I don't know about you but the first thing I think when I hear the Carpathian Mountains mentioned is “vampire.”

Romania is a mountainous, riversome and forested country in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Black Sea into which the Danube River flows. The Carpathian Mountains, aka the Transylvanian alps, take up about a third of the country. It's also full of castles. Romania is a country rich in folk tradition and culture.

Romania's history dates back to Roman times when it was known as the kingdom of Dacia. Since then it has divided into three principalities: Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia. Throughout history Romania's three provinces have been under the rule of, and therefore influenced by, the Romans, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Byzantines, Ottomans, Austrians and Russians. Around the 17^th Century all three provinces were united briefly under the rule of one Prince Michael the Brave but then later that century the country found themselves under the rule of the Turks. About a century later Transylvania became part of the Austrian empire and as a result Transylvania's culture is somewhat different than the rest of the country. Transylvania did not reunite with the rest of Romania until the early 1900s.

In the 1800s Romania struggled for independence, which it got in 1878. It began to really develop as a country in the early 1900s, trying to unify with territories that identified as Romanian but were still under foreign rule.  Romania briefly joined Germany in WWII in an attempt to get some land back from Russia. They eventually changed their minds and joined the allies. Romania was then occupied by the Russians and was a communist republic from 1947 until 1989 when the last communist ruler was overthrown.

For a more complete and accurate “Concise history of the Romanian people” click here and for a nice timeline of influences in Romania click here. For somewhat better documentation of the more recent political history of Romania click here. 

The vast majority of Romanian people are ethnically Romanian, with Hungarian a far, far second. The rest of the population includes Roma (Gypsy), Turkish, Armenian, German and a few other peoples.

The Romanian language is Latin-based, continuing from the ancient times of Dacia, and up until the 1800s used the Cyrillic alphabet. Here are some more detailed linguistics, with a not-so-exciting recording.If you are interested in hearing more spoken Romanian, here is a video of a woman reciting Emanescu. Ethnic minorities do speak their own languages (Hungarian, German, Romany) but Romanian is the only official language in Romania.

Translated phrases, for unknown reasons without the accents that make written Romanian look so pretty:

My hovercraft is tired of all these eels. = Aeroglisoarelor meu s-a plictisit de toate aceste lance.

I want to suck your blood. = Vreau sa-l suga singele tau.

Real vampires do not sparkle in sunlight. = Adevarata vampirii nu dadeau stralucire in lumina soarelui.

Some famous Romanians you might have heard of: Eugen Ionesco, Nadia Comaneci, Angela Georgehiu and Constantin Brancusi. Also, I clearly tried to suppress it, but I can't discuss Romania without drawing your attention to Romanian actor Bela Lugosi. who played Dracula,  a vampire who  may or may not have been based on Romania's Vlad the Impaler of Wallachia and Transylvania. 

I'll spare you the Bauhaus video.