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For a window into Romanian history, see Lucian Pintilie's An Unforgettable Summer [VHS]
Beyond the explicit comments on national prejudice, war, and gentility, you will find subtle yet powerful references not only to the Romanian past (before and after 1925) but also to other great filmmakers such as Ingmar Bergman and Alain Resnais. Pintilie's magnific lead actress in this film is Kristin Scott Thomas.




Above: belts from Bistrita Nasaud, craft fair at the MTR
(Muzeul Taranului Roman / Romanian Peasant Museum), December 2005.


Welcome to Your Online Portal to Romania! This ongoing project started in 2001 at TravelRomania.Tripod.com as a directory of reviewed Web sites and pages in English about Romania and Romanians. It has now grown to offer reviews of books about Romania, photographs of places to visit in this Eastern European country, and traditional recipes illustrated with step-by-step photos.









December 23, 2013. PM Ponta Gives Up Museums' Merger
PM Victor Ponta had a plan of merging three first-class museums in Bucharest: the Grigore Antipa National Museum of Natural Science, the Romanian Peasant Museum, and the Village Museum. This created quite a reaction from many friends of these museums. Eventually, the plan was shelved. By Adela Stanciu, Nine O'Clock, December 19, 2013.

December 20, 2013. Lovers of Romanian culture, here and abroad, rally against the planned merger of MTR and the Village Museum. Here's a letter from Sanda Golopenția, Professor Emerita of French Studies at Brown University, USA.

December 19, 2013. Romanian Peasant Museum might be closed down
The Environment Ministry initiated a bill stipulating the merger of MTR (the Museum of the Romanian Peasant) and the Village Museum, and the transfer of the former's building and land to the Antipa Museum of Natural Science. PM Victor Ponta supports the decision, while the new Minister of Culture Gigel Stirbu and President Traian Basescu oppose it. By Alina Grigoras, Nine O'Clock, December 18, 2013.

April 14, 2011. A new very good English-Romanian and Romanian-English dictionary can be found at http://bab.la, as part of a polyglot dictionary.

March 24, 2010. With Easter approaching I thought I'd post a Transylvanian recipe my aunt makes: Aranygaluska, or Golden Dumpling Coffee Cake.

March 11, 2010. A few days back we celebrated the day of Mărţişor. If you're not familiar with this March 1 custom, here are a few words and pictures from this year's Mărţişor Fair at the Museum of the Romanian Peasant.

Another craft fair celebrating love and the arrival of spring was held at the Village Museum in Bucharest in February. See a few photos from last year's edition of the Dragobete Fair.
Happy Spring!

February 28, 2010. The National Museum of Art of Romania has revamped its Web site. Now you can take a virtual tour of the highlights of the following sections: European Art Gallery, Medieval Romanian Art, Modern Romanian Art, Islamic Art, Chinese Art, Japanese Art, Drawings and Prints, and Decorative Arts. Those whose interest is piqued by modern art should not miss the K.H. Zambaccian Museum. This other, smaller, museum houses an exceptional selection of works by leading modern Romanian artists, as well as 19 works by foremost modern French painters.

Romanian Graffiti: Dan Perjovschi's scrawls on the ROM's walls
In an installation-cum-performance this February, Dan Perjovschi has drawn his famous cartoons on the walls of the Institute of Contemporary Culture at the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto), during visiting hours. More about Dan Perjovschi: Late News as well as about the artist's background in this press release from ROM.

February 3, 2010. How about some classical music on YouTube? Here are some suggestions: pianists Radu Lupu and Dinu Lipatti.

January 19, 2010. Jiggers: Here Comes the Dictionary!
In his New York Times review, A. O. Scott nails the anticlimactic drama behind the -- carefully dosed yet seemingly generously and indiscriminately injected -- drabness in Police, Adjective (Poliţist, Adjectiv), Corneliu Porumboiu's latest film. Police, Adjective won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at Cannes last year.

January 3, 2010. A new book about Romania is out, written by former Ambassador to Romania James Rosapepe and his wife, journalist Sheilah Kast. See what people have to say about this travel guide and memoir they called Dracula Is Dead, promoted as "an amazing tour of an amazing land beyond Dracula, beyond orphans, beyond Communism, to the vibrant culture, unique history, and 21st century skills that define modern Romania."

October 9, 2009. Herta Müller, an ethnic German born in Romania who has been living in Germany since 1987, has won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Herta Müller Wins Nobel Prize in Literature. By Motoko Rich and Nicholas Kulish, The New York Times, October 8, 2009.

Herta Müller Takes Nobel Prize for Literature. By Alison Flood, The Guardian, October 8, 2009.

Nobel Prize for Herta Müller: Patriot of an Estranged Homeland. By Iliya Troyanov, Der Spiegel Online International, October 9, 2009.

The The Land of Green Plums is available in English (translated by Michael Hofmann, Northwestern University Press, 1998).

May 16, 2009. New photos posted in the Pictures of Romania section: Photos of Older Transylvanian People.

May 5, 2009. Andrei Codrescu has a new book out: The Posthuman Dada Guide: Tzara and Lenin play chess (Princeton University Press, Feb. 2009).

Romanian Marcel Iures plays Zykov in Thick as Thieves (2009). He also starred recently in Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth (2007).

January 29, 2009. A nice video in English about the wooden churches of Maramureş and the Merry Cemetery in Sapînţa, Maramureş is available on YouTube; to see a nice traditional dance from Oaş, Maramureş, go to this nicely filmed video, also on YouTube; for a look at locals visiting Bârsana Monastery in Maramureş, go here.

Mircea Cantor's exhibition The Need for Uncertainty will open in London at Camden Arts Centre on February 20. Here's an introduction to the Romanian artist and the works featured in this exhibition.

ArtLine.ro has posted a few words about soprano Angela Gheorghiu's career. Here's the DVD of Franco Zeffirelli's well-received 2008 production of La Bohème at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, with Angela Gheorghiu as Mimi: Puccini: La Bohème (Live from the Met)

The 19th edition of the Enescu Festival will start off on August 30, 2009 with a production of Enescu's Oedipe. Read more about Enescu and his Oedipe in the Famous Romanians section of this Web site.

January 19, 2009. An indelible Romanian film from 2008 is Silent Wedding (Nunta mută), marking the directorial debut of actor Horaţiu Mălăele. It’s a movie steeped in the atmosphere of the first decade of Communism, a film about an event that took place “somewhere on the border between reality and fantasy” (Mălăele) – the ban on festivities following Stalin’s death. Silent Wedding is a dark yet humorous film about humans turning into grotesque puppets that dance to the tunes of the master ideology, about the violence of history encroaching onto seemingly unshakable social customs and attitudes, about carefree love in dangerous times, about trying to evade historical reality through the power of sarcasm, the magic of a circus, or the dark comedy of a wedding celebrated silently. It’s oneiric yet stark. Silent and loud at the same time, playful yet sad. More

November 3, 2007. Tom has gathered on Tom's Place a number of interesting news items about Romania. Titles include:
  • Forbes: Bran Castle, the Scariest in the World (HotNews, October 29, 2007)
  • Romania's Maramureş Offers Peek at Peasant Life (by Carol Pucci, Seattle Times, October 28, 2007)
  • King Mihai Turns 86 (Nine O'Clock, Antena 3, October 25, 2007)
  • Exhibition of Grigorescu's Works at the National Art Museum of Romania (by George Grigoriu, Nine O'Clock, October 25, 2007)
  • Romanian Leader Apologizes to Gypsies (AP, Newsvine, October 23, 2007)
  • Bran Castle, Second Most Expensive World Properties in Forbes (HotNews, October 16, 2007)
  • Cold Waves Documentary to Open Astra Film Festival (by George Grigoriu, Nine O'Clock, October 17, 2007)
  • In Bucharest, a Flourishing Housing Market (by Jon Gorvett, The New York Times, October 3, 2007)
  • Dacia Vehicle Number 3 M Out the Production Line (by Andrada Cristea, Nine O'Clock, October 3, 2007)
  • Bran Castle Return Is Illegal, Parliament Rules (by Alecs Iancu, Nine O'Clock, September 26, 2007)
  • Francis Ford Coppola, a Kid to Watch (by A.O. Scott, The New York Times, September 9, 2007)
  • Winds of Change Shake Romanian Farms (by Mark Mardell, BBC News, September 4, 2007)
  • Holocaust Museum Honors Romanian (AP, The New York Times, August 8, 2007)
  • Europeans Welcome Victory of Romanian in Ouster Vote (Reuters, The New York Times, May 21, 2007)
  • Cannes Review: 4 Months 3 Weeks & 2 Days (by James Rocchi, Cinematical, May 17, 2007)

  • and more.
October 25, 2007. Underground Line from Piaţa Victoriei to Otopeni Airport
Over the next seven years an underground line will be built linking Piaţa Victoriei 3 Station to International Airport Henri Coandă in Bucharest-Otopeni. The funds will be provided by the Bucharest Municipality. Nine O'Clock, October 15, 2007. Added: October 25, 2007.

August 11, 2007. Romanian-English Dictionary -- on www.dictionarromanenglez.ro
One of the best Romanian-English and English-Romanian Dictionaries online. Site includes Joke of the Day, links to online games from partner site diseara.ro, and a list of most searched words.

Wondering where to dine out in Bucharest?
Here's a list of Bucharest Restaurants: American, Austrian, Belgian... with contact data and photos.

July 26, 2007. Balkans brace for heatwave
A second heat wave hit Romania and neighboring countries, sending 16,000 people to hospitals in Romania alone. As temperatures rose to 42 degrees Celsius (107 Fahrenheit) Romania declared Code Red on July 24 in five counties and in Bucharest. In Bulgaria temperatures reached 42.6 degrees Celsius, the hottest in 120 years. In the region wells dried up and forest fires broke out. In Bucharest power outages hit many districts repeatedly. By Radu Marinas, Reuters, July 23, 2007.

Millions of hectares of crops destroyed in prolonged drought in Romania
A third of Romania's arable land has been decimated by the drought, leaving many peasants with no recourse but to appeal to the government for help. AP, International Herald Tribune, July 21, 2007.

EU to Give Romania $27B in Aid
AP, Forbes.com, July 12, 2007.

September 14, 2006. WB: Romania, second in terms of most efficient reforms
The latest World Bank report Doing Business 2007: How to Reform ranks the Romanian economy second for the "number and impact of reforms" between 2005 and 2006. Georgia takes the first place. Romania also ranks 49th, up from 71st in the previous report, as far as the ease of doing business. The report compares 175 economies and the ease of doing business is calculated on the basis on regulations in the following areas: starting a business, dealing with licenses, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and closing a business. More info in this article and on the World Bank Web site. If you wish to glance at the whole report, you may have a look at it here. By Gabriela Folcut, Nine O'Clock, September 7, 2006.

Verheugen: Nothing Could Prevent EU Accession in 2007
Scotland is eager to receive Romanian and Bulgarian labor force upon their accession to the EU next year. Romania and Bulgaria expect to join the EU on January 1, 2007, but a different date might be stipulated after the two Eastern European states present their final country reports on September 26. The accession to the US is also expected to come with safeguards. According to Die Welt, these safeguards may regulate, among other things, exports, EU funding, and free access to the EU labor market. By Monica Bonea, Bucharest Daily News.

June 6, 2006. On June 3 Nadia Comaneci (44) and Bart Conner (48) became the parents of a baby boy, Paul Dylan. The former Olympic gold medalists chose the name Paul to celebrate Bart's former coach and business partner; Dylan comes from Bob Dylan, Bart's favorite singer. Both Nadia and the baby are doing well. More in Evenimentul Zilei Online, in Romanian only: Nadia are un baietel.

May 29, 2006. On May 26, 2006 Romania returned Bran Castle to Dominic Habsburg, Maria-Magdalena Holzhousen and Elisabeth Sandhofen, heirs of Princess Ileana who inherited the castle from her mother, Queen Marie. According to an agreement signed between these parties and the Ministry of Culture, the castle will remain open to visitors for another three years. By Alison Mutler, Bucharest Daily News, May 29, 2006.

May 21, 2006. A nice 5-minute video about Romania is now available from Ursus. You'll learn that it was Romanians who invented the fountain pen and insulin. See Nadia Comaneci perform, and listen to a few words about other personalities born in Romania in this fun and unapologetically promotional mini video.

May 19, 2006. Nina Porzucki, Peace Corps volunteer, shares a Romanian fairy tale, Youth without Old Age, and Life without Death.

New Web site: Caroline Juler, author of Blue Guide Romania has posted a new Web site at www.mamaliga.co.uk. Caroline is now leading tours to Maramures and Bucovina. In Maramures, the focus will be on the local crafts, with many opportunities to meet craftspeople and learn about their work. Also included will be hikes to local churches, old and new: Birsana, Poienile Izei, and others. In Bucovina, the group will visit Voronet and Moldovita, two of the UNESCO listed painted churches. More about the tour as well as an itinerary on Caroline Juler's Web site.

Night of the Museums is coming up, complementing well an exhibition of Rembrandt paintings, drawings and prints at the National Art Museum. The exhibition commemorates four hundred years since the birth of the artist. By Otilia Haraga, Bucharest Daily News, May 19, 2006.

Roundup: Barroso Urges Romania, Bulgaria to Continue with Reforms. Commenting on the May 16 reports, The European Commission President raised the well-known red flags for the two countries: corruption and mismanaged judicial processes. The President also stressed the European Union's concern about organized crime in Bulgaria. By Playfuls Team, May 17, 2006.

More news...
February 9, 2006.
JK Rowling visits Bucharest to help promote the Children's High Level Group charity. More
Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner are happy to announce Nadia's pregnancy at 44.
Angela Gheorghiu appears as Violetta in Zefirelli's Met performance of Traviatta, and enjoys high praise for the lead role which catapulted her to stardom more than ten years ago. More

October 4, 2005. The 17th edition of the Enescu Festival galvanized the city of Bucharest between September 4 and September 20. From one concert hall to another, from performances by most highly regarded musicians to young talents performing outdoors on a stage near the Atheneum, from symposia to movie projections, this event was graced by some of the most highly regarded musicians in the world. It was a celebration for us all, complete with TV transmissions and interviews and traffic disruptions at the "Festival Square." Read about the Enescu Festival on the ISTC Web site, where you can also find out more about ISIC discounts in Romania.

"Perfection, which is the passion of so many people, does not interest me. What is important in art is to vibrate oneself and make others vibrate."
George Enescu
Read a little about Enescu here and maybe listen to a few 1930s recordings with the Orchestre Symphonique de Paris conducted by Enescu and Pierre Monteux, with sixteen-year old Menuhin playing with Enescu.

Also in the news is the spate of Romanian movies coming out this fall. Cristi Puiu's second feature-length film The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Moartea domnului Lazarescu) won Cannes' Un certain regard prize as well as of accolades at several other international film festivals of note. Here are some reviews: Jay Weissberg's in Variety, Leo Goldsmith's on notcoming.com. See also the postings on filmref.com, as well as the ones on RottenTomatoes. Added: October 4, 2005.

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What the famous guides on Romania share is a wealth of largely accurate information about the country. Not all of them, however, enchant through beautiful writing and breathing descriptions of the arts and culture scene in this country. If you're looking for one that does it in an evoking and inspiring way, then I recommend you turn to Caroline Juler's Blue Guide Romania (Blue Guides).

The author, with art history training and extensive reading under her belt, has put six years into researching and writing this book, and the amount of inside cultural information that the author offers is impressive.

Those who read Caroline Juler's Blue Guide Romania remember it as an account apart from all others. If you are an arts and culture enthusiast, then you can hardly afford to miss this book, as some of the information here is barely available in travel guides targeted to a more general audience.

At the same time, if you are interested in a more personal account, or if you have read the Blue Guide Romania (Blue Guides) and want to read something closer to a travelogue, then I suggest two books whose stories will haunt you as something very close to a vicarious experience -- and so will the voices of their authors. These two books are Anne Coe Heyniger's Parting the Curtain: An American Teacher in Postcommunist Romania and Caroline's Juler latest book, Searching for Sarmizegetusa.

Now if you you want to read in English what Romanians have to say about themselves, or Romanian writing in translation, then you might want to consult the Romanian Cultural Foundation's PLURAL series (Culture and Civilization), which, starting with 1999, has published several much needed anthologies. For a list of books in this series, you may contact them here. For more information about their output (you can see some of their 1999 titles here), you may write them at this address. They have a Web site, but it seems to be under construction.


January 22, 2003. In Paganism in Roumanian Folklore (London, 1928) Marcu Beza explores Romanian fairy tales and rituals within the larger context of Greek and Indian mythology.
A good basic introduction to Romanian folklore, with translations of Romanian (and Macedoromanian) folk verse and summaries of folk stories. You can buy this book used through Amazon.

Last year The New York Times designated Reflections and Shadows as one of the best books of the year. It's the story of Saul Steinberg, as he saw it. Saul Steinberg, who before his death in 1999 was the hand and mind behind so many cartoons for The New Yorker, was born in Romania, where he also began his university education studying philosophy and letters at the University of Bucharest. (Later he studied architecture in Milan.) Reflections and Shadows, based on Steinberg's words and images, makes use of materials archived by Aldo Buzzi. Random House, 2002.

January 11, 2003. EU: Hard Work Lies Ahead Of Bulgarian And Romanian Accession
Both Romania and Bulgaria aspire to join the EU in the round of enlargement planned for 2007. Romania is not yet recognized by the EU as a functioning market economy. As part of accession negotiations with the EU, in 2003 Romania will also focus on two other chapters: environment and agriculture. For sensitive topics and difficult obstacles for Romania and Bulgaria, read this article by Eugen Tomiuc. Radio Free Europe, January 11, 2003.

Canada announces loan guarantee for Romanian nuclear plant
Romania's nuclear plant at Cernavoda will be replicated with loan support from the Canadian government. AP, January 3, 2003.

December 29, 2002. Continent's new growth zone
The fifteen countries of Central Europe are good news for Europe, and for European and American companies. Article by His Excellency Jim Rosapepe, Former Ambassador to Romania (1998-2001). The Washington Times, December 29, 2002.

November 25, 2002. Text of Bush's Speech in Romania
After participating at the NATO summit in Prague, President Bush visited Lithuania and Romania, two candidate countries to NATO's future expansion in 2004. Here's President Bush's address in Bucharest on November 23, 2002. Guardian Unlimited, November 23, 2002.

November 11, 2002. Two new books out on Romanian cooking this year. One is The Art of Romanian Cooking. By Galia Sperber (Pelican Pub, June 2002). The author, a physician, probably noticed that we were all waiting for a few more books on Romanian cooking, and took action (with a market-wise title).

A second book just out on the market is written by a Romanian graduate student at Duke University, Nicoleta D. Popoviciu. It's
Transylvanian Deserts: My Mom's Recipes (Writers Club Press, April 2002).

November 6, 2002. I came across Anne Coe Heyniger's story by accident and am wondering if it just doesn't happen to be a perfect introduction to Romania. The author was enticed to come here by a sponsor and then abandoned to figure out surviving skills on her own. She tells of her adventure in Parting the Curtain: An American Teacher in Postcommunist Romania (Five and Ten Press, 2001).

New Books on TravelRomania

Romania Versus the United States: Diplomacy of the Absurd, 1985-1989. By Roger Kirk, Mircea Raceanu. Palgrave Macmillan, 1994.
The price is a little prohibitive and the choice not as popular and spicy as Red Horizons (by Ion Mihai Pacepa. Regnery Publishing, 1990, Reprint edition), but this book by two diplomats should be well worth the read and with a comparable amount of insider information.

The Land of Green Plums. By Herta Müller. Translated by Michael Hofmann. Northwestern UP, 1998, Reprint edition.
A novel about living under Ceauşescu from a Romanian-born ethnic German writer who brings issues regarding the survival of her own culture to the mix.

October 22, 2002. I thank Claus Guglberger for resurrecting a Communist image. He serendipitously came across a payphone, unlike any others found now in Romania. He found one such phone in post-1989 Sibiu -- now with chain attached. Here's also a man in a coffee shop.

More of Romania in Photographs -- new TravelRomania picks:
» Pictures of Bucharest architecture -- on traveladventures.org
» Day's Work, in Constanta. Picture taken by Gay Ayers.
» Kathleen Laraia McLaughlin's fine art photography, in black and white -- an excellent photo documentary, with a wealth of evoking pictures of life in Maramures, of exceptional technical quality. Enjoy Maramures: The Four Spokes of Life. Old Ways in Modern Times. Also, December is around the corner. If you visit Maramures at this time of the year, you'll be in for a treat. Here are Katheleen's pictures of the 1999 Winter folk festival in Sighetu Marmatiei.

For more photos, see the Pictures of Romania section! Enjoy, and come back soon for new posts!


Bush backs NATO expansion
US is preparing a stand on the unprecedented enlargement of the NATO alliance. At the Prague summit in November, NATO will invite several new members to join. Romania is one of the hopefuls. CNN.com, AP, October 21, 2002.

EU Enlargement -- Candidate Country: Romania
On the European Union Web site, key facts and documents on Romania in view of future EU enlargement. Read an updated (October 16, 2002) country profile for Romania, complete with reports related to Romania's candidacy and progress towards joining the EU in the future.

September 29, 2002. "Not to banalise, not to rewrite, but to keep the discussion going":
Radu Mihaileanu's Train of Life
Remember Benigni's Life is Beautiful? Radu Mihaileanu's Train de vie (1998) has similar motives and works with the same material, the Holocaust, but displays, nevertheless, a different perception of how to orchestrate tragic laughter. Fate has it that one of the best online reviews in English of Radu Mihaileanu's film is posted on the World Socialist Web Site -- so be it. Enjoy the review and watch out for Train de vie. By Stefan Steinberg, wsws.org, November 26, 1998.

New Book on TravelRomania: Compulsory Happiness (Writings from an Unbound Europe)
By Norman Manea, Linda Coverdale (Translator). Northwestern UP, 1994.

Email from Bangui
The formerly strong ties between Romania and the Central African Republic turn up in unexpected ways: in a brothel, or in a palace built for his Romanian wife by Bokassa, then ruler of the African country and friend of Romania's Ceausescu. By Lucy Jones, The Guardian, September 30, 2002. Much more along the same lines in Pacepa's book Red Horizons.

August 23, 2002. Are you aware of the recent (effective June 14, 2002) phone numbers change in Romania? Learn the details here.

August 11, 2002. Romania Tackles Human Traffickers
From the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, a detailed account of statistics and issues concerning refugees smuggled through Romania or who have been hoodwinked and deposited in Romania instead of the promised Western European destination. The author also talks about "the camp," or Refugee Centre No. 2, on the outskirts of Bucharest. Data was provided by the National Office for Refugees, ONR, and the Romanian Border Police, PRF. By Paul Cristian Radu, IWPR contributor, August 9, 2002.

July 23, 2002. Romanian Traditional Cuisine
An introduction to Romanian dishes and proverbs about food from the Embassy of Romania to Australia.

July 21, 2002. [Herculis track meet in Monaco]
Gabriela Szabo set a new European record with her 8:21 race in Monaco. VOANews.com, July 20, 2002.

June 25, 2002. Wimbledon Tennis Results
In the first round of Wimbledon, Andrei Pavel, seeded 15th, defeated Kenneth Carlsen, Denmark (6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3). AP, FOXSports.com, June 24, 2002.

June 16, 2002. Romanian journalism wide open
Larry Lipman tells the story of growth of post-1989 journalism in Romania, its freedom and its ties to the sensational, and the political or business interests. Palm Beach Post, June 16, 2002.

Jean Negulesco -- on Hollywood.com
Biography of this Romanian director in the '40s, '50s, and '60s Hollywood, famous for Johnny Belinda (1948), How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), and Three Coins in the Fountain (1954). In an interview published in the Romanian magazine Cinema, May '68 issue, Negulesco/Negulescu says that he had the courage to "die" as a painter and search for his true vocation. Discussing the perpetual redefinition of "attractiveness" in the movies in view of their competition with television, as well as the dvelopment of the cinematic art which can redefine what attracts an audience, Negulesco mentions Claude Lelouche's A Man and a Woman. According to Negulesco, students crowded movie theaters in Westwood Village, LA, for a year and nine months to see this movie about the birth of love and development of a relationship -- and this was at the dawn on the sexual revolution of the 1960s.

June 12, 2002. Thousands in Romania call for government to resign amid growing poverty
Ten thousand state workers closed ranks yesterday in downtown Bucharest to protest against poor living conditions and insufficient wages. AP, NJ.com, June 11, 2002.

June 11, 2002. Bush signs bill to aid NATO applicants
US Congress and President Bush approved of a bill granting $55.5 million in military aid to seven NATO applicants. Romania is to receive $11.5 million. By Jennifer Loven, AP, The Nando Times, June 11, 2002.

June 4, 2002. Top men's seeds find the going tough
The top three men's seeds at Roland Garros have left the French Open championship. Andrei Pavel (No. 22) defeated third-seeded Tommy Haas of Germany (6-1, 7-6, 6-4), thus making it to the quarterfinals. By Lisa Dillman, Orlando Sentinel, June 3, 2002.

June 1, 2002. Leonard Dorin Retains WBA Title
With the soccer team away from the World Championship stadiums, boxing and Leonard Dorin took the spotlight Friday night in Romania. Leonard Doroftei, as he is still called in Romania, put all his ambition and strength into a fight cheered by a full arena at the Polivalenta Hall in Bucharest. Even though Dorin dominated Balbi, the fight was tight and Balbi a strong opponent who resisted batteries of blows during several rounds. In the end, Dorin received scores of 118-111, 117-112 and 118-110 from the three judges and was declared winner amid wild cheering from his fans in Romania. He now keeps his WBA Lightweight belt. BoxingTalk.net, June 1, 2002.

Romania at the 1999 Smithsonian Folklife Festival
John Rausch, who has done a great job with his site on Maramures, happened to be in Washington DC at the time of this festival. Here are his pictures of Romanians building a traditional Maramures church on the Mall! He also took shots of folk dancing and tells a little about their instruments and tuica in mineral water bottles. To learn more about Romania's participation at the Smithsonian Festival in 1999, see the presentation of the event on www.Romanian-Folklife.ro.


OEDIPE

Don't close the chapter of essential twentieth-century music without Enesco's Oedipe! Listen to the remarkable 1989 EMI recording (released in 1990) with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Monte Carlo directed by Lawrence Foster. With José van Dam, Barbara Hendricks, Brigitte Fassbaender et al. If you truly love classical and modern music, this opera will be a revelation.

More about Enescu/Enesco on the Famous Romanians pages.


cover ANGELA GHEORGHIU

Angela Gheorghiu -- Live from Covent Garden

Also available on DVD: Gheorghiu's 1994 live performance of La Traviata at Covent Garden.

I have recently listened to Alagna and Gheorghiu in Donizetti's 1832 comic opera L'elisir d'amore at the Lyon National Opera (1996). Read more about this performance on the Famous Romanians pages, under Angela Gheorghiu. You'll also find a link to Angela Gheorghiu's Official Web site -- new!

May 30, 2002. Dorin & Balbi Take to the Trenches Again
Leonard Dorin and Raul Balbi will meet in Bucharest's Polivalenta Hall for their second fight on May 31. By Curtis McCormick, BoxingTalk.net, May 29, 2002.

May 28, 2002. Cardinal Todea of Romania [Dies]
Cardinal Todea of the Greco-Catholic (Eastern Rite Catholic Church) of Romania died on May 21 at age 89. Today he was laid to rest in Blaj in the crypt of the Greco-Catholic Metropolitan Church in Blaj. Alexandru Todea suffered 12 years of jail under the Communists for speaking up for freedom of religion and against the assimilation of Eastern Rite Catholic Church by the mainstream Orthodox Church. AP, The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 25, 2002.

A touching moment involving Cardinal Todea and Pope John Paul II is evoked on JustCatholic.net -- see Romanian Cardinal Alexandru Todea dies.

May 27, 2002. Make Cheaper Calls to Romania
See the $0.419/minute offer from BuyersOnline! If you make mostly calls over ten minutes, try a plan for $0.23/minute. Talkmore.net also advertises pre-paid phone cards. I see one card at 15.5 cents/minute with no connection fee.


NB: As the owner and developer of Your Online Portal to Romania, I do not implicitly endorse the contents of third-party sites I hyperlink to on this -- non-political, non-governmental -- Web site, but rather aim to provide an overview of Romania which is balanced and impartial. I try, to the best of my abilities, to offer objective coverage and commentary, and invite the user's own discretion to come into play. Most of the information on this Web site derives from a critical reading of the reviewed Web pages and books themselves. Please note, however, that while I make every effort to check information which might be incorrect or incomplete, I cannot guarantee that all information on Your Online Portal to Romania is correct, complete or up-to-date.

You agree to use TravelRomania.Tripod.Com at your sole risk. I do not accept liability for the information or advice provided in this Web site or incorporated into it by reference to other sources, or for loss or damages incurred as a result of reliance upon the material contained in this Web site.

Finally, as you might notice, I am bound to have my own areas of particular interest within the realm of things Romanian, and this Portal may tend to cover more of those at times.

Thank you for visiting!

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Please note that this Web site is on hiatus.




Interested in Romanian recipes? For a great selection and easy-to-follow instructions, try Taste of Romania. Nicolae Klepper has collected for this book great recipes for the staples of traditional Romanian cuisine as well as a few savory dishes shared by appreciated Romanian chefs. The book is extremely user-friendly, with crystal-clear instructions accompanied by notes on some of the harder-to-find ingredients and serving suggestions. Learn how to make stuffed cabbage rolls, Romanian lamb haggis, fish ciorba, a country style salad, eggplant salad, pickled vegetables, Romanian panettone, as well as trout with almonds and sour cream, veal roll with spinach, or baked sole with mushrooms.

Also included are a few words about the celebration of Christmas and Easter, as well as a number of proverbs, a folk tale, a fable, and two poems – a “glimpse” into Romanian culture to whet your appetite. This edition also includes a few Romanian-Jewish recipes.



For useful tidbits about things Romanian, try the excellent Berlitz Romanian Phrase Book or the more recent Berlitz Romanian Phrase Book & Dictionary. This pocket book offers description and translation of everthing from Romanian dishes to camping and sports equipment. It also includes several dictionary pages, and a reference section with common abbreviations, greetings and wishes, and much more.

Concise yet comprehensive, the Berlitz Romanian Phrase Book introduces you to meal times, types of eating places, ordering, and goes on to translate and describe traditional breakfast dishes, cold and hot starters, soups and stews, fish and meat dishes, meat specialties, game and poultry dishes, potato and polenta specialties, rice and pasta, common sauces, vegetables and salads, herbs and spices, cheese types, fruits and nuts, and, finally, desserts, drinks, and even snacks.

I have spotted only two errors in this book. One of them is socada instead of socata. What is "socata" anyway? Read about it here.












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The Atheneum in Bucharest - Click to read more about Romanian arts and culture



Pelisor Castle in Sinaia - Click to read more about Romanian history

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