Por Jackie Sills-Dellegrazie - TheGlobetrottingTeacher.com
Has this happened to you? You see a photo of a destination just oozing with charm and warmth. Your wanderlust is piqued so you search for more photos. One after another, the images stir up whimsical notions of cobblestones, detailed architecture, and casually riding a bike with a basket holding, of course, a bouquet of flowers. Longing turns to planning. You arrive and plans become reality.
There's just one problem. The destination is nice but where's that fanciful wanderlust you felt? Instead of capturing that romantic essence for yourself, you're sharing the last drops with the crowds of other visitors who have come in search of the same experiences.
É um sinal de que você precisa visitar a Romênia.
How serious is your affliction? The signs to visit Romania are explained below. The only thing is to make sure and visit Romania immediately…before this idyllic secret is completely discovered. (Lonely Planet already listed the Transylvania region a must for 2016!)
5 sinais de que você precisa para visitar a Romênia
1. Você está com vontade de voltar no tempo.
Ao passar pelas portas do castelo, você é instantaneamente arrastado para outro tempo, paralisado por visões de grandeza, salões de banquetes ornamentados e vestes de veludo vermelho. Você se abaixa para pegar sua câmera, querendo imprimir para sempre esse momento nas paredes de sua memória. Olhando pelo visor da câmera, a fantasia irreal de tudo isso quase nubla sua visão e você pisca duas vezes enquanto se prepara para tirar a foto. Até que, de repente, alguém inocentemente cutuca seu braço. Você é puxado de volta à realidade quando grupos de pessoas se aglomeram ao seu redor, lembrando-o rudemente de seu status de camponês. Você termina com uma foto torta de cabeças e um lustre.
Are you longing to visit castles without the tour buses unloading? Do you wish for more than a moment to enjoy the views from a fortress' battlements and ramparts? Have you tried (and failed!) to transport yourself back in time as you walk across a drawbridge or slide your hand up a marble banister into a lavish reception hall because a photo-taking queue has assembled?
You're not alone! And, that is precisely the problem! It's a sign you need to visit Romania. Many of its centuries-old castles and fortresses are perched on hilltops surrounded by dense evergreen forests just waiting to be explored. (The same can be said for museums, monuments, and other "places of interest!) What will you do (!) with the time to breathe deeply and enjoy the experience? Will your memory card have enough space for the photos you'll take?!
2. Você silenciosamente deseja ter visitado há 30 anos.
In imagining your next trip, you've envisioned quaint villages with uneven cobblestones underfoot. Wide open squares with locals and visitors alike strolling with ice cream cones in hand. The pastel-colored buildings fade around the edges but brighten again from windows with vibrant-colored shutters and cascading flower displays.
Um cachorro marrom desgrenhado passa pavoneando-se com um jornal na boca. Um homem dedilha seu violão deixando voar notas musicais vagamente familiares que permanecem no ar e se misturam com o cheiro de canela que já enche as ruas estreitas. O dia está ensolarado com brisa suficiente para justificar carregar uma camada extra “só por precaução”. Você vira a esquina e uma catedral imponente se abate sobre você. Os sinos badalam anunciando a nova hora. O ritmo lento da vida se infiltra sob sua pele e você não consegue evitar quando um sorriso borbulha na superfície.
When you finally arrive in your chosen quaint village, does it match what you imagined above? Are squares filled with cafes and bakeries or H&M's and poorly disguised McDonalds? Are the streets packed with travelers shuffling from one souvenir shop to the next? Do you enjoy yourself but silently wish you had visited this village 30 years ago?
It's a sign you need to visit Romania. The villages of Sinaia, Brasov, Sibiu, and Sighisoara are still waiting for their big tourism boom. They embody the essence of that charming medieval village experience you're envisioning. They're all yours to enjoy…that is until everyone else discovers them.
3. Você tentou conversar com moradores locais apenas para sentir que sua presença era um aborrecimento.
You know those travel stories where the author tells of an incredible experience of stumbling into an untouched village or finding a secluded beach where locals just happened to be having the perfect bonfire cookout? Of course, the author is invited to join and ends up with an unforgettable experience and lifelong friends.
Have you wondered why this never happens to you? Why is it the only interactions you've had with locals is when they're selling you on coming into their restaurant or pushing past as you attempt to navigate a city's metro system? It's a sign you need to visit Romania.
Como você se sentiria se um morador local dissesse isso para você?
"Por favor, volte e visite. Diga à sua família e amigos para visitarem a Roménia. Diga-lhes que é lindo. Diga-lhes que somos simpáticos e que não é a selva."
Você não se lembraria sempre de uma experiência como essa?
(Translated from Romanian) "The wheel painted on the side of the church (above) shows all the stages of life. Be sure to go inside. A man is coming soon to unlock the front door." The woman is in her house but chatting with us from her window. She speaks no English but talks to me as if I understand Romanian.
Eu pergunto e o guia traduz: “Posso tirar sua foto?” Ela sorri e diz (em romeno) que outra pessoa já pediu para tirar uma foto dela também, e então diz rapidamente: "Minha foto será na América", enquanto ela ajusta a cobertura da cabeça.
Você consegue imaginar não apenas ser cumprimentado, mas recebido com um misto de carinho e curiosidade?
"Are you from Spain?" "No, I'm from New York, the United States." "The U.S! Almost no one visits us from there! How do you like Romania!?"
4. Você realmente esperava ver aldeias intocadas e um estilo de vida autêntico, não apenas aquela aldeia usada para mostrar aos visitantes.
Are you searching for green rolling hills around you and tall mountain peaks in the distance? Would you like to cycle or hike through forests still home to wildlife and fields of yellow and purple wildflowers? Maybe you're the kind of person who smiles when you pass endless fields of sunflowers, traditional handmade haystacks, people traveling by horse and carriage, and herds of sheep munching on green meadows. It's a sign you need to visit Romania.
Give up the country roads with their speeding Ford and Audi rental cars. Forget the time you got knocked off your bike by a gust of wind trailing a tour bus. Instead, cycle undisturbed along dirt roads, past apple orchards, and into quiet villages. Visit Romania and come across a painted monastery where a priest in traditional garb is sweeping the steps while a man nearby uses a scythe to chop down tall grasses.
5. You want to experience a place where the country's past is still palpable.
Em Bucareste, os sinais de uma cidade marcada, mas resiliente, são visíveis desde o centro da cidade até suas bordas. Vitrinas pintadas com grafite ficam em frente a espaços verdes ao ar livre cheios de arte de rua e pessoas desfrutando de uma bebida. A Cidade Velha pulsa novamente com bares e restaurantes que lembram qualquer cidade europeia, mas ainda com coragem suficiente para mantê-lo alerta. Passeie pelas ruas da cidade e você passará por jardins selvagens e cobertos de vegetação. Pare para afastar os arbustos e descubra mansões do século XIX exquisitamente detalhadas que persistem apesar da evidente decadência e contusões do passado turbulento de Bucareste.
Intrigued? It's a sign you need to visit Romania. See a mix of older and younger generations who've either lived through decades of communism and a brutal dictator or who've only ever known the post-communist years of freedom. Visit Romania to feel the tension between new and old, past and present. Most of all, visit Romania because it's genuine, full of character, and not yet whitewashed with the stamp of westernization.
