The Tourist Guide says

"In December 1989, Romania was reborn as a free nation. This diverse country now welcomes tourists who can enjoy a wonderfully varied heritage of traditional culture, scenic splendours and opportunities for leisure. A resurgence of endeavour and enthusiasm is revigorating the tourist facilities of the country to create a unique holiday destination.

The very name "Romania" reminds us that ancient Rome exercised a decisive influence on this country and on the monuments of that era.There are feudal fortresses, Byzantine decorated monasteries and adorned village houses to be admired, while "Dracula's" castle is only one among many other fascinating castles and palaces."

Lisbon

"Romania's capital, the nation's centre of cultural and economic life, was founded more than 500 years ago and is a natural starting point for visits to the country. During the 1930's its tree-lined boulevards and "fin de siecle" architecture gave it the nickname "Little Paris".
There is even an Arc de Triomphe on the impressive Soseaua Kisseleff which is longer than the Champs Elysees and has ranges of trees which flower beautifully in the spring.
Despite the massive reconstruction of the 1980s, Bucharest remains a Garden City, leafy and pleasant, with cafes open on sidewalks in the summer, and with boats on its lakes and rivers."

Imagine, if you will, a huge block of concrete being erected to cover half of your town centre (not difficult if you live in Cumbernauld). Feel then, for the poor Bucharestis who've got this opposite to look at every day as an unwelcome reminder of the past.

A Romanian man lost his wife and mistress in one night after buying both a personalised gold necklace and mixing up the gifts.
Petru Cioaba, from Focsany, bought identical necklaces for his wife and his mistress and had their initials and a personal message engraved onto each one.
But he mixed up the necklaces, and after he left his wife the necklace one morning as a surprise present for her and went to work, he got a message from a lawyer saying she was filing for divorce.
Cioaba said he hoped his wife, to whom he has been married 20 years, would not go through with the divorce.
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A Romanian man has caused controversy by locking his gossiping wife in the pigsty.
Puiu Dobrica from Andreiasu, Vrancea county, says he wanted to cure her of chattering all day with her friends.
He waited until his wife Aurelia went in to the sty to clean it one morning, and then locked the door from the outside.
The woman spent a whole day and night in the pigsty until her son released her the next morning.
Mr Dobrica, a barber, said: "I don't see where the problem is. I never neglected my wife."
"I fed her two times by a hole in the roof. I just hope I won't see her spending time gossiping again."
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Hospital officials in Romania are investigating after a doctor was punched by a 'corpse' in the morgue. The doctor had to be treated for shock after he was punched by teenager Bogdan Georgescu. It happened after the doctor thought he saw Mr Georgescu move and bent over to investigate. The youngster, 16, had been taken to the morgue at Brasov County Hospital in Brasov, after collapsing and showing no signs of life. He was declared dead on arrival and his body moved to the morgue. He said: "I woke up and had no idea where I was, I looked to the left and to the right and saw a dead woman on either side of me, and then I saw this man coming towards me in a white coat.
"I just panicked. I thought he was going to kill me."
The youngster, from Fagaras, is now being treated in the neurological ward to find out the cause of his collapse. He said: "The last thing I remember is drinking coffee with my brother, and then I woke up in the morgue." The doctor was allowed to take time off work after being treated for shock."
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A Romanian traffic cop has been demoted after he fined a driver for "having a face like a moron and being a big monkey".
Marius Vlasceanu pulled over Gheorghe Tosa as he drove through Craiova in Romania, local daily Jurnalul National reported.
But Tosa failed to see the funny side as Vlasceanu fined him £22 and handed him a ticket explaining the reason for the fine was "having a face like a moron and being a big monkey".
Head of the Romanian police Dan Fatuloiu said Vlasceanu, who claimed he had handed out the fine as a joke, had been demoted for "inappropriate behaviour and defaming the police force".
He has now been given a desk job in a remote village."
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A newly married Romanian farmer fractured his penis after ogling his young wife while carrying a heavy sack of grain.
Farmer Gheorghe Popa, 52, from Galati, had been moving the grain sacks to the barn when he stopped to watch his 25-year-old wife Loredana hang up the washing.
He got himself over excited and dropped the sack on his erect penis, snapping vital tendons and ligaments.
Doctor Nicolae Bacalbasa said: "It was a bizarre accident, and he was in a lot of pain.
"We have done what we can for him but he may never regain use of the organ again, at least for sexual purposes."
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A man in Transylvania plunged a silver dagger into the heart of his dead mother because he thought she was a vampire. Nicolae Mihut stabbed his own mum Anghelina through the heart the day before her funeral, according to reports from Romania.
It's alleged a local priest in the village in Transylvania, original home of Count Dracula, told him his dead mother showed the signs of being a vampire. Nicoleae had earlier seen a cat jump over her coffin - a sign showing the transformation of the dead into the undead in Romanian folklore.
He also saw that his mother's lips and cheeks were tinged blood red and fearing she was still alive, called the local priest. He told the grieving son she was a vampire - and Nicolae followed local custom to ensure his mother didn't become zombie-like vampire. "We know from our ancestors that when a soul doesn't leave the body of a dead person somebody has to stab that person with a silver knife in the chest or the stomach."
He added: "When the knife pierced her heart we all heard a very long sigh and the body became rigid and very pale, unlike before.
"It was terrifying but we had to do it. We were told that if we didn't release her soul she would have come back to haunt us or to even kill us."