Romania the Beautiful - Geography
90How Much is a Picture Worth?!
Let's Look at the Facts
With some imagination and a great sense of humor, some may say that Romania is the center of the Universe; maybe not quiet, but not far from it either.
GEOGRAPHIC POSITION
The 45th parallel, that marks an equal distance from the Equator to the North Pole, passes a few miles north of Bucharest the Capital of Romania. The country has an almost perfectly round shape and it is at an equal 2500 Km. (1560 miles) from the Urals Mountains – the extreme eastern European boundary – and the Atlantic Ocean – the extreme Western European boundary. See what I mean about Romania being the very center of Europe and as such the center of the Universe?
AREA
Covering an area of 238.500 square Km. (92.000 square miles) Romania is the 12th largest country of Europe – almost the same size as Italy and only slightly smaller than Germany, or (in order to accommodate the ones who have only a vague idea about their local geography) let’s say Romania is a little larger than Minnesota, but slightly smaller than Oregon. Got the picture?
BORDERS
To the west Romania borders Hungary, to the south Slovenia and Bulgaria, to the east the Black Sea and the Republic of Moldova (once part of Russia). The only natural border is the DanubeRiver to the south.
Romania’s territory is almost equally divided between the Carpathian Mountains (representing 1/3 of the country), the foothills and plateau (representing another 1/3) and plain fields (the remaining 1/3). That’s what I call symmetry and balance!
LANDSCAPE
The generous landscape offered Romania enough natural resources to be self-sufficient; 41% is made out of arable land (extremely fertile soil that gave Romania the nick-name as the granary of Europe and was the first thing that attracted the Roman Empire in their quest for more and better food sources). 29% of the territory represents forests (the primary source of raw timber another attractive riches for the Roman Empire), 21% of the area are pastures, ensuring support for a large variety of livestock, 5% vineyards that produce some of the most gold winning medals in world vine competitions and 3% of the territory is covered by orchards.
With a multitude of rivers and lakes, as well as an adequate amount of precipitation, (not to mention the irrigation system that the Romans have build during their 271 years of occupation), the country enjoys the many benefits that come with such blessings.
The DanubeRiver is the longest in Europe 2850 Km. or 1770 miles and its spring is in The Black Forest of Germany. The Danube goes through 10 European countries including 4 Capitals (Vienna-Austria, Bratislava – Slovenia, Budapest – Hungary and Belgrade – Serbia) and empties into the Black Sea forming the only Delta in Europe.
The river enters Romania at Turnu Severin and, at the Iron Gates an important hydroelectric Power Station was built by Romania and former Yugoslavia between 1964 and 1972 providing electricity for over 15% of the country’s needs. The Danube is a navigable river almost all through Europe and serves as transportation by ships at a reduced cost, facilitating commerce today just as it has done for centuries.
A special part of the Romanian landscape is the Danube Delta formed by the three river branches before emptying into the Black Sea. The Delta is a swampy area of marches, floating reeds islands and sandbanks, not only unique for its beauty, but also a source of riches (from fish – including wild surgeon known for its black caviar – to reeds used for cellulose) as well as a paradise for rare species of plants and animals, especially endangered migratory birds. The Danube Delta area is part of the UNESO World Heritage since 1991 and strict regulations of protection and conservation apply.
The Black Sea is a direct route to the Mediterranean and consequently to the Atlantic Ocean. The coastline is 244 Km or 153 miles and is one of the best known tourist attractions in Europe.
With fine and soft sand as well as safe sloping beaches the seashore attracts thousands of international and local tourists. Along the Black Sea coast there are about 8 modern resorts that offer international standard accommodations as well as therapeutic and rejuvenating treatment – Eforie North and Mamaia being probably the best known.
The city of Techirghiol is renowned for its mud rich in sulphur content and other natural organic ingredients. The beneficial effects of therapeutic mud are well known and have been appreciated for centuries.
CLIMATE
Romania has a temperate – continental climate that comes with the blessing of four seasons. Winter goes from mid November until end of March and the average temperature in January, considered the coldest month is between (2 and minus 8 C) or (38 and 26 F) with plenty of snow especially at higher altitudes.
Spring is often short, about 3-5 weeks of splendid weather and divine perfumes of trees in bloom. Summer begins early and lasts for about four months. The average temperature in July, considered the hottest month of the year, is between 25-28 C or 75-85 F. Obviously exceptions apply to both winter and summer temperatures.
The longest and most beautiful season is autumn which starts at the end of August and lasts until middle of November. The average temperature is between 16-22 C or 50-73 F. The altitude certainly influences the climate and generally Transylvania has a milder climate since is protected from all sides by the Carpathian Mountains.
NATURAL RESERVES
As mentioned before, Romania has exceptionally fertile soil and plenty of rivers, lakes and forests.
Natural springs of mineral and therapeutic waters have been part of the first attractions of the Roman Empire when they conquered Dacia (ancient name of the Romanian territory). Most importantly the territory was always known for its reserves of natural salt as well as gold and silver mines.
Aside from gold and silver, Romania also has mineral reserves as zinc, copper, titanium, lead chrome and gypsum.
It is important to know that 70% of energy used in Romania comes from its own resources; fossil fuels:
- oil reserves in the Arges and Prahova region of Walachia make up 25% of energy and Romania is the only country in Europe to have such riches.
- natural gas with high 98-99.5% methane content, usually extracted from Transylvania makes up 34.5% for the energy resources.
- coal deposits of rich anthracite and brown coal. Most of the mines are located in Oltenia (Valea Jiului) part of Walachia and Transylvania on the Meridian Carpathian Mountains and represent 23% of the energy resources.
Other sources of energy are; nuclear power 18%, hydro-energy 16%, solar and wind energy 5%
I probably got carried away with too many details (but could not let so much time consuming research go to waste).
Conclusion: Romania has always been and still is a rich country.
Why is it that its people are so poor by European standards?
I promise we will get there, so please come back and visit me again.
Danube Delta
by the Black Sea
Petra Vlah
- Romania - The Beautiful
I decided to write a series of hubs about Romania and present a general view about its history and culture in a world context. This is an ambitious project and will take several months to...
Romania the Beautiful - History
- Romania the Beautiful - History
Attempting to summarize the history of any country that has been around for more than 2000 years is an overwhelming challenge; trying to make it easy to understand is hard enough, while trying to making it...
- Transylvania, Dracula and Hollywood
Thanks to the love Hollywood has for high drama and cheep thrills, for many, Transylvania became synonymous with the land of the vampires. Some dont even know if it is a real place or just a legend that...
- Today's Transylvania - my cultural perspective
I was not born in the incredibly beautiful land of Transylvania, so my personal account is not motivated by regional pride or local patriotism. As it happens I know well this land blessed by God and loved...
CommentsLoading...
Thank you so much Paraglider,
I hope one of those days you will visit Romania. As for the slide show I have no idea how it works and my biggest regret is that I don't know how to link videos (especially for my up-coming hubs)
I hope you will be back to read more about Romania and that may give you just the right incentive to go see it
It seems Romania is prime to lead it's own way in the world without undue influence from outside her beautiful boaders:)!!
Miles and miles of grape vines, endless fields of sunflowers (into which we would run for an emergency pee stop), the parks of Bucharest in autumn with families taking their children for a day out and couples holding hands, kissing. Good memories :-)
Hello Mentalist,
Romania could certainly do it, but take a look at the last picture and come back to read the other hubs for explaniations
Hello my dear friend De Greek,
Happy to hear you have good memories as well about Romania - would have been impossible not to, since you are a fair man as we know :-)))
Thank you for reminding me about the sunflowers (will include a picture momentary).
Petra, thanks for sharing.
great hub and awesome pictures
regards Zsuzsy
Hi Zsuzsy,
Thank you for reading this hub. I only wish I knew how to use pictures the way most hubbers do - either between text, or as a slide show)
Wonderful hub with beautiful pictures, though I don't know that I'll ever feel quite the same about sunflower seeds again LOL.
The Black Sea looks so beautiful!
Hello SilverGenes,
I am so glad you made it to his hub. The Black Sea is indeed beautiful (a bit on the cold side), but great beaches and the resorts are out of this world - also a lot of fun during the '70 with plenty of night clubs and great shows.
From what I hear is not that inexpensive anymore, but in the '70 is was the summer destination of Italians, Germans and all of the Scandinavian countries, as well as Poland and Cechoslovachia
How nice to have a closer look at beautiful Romania tonight. I enjoyed your details! We currently have friends here from Bucharest for their daughter's wedding...the couple will be living in Japan :) In this day and time it is easier to see what a small world we actually do have! Looking forward to your perspective on the conditions that Romanian people live in today.
Hi Petra
every place, every photograph is a real picture of a beautiful country,minerals remind me about my own country where you find from coal to gold and iron ore to diamonds besides uranium,copper,mica and what not.But that is another story,Romania is a real beauty..Thank you for sharing.
Petra,
I am ashamed to say that I knew very little about Romania. Thank you for your hub which shows how beautiful it is and that it has so much to offer. The vineyards remind me of my own home - California. Maybe one day we will get to Romania but this has enticed me to learn more. I will also make an effort to try some Romanian wine! :-)
Hello my dear friend RT,
Happy to see you again and glad to hear you have Romanian friends over. My very best wishes to the newly married couple for a healthy, happy and prosperous life. As we say in Romanian "Casa de piatra".
I will be writing 10-12 hubs about Romania and I hope to have you back to read some more. Enjoy your friends and please give my best to all.
Hi Suny,
Thank you for reading. I believe it will be a great idea if you and others would write about their own country so more people can learn. I for one would be very interested in such a project.
Hello M Sevey,
Happy to see you made it to my site. When I visited the Napa Valley - my son went to Sonoma State University - I thought I was back in Romania; same beauty, same climate, same good vine.
I hope you will be back to read some more about Romania I will be writing a serie of about 10-12 hubs
Thanks for this wonderful hub. I have never been to Romania, but at least now I have a mental picture of this beautiful country.
Hello Pop,
I hope to cook for you a typical Romanian breakfast one day; real simple, just Turkish coffee and cigarettes:-)))
Well, now I'll have to go there one of these days !Interesting hub, and very well written. Cheers ! :)
Hi, this is a really detailed hub and very enjoyable, I think that the climate is very similar to England, apart from the autumn where Romania is a little bit hotter, I look forward to reading some more about it, I didn't realised that it had such a lovely coast line. Nell
Hi Tantrum
I am sure you will like Romania, especially because most of the Jasons and Hannibals are not to be found there and "muddy people" are bussy attracting traffic and tail after others somewhere else :-)))
Hi Nell,
The Black Sea coast is beautiful, but in terms of climate, the temperatures may be in the same range, but we have a lot of sunny days and not even close as much rain as England.
I hope you will come back and read the rest of the hubs about Romania
Aloha Petra; I only recently found out my father was Romanian and now I find your bub with so much information by way of Nell Rose, another Huber that I follow. I am so happy to have fund you, now I can read about my father's country from someone who knows it first hand through life experiences and holds it dear to heart. Thank you for writing these hubs. ~Aloha~
Aloha Sa'ge,
we say "noroc" which means "good luck" and is the Romanian way of saying "aloha" or "cheers". I am so glad you stopped by and I plan on writing a series of hubs about Romania, so I hope to have you over again soon
Just beautiful to "travel" through your beloved homeland with you, Petra. I truly enjoyed the journey and will return to enjoy it some more! Thank you!!
My dear Nellieanna,
I wish I could take you there myself and show you around the real thing rather than just photographs of beautiful places.
Great history lesson and beautiful pictures, Thank you
Cheers
Thank you for a wonderful hub. I am adding Romania to my list of destinations. Great pictures.
Hi, Petra, I just had to come back to say about the weather, it is a bit of a myth about the English weather, because we tend to have two parts to England where the weather is concerned. up north it does seem to be quite rainy throughout the year, but down here in the south, we have less rain than so many other countries, for example this year I can't seem to remember the last time it rained, even in the winter it was quite dry, and this summer has been very hot. I think it is because we are nearer to France and Europe, so while they get soaked all the time up north, we seem to be soaking up the sun! lol I am glad we live down south. thanks nell
Hello always,
Thank you for reading this hub and I am glad you liked the pictures
Hi Sylvie,
Glad to hear you plan to visit Romania one day. It is even better than the pictures.
Hello again Nell,
The weather has changed so much allover the world that all of us are confused. I am glad you are living in a sunny climate; it beats rain and cold every day of the week :-)))
Good to know there are no Muddy People down there ! LOL
You better believe it, Tantrum
or at least not the same ones we know and "love" to death - LOLx2, right?
Thank you. As always, Petra, you make the subject come alive. I never knew that Romania had oil. I cant wait until you write on the history of this fascinating country.
Thanks for the introduction to Romania. One day I hope to visit your beautiful country during autumn. Looking forward to more of your hubs on this rich and beautiful country.
Hello Christopher,
Always a pleasure to have you around. Romania still has some land oil and discovered more in the Brack Sea territorial waters.
I am working on the history hub - a lot more difficult to select only the most relevant data. If all goes well I should be done by next week. Thank you for your interest and loyal friendship
Hello jasonycc,
Happy to have you visit my site. I am glad to hear that you may want to visit Romania and the autumn is indeed the best time of the year.
I loved your hubs about the proverbs and quotes from China's wisdom and I would be very interested to read more about China (from history to everyday life) if you decide to write about it.
Hi'a Petra.What a beautiful country Romania is.I regret that I visited places all around your"center of the universe"but somehow missed it.Your writing skills and photo layouts really shine in this hub.Thanks
Dean
Hi Dean,
How can you miss the "center" of the Universe? Now you have to go back, ignore every other country around, ask for political refugee status and make sure everything I said about Romania is just so.
Nice article I enjoyed reading it. Never knew Romania had so much to offer.
Hello Coolmon
Happy to have you visit my site and thank you for reading. I hope you will be coming back to read some other hubs I will be writing about Romania.
I have visited Romania twice (the real me, not Lord Gaga) in my former life as a documentary film-maker, and liked the country and its people very much. Bucharest was terribly run-down when I was there in the 1990s, but one could see the potential for a "Paris of the East". I was also made very welcome in Tirgu Mures, Galati, by miners in Tirgu Jiu, and the farmers near Constanta.
Hello Lord,
Happy to hear you visited Romania and liked it. At the beginning of the '90 many places were run-down unfortunately (and I will write about this as well in another hub), however things got back to normal soon and today Bucharest is once again a beautiful city.
As I can see you went from one end to the other and probably saw a lot - good, bad and in between - but as you say Romanian people are nice and hospitable.
I enjoyed reading every one of the details you provided, and look forward to reading more.
Thank you Sheila,
I was afraid too many details could be boring and it is king of hard to bring excitment to statistics, but I am trying :-)))
This is really nice. You've painted a beautiful picture with words and you have beautiful pictures! Just another wonderful Petra hub!
Hello Micky,
Great to see you again and thank you for being such a loyal fan
Noroc, Petra, on your series of Romanian hubs. If the rest of your hubs are as interesting and colorful as this one, you will not lack for readers and comments. Promise.
Note: You asked about linking your beautiful photos as a slide show.
Hai sa traiesti drbj,
Yes I asked about linking the photos as a slide show, but nobody so far gave me a suggestion how to do it. Would you be the one to help me out?
Hi, Petra. It's me again. Didn't mean to "keep you on tenterhooks" - another quirky idiom for your collection meaning "in suspense" - but my computer for some insane reason of its own refused to let me finish my above comment.
When you get to the page where you can edit your new or old hub, there is a box at the top a few lines below the title (on the right) which you can check to indicate you want a slide show of your photos and it will magically happen for you. Let me know if you have any difficulty.
Thank you drbj,
It seems that only three of my many pictures are big enough for the slideshow, so I guess that takes care of it...
What a fun and adventurous journey you took me on. I enjoyed the photos and your descriptive scenes of your beloved country. It's wealth of beauty in abundance. I look forward to my next visit:0) Great work Petra.
Thank you so much Ken,
My next hub of the series "Romania the Beutiful" will be about history and I would be very happy to have you over again.
hello Petra,
you have written this hub in such a nice and interesting manner.I would like to read you other 8 booksmif you mention there name.are they on internet? can i download them easily? well ! Keep writing and keep smiling
Hello niddz,
Thanky for visiting my site and I am glad you will be part of the readers I intend to take with me in a journy through Romania. The other hubs will be posted (one by one) in the coming months, so pleasee come back and visit me again.
The photographs you posted made me home-sick. It is tough having two countries as home, on two different continents. I miss Romania.
Thank you Mr. Happy,
I know what you mean; having 2 countries (and in the end none ?!) is tough, but we do the best we can - living with memories and trying to adapt to a new reality (not always close to our heart)
I miss Romania as well, but I am not sure I fit anymore into what was once my homeland; in many ways I feel suspended between two world, two cultures and two life styles. I guess life as an immigrant is never easy.
Hi Petra - after you were so kind as to stop by my hub, I had to come check yours out as well! Fascinating hub on Romania. The Danube is quite lovely but I love the pictures of the beaches! Amazing virtual trip you gave me to Romania and environs. It is amazing what you can learn right from your computer. What a small country with so many wonderful riches. Is the weather humid? It sounds like it is my kind of weather although I don't think my company would let me work at home from Romania! You never know though in the world we live in these days. Great hub!
Hello akirchner,
Glad you made it over to Romania:-))) Compeared to California the weather is on the humid side, but nothing too drastic, just enough to give us great skin:-))) - see how we turn everything around to our benefit?
I am writing a whole series of hubs about Romania, so please come back and visit us again
This is a fabulous hub on Romania and I wonder why the people are not at par with other Europeons when natural wealth is abundant!!
We in India have probably migrated from the Romanian areas or their surroundings and thus always share a special affinity for the region!!
I am a minerals man, I mean thats what I do for my bread and butter!! I would be interested to know about Romania's deposit of Iron, Aluminium and Manganese ore because inspite of your gold and silver mines, its these three ores that gives richness to a country!! Do let me know!!
Romania is unparalled in terms of natural beauty and its only logical that tourist influx is high there to sip in the beauty!!
Hope Romania grows to become a leading country in the World!!
Cheers!!
Hello dreamreachout,
I am glad you read this hub and found it interesting. Romania is rich and beautiful, but a tormented history (the subject of my next hub) prevented its people from reaching their full potential and meet the living standards of other European countries.
I am not an expert on minerals and so I can't help you much with your specific interest, but I suppose you can find more information on the internet. Romanians have already made major contributions to the world heritage in terms of science and esspecially art - which is the subject of a coming soon hub. I hope you will visit me again and learn more about Romania; in the meantime I thank you for your interest.
What a beautiful country and your Hub is delightful. Thanks for a wonderful introduction to a country I know unfortunately little about.
Love and peace
Tony
Thank you Tony,
It is always a pleasure having you around. I am writing an entire series about "Romania the Beautiful" and my next hub is about history. I would love for you to come back and read more.
Wow, I was totally ignorant about Romania. I was picturing a desolate, rocky, craggy landscape, not these beautiful beaches, forests, farms, and marshlands. I'm looking forward to reading the next hub about Romania from you now. Thanks!
Hello Kiwi91
WOW is right! Romania is a rich and beautiful country, but unfortunately many people don’t even know is in Europe, not to mention the ones who still believe that the capital is Budapest (???!!!).
It is precisely because of this that I decided to write a series of hubs about Romania, hoping more people would decide to look it up on the internet and learn more about it.
What a great totally informational hub! My corner of the world in the state of Oregon, USA has the 45th parallel running through it too. I live about an hour south ;-)
Have always wanted to visit Romania - you make it sound (and look) especially fascinating!
Hi Stephanie,
Thank you for "visiting" Romania on my site and I hope, one day, you will make it to the real country, especially because you like travel so much (just read your great hub about the European Islands and loved it).
just a wonderfully beautiful hub so full of information. You did such a wonderful job. Thank you so much for all this work you are doing so we can learn about Romania. I so appreciate this series that you are doing. :D
aloha
Sa'ge dear,
This is the hub that started the fire and my fight with the Hub Pages Team. My next hub will start much more of a fire since it is about the way communism affected Romania. Will be interesting to see the reaction, especially because the vast majority of people is misinformed while having very strong opinions.
Great hub with beautiful pictures. i didn't know that Romania is a beautiful country.
Hi Katrina,
Now, you know:-)) Hope you will be back to read more about Romania
Great synopsis of Romania's geography. I think you forgot to mention, however, under the 'borders' section, that Romania borders Ukraine to its north.
Hello again jv,
You are right and now Ukraine does border Romania to the north; however, at the time I went to school (long ago:-))), it was part of Russia, so I guess I should update my geogrphy knowledge and I will
Great work. I love those fields and villages. The Black Sea alone is like a little paradise. With such a climate, people tend to be more relaxed and enjoy their life.
During the Communist years, it was very uncommon for a Soviet international tourist (a rare bird to begin with) to go to Romania for leisure due to the complications with Ceausescu's regime. As a result, the country seemed closed to the world, meaning the principal stop for lucky Soviet vacationers was the farther Slanchev Briag rather than Constanta.
I've always wanted to go Transylvania to inhale the cool air of the Carpathians and stroll through its forested hills.
Paraglider Level 5 Commenter 22 months ago
I enjoyed this hub. I've been to many nearby countries but never Romania. The Danube is a special river. (It would be nice if you enabled the slide show, to see some of these pics a bit bigger).