piątek, 23 grudnia 2016

Connect-R

Connect-R is a musician well known in Romania, who was born June 9, 1982, in Bucharest. His real name is Ștefan Relu Mihalache and he has a gypsy origin. Ștefan began his career at the age of 8. Then he was a danser and a member of the dance group Primăvara which in romanian means spring. When he was 15 years old he bacame interested in hip-hop and for the first time he entered the recording studio to record his first song "Observ". In 1999 he released a new song named "Operație pe suflet deschis" which means "Open-soul surgery". In 2000 he colaborated, for the first time, with the band R.A.C.L.A. which was a big star in romanian show business. In 2006 he bacame the first rapper which took part in the Eurovision Song Contest as a representative of Moldova. He performed a song named "Loca" with Arsenie Todera who is well known from the fact that he was a part of a trio "O-Zone" which in 2004 released the most famous song of the summer "Dragostea din tei". This event opened the door to his further career and in 2007 Connect-R recorded his first album Dacă dragostea dispare (in english If the love dissapear). Three years later he founded his own record company named Rappin’ On Production. In 2012 he recorded a new album "From Nothing to Something''.


Today Connect-R is one of the most popular artist in Romania and his songs gain more and more attention not only in his country but also in Europe. Thanks to a fact that he records his songs not only in romanian but also in english he can be listened in different parts of the world. His latest song "Se poarta vara" ("It's wearing summer") was recorded with Nicole Cherry - the new young romanian artist. The song describes the warmest time of the year.


"Vara nu dorm" (I don't sleep in the summer time) is one of my favorite songs because this song I have heard when I have visited Romania for the first time. I participated in the summer course of the romanian language and one day our teacher gave us a piece of paper with the lyrics of the songs about summer. One of the songs was "vara nu dorm" performed by Connect-R. Since then I have started listening to his songs because all of them give me a possitive energy.


czwartek, 24 listopada 2016

3 interesting facts about Romania

Romania is a wonderful country but it is still little known among the turists. Today I have prepared 3 interesting facts which can help you learn more about this misterious country.

1. The smallest banknote of the world


The smallest banknote of the world was released in 1917 by the Ministry of Finance of Romania. It setted a world record as the smallest paper money. It is 2.75 cm long and 3.8 cm in height. The main colour is orange and green. On the obverse is presented a bust of Ferdinand I (King of Romania), and on the reverse the coat of arms of Romania (the golden eagle with a cross in its beak).

 2. Bears


Romania has the largest population of brown bears in Europe. In the Carpathians mountains live about 6.5 thousand of these kind of animals. It is the only country in Europe that didn't banned hunting.

 3.Vama Veche



Vama Veche is a small town located on the Black Sea, a few kilometers from the border with Bulgaria. It is considered as the place where there still are the last hippies beaches in Europe. It is to some extent a wild place where people organize the campfire and pitch a tents. There is also a lot of beaches where people do not need bathing suits :)


piątek, 4 listopada 2016

The most beautiful route in the world

The Transfăgărășan is a route located in Romania and it is considered as the most beautiful route in the world. It is the second highest road in Romania which whole length is about 151 kilometers.


This year in july I decided to check if the road is as wonderful as everyone says. During my trip in Romania the Transfăgărășan was the most important place to see. I got up early in the morning and after eating breakfast I started a journey with others companions of this trip. We have been driving for a long time when finally we got to the place. The view of the landscape was breathtaking! We spent a lot of our time on taking a photos and walking around just enjoying the view. The lake Vidaru located in the middle of this road is one of the atractions which we can find travelling this road. We can also admire an old castle Poienari which is considered as a castle in which lived Vlad the Impaler.
Here are some photos that I took during a summer day in that wonderful place.




I have even met a friendly dog which was living there. I have fed him with a traditional delicacy called covrig. I think the dog liked it :)

After taking photos and spending some time there we have drunk a white wine produced in this region and we have eat some traditional food. All this time we could admire the magnificence of this place. At the end of the tour I found out that this road was chosen the most wonderfull route by the famous british television series Top Gear.

poniedziałek, 24 października 2016

Palace of the Parliament


Today we are moving from the north of Romania to the south, right to the Bucharest -  the capital of this beautiful country. As we can see on the map Bucharest is situated on the south near bulgarian border.


This year during my trip to Romania in july I visited all of the most interesting cities in Romania and definitely Bucharest is one of them. At first I went to see Calea Victoriei  "Victory Avenue" the main avenue in the city and I walked around the market where I bought some souvenirs for my family and friends. On the way to the main atraction of this city I saw a lot of monuments and interesting buildings like The Palace of Justice or the Triumphal Arch. Despite the fact that in Bucharest is still a lot of the buildings created in communist period, there are also well developed zones.
From the beggining I couldn't wait to visit the second largest administrative building in the world  - the Palace of the Parliament. Only the Pentagon in United States is bigger so the Palace in Romania really makes a big impression.



When I finally entered I saw a big queue of turists and I have to wait about one hour to start visiting. During this time I bought a book which describes the history of the palace and contains a lot of photos taken in various rooms like the room of human rights or union room. I bought it because taking photos is not allowed for the tourists and if somebody wants to take a few photos he has to pay a large amount of money. I also bought a souvenir for myself. A bag with the image of famous Drakula "Vlad the Impaler" and his castle. During this trip I also saw the president of Romania - Klaus Iohannis.
Below one of the amazing rooms in the Palace of the Parliment

At night the Palace is even more impressive than during the day

poniedziałek, 17 października 2016

Merry Cemetery - the most famous cemetery in Europe

Cimitirul Vesel is the cemetery located in northern Romania in the village called  Săpânța in the region Maramureș. This county is famous for carved wooden gates and wooden churches. The culture and tradition have been preserved in this region of Romania. We can find here old villages and houses which still have a vibe of the past.  The map presented below shows the location of Maramureș on the map of  Romania.


This cemetery is located in the first place of the funerals monuments in Europe and on the second place in the world. It is not just an usual cemetery because we won’t feel the sad atmosphere as in the others places like this. Here we will find something completely different. The Merry Cemetery is well known for its colorful decorations on the tombstones. The colors and the originality are visible everywhere. Here the death it’s not a sad event but it is converted into a fun event. Below we can see typical gravestones in the Merry Cemetery.



The Merry Cemetery was created by Stan Ioan Pătraş – sculptor, painter and poet. The beginnings of this place is estimated circa half of the 30s. The creativity of the artist has become the art. For 50 years Stan Ioan Pătraş has created almost one hundred crosses of wood in his characteristic style. After his dead in 1977 the art was continued by his student - Dumitru Pop Tincu.
Below the grave of the founder of the Merry Cemetery


What is more on the crosses there is always a short life story of the dead person. Usually they have a form of the poem written in a humorous way.  Below we can read the example of the inscription on the one of the grave located in cemetery. It describes a short history written by son in law about his mother in law:  

Romanian
Sub această cruce grea
Zace biata soacră-mea
Trei zile de mai trăia
Zăceam eu și cetea ea.
Voi care treceți pă aici
Incercați să n-o treziți
Că acasă dacă vine
Iarăi cu gura pă mine
Da așa eu m-oi purta
Că-napoi n-a înturna
Stai aicea dragă soacră-mea

English
Under this heavy cross
Lies my poor mother in-law
Three more days should she have lived
I would lie, and she would read (this cross).
You, who here are passing by
Not to wake her up please try
Cause' if she comes back home
She'll criticise me more.
But I will surely behave
So she'll not return from grave.
Stay here, my dear mother in-law!


 *the inscription taken from wikipedia.org