Out and about in ..... Romania

A few months back I was lucky enough to visit Romania, not quite knowing what a former soviet block country looks like these days. 

I was pleasantly surprised and I believe that the country’s second most famous citizen, Mr Vlad the Impaler, formerly of a remote hilltop address in Transylvania, would be quite impressed with what the locals have done with the place since he’s been undead. Possibly The Impaler would be a wee bit miffed by the way he has been demonised by rotten foreigners and immortalised by the chattering classes down in the valleys below.  But this should hardly be a surprise to someone who did so little to cultivate a respectable public image while he was alive. 

Recently FOR SALE: 

Mountain retreat for sulky count who wanted to get away from it all

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/luxury-homes/10817139/Buy-a-stake-in-Draculas-castle.html

What is unclear is what Mr Vlad would have made of Romania’s first most famous citizen, Mr Ceausescu, and his life's work; the ‘People’s Palace’, which effortlessly dwarfs the castles of mere Impalers everywhere. By volume this is the second largest building on the planet, larger than the greatest pyramid at Giza, second only to the Pentagon. 

NOT FOR SALE

City palace by sulky dictator who wanted to get away with it all

No doubt Mr Vlad would approve the fact that (due to Mr Ceausescu's paranoia about being poisoned via air conditioning) the entire palace is naturally ventilated, with heating provided by small, conventional, hot water radiators which are hopelessly under-designed for the sheer volume of the building.  This renders the entire building as cold as a crypt except during the height of mid summer. 

In reality the palace was a national treasure one step too far; it’s construction cost equalled 40% of Romania’s paltry GPD from ‘83 to ‘89.  Absolutely no expense was spared in pursuit of luxury for its construction, justified by the fact that all materials were sourced from Romania. Final costs are believed to be of the order of Euro3bn  but the human suffering behind this largess will probably never be known.

The good news is that Romania has finally moved out from the dark shadow of this unfortunate era. The people and the food are wonderful. Bucharest is vibant, the countryside is beautiful and, contrary to expectations, the country has not fallen into the hands of pious Romanian bible thumpers. One suspects that they have all safely migrated to western Europe now that Romania has been fully integrated into the European Union.