Looking out from the balcony at Bran Castle.

Bran Castle was built on the border between Transylvania and Wallachia to oversee the trade route. It was later given to Queen Marie of the united Romania. Since the time of Ceaucescu Bran has been linked with Vlad Tepes (Vlad Draculea), but it is unlikely that Vlad ever visited here.

The 'People's Palace'

One of the largest buildings in the world, the 'People's Palace' was designed by Ceaucescu as a sign of his importance. Part of it is currently used by the Romanian parliament, but as Ceaucescu insisted on building extra floors for which the foundations had not been designed, it is possible that an earthquake may one day cause this gigantic folly to collapse.

The Carpathian mountains

A river in the Retezat National Park

Crai with hat

Romania contains about forty percent of Europe's large carnivores. Crai is a semi-tame wolf owned by the Carpathian Large Carnivore Project. As such, he is one of the most photographed wolves in the world, along with his sister Poiana. Like most canines, they love to find new toys...

On a typical main road

Much of Romania still functions in a way we might think of as medieval. Most families own a cow and grow their own fruit and vegetables, and farming is still conducted on a family basis in ways that have not changed in centuries. And the major form of transport, of course, is still the horse and cart.

A waterfall seen from a river gorge

The muddy volcanoes

On the lower side of the Carpathians, natural gas bubbles up through clay, producing a moonscape of bubbling mud pools. These have a consistency not unlike that of quicksand, but we're not talking about that...