First Impressions of BUCHAREST, ROMANIA! Europe's Little Paris is UNDERRATED | TRAVEL GUIDE
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- čas přidán 2. 06. 2024
- Ep.70 There's a lot to love about Romania, including our first stop: Bucharest. We tell you about the best food, sights to see, nightlife, and how much it costs to spend a couple of weeks in this often overlooked European capital.
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Chapters:
00:00 - Start
02:06 - First Impressions of Bucharest
05:35 - Bucharest Architecture
09:53 - Parks & Rivers in Bucharest
18:10 - Our costs in Bucharest
19:24 - Our thoughts about Bucharest and Romania
21:35 - Outtakes
22:04 - Gelato Member Credits
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Went on a solo trip to Romania 2 years ago and fell in love, I only visited Bucharest and Brasov but can't wait to go again and see more.
We hope you will enjoy next week's video where we explore Brasov, Sibiu, Sighisoara, and Transfagarasan Road, which was absolutely stunning. Thanks for watching, Halle, and for sharing your experience! -Judy
As a Romanian I just want to clarify something: Romania entering the Schengen area will not result in higher prices. For Americans nothing will change. For the Schengen area citizens will be easier to visit my country without border control.
Maybe the prices will go down because the trucks will not have to wait at the border for formalities 24 or 36 hours.
Unfortunately for us entering the Schengen area requires a unanimous vote and Austria (ruled by an extremist right wing party with close ties to Russia) is the only country with a negative vote!
Visit Romania! It is a great and interesting country! 🇷🇴
When Croatia joined Schengen and took on the euro, it didn't make any effort to match prices. Instead it rounded up to the euro and made all the prices higher. It's not a guarantee that Romania will do that, but there's a likelihood that will happen. And everything we've read has indicated that Romania has agreed to take on the euro. We have mixed feelings about whether Romania becomes Schengen. We certainly want what's best for Romania and its citizens, but as US citizens, Romania is one of the last few countries we can visit in Europe when we have to leave Schengen. We might never have spent time here (unfortunately) because other popular countries get more tourist attention. We visited in part because we needed to leave Schengen and we heard wonderful things about Romania. We'd love to visit again, but Schengen isn't ideal for non-EU citizens in some ways. We are excited to bring a second episode from Romania to our viewers this Saturday and hope you will tune in! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie, why do you keep on mixing getting into Schengen with getting into the eurozone? I agree that moving to the Euro is bound to raise up the prices, but why would removing the border controls have the same result?
@@vald9698 In part because Romania may have to fund things that aren't in its best interests but benefit Schengen overall. Also, there's a reasonable expectation that there will be more tourism. Right now Romania isn't over touristed, but charging higher prices to tourists is something people can expect will happen, and Romania will have a bigger reason to do so when there are more EU visitors go in and out of it. It's basic supply and demand. It may not be significantly more expensive for Romanians, but it likely will be more expensive to tourists. It's easy to tax tourists and bring in more money to support a country's infrastructure without a government directly taxing its locals. I am in no way saying that becoming part of Schengen is bad for Romania. I am only saying it will be more expensive for tourists. -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarieThe prices will also have to be reasonable for the locals as the Romanians regularly visit different parts of their own country... Even if it will be a spike, it will not be that big.
@@FindingGinaMariethank you for your input.
For many foreigners it is hard to understand the complicated relations between EU countries.
Schengen is only about crossing borders. At this moment Romania comply with all Schengen requirements (translation: is spending money) but do not benefit from this status (translation: gain money). Just think! All the police officers, all the custom offices on the border with Hungary and Bulgaria will disappear. Some will be relocated on the border with Ukraine and Serbia and this will make EU external borders safer. It is just one example! Another one! Do you know that we have to pay rent for the truck and salary for the driver for those 24 hours waiting at the border? Who do you think is paying? Those who will buy the products transported with that truck!
I expect lower prices after my country will be admitted in Schengen. It is estimated that Romania is losing around 2% of its GDP because we are not admitted in the Schengen area. A staggering amount of money !!
Every single American who eats in Romania, think for example, you eat sarmale but , you didn't touch the sour cream and the polenta, which you should eat all at once because they complement each other. If you try polenta by herself, then you will say that it doesn't have any taste. Trust me, everything on the plate should be eaten at once, because they belong together to make an authentic meal. I always laugh so hard when I see Americans in those videos, eating , no offense.😅
Everyone have a freedom of choice..I dont really like mămăliga too..home made bread is better and sour cream i would not have becouse i have dairy intolerance..and i am romanian that doesn't mean we all are the same
I'm sorry we didn't show it on camera, but I did eat some of the sarmale together with the polenta and sour cream. I wasn't aware it was all designed to be one bite though, so sorry I didn't portray it that way. As an Italian, I love polenta, so not sure why you would say that it doesn't have any taste. What might be helpful is if waiters would explain to non-locals about how a dish should be eaten. In fine dining restaurants they explain such things because the chef wants to ensure that the tasting experience is as it's intended. And there's nothing wrong with tasting things on their own to understand the flavors, but then totally agree that they be combined if that's the intention. Thanks for watching. We have a second video from Romania this Saturday (no food tasting!) that we hope you will watch. We're excited to bring more of Romania to our viewers. -Judy
@@ioneldiaconu3458 Una este ,,libertatea de a alege,, si alta este modul in care marea majoritate apreciaza o mancare si felul cum se asorteaza cu...probabil faci parte dintr-o mica minoritate care mananca asa.
@@FindingGinaMarie hi again, I will watch the other videos to, no problems. Since you like polenta you should try polenta with cheese and sour cream and then put one egg on top of it also . My mouth is watering. Enjoy the rest of the trip, coz we do have a beautiful country.
@@dancoman1798 We're always open to trying foods how they're meant to be eaten. Thanks for watching and for sharing your perspective! -Judy
I didn't know about Romania, interesting and beautiful!
Thanks so much for watching, and we didn't know very much, either, before we went there! -Judy
We were in Romania in 2019 and loved it. It is true that less English is spoken than in other European countries, but we noticed that young people were much more likely to speak English. Older people tended to speak Russian as a second language. We met and spoke with a lot of local people and we found them to be warm and friendly. Learning about their experience during and after the Communist era was both sad and fascinating. We also spent time in Transylvania, which was beautiful! We have plans to go back in 2025.
Lucky you, Linda! We would have liked to spend more time in Transylvania as well, but we were glad to have taken this two-day tour to be exposed to places we'd like to explore at another time. It may not be in Romania's best interest, but we'd be okay if the country wasn't part of Schengen for a while longer! Thanks for sharing your experience with us, and we are so happy that you had a great time during your travels there! -Judy
Lmao Older romanians don t speak russian, we don t like everything which is Russia s associated
I concede the innacuracy of my statement! Thank you for pointing it out! I am aware of the unpopularity of anything Russian, but assumed that older people would have been exposed to Russian as a second language during the Eastern bloc days. My apologies! @@qwertyqwerty-zi6dr
@qwertyqwerty-zi6dr Thanks for providing this additional perspective. -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie Russia invade our country 12 times in our entire history, you can understand our feelings about the russians
Thank you for everything, very much appreciated! ❤❤❤
Thanks for watching, Marius. We had such a fun time in Romania. You might like our second episode from there where we did a two-day tour. It was fabulous! -Judy
Romania road trip: czcams.com/video/Idm8D6ap9i0/video.htmlsi=ivE3g-8Elu1N71Js
Like Judy, I was blown away by the beautiful old European architecture in Bucharest. I found the history enjoyable too. And we enjoyed the food and coffee scene. We visited Romania in 2015. Really loved the Transylvania cities: Sibiu, Sighisoara and Timisoara. We’d go back. Looking forward to your bear story next week.
Thanks so much, Merrill! We weren't sure what we thought about all the different rulers that have governed in Romania. We edited out a comment that Kevin made about the wastefulness of the Parliament building. Money from Ceausescu's incredibly expensive pet project would have been better used on the country's population. But it was fascinating to see the blend of influences of various countries here. We now know that some of the small towns in Transylvania are places we want to spend more time exploring when we return. We are looking forward to sharing that with you! Thanks so much for sharing your experiences!-Judy
Just a correction, Timisoara is not in Transylvania, but in the Banat region of Romania.
@RaduRadonys I believe we were referencing Sighișoara, not Timisoara. Thanks for watching. -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie Sure thing, I got that, I was referring to Merrill's comment: "Really loved the Transylvania cities: Sibiu, Sighisoara and Timisoara."
@RaduRadonys I think a lot of Romania gets inadvertently bucketed into Transylvania. Later today (Saturday) we'll be sharing the tour we took called by TripAdvisor as, "2-Day Medieval Transylvania with Brasov, Sibiu and Sighisoara Tour from Bucharest." Technically, we visited several places that are not Transylvania, but I think it's an easy way for it to be communicated, even when it's inaccurate. But in our upcoming video, we've tried hard not to lump everything together. We also got pushback on the term "medieval," but we recognize that not everything is medieval either. -Judy
I love these travelogues. You are definitely living your best lives and you seem like such kind people, which is what the world needs right now. Safe travels and thank you for sharing your stories.
Thank you so much, Tom! We really are so happy living full-tie on the road. Thank you so much for these kind words for us. They mean a lot and we certainly try our best to be understanding and appreciative of all the different cultures and experiences we get to have. We hope to share our stories with you for a long time to come! -Judy
Greetings from Romania, so wonderful videos in such an interesting and flattering presentation!
Please don't take the critical comments to heart, your approach is both beautiful and useful.
Thank you Judy, thank you Kevin! I hope you will come back soon to see new breathtaking places and discover new Romanian hidden gems.
Thank you so much! Although some of the interactions are challenging, it also shows us a side of the pride and passion of the Romanian people, which is not a bad thing. We had a great experience in Romania and definitely would love to visit again and explore more. We know it's for the best for Romania, but we appreciated having Romania as a country to visit when we had to leave Schengen versus having to squeeze it into our 90-day limits. Have you seen our other episode from Romania? Our two-day tour was a highlight! -Judy
🎥 Roadtrip through Romania: czcams.com/video/Idm8D6ap9i0/video.html
@@FindingGinaMarie Yes, it's great and so full of useful information for foreigners.
But other cities and wonderful places are still waiting for you. Thanks again!
Great vid. However, there are some errors. Schengen has nothing to do with consumer prices. It is a passport free travel zone. Entry into Schengen will not affect consumer prices one way or the other. Also, there are no plans for Romania to adopt the Euro in 2024.
We respectfully disagree with your points (perhaps with a caveat). If you look at Croatia, you will see that it got significantly more expensive when it became Schengen. In part this was because it decided to just "round up" to the euro and not actually make the effort to equalize the cost. Romania may not do that. BUT there are going to be more costs that Romania will have to bear to be compliant with Schengen rules, and that's typically made Schengen countries more expensive. Now how much more expensive is anyone's to say. Separately, this is one of many, many articles that indicate that Romania has agreed to convert to the euro when it becomes Schengen.
economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/euro/eu-countries-and-euro/romania-and-euro_en#:~:text=Romania%20joined%20the%20European%20Union,it%20fulfils%20the%20necessary%20conditions. Thanks for watching. -Judy
@@ppn194 Thanks for clarifying this point. -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarieSchengen is different from euro zone... Only the Schengen members benefit from the free border, not the whole world. Meaning most of the other European Union members.
@@omi685 I do realize this, and in fact Schengen makes it harder for travelers like us because Romania is easier for us to visit while its not in Schengen. And once it becomes more touristy by people from the EU being able to travel here more easily, we expect prices to rise. There likely will be more taxes on hotels and restaurants will likely raise their rates as well. But in 2007 Romania also committed to adopting the euro. We'll see when that happens, but that could also cause a spike. The last time the issue was addressed, Romania said it would adopt the euro by the end of 2026. -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie There are no restrictions for the EU citizens to visit Romania if they wish to at the moment, though, as Romania is an EU country itself. It is extremely easy for the EU citizens to come to Romania. The other EU citizens have the right to travel, work, open businesses, buy and sell land, etc. in Romania. Overall, visiting Romania is as easy as it can be for them.
Joining Schengen will primarily have a positive effect on the movement of goods to and from the Schengen area. No more delays, no more additional fees, etc. Schengen is desired for the movement of goods, not necessarily for tourism.
Great video! It has a positive vibe. ❤. Thanks for impressions.
Thanks so much for watching! We have a second episode from Romania that comes out on Sat., Oct. 28 that we hope you will also enjoy! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie I am waiting for this video. Thanks a lot!
Awesome! It will go out at 7am PT. -Judy
Every country have something unique 😊I am wonder if you visit one day Warsaw what also is very mix of Architecture r wonderful Gdańsk in Poland
We haven't been to Warsaw yet, but we have a few videos from Poland. We would love to return there and explore more! -Judy
Poland video series: czcams.com/play/PLNT98lWfwdF25fcJb3dV-DCVUsqOTKTMH.html
București, orașul meu de suflet!!!❤
Thank you so much for watching and for leaving us this comment, Sanda. We enjoyed Romania as well. We have a second episode from there you might also want to watch. Here's a link below. -Judy
Romania tour: czcams.com/video/Idm8D6ap9i0/video.html
Great video guys, thank you. Romania is on our itinerary for 2025 so enjoyed this one and looking forward to the next one too. Happy travels to you both ❤
Thank you so much for watching, Annette! We really are so grateful for this opportunity to travel full time and we're eager to hear what you think about Romania after you visit. -Judy
Great video. Thank you gain for providing your perspectives and suggested tips. I love that you are visiting these lesser visited locations and appreciate some quicker trips around Europe to make it happen. It is hard to know how long to stay in each location. I also appreciate the balance of background/history given as context for your experiences in each of your videos.
Thank you so much, Erin! We think that if you need to be outside of Schengen, Bucharest is a great place to do it. We also think that our video next week will show some really cool towns to explore as well that can almost make it worthwhile to visit if you are looking for a slighter cheaper, less touristy destination than some of the major cities people think of when traveling to Europe. We would have preferred to stay in Romania longer, but the trip got squeezed down in favor of visiting Krakow and our detour in Italy. It's always a juggling act, and we were second guessing ourselves after we saw that it might become part of Schengen this year. We appreciate your kind words so much! Safe travels! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie Bucharest really looks very expensive. Or maybe just that specific restaurant. I live in another relative big city in western Romania (Timisoara) and no way someone would pay 49 lei for mici or 45 lei for papanasi or 67 lei for sarmale :)) no way :)
@@RaduRadonys I wonder if it's because we were in Old Town, which is very touristy. One of our viewers from a town in Transylvania mentioned that a good single course meal should cost around 35 lei. This specific restaurant is fairly famous, so I can believe it was more expensive. I'm looking at our other receipts in Bucharest and I'm not seeing anyplace especially inexpensive in that area. But compared to other places around Europe, the costs were reasonable. We are open to hearing about the places where the locals eat, though! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie That 35 lei seems about right. That's the maximum I pay when eating outside, but I usually eat in mall restaurants, which are really good but not that fancy as standalone restaurants. But even in standalone restaurants I pay around 100-120 lei for a 3 persons meal. Now I don't know about Bucharest since I spent 2 days in total over there, some years ago :).
@RaduRadonys Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us! We will need to take a closer look outside the touristy areas when we visit again. But Romania is beautiful and there also is more to explore beyond Bucharest. -Judy
Great video! Can’t wait until the next one to see the bear.❤️
We are looking forward to bringing that one to you. It was an incredible few days and we were so glad we added the side trip to our itinerary! -Judy
thanks again for visiting!
@alexandrugrigore2628: We plan to return; there is more to explore! -Judy
Very informational.
Thanks so much for watching and for leaving us this supportive note! You might enjoy our second episode from Romania. Here's a link if you're interested. -Judy
Roadtrip through Romania: czcams.com/video/Idm8D6ap9i0/video.html
Glad you enjoyed Romania. Hope we will come back!
That is definitely the plan! There is so much more of Romania we would like to explore. You may want to watch our second episode showcasing our two-day roadtrip that enriched our visit! Thanks so much for watching and for welcoming us to Romania! -Judy
Road trip through parts of Romania: czcams.com/video/Idm8D6ap9i0/video.html
A great presentation
Hi Barry, Thank you so much for watching! We have a second video from Romania, which was a fabulous two-day road trip that we think you'll enjoy if you haven't already seen it! It's linked here. -Judy
Romania road trip: czcams.com/video/Idm8D6ap9i0/video.html
I fell in love with the way you pronounce "She's mig you" Park :D
Granted, the termination "-igiu" is a 19th century Turkish influence. You wouldn't use it for new words. Like "IT-igiu!" :))
The pronounciation, if you are curious, is closer to Chish-me-gee-you.
Thanks so much for being so kind in your correction! I used a translator to understand the pronunciation, but I realized I butchered it. You would not believe how many times I tried to get it right! This is what I was working off of-chishz-mig-you!!!! Thanks so much for watching and I hope I gave you a good laugh! -Judy
Very beautiful ❤
Thank you for watching, Daniel. We enjoyed our time in Romana, even though it was too short. You might like to watch the roadtrip we took while we were there. We definitely need to return and explore more. -Judy
Roadtrip in Romania: czcams.com/video/Idm8D6ap9i0/video.html
Wow
Not sure what that's supposed to mean, but thanks for watching. -Judy
Visit Brașov the most beautiful city of Romania !!! ♥️💛💙
We did and we loved it! We'll visit again when we can spend more time there. Thanks for watching! -Judy
Try Chish-me-geou ! Karou kou bearea!
I'm not quite sure what those are and unfortunately we have already left Romania (although we have a new episode coming out tomorrow from there). But we will try to look for them the next time we visit! Thanks for watching. -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie He was just messing with you, possibly because of your pronunciation of Romanian names. Chish-me-geou is "Cismigiu" and Karou kou bearea is "Caru cu bere".
@RaduRadonys Ahhh! It's only funny if I realized my errors.🤣🤣 Thanks for the explanation! We are so sorry for destroying the Romanian language. We have a second episode coming out tomorrow, so hopefully we don't butcher names and places too much!!
@@FindingGinaMarie No issues whatsoever, sometimes Romanian, especially places names, can be extra hard to pronounce for non-natives :)
@RaduRadonys We tried our best, but we’ve been known to fall short. We hope our viewers will appreciate our enthusiasm and eagerness to share places not everyone visits (or at least our perspectives about more touristic places) and overlook any unintended errors. We truly try hard to provide good information and not totally massacre names, but it’s been known to happen. -Judy
That is Byzantine culture and architecture, not Turkish.
Thanks for watching. Our guide mentioned how much Turkish influence is in Romania. Also, we referred to this source from Google for our reference: www.thebalkansandbeyond.com/ottoman-architecture-in-the-balkans/. -Judy
👏❤️✊
Thanks for watching, Viorel, and for taking a moment to leave us a comment. We are excited to bring you more of Romania this Saturday! -Judy
You're a very nice couple. Thanks for visiting and showing our country to your viewers.
Being part of the Schengen Area may be very detrimental to countries like Romania and Bulgaria which may become traffic hubs for contraband because of the poorly kept borders.
Same goes for the Euro currency. It would either need to degrade to fit impoverished economies like Hungary, Romani, Bulgaria and others or we would have to get even more impoverished to cover the parity difference of currency and living standards. We are poor as it is but our prices going high like in W. Europe is killing us.
For selfish reasons, we'd be okay if Romania didn't become Schengen. There is so much of Europe we want to see, but because we're not EU citizens, we have to see as much as possible in three months and then get out for another three months. Romania being outside of Schengen gives us a beautiful place to explore for potentially an extended amount of time without having to compete with our time exploring other parts of the EU. We are looking forward to experiencing more of Romania and are eager to share our visit to Transylvania with you this Saturday. Thanks for watching and leaving us this very useful comment. -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie Don't worry, the Schengen thing will have ZERO impact in the life of ordinary citizens and tourists. It will be important at some level for the business environment, but that's it. The adoption of Euro will have much more impact and a prices spike is expected, but it's not gonna happen too soon either.
@nicolaeionescu6538 Romania has promised to begin the Euro process by 2025, but it doesn't seem like that is on track. I should have factored in politics and bureaucracy! -Judy
Everybody below 40-50 should speak english here. I also do not see why the prices will go up with schengen, but they are already very high for the salaries.
Hi Cristian, We encountered our share of people who were younger than 40 (I would guess) who did not speak English, and of course, many people we encountered also were older. We think prices may go up because more tourism would typically equate to higher prices. Also, it's separate, but Romania had promised to adopt the Euro. I realize that they're mutually exclusive, but if they were timed similarly to Croatia, that could be a downside. We want to visit Romania again but it will be harder for us to travel there when we have to compete against balancing our time according to the 90/180 Schengen rules. As it stands, Romania is a great alternative when we have to leave Schengen. It's a great country that people are still learning about. Have you seen our other video from Romania, which is linked below? -Judy
Roadtrip through Romania: czcams.com/video/Idm8D6ap9i0/video.html
Name of cafe with owner Adrian?
Super happy to recommend Benjoben. Here's a link. g.co/kgs/UxGeZec
We hope you love it. Adrian was as amazing as his warm pain au chocolat and cappuccinos! -Judy
PS: Have you seen our other video from Romania? We highly recommend this tour if you have a chance to go! 🎥 Exploring Romania's Transylvanian Alps (Peles Castle, Bran, Brasov, Sibiu, Sinaia): czcams.com/video/Idm8D6ap9i0/video.html
You guys seem like a nice bunch, however you are so grossly misinformed about Romania (and consequently misinforming others) that I just feel the need to intervene.
1. You started your vlog by referring to Romania as a city (ok, slip of tongue), then in the following seconds you illustrated Transylvania with a picture of a castle which is in Wallachia (Peles).
2. I have no idea why you`d think Romania will get more expensive after in becomes part of the Schengen space, what`s the rationale behind this assertion?
3. Romania is, indeed, part of the Latin family of countries, so we are part of that space, inasmuch as the language goes (but not the religion, all the other Latins are mostly catholic) but we are not ethnically related to the Spanish, French, Portuguese or Italian people (with the notable exception of the Sards). We are ethnically related to other people around us, such as Bulgarians, Ukrainians, all the former Yugoslavian people etc.
4. Why would you say that there`s not a lot of English spoken here, did you fail to make yourselves understood in Romania? Unless you`re in the boondocks, you will find a English speaker within 100 meters and 5 minutes.
5. Why would you recommend that people drink bottled water when tap water is perfectly safe and getting even safer by the day as a result of modernisation works everywhere in the country? Yes, in Bucharest and other cities in the fields it does sometime taste like chlorine, but there are safe levels of chlorine and if you set aside the water for a couple of minutes it will taste just like natural water. But tap water elsewhere, especially in mountain cities tastes fantastic. Please, don`t recommend that people spend their money for nothing, just because you didnt do proper research and read some articles from 20 years ago.
6. Transylvania is not half of Romania`s area, more like 1/3 (without Banat, which is seen included on your map as a province by itself). Even with Banat it would be 40% of the whole area of the country.
7. Not every old building is medieval. I cannot stress this enough, seeing as people see a fortress such as Alba Iulia and they go: "look, a medieval fortress, so cute!" Guess what, people build fortresses even after the Middle Ages ended.
Please, be informed that the Medieval Era ended around year 1500, by the time Constantinople fell to the Turks and the Protestant Reformation began in Germany. Therefore, a church built in the 18th century will never be medieval.
The style of the church is unique to Romania and it`s called Brancovenesc, after one of our Wallachian princes, Prince Brancoveanu.
8. Last but not least, please, don’t be sad about our city having its pretty face marred by the ugly communist blocks. It means housing is still affordable and almost everyone is likely to become a house owner by the time they are in their 30s. Romania has the 2nd highest percent of home owners in the world (at 95%). Yes, we know they are not picturesque or romantic, but they are utilitarian and sure as hell, getting an eyesore from buildings is better than getting one from thousands of homeless people like in LA, SF, NY or Philadelphia.
Sorry if I seem harsh in my comments, but a bit more thorough research for your videos would not go amiss, if you actually want to turn this into a professional travel channel.
Good luck in your future endeavours!
We appreciate that you spent so much time watching our view and providing feedback to us. We stand behind a lot of what we said but we don't have to agree on everything. We are learning as we go as well, and hope that when taken in total, what we've done is helped to share Romania with others. There are so many people who know nothing about Romania and because of some of its history, it's not gotten nearly the attention as some better known EU countries as a tourist destination. We heard from a few Romanians that visiting Bucharest was a waste of our time and disparaged their country quite a bit. We tried to be open minded and share what we enjoyed and hopefully encourage others to want to learn more and experience it for themselves.
We think that Romania will get more expensive because now that Croatia has become Schengen, its prices have made it a much less affordable destination for tourists. They took on the euro and rounded up, which raised costs markedly. Romania actually agreed to convert to euros when it became part of the EU, so that alone may cause costs to rise if they follow in Croatia's footsteps. Also, Romania will have to support Schengen ideas which may not be favorable to it. We hope it won't happen, but there's a reasonable likelihood that it will. If I'm wrong and it encourages people to visit now, that's not a bad thing. I pulled the ethnic and linguistic reference from a 2022 study. There were several people throughout Romania that we could not communicate with, including our corner store and at various restaurants. It may not be the case everywhere, but we are sharing our experience. Everyone we met in Romania specifically told us to drink bottled water versus tap. This was not research we did on our own. It came from Romanians themselves. We told you in the first few minutes the extent of our knowledge about Romania before visiting. We were told it's overchlorinated and that everyone here drinks bottled water. I don't actually think we said anything about Transylvania being half of Romania's area. We reference that in the past half of present-day Romania was ruled by the Austro-Hungarian empire run by the Hapsburgs. We speak generally about architecture. We don't reference the style of every single building we encountered. So of course we agree that not everything in Bucharest is medieval, but it is a city that was built in medieval times and there are some medieval buildings. The tragedy behind the communist era buildings is that they were built at the cost of potentially beautiful, historic buildings. The gap between the beauty and cost spent on the Parliament building and some of the other housing is large. But if those properties are going to good use and fewer people are homeless, that's a fair tradeoff for beauty. Our impression was that many of these buildings are abandoned and neglected, so that is our error if that's not the case. As I mentioned, the building we were in was off-putting, but it was lovely inside. -Judy
Nu te mai plange. We have a great and wonderful country!
@visator5785 We enjoyed our time in Romania and look forward to visiting again. We are looking forward to bringing our viewers a second episode from Romania this Saturday! Thanks for watching. -Judy
I don’t understand why are you rushing through countries. You just said you like it and wish you had more time, but you’re making up your own itinerary, so if you like a place why not stay longer?
This is for a mix of reasons. We try to lay out a plan for the next several months so that we have an idea of where we'll be going and can build in plans to be in specific places for birthdays, holidays, etc. We could not plan at all and play everything by ear, but that's too stressful for us. Booking Airbnbs in advance gives us the cheapest rates and the biggest variety of options, and accommodations are our biggest expense. We have a lot of places that we're interested in exploring and since we are full-time travelers, it makes sense for part of the time to see places long enough to be exposed to them to know where to spend more of our time. By doing this we found one of our favorite places-Torino, Italy. It was too short of a time there as well, but now we know to prioritize an additional, longer visit there in 2024. We try to have refundable accommodations so if we need to pivot, we're able to do so. It's a lot of balancing. We can foresee that at some point, we might want to spend as much as two or three months in one place, but right now, we have such a long list of places to see that we don't want to slow down quite that much yet. Thanks for watching and for giving me something to ponder this morning! -Judy
Kajmak is made by skimming the fat from boiled milk... therefore, you don't get a lot of milk products... that's why Kajmak is much more expensive than regular cheese.
How interesting! I didn't know this. It had a mild flavor like marscapone, but a different texture. It was tasty! Thank you so much for watching and for taking the time to explain this to us! -Judy
How to pronounce LEI (Romanian currency):
/l/ as in ''look''
/eɪ/ as in ''day''
/iː/ as in ''sheep''
I think that's exactly what we said. But we also refer to lei in the singular, which is leu, and that is pronounced differently. Thanks for watching! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie How to pronounce LEU (singular):
/l/ as in ''look''
/eɪ/ as in ''day''
/uː/ as in ''how''
Romanian "e" is not read as "i" but exactly as it is written, i.e. "e", as in "day"
Try it!
I am native romanian and I live in Romania.😏
We pronounced the plural word as "lay" and the singular form as "lew," which I understand is correct. If you think we're saying it wrong, can you point to where that is in our video? -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie The minute: 2:28 . Try to write "Leu" in Google Translate, you will understand the pronunciation of the word better.
It's giving me the same translation as what I say at 2:28, when I am referring to the singular form of the word (leu, not lei). 🤷♀️ But thanks anyway. I hope you were able to enjoy the rest of the video. -Judy
Also...wtf is a kilometre???forgot about that😅
Hi Razvan, Thanks for watching! -Judy
Car hell
We didn't drive except on the two-day tour linked below, and we had a guide do all the driving. It's possible to spend time-even extended time-without a vehicle. -Judy
Romania road trip: czcams.com/video/Idm8D6ap9i0/video.html
after a small mouthful of palinca you are already laughing, cheers
It was not at all what I expected it to be! I was thinking it would be a light, fruity cocktail, not a fruit brandy. But we had a great time in Romania. We are bummed that it's becoming Schengen, because that makes it harder to visit. We appreciated being able to pop in and out as a break from Schengen. Here's our other episode from Romania if you want to check it out. Thanks for watching. -Judy
🎥 Roadtrip through Romania: czcams.com/video/Idm8D6ap9i0/video.html
When you mentioned bottled water, I realized that you are Americans. I don't know who is keeping lying to you that tap water is not drinkable in Romania. But I see this lie especially in Americans. I visited America several times and spent a few months in Illinois and Wisconsin and when I wanted to take a bath, the bathroom smelled of chlorine, I think that's where the phobia of Americans with tap water comes from. And especially from the case in Flint Michigan.
😁 the water is fine in Romania!!!! All public systems are checked again and again and the standards are the same in the whole EU.
But, if you like to drink bottled water is ok! Romania has some of the best mineral waters in the world (bottled) and we especially love the sparkling water (I missed it when I travelled across the US).
@dmax4838 We don't think people are lying to us but Romanians themselves have said that you could drink it but that Romanians really don't drink it and to use bottled water instead. Our Airbnb hosts provided bottled water for us and suggested we use that versus the tap water. They weren't the only ones though. I don't think copious amounts of chlorine are a great idea to consume in any country though. I don't consider it a phobia, but it seems sensible. Thanks for watching. -Judy
@TheMihaiMarinescu We were told that the majority of Romanians prefer bottled water over tap water. And although the water is clean, it can sometimes have high chlorine levels. That doesn't mean it's necessarily unsafe, but it means it won't taste very good. We aren't fans of sparkling water, so it's good that there is flat water we can get everywhere as well when we choose it. Thanks for watching.-Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie, that's 100% true. Everybody here drinks bottled water, myself included. Because, yes, it tastes better than tap water. But that does not make the tap water unsafe, as implied in your video.
@@vald9698 I'm sorry if that was your takeaway and we should have been more clear. We specifically speak to high chlorine levels. Whether someone wants to ingest them is their choice. It doesn't send a great message when few of the locals want to drink the water, either. When we visited Egypt, we specifically said not to drink or even brush your teeth with the water, and that was because there are things in the water that most likely wouldn't agree with a non-local's gut biome. By mentioning that you could brush your teeth with it, we intended to communicate that it was safe to drink. -Judy
Please say the prices in Dollars .
If you look at our price list, we do have the costs in dollars in parentheses. Thanks for watching! -Judy
@@Judyhoctor I saw them in US dollars . Thank you. I understand that you ate in nice restaurants in Romania but Romania doesn't sound as cheap as I thought. You can eat that food cheaper than that in some dinners in the US but not in NYC or Los Angeles fancy diners of course .
The prices actually were mixed when it came to food. Caru’ cu Bere was definitely not a cheap restaurant. But we bought a Strongbow cider from the grocery store for $1.60 apiece (at a restaurant was $3.94). I had a Cobb salad at a restaurant, which was only $7.86, compared to an $18 Caesar salad in the South of France. The cappuccino and pastry prices were really pretty decent, especially considering the pastries were hot and fresh made by the restaurant, and $2.76 for a cappuccino is a bargain compared to many cities. We had a Hugo spritz for $8.30, which is about average, and a burger with fries at a very local place (Energiea) was $12.57. Bear in mind that this is Old Town that just was revitalized and they definitely are taking advantage of tourists. If you stepped outside of the city center, prices would be more affordable. We had a viewer who lives in Transylvania who mentioned that a good single course meal should cost you around 35 Lei (around $9). Definitely a lot less than what we paid anywhere. I hope this helps! -Judy
You saw a lot more than my sister and I did on tour in 2014. Glad to have seen a little of Bucharest, and we really liked the countryside. You were lucky to have 11 days there!
Hi Claudia! I actually had been thinking of you and wondering if you had been to Romania (since you've been nearly everywhere!). We always have to take away some days for when we're working, so we didn't get to see everything we'd like. BUT we did have time to walk around and eat at various places and just take in our surroundings, which always is something we try not to take for granted. It may have been slightly easier if Kevin weren't so uncomfortable, but he's in great shape now. Thanks for watching and for taking the time to share your experience with us! -Judy
Please explain why prices would go up if Romania enters Schengen. Makes no sense.
It likely will increase tourism, and that plays into supply and demand. There may be demands that Romania has to follow that it hasn't in the past. Also, and this is more to do with becoming part of the EU is that Romania has committed to shift to the euro, which likely will be increasing costs as well. We lumped everything together and should have made it all more nuanced. I was specially referencing Croatia, which became part of the eurozone at the same time as becoming Schengen. The same doesn't have to happen to Romania. But when it enters the eurozone, I would expect costs also to rise. -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie Hehe, thanks, you somehow mixed a little bit the ingredients.
Romania is a full EU member, but not within Schengen, which is slightly different space and also contains non EU members. You still have the right to travel freely and live in any other EU country visa free, buuut, if you come from Romania by plane or travel to, you will have customs where you show your id/passport, same if you drive in drive out. Economically it would actually lower prices because trucks and import/export in general won't have to wait for hours and waste time in customs.
About the Euro, there's still many countries within the EU that don't use the Euro as their currency - Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Sweden etc. Here I agree that it would create some chaos in the economy in the beginning and cause some trouble with the prices.
Hope you guys enjoyed your stay in Romania. I enjoyed the videos.
I'm sorry I wasn't clear, Alex. I realize that Romania is a full EU member, but it also agreed that it would transition its economy to euros. Originally it was supposed to be the late 2020s, but they moved it to begin in 2026. We'll see whether that happens, but they have committed to it. I agree that certain prices might be lowered, but likely not ones that tourists will incur. Those cost savings will hopefully be passed on to Romanian businesses and its employees only. Thank you so much for watching! -Judy
Not really agree with that statement that the English its not very common here !
Its actually very very common , beside older people , older generation, almost anyone knows at least basic english here if not advanced or very advanced level.
We can only share what we experienced, and unfortunately there were several people we encountered that did not speak English. However, we know that our narrow experience does not give a full picture. Thanks for sharing more of the story and giving our viewers a broader picture. Thanks for watching! -Judy
10% tip is huge in Romania, don't ruin the market
Everything we've read has basically said, "The amount you tip in Romania will depend on where you are and what type of services you're buying. As a general rule, expect to tip around 10% of the bill. If you get exceptionally good service, say thank you with a tip closer to 15-20%." We thought tipping at the 10% level was pretty reasonable without "ruining the market." -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie Usually in Europe we have such thing called salary ;) , so we don't have to tip the precents you do in USA. Actually for me, visiting USA was shocking when I saw the tipping levels you are practicing. In the West European countries, and more so in the Northern courtiers tipping is minimal, or completely non existent, because they expect to have people already paid for their services... It is quite civilized if you ask me. In Romania we still have some communist mentality that we have to bribe everybody to do anything, but now that's called tipping, so it's still acceptable. However, I never in my life tipped somebody more than 10%, and I am not tipping even that all the times. Also it's perfectly fine to not leave any tip weather you liked the service or not.
Thanks for sharing your perspective. Tipping is a tender subject in any country. -Judy
So visit Romania while u can because once the Shengen hits....it will be a less afordable "city"😅....man! U can spot an american from 3 miles away,and not by that comment! They keep giving and giving...😂
Yes, I made a mistake in saying "city" and Romania together. It was a mistake and they happen sometimes. We hope our audience understands and are willing to overlook it. As far as Schengen hitting, I do think that there will be more tourism and thus increased prices. And Romania has expressed eagerness to adopt the euro, which also won't be favorable when that happens. You certainly don't have to agree with us, but we hope you are here to be kind, even if we don't share the same opinion. -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie miss Judy!I was just kidding! I am romanian and we like to poke people! It wasn't a criticism,just a thing that stood out.anyway..thank you for visiting our country!🥰
Well we are glad to have you along for the ride. We loved Romania and would love to return at some point and explore all of the areas we missed. -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie I hope you do!!! You will be surprised, just can guarantee that! Whether positively or negatively,I don't know! Just travel it more and you'll get my point😅👍 PS....this seems basic but....Don't ever call us Russians or Russian influenced😅! We are fiery and adamant about that!
@@razvanboghi7502 I'd like to think that it will be a positive experience. One of the perks of being a full-time traveler is that we don't have to see everything at once because it's generally easy enough to come back again for more. We have 52 weeks per year of travel available to us! We took a two-day road trip with a guide to explore a bite-sized bit of areas outside of Bucharest, which we document here: czcams.com/video/Idm8D6ap9i0/video.html. The trip for sure whetted our appetite to experience more of Romania. If you have suggestions of places we should visit while we're there, we'd love to hear them.
We'll do our best to remember that! -Judy
Romania's true beauty is in the rural life and it's people. You have to spend three Christmases and three New Year's in all three main regions of the country to get a glimpse of it's culture. Bucarlesh it's just your regular melting pot type of city, nothing special, plain and boring.
Thanks for watching and for sharing your experience. We would love to come back and spend more time exploring. Are there specific places you think we should see/spend time in? Romania is a beautiful country. -Judy
Psst. Did you see our newest video from Romania that we just released on Saturday? Here's a link if you are interested: czcams.com/video/Idm8D6ap9i0/video.html
Not alot of English spoken ??? Most of the under 40's speak passable to very good English.
Thanks for watching. You may be right about that, but we were surprised at how many people didn't speak English, and we encountered a lot of shop keepers and restaurant workers who weren't as young. Perhaps if we had spent more time in Romania, we would have encountered more English speaking people. But honestly, we are guests and they have no obligation to learn English for us. -Judy
4:40 tipwise, there is no tip culture in Romania. It is written in English, so it's a tourist trap. Don't fall for it! If you want to give a tip go for it, but it is not mandatory. Considering what you paid on that receipt be aware that that is 10% of the average salary of 70% of Romanians. I mean paying 30 RON (about 7 Euro) for a bottle of water and expecting a tip is beyond disgusting.
Telling your viewers to hurry up because it will be more expensive is saddening. Bucharest is already priced beyond average EU.
I'll admit that tipping or not tipping is an age-old dilemma. We read several articles referencing a tipping culture in Romania, "Tipping in restaurants in Romania is normally expected, when dining out the service charge is not typically included in your bill. Waitstaff and bartenders will expect a tip and the amount should be anywhere from 5-20% of the bill as a general rule of thumb." We appreciate your perspective on it.
Our point about it getting more expensive was somewhat misinformed. We had been hearing that shifting to the euro from the Romanian lei was imminent and we thought it was a condition to becoming Schengen. We know that Croatia timed their euro adoption with their acquisition of Schengen and it did make it harder for people to travel there. We think Romania is still significantly less expensive than many parts of Europe (think major cities in Germany, Austria, and all the Scandinavian countries).
But part of the reason we brought up not waiting to visit is that Romania is an incredible place to visit for anyone, but especially for people doing the Schengen shuffle. We were bummed not to be able to get back again before becoming part of Schengen. We are always looking for places outside of Schengen and Romania sure is a beautiful one. -Judy
Almost ANY person under 40 speaks English to some degree in Romania
Hi Samyr, While that may be true, there were plenty of over 40 people we encountered and also several younger people who did not speak English. We are sharing our experiences, which may not be true for everyone. Thanks for watching. Our video from our two-night roadtrip is linked below if you are interested. -Judy
🎥 Roadtrip through Romania: czcams.com/video/Idm8D6ap9i0/video.html
try to speak in english with younger ppl..in Romania..
We were surprised that some young people didn't speak English, Daniel. Maybe they know how but weren't comfortable speaking with us. -Judy
Romania is a city?? Seriously?
It obviously was said in error. We refer to it correctly everywhere else. We definitely are not perfect and never claim to be, especially since it’s easy to get flustered when the cameras are on. -Judy
Kevin, you don't have to constantly smile while Judy is speaking. It comes off as forced, and unnatural
Maybe I'm just happy when Judy and I get to record another video about our travels. ;) - Kevin
@@FindingGinaMarie in the meantime I viewed more of your videos and I saw that it's actually genuine :D. I like how you present you in depth impressions. It reminds me of a presentation in class of a school project well made. I think it shows quality.
And I aplaud and envy you for your decision to go travel. My folks are still focused in work even at your age.
Thank you so much for taking the time to watch more of our videos and giving us a chance to prove our genuineness. I am biased, but Kevin really is a very transparent person and I don't think he knows how to put on a false face! We genuinely love sharing our experiences, and we hope that enjoyment comes across. Life is too short to delay your dreams or not believe they're possible. We hope we are encouraging others to chase after the life they want. -Judy
Quick hint, 15:44, no, if you want authenthic food, you always go in villages / rural areas! PERIOD. I guarantee, whatever they serve, doesn't taste as good as the food you'll find in a village. I don't care about the chefs, michellin stars & other nonsense.
I'm sure you're right. It's sometimes harder for us to do this without a vehicle, though. Those humble places have been outstanding when we've been able to find them. Thanks for watching! -Judy