's stay, so depending on your expected budget, it might not be worth the trouble. You should however shop around a bit for good exchange rates, some exchange offices in obvious places such as the airport may try to take advantage of the average tourist's lack of information when setting the exchange rate. Also, prior to leaving for Romania take a look at the official exchange rate on the National Bank of Romania's site (http://www.bnro.ro/En/Info/) for a rough estimate of what exchange rates you should expect (typical exchange offices should not list differences larger than 2-3% from the official exchange rate). Also, when picking an exchange office, make sure it has a visible sign saying "COMISION 0%"; Romanian exchange offices typically don't charge an extra commission apart from the difference between the buy and sell rates, and they are also required by law to display a large visible sign stating their commission, so if you don't see such a sign or if they charge something extra, keep going. Choosing a reasonable exchange office, which is not hard to do with the data in this paragraph, can save you as much as 10%, so this is worth observing.

Inflation has struck Romania in many places, and some prices are as higher as those in Western Europe, but this is often reserved to luxuries, accommodation, technology, and, to an extent, restaurants. Salaries for Romanians have increased faster than inflation, resulting in an increased standard of living for them, but, for tourists, Romania is becoming increasingly pricey (luckily, with this comes higher quality as well). However, food and transport remain relatively cheap, as do general shopping, especially in markets or outside the capital Bucharest. Bucharest, as every capital

The best places to shop for food are markets - food sold here is brought fresh from the country, and, by buying it, you are both supporting local farmers and consuming something that it fresh and in the overwhelming majority of the cases natural and organic. However, some tourists can't resist Romania's supermarket temptation, especially in Bucharest. Supermarkets are a relatively new thing in Romania, but this ensures that nearly all of them are so modern and sparkling clean, with brightly lit aisles, neat shelves and smooth-gliding carts, that you may find it hard to look away and head for the markets!

However, shopping in supermarkets is usually much more expensive, and not half as fun, as you don't have the chance to haggle. Despite this, all Romanian supermarkets sell products of European quality, and usually make for a very quiet, clean and white shopping experience that can best be likened to duty free shopping in airports at night.

Remember, however, to not confuse supermarkets with ancient food-stores called 'alimentara' - nowadays, 'alimentara' also refers to supermarkets, but there is a difference - supermarkets are usually large and brightly lit, with electronic checkouts and trolleys, while 'alimentara' are dim, old Communist-era shops that are a bit cheaper but a lot less fun to use. These shops, which can best be compared to cornershops, may be your best hope if living in the suburbs or in smaller towns. But, despite their seemingly poorer appearance, they sell good-quality food, and besides, most of them have been renovated anyway to the point that they are still not as aesthetically-pleasing as supermarkets but just as wide-ranging, modern and functional. In 'alimentara', expect strange systems of payment or selection: you may not be able to take items off of the shelf yourself, or one person may tally up your total before another handles the cash, etc.

Eat

Romanian food is distinct yet familiar to most people, as it has some unique elements to it but, fundamentally, it is similar to the gastronomies of other European countries. The local dishes are the delicious sarmale, imported from Turkey, mamaliga(polenta), fripturile(stakes), si cozonacul( a special cake bread baked for Christmas or Easter). Other dishes include a burger bun with a slice of ham, a slice of cheese and a layer of French fries, cow brains, tripe - intestine - soup, an onion salad - diced onion served in a dish -, tomato salad - diced tomato with cheese, pig skin - boiled and sometimes in stew, and drob - an intestine casserole. Bread comes with almost every meal and dill is as or more common than salt as a flavoring.

Generally, there is good street food, including covrigi (hot pretzels), langosi and gogosi (donut-like), mici (hamburger patties in the shape of sausages), and excellent pastries.

Generally restaurants only serve Romanian food and you will have a difficult time finding western food.

Drink

The strongest alcohol is palinca, vina ars originated in Hungarian palinka, 80 percent pure alcohol, the the next is tuica, approximately 60 percent, than comes the Romanian wine( Romania is the fifth world producer of wine, the best wineries being Murfatlar, Cotnari, Dragasani, Bohotin, etc

Sleep

Accommodation is available throughout the country in five star hotels in Bucharest and Mamaia or Predeal from famous chains like Intercontinental, Marriot, Athenee Palace Hilton, to 3 star hotel rooms well furbished and with a rather poor service.

Learn

The most important universities are located in Cluj (The Babes-Bolyai University is the largest in Romania), Bucharest, Timisoara, Targu Mures and Iasi, they are in average 150 years old, the public education system is quite good, even the tuition is not compulsory universities started to reduce the number of subsidies so students have to pay the tuition. Highschools are public and provide good education, free of tuition, elementary and middle schools are supported by local authorities budget, that makes teacher's salaries quite small. 90 percent of population is literate, in Bucharest there is quite of large number of people who have access to cable TV, Internet, people read newspapers and the every four Romanian owns a mobile phone, powered by one of the three mobile phone companies, Zapp, Orange, Connex.

Work

Stay safe

Emergency phone numbers

Some phone numbers that might prove useful :

955 - The Police

961 - Ambulance

981 - The Fire Department

There are plans to unify these three services into a single phone number, 112, but this is still under testing.

Corruption

Corruption is a relatively big problem in Romania in comparison to other European countries (though not in comparison to the world). Many visitors can possibly experience corrupt policemen and customs officials (Ofiteri de vama) first hand, even though this seems to be a declining problem. While it may be tempting to pay a bribe (spaga) to smooth things along on your visit, you should avoid doing so as it only contributes to an already terrible problem. Also, corruption does not mean you can commit illegalities, small as they be, in Romania, since not all people or policemen are corrupt, and you may be caught

Stay healthy

Healthcare

Although Romania has a public health care system, some doctors and surgeons will demand a "tip" before they will help you. The quality of the healthcare is generally proportional to the amount of the "tip". On the other hand, this tends to be problem which is usually not as big as many people portray it to be, since there are doctors and hospitals which are not corrupt and which do not demand "tips" (even though, giving genuine small tips to doctors, like you would at a restaurant, is a Romanian custom anyway). For example, many people claim that you cannot get an emergency cesarean in Romania without paying $200 to the doctor, even though it should be free. This is not true, it is also not true that the doctor will refuse to perform the operation without money.

The official salaries of doctors in Romania are not particularly high, and many are supplementing their incomes with the tax free "tips". This not only applies to doctors, but also nurses and other hospital staff.

Conditions in Romanian hospitals may vary from the very clean and sparkling, with all the latest technological utilities, to the downright drab, dark and cold. They are usually not worse than public hospitals in other parts of Eastern Europe, the USA or Australia. Some hospitals, however, may be, as aforementioned, uncomfortable, with dimness, temperature problems (hot in summer, cold in winter) and outdated equipment, although medical staff is usually experienced. Usually, however, you will not face problems such as significant lack of cleanliness, rats, etc. Also, hospitals are safe, in the sense that there is a very reduced risk of getting Hepatitis C or AIDS in blood transfusions (again, however, like in all countries, this does occur, but it is not a problem particular to Romania). Food served in hospitals is safe to eat, even though not particularly pleasing for the tastebuds (again, depending on the hospital).

Many people are prone to give "tips" because it betters their experience, enabling them to gain cleaner conditions and better service. However, again, tipping contributes to the problem of corruption and it should not be done - if no-one did it, the problem wouldn't be there.

Dental procedures in Romania, especially those in private clinics, are of an excellent quality. In fact, many Western Europeans come to Romania to have their teeth done for the quarter of the price they pay in their home country. Quality is particularly high in clinics in western Transylvania.

Respect

Romanians are quite hospitable persons, they welcome foreign tourists and sometimes they might even invite you for a lunch. Don't worry but still you should take some precautions and study your host first. Men show their respect towards women by kissing their hand, a possible shock for American extremist feminists. Respect towards the elder is highly appreciated inside buses or subway. The phrases used for greeting are: "Buna ziua. Bine ati venit"(Good afternoon, Welcome!)

Contact

External links

The Spirit of Romania - travel journals, photography, stories (http://www.spirit.ro/)