Welcome to Dorin and
Maria PARASCHIV's Guest House

Updated 02.05.2009

Dorin and Maria PARASCHIV  Guest House Starchiojd, Romania - Ecotourism in Romania - Travel in Romania - green holidays in Romania - hiking, biking stays - Your Holidays in Romania in a rural setting !

Why visit Romania?

To visit a country, it is necessary to have good reasons. Here are some reasons to go away on holiday in Romania. Romania is a beautiful country, and probably one of the last of Europe where one still finds a traditional country civilization. One moves with the cart. One mows the fields with the hand. One will seek water to the well. Houses and churches are built out of wood and the decorative elements carved with a charming grace. The folklore still keeps in Romania an unquestionable authenticity. The monastic life is very alive: one counts more than two hundred monasteries and or hermitages.

Explore the delta of the Danube, since Tulcea. A maze of channels and forests easily flooded, where live a preserved fauna. Most attractive strolls are proposed by the fishermen. Very hospitable, they will also make you taste with the local gastronomy.

Go in excursion in the Apuseni mounts. These mountains offer idyllic landscapes to you. The spectacle continues under ground, with the caves of Scarisoara or the underground lakes of Cetatile Ponorului.

Visit the monasteries of Bucovine, which are nested between the hills of Eastern Carpathians. True mural bibles, their walls are covered with frescos, inside as with the outside. Convents with their mural frescos date from the 16th century. Throughout the citadels of all kinds and all periods, the picturesque villages at the flowered houses, you will meet with cordial people which has kept his folklore and his traditions.

An amalgam of nations and languages: Rumanian, Hungarian, German, Ukrainian, Turkish.

An alarming past: Roman Dacie, Ottoman Valachie and Moldavie, Russian Bessarabia, Transylvania and Bucovina of Habsbourgs.

A diversity of imposing landscapes: Carpates mountains, the plateau of Transylvania, plains and the extended areas of Valachie.

Fauna is abundant, especially in Carpates and the delta of the Danube. Carpathians shelter wild boars, wolves, lynxes, foxes, bears, chamois, deers, squirrels, badgers and polecats. The delta of the Danube is famous for the extreme variety of its fauna (sturgeons, eels, migratory birds). One finds there in particular the largest colony of pelicans of Europe.

To follow the traces of Dracula, from Sighisoara to Bran (Vlad Tepes, known as the "Empaleur", hero of resistance to the Turks, has inspired Irish Bram Stocker, novelist and inventor of the mythical vampire). Straight from the Middle Ages, the city has been the birthplace of Vlad the "Empaleur", at the origin of the legend. The castle of Bran, fixed on hillside, would have been used to him as den.

Alpine stations, which some are internationally known, offer unforgettable stays. Let us quote Borsa and Vatra Dornei in the north, Slanicul Moldovei, Borsec and Sovata in the center of the country, Poiana Brasov, Predeal, Sinaia, Busteni, Caciulata and Calimanesti in the south, Semenic and Baile Herculane in the south-west, Stina de Vale in the north-west. Those, and so much of others, are part of a rich tourist network, equipped with hotel establishments of quality.

Fortresses and castles (in Risnov, Bran, Hunedoara, Sinaia, Suceava, Neamt, Alba Iulia, Sighisoara, Histria and elsewhere) form an open book of history. It is advisable to also mention the cities, whose monuments attest a long history, the museums, fairs, botanical gardens, the natural reserves and the many touristic villages.

Let us note the opinion of some travel guides, that we recommend for the organization of your stay in Romania:

Joyfully human, sensual and excessive, but too often ignored, Romania is beautiful of its complexity. Its tormented geography shelters natural environments of an exceptional exuberance. At the crossroads of the invasions and empires which wrote the history of Eastern Europe, the Rumanian people knew to maintain an original identity and to cohabit with a whole range of cultures whose one hardly knows equivalent elsewhere. Romania is before all a ground of intelligence and old civilization, which testifies its inheritance. It is time to walk without reserve in this generous, convivial and inexhaustible country.
Guides Bleus Evasion, Edition Hachette
It is with amazement that one discovers the very diverse landscapes of Romania, the mountainous tops of the littoral of the Black Sea where the paradise of the birds of the delta of the Danube offers single images in Europe. Practically all the areas offer to equal shares beauties nature, vestiges and historic buildings, treasures of culture and art, thermal spas, villages where the folklore remains long-lived. For the traveller of French language, the cordial reception of the Rumanians, French-speaking and hospitable people, is a pledge of successful stay.
Le Guide de la Roumanie, La Manufacture