The Beyond Journal

Is this what you expected? Cows leave their homes and head sleepily towards the fields … … kids wake up on their way to school … … and the grown ups in the village start their daily routines. It might not look it, but believe me this is busy for Viscri. No wonder this is […]

We tour the country every month in search of amazing places for you. We test hotels, restaurants, roads, sights, everything you can imagine. We also look for amazing people doing all sorts of incredible things that you might enjoy. Not long ago we spent the night in Harman, at the Country Hotel ; our host, […]

Ah, stereotypes! Those handy mental shortcuts which assist us in our daily lives occasionally lead us astray, too. As a neighbor, I’m heading to Romania with a bunch of preformed ideas and convictions. Here are some of the most salient ones and how they measure up to the facts. Corn is everywhere Mamaliga: The amazing […]

After an eventful run through Transylvania, it is time I head southeast and towards the big whopper of my journey. I am talking, of course, about Bucharest, the “Paris of the East”. City of joy The Triumphal Arc on Kiseleff Road. In its modern form, it beautifies Bucharest since the 1930s. (Source) The origin of […]

My journey through Transylvania has been vampire-free so far, but it’s high time to fill this major gap. My third destination happens to be the birth place of Vlad the Impaler. It’s hard to believe the fair city of Sighisoara was once the home of the ruler whose ruthlessness inspired Bram Stoker to create the […]

My Romanian holiday fantasy continues eastward and takes me to Brasov (Braṣov in Romanian), one of Transylvania’s finest cities. It was originally an old Saxon settlement, the birth place of the Romanian national anthem, and home to the Golden Stag Festival which features world-class musical entertainment year after year. I can’t wait to explore! Crowned […]