County Prahova

Pop Prahova!

Prahova is the people's choice, by far the most popular county amongst Romanians for their summer AND winter fun!

Whether it is royal castles, great skiing or simply sumptuous views on the trail hiking to some very great heights, County Prahova is a treasure-trove of charming views and some world-class resorts too.

The County of Cultured Choice

Romanians themselves often forget how many of their national heroes chose the cosy foothills of Prahova to spend their latter years.  Their beautiful country houses happily preserved to this day for your enjoyment. 

Imbued with wisdom from their world travels and stunning careers, the shining lights of Romania chose Prahova for their country homes and lives in their golden years.  

The names march on, each attached to their own corner of the county, from top artists Grigorescu and Tonitza, to political lights Iorga and Hasdeu, and other cultural icons like Petrescu, Stănescu, Constantinescu, Bogza, and Bolliac amongst others.   See our sections on Câmpina, Breaza, Ploieşti and Vălenii de Munte below for the locations and opening hours of these great country homes, all with guides speaking English!

Driving By Ploieşti?

Most Romanians sort of skip by Ploieşti on their ways to the mountains, most using the highway bypass.   But for the tourist with some time, this capital city of County Prahova holds a few surprises.

A bit of well-timed nationalist fervour between the two world wars saw rebuilding (after the Germans had routed the town in the first world war), and new museums spring up across the country, including a great art museum in Ploieşti. 

Not mentioning oil in Ploieşti is like not mentioning oil in Houston, although for the tourist, other than the sort of interesting Oil Musuem, all things petroleum is not central to enjoying the town.

This page contains a Romanian Hero!
Click here to read about Grigorescu, a hero of Romanian art!Famous sons in the arts, composer Paul Constantinescu and poet Nichita Stănescu both have commemorative museums set up in their names worth a visit, as are the Oil Museum, the Clock Museum, Natural Sciences Museum, Aquarium, and a surprisingly excellent Art Museum, stuffed full of all the Grigorescu and Tonitza you could want, along with extensive 19th and 20th century collections.

But, if you're not the museum type, keep reading in our To Do section below!

Ploieşti Fun Activities, Oil Museum, Maps, Lodging, Agents, History

All Finished with the Ploieşti Museums?

Yes, well, once you are full of culture and education from the Aquarium, Oil and Gas Museum, and the nearby archeological site at Târgşor, maybe it's time to get out into the countryside!

Whilst Ploieşti actually is quite well placed strategically for frequent forays into the countryside, whether it's Târgovişte to the west, Sinaia and the Bucegi mountains to the north, or even the fascinating Ciucaş mountains to the north-east.

The Prahova River Valley

Almost 90% of the traffic between Ploieşti and Braşov runs up the verdant and dramatic Prahova River Valley

The main road, the Drum National 1 (DN1), bypasses Ploieşti and flows through the foothills through Câmpina and Breaza to the resort towns of Sinaia, Buşteni and Azuga along the stunning Bucegi Mountains.

On the Doftana River Valley

This protected little gem where nature meets lasting old Prahovan village cultures includes a great little lake, sleepy little guesthouses and a feel like you're in rural Vermont or the Lakes district.

The Telega Resort is a mini-spa facility about half way up the mountain valley just in the foothills, as you travel north-east from Câmpina.   The Beautiful Doftana River Valley and well-paved road windws it's way past village and a lake, culminating high in the Gârbova ranges of the Carpathian mountains.

The Teleajen River Valley

The other less touristy route to Transilvania (the DN1A), winds lazily through the charming Teleajăn River Valleys and equally charming little towns.

Vălenii de Munte in many ways is the capital town of the foothill villages, with some deeply charming back streets and fun little museums and festivals.  

Nearby Slănic is a well-respected resort town, the largest spa centre in County Prahova.   And at the head of the valley is little Cheia and the Ciucaş Mountains.

Ploieşti

Not Just an Oil Town!

Much like Houston in Texas, Ploieşti is a town of hidden treasures which lift the cultural, architectural and natural profile of the town well beyond that of "just an oil town".

Similar to Houston, Ploieşti benefits from being on major trade routes, and has developed as a strong cultural, scientific and educational center.

With several rather unique museums (see below), artistic isnstitutions and monuments, Ploieşti has a some good restaurants and hotels, and makes a reasonable base if you are sampling the Prahovan foothills and mountains.    Benefitting from being a bit closer than Bucureşti, you can spend a day in Sinaia, Buşteni, Cheia or even Târgovişte and return to Ploieşti ready for the next day's exploration.

Ploieşti Attractions

Take quick look around Ploieşti and you'll realise it's a town a cut above most across the country.  Inscribed with "The Constution and the Electoral Law", and "Defenders of Public Liberty",  the Romanian Statue of Liberty was inaugurated soon after the Turks were fought back in 1878.

Today, Ploieşti's Statue of Liberty is worth a few photos -- certainly an ironic monument for visitors from New York at least!  Also in town is the County Aquarium, the Art Museum, and the "Paul Constantinescu" Memorial Museum commemorates the life and the music of Ploieşti's most famous composer.  

The citizens of Ploieşti are also proud of their poet son Nichita Stănescu, dedicating a festival, library, high school, and memorial house to their shining light of local literature.

The Nichita Stănescu Memorial House, where the poet was born, was first nationalised under the communists, then sold, and the Memorial Society run by his surviving relatives managed to get it back again in 1998 and transferred to the local county administration.  See more on this great museum here!

Art, Science, Clocks and Oil!

The Ploieşti Art Museum is beautifully adorned with balconies, stucco friezes around the windows, French-style chimneys, with decorative motifs in wrought iron on the building and matching the gates.

The main collection offers a nice sampling of the European genres, styles and influences on Romanian painting over the previous two centuries. Almost none of the important painters are missing from this collection, which generally spans the early 19th century to the latest works of the 20th century.  Check out the details here of this great gallery.

Assembled at the Ploieşti Clock Museum are clocks from some of Romania’s shining literary, artistic, royal and political life. 

Clocks once owned by Constantin Brâncoveanu and Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza are on display, along with several other notable luminaries.  Music boxes round out the almost-like-a-clock collection, along with other similarly precise mechanical devices, such as a symphonion, pianola, and mechanical pianos.  Check out a description of the collection here on our Ploieşti Guide.

If you don't stop in the National Oil Museum, at least remember that Romania had the world's first oil well, oil refinery and provided oil to light the streets of Bucharest, the first European capital to have street lighting of any kind!

(Readers have pointed out that Timişoara followed about 20 years later with electric street lighting, thanks to Mihai of Vadul Nou in Bucharest's southern quarters)

The building itself is listed as a historic monument, with the collection growing from 800 artefacts in 1961 to over 8,000 by 1994.   The museum preserves documents, photography and items from the early days of oil discovery and refinery in Romania, including geological displays on ore deposits, the petrochemical refining process, and how the oil came to light the streets of Bucharest, the first petrol-lit city in 1859 on the planet.   Check out more info on the National Oil Museum Here!

The very well done History and Archaeology museum covers where the Romanian people came from, and how they developed, starting with the Gaeto-Dacian people.

Recent additions to the museum include a very well done section (opened in 1997) on Romania's legendary Michael the Brave (Mihai Viteazul), including documents associating the town with the famous leader.  There are also sports displays, and coins collection and medals collection, and a collection of local  rocks in the colourful Lapidarium. 

Old Târgşor was the home to the Princes of Wallachia, and today is a famous archaeological site southwest of Ploieşti. 

The 17ha site really has something for everyone, with the site offering insights to life in mediaeval Romania.   Read more here.

Ploieşti Fun Activities, Oil Museum, Maps, Lodging, Agents, History

The Prahova River Valley

The Biggest and the Best!

Home to the resort towns of Royal Sinaia, Big Little Buşteni, Azuga, and capped by Predeal at the pass, the Prahova River Valley is the best known and most-travelled, the long valley being the main historic route to Braşov.

Located along the western-most margin of the county and the fabulous Bucegi Natural Park, the Prahova River Valley is the route for the main N1 highway between Bucharest and Braşov over the pass in Transilvania to the north.

Check out our sections in this County Prahova guide below for the main Prahova River towns of Câmpina and Breaza closer to Ploieşti, and then up the river to Sinaia, the Bucegi Mountains, Buşteni and Azuga.   See our County Braşov guide for information on Predeal.

Buşteni

Big Little Buşteni!

Buşteni is the first stop for Romania's burgeoning middle class, with accommodation across all levels of comfort, and great access to skiing, the gondolas, great hiking and the great outdoors!

With an altitude of at the lovely fin-de-siecle train station, Buşteni is just a trail-hop, brook-skip or a ski-jump away from your mountain sport of choice, be it hiking, fishing, or skiing. 

All activities centre on the spectacular views, and at Buşteni, the wallet can also enjoy some rather good bargains, getting far fewer of the price-plumping international jet-setters seen in Sinaia.

That Cross on the Hill

The memorial cross is un-missable, and towers high over Buşteni at to commemorate the lives sacrificed as the Kingdom of Romania was overrun by German, Austrian, Turkish, and Bulgarian troops in WWI.Read More about the Heroes' Cross and Romania's Queen Marie

Proud Romanian troops had amassed at Buşteni before staging their "liberation" of Transilvania to the north in 1916, only to be savagely driven back when the German army joined the Austrians to push the Romanians back down past Buşteni, eventually capturing Bucharest and 80% of Romania.

A Mountain Town's Treasures

Even if you are bound for the slopes, eager for the mountains, and have visions of grand panoramas in your head, most of the interesting spots around Buşteni are probably near your accommodation!

If you're driving up in your own car or with your Romanian driver-translator, or coming into Buşteni on one of the frequent and excellent train services between Bucharest and Braşov, you'll find the fairly large and grand Buşteni train station a good base for your Buşteni explorations.  

Just across from the Train Station is the Last Grenade Monument to the WWI hero Corporal Vasile Musat.  The inauguration ceremony was auspiced by her Serene Majesty, Queen Marie (who almost married her English cousin King George, but that is another story), who brought her court to underscore the solemnity of the dedication.  Read more on the monument here.

Local Attractions

The thoroughly charming house of the famed writer Cezar Petrescu, is a memorial to the man and his works, over 45 years of writing as a jounalist and author.

There are actually quite a few often-missed treasures in Buşteni to keep you entertained on those rainy days when hitting the trails doesn't appeal.   There is the interesting Cantacuzino Castle, built in 1910 for Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino in his twilight years, where the former two-time prime minister lived until 1913. 

Or take in the Royal Church at Buşteni, founded by Queen Elizabeth and King Carol sports a diverse architecture and interiors.  Massive oak furnishings were installed under direction of Italian craftsmen, with the stunning iconostasis crafted in Vienna.   Most of the alter artwork was done by Agnes Exner, who was responsible for the same wondrous work at the Sinaia Monastery.   Read more on the Royal Church here in our Buşteni section.

  Tired of all the Romanian culture and Royal castles down in Sinaia?  Check out La Maison Franco-Roumaine (MFR) in the little town of Moissy-Cramavel in France (about south-east of Paris) paired with it's Romanian sister in Buşteni, the Casa Româno-Franceza (CRF) in 1996.  The centre also graces the Buşteni township with it's Armonia youth choir, and makes it's halls available to the community for use.   Read more about the centre here!

Trails in the Prahova Valley

On our main Buşteni page, we've included a few of the more popular day and half-day hikes which don't actually go up into the Bucegi mountains much.  See our Bucegi Natural Park guide for some great trails leaving Buşteni.

Also included on our Buşteni page are three good walks -- the very popular Wailing Falls trail, taking about 150 minutes to get there and back, then the trail down the Prahova River valley to Sinaia (but going on the eastern mountain side), and the Zamora Saddle and Peak trail, which goes up the opposite side of the valley from the Bucegi massif in the west.

The Popular Path to Wailing Falls

The trail leading south-west from Buşteni leads up into the foothills to Wailing Falls (Cascada Urlătoare) at . Taking a little over one hour for most, this accessible trail is open during the entire year.  

This is a favourite and well-known walk, frequented by school groups and tourists alike, this gentle walk through the low woodlands follows the trail to the south and towards the escarpment (see Map) to the waterfall, well worth a few good photos.   About a third of the way down, another trail takes off (marked with ) up to the southwest up "The Stairs" to Burnt Rock (Piatra Arsă). 

Read more about the Wailing Falls Trail and the Prahova Valley Trails in our Buşteni Guide now. 

Buşteni Fun Activities, Heroes' Cross, Maps, Lodging, Agents, History

Sinaia

Sizzling Sinaia!

The Royal buzz is hard to miss in this winter ski resort and summer wonderland, full of jetsetters from Germany and the UK, flocking to the the Royal Domain with it's castles and chateaux.

Whilst not as popular as Buşteni with Romania's own burgeoning middle class, Sinaia is the closest full-service mountain resort to Bucharest.  Just two hours away by car or train with frequent services in all classes.   Read more in the Sinaia Transportation section.

 Reserves and Preserves

 Sinaia’s reason for being is surely the stunning surrounds as gateway to the Prahova valley. 

As home to Romania’s Royal residence for over a century, Sinaia has always had strict laws to maintain it’s beauty, with the felling of trees or even picking the tempting flowers, from peonies, and Edelweiss to the golden gentian, are long forbidden.   

The Bucegi National Park

In addition to tracts of dense fir and spruce forest, Sinaia is blessed with the spectacular Bucegi Natural Park, which surrounds the valley on the western side, covering a total area of   

Golden Peak (Vârful cu Dor), the Ant (Furnica), and Burnt Rock (Piatra Arsă) all feature prominently on the mountain skyline.   Read about the Bucegi National Park here

 Between Two WorldsRead more in our Sinaia Geography section

Sinaia is situated in the Prahova river valley which climbs up into the Carpathians which form the border between Wallachia and Transilvania.

Just past the Wallachian foothills and well into the Bucegi mountains, Sinaia has long been on the main trade route coming out of Braşov down to Bucharest and the rich alluvial plains below. 

Sinaia Fun Activities, Royal Peleş, Maps, Lodging, Agents, History

Bucegi

Our special section on the beautiful Bucegi Natural Park let's you understand why this is Romania's premier natural wonderland, very much akin to a Yosemite or Cradle Mountain National park in America or Australia.

With the largest cliff system in Europe, indeed the Bucegi mountains constitute the crowning glory of County Prahova!   Check out our Special Guide to this stunning area with the links below:

The Bucegi Mountains Great Outdoor Itineraries, Protected Reserves, Park Maps, Mammals, Hiking Trails, Flowers, and Super Skiing!

CâmpinA

Câmpina has been a way-station and agrarian community for over 500 years (since 1503), sited fortuitously on  the main route between the wide Romanian plains below and  the mountain communities in Transylvania up the Prahova River valley. 

The Câmpina Customs House was operating on the trade route to Transvilania in 1593, and soon thereafter the location became a permanent market town in 1663.  

By the late 1700s, the Austrian roadbuilding corps improved the road coming down from Transilvania, further bolstering Câmpina’s utility and importance as the first major border town coming down the new road to Wallachia.   

So key was this town on the trade route, that a customs house was built in 1888. The towns fortunes boomed somewhat when oil was discovered, and wellheads and a refinery sprung up, giving Europe it’s largest petroleum refinery in 1895.

But oil is hardly the reason most tourists will flock to Câmpina.  It's the Grigorescu House and the Hasdeu Temple which make a stop-off in Câmpina a worthwhile way to pick up on some true cultural gems!

The Choice of the Illuminati

The poet Cezar Bolliac took up his post as artist in residence for the local lord Ion Campineanu, and in 1836 described the beauty of the township, which was instrumental in bringing more artist types to the town.  

The intellectuals and artists tended to flock to Câmpina through the late 19th and early 20th centuries, seeing the illustrious Mr. Hasdeu move in, along with Nicolae Grigorescu.  

George Cosbuc could not resist the charms of the place, and Romanian writers and artists Dimitrie Bolintineanu, I. Heliade Radulescu, Constantin Istrati, Eugen Jebeleanu, and the decidedly naughty left-wing poet and journalist Geo Bogza found Câmpina quite suitable to his interbellum shenanigans.   

Câmpina today has a great little cultural centre dedicated to Bogza; do check by there or at the mayor's office for details on the current shows and events, which take place around the year.

The Grigorescu House and Museum

Your first impression of this great old house is the dominating series of wooden verandahs stretching all the way round the first floor (second floor for Americans), making it a prime example of the Romanian country home.

The cozy interior will hit you with it’s warmth in the entry hall, which extends through the house with wooden staircases other charming touches. Even if you’re not that interested in one of the world’s foremost Impressionist artist, the house alone will harken the gentle country life of decades past.

Grigorescu actually collected some great pieces in Istanbul, and these are on display in a very professional manner, along with several other surprisingly well done museum displays portraying the artists life and some of his favourite objects collected through his years.

To the left of the main hall you can see a truly fascinating insight into the artists thinking and work, with an unfinished composition in strong 19th century academy style, with the other half being hardly sketched in.

In the living room you can see the ghosts of the famous visitors who graced the Grigorescu country house, including other artists, journalists, politicians and theorists. A reasonably furnished library includes great works in Greek and Latin, as well as reams of French textbooks and literature the artist collected during his long sojourns in Paris.

But it’s the artist’s own studio (atelier) which keeps the crowds coming back. In a well-lit and lively space, you get the sense that the artist has just stepped out of the room as his unfinished piece "The Spring" sits on the easel.

 Take in some of his other great works here too, from his self-portrait, to the Barbizon Sunset, "Pastorita stând", "Ciobanas cu turma", "Care cu boi trecând un vad" and others. 

In all, the whole house is a showcase of how deep and rich Romanian culture was in the late 1800s, from the beautiful tapestries and furniture to the pleasingly clever architecture. Put aside a few hours to stop in Câmpina and take in this national treasure. You’ll have a much better understanding of what Kingdomn of Romania was like at the turn of last century, and a great life to your own spirits too!

Open Daily Except Mondays, 9am – 5pm (10am – 6pm summers)

Romanian Artist, World Artist

Nicolae Grigorescu died here at Câmpina in 1907, and left behind him a stunning lifetime of remarkable and significant artwork which is both uniquely Romanian and a giant amongst late 19th Century art in general.

Born the next county over in 1838, Grigorescu painted monasteries all around Romania – a fitting and poignant beginning for a man who would come to embody the ethos and soul of Romania through his effusive and joyful works.

In his later years, Grigorescu must have had the curious perspective of nearly a whole life as he went to see work down the road at Băicoi, done over fifty years before when he was just fifteen in 1853.

After Băicoi, the developing artist moved on to do the Căldăruşani monastery east of Ploieşti, and then at Zamfira and Agapia, where the future Romanian prime minister and foreign minister under King Carol I, Mihail Kogălniceanu made his acquaintance.

Kogălniceanu, a Moldovean of letters with a near encyclopaedic knowledge managed to convince his compatriots in government to award a subsidy to to be able to go to Paris, where he blossomed during the birth of the Impressionist school. Grigorescu presented his works in Bucharest in 1870, and toured Europe with his increasing success.

His credentials as true Romanian patriot and painter were only bolstered as he went to paint on the front lines during the ouster of the Turks in the 1878 wars. He returned to Paris to develop his art until 1890, and then exhibited at the Athenaeum in Bucharest for the next 15 years.

The house you’ll see in Câmpina was built towards the turn of the 20th century, at which time the painter was already highly regarded by his compatriots and lovers of great Impressionist art alike.

166 Carol I Blvd, Daily Except Mondays, 9am - 5pm, +40 (244) 335 598

The Hasdeu Temple Castle Indeed one of the odder architectural monuments in Romaniaţ, it was nonetheless a treasure trove of Spiritualist lore of the early 20th century

The Hasdeu Temple Castle at Câmpina

This unique architectural gem in the foothills of the Carpathian mountains makes a stop in Câmpina well worthwhile if you can spare the extra hour or two en-route to your resort at Sinaia or Buşteni.

Built of stone, iron and wood, the high central tower is flanked by smaller rooks on each side. Inside, the main tower forms a large space used by the builder for his spiritualist ceremonies.

You enter through a curiously massive door made of stone, which pivots in the middle, rather than swings open, and is inscribed with the family coat of arms. Look up and you’ll see one of those eyes in a triangle with rays of light coming out, very much like on the American one-dollar banknote.

Hasdeu was greatly saddened by his daughter’s death in Paris, but cheered up considerably when she started to talk to him from the afterlife.

Her diabtribes on social mores, religious notes, and philosophy were dutifully transcribed and posted on the stone thrones in the main entry hall.

Get ready for a bit of fun-house atmosphere, perhaps unintended, but the hallway of mirrors is indeed like a carnival attraction, leading to the round central room. Hasdeu, in true Romanian fashion, decided to mix his spiritualism with the traditional Orthodox Christianity, so couldn’t resist adding a sculpture of Jesus, and fashioning the steps and column in the tower to represent the Holy Grail.

The whole Temple Castle really does point out how cheap labour really was in the 19th century. To build something like this from the ground-up today would be prohibitive cost-wise, and it would be hard to find workers to build the vaulted ceiling, the iron parapets, lattice work, and even the altar of Carrara marble.

More conventional rooms follow off the Temple, with a living room, parlour, dining room, study and bedroom all appropriately furnished. Do bring the camera for the various frescoes and carved marble panels. The Animal Room hosted séances, and some of Hasdeus manuscripts and weird ectoplasmic photography are on display as well.

In all, a fairly transfixing place which offers a truly significant insight into the Spritualist movement of the 19th Century, which in all, had quite a few adherants in society and government alike in those heady years of the Kingdom of Romania.

Hasdeu, Romanian Spiritualist

Câmpina was a manufactured haven for Hasdeu, who retreated there after years of moving from Bessarabia to Moldova to Wallachia, and a varied career as soldier, linguist, editor, and politician.

Romania, like many European nations, is surrounded by other countries where the languages can be quite different. This makes philology, the study of languages and cultures, a rather more European discipline. Tadeau Hasdeu was actually born in the far north of the Romanian speaking lands in what was then Russian Bessarabia, near Hotin.

Hasdeu was able to converse in over 6 languages, and could get along in about 25, making him one of the more accomplished philologists of any time.

After fighting in the Crimean War for his country (Russia), in 1857 he changed his name to Bogdan Petriceicu Hadeu and moved to Iaşi in Moldova to begin work as a librarian and high school teacher. Moving further south again 5 years later, Hasdeu continued his increasingly literary career in Bucharest, editing a periodical and then starting the Romanian Historical Archive, which rather cleverly combined Slavonic and Romanian language sources for a more complete compilation of Romanian history.

On Language and History

Hasdeu delved into Romanian history in ways which had not been analysed previously.

But his forays into the Romanian language proved a bit unstable in years later. His attempt to compile a comprehensive dictionary went off-track, and further off-track with a woefully nationalist stance on the origins of the Romanian language, which tried to almost comically downplay the influence and importance of Slavic words.

Hasdeu got caught up in the political skirmishes between the personal union of Moldova and Wallachia under A. I. Cuza, Wallachia’s Mihail Kogălniceanu, and the proposed ruler (Domnitor), the future King Carol I of Romania.

The Hasdeu family itself claimed to have been distant relatives of Ştefan Petriceicu, a Moldovan prince in the 1600s, after Stephen the Great (Ştefan cel Mare).  Hasdeu was briefly jailed during the Republic of Ploiesti debacle in 1870, but was released to eventually serve in Parliament with the Liberal Party.

His views were appreciated by the cognoscenti in Bucharest, and he found a post with the State Archives and as professor in the banner year for Romanian nationalism, 1878, when Romania invaded Dobrogea for the last time.

Ten years later, the sad news came from Paris – where his only child Julia (Iulia) had taken ill and died in her first year at Sorbonne university, after having attended the Sévigné secondary school. The tragic blow crushed Hasdeu, who sought comfort by searching for his sweet daughter in the afterworld. The Câmpina home is full of his spiritualist materials, including his 1892 theoretical work involving philosophy, history and spirtualism, Sig Cogito.  Hasdeu died at his Câmpina castle August 25, 1907.

199 Carol I Blvd, 9am - 5pm Except Mondays,  +40 (244) 335 599

„Pe acest loc în ziua de 13 septembrie 1913 s-au frânt aripile zburătorului Aurel Vlaicu din satul Binţinţi – Transilvania, în încercarea eroică de a trece cel dintâi în zbor Carpaţii înlănţuiţi, cu pasărea de fier făcută de mintea şi mâinile lui.”

The Aurel Vlaicu Memorial

Eh, the guy had true grit.  After countless early successes as one of Romania's and the world's aviation pioneers, the famous pilot came to an inglorious end at Câmpina.

Whilst attempting to gain altitude in preparation for his flight in 1913, up the Prahova Valley and over the Predeal Pass to the high Transilvanian plateau, aviator Aurel Vlaicu's ageing Vlaciu II model airplane was believed to have suffered a catastrophic structural failure, and crashed ignobly at Câmpina.

The memorial monument stands to this day in Băneşti with the inscription:  "On this location on the 13th day of September 1913, broke the wings of airman Aurel Vlaicu,  of Binţinţi village in Transilvania, in the heroic attempt to cross in flight the chain of the Carpathians, with the iron bird made of his mind and hands.

Elsewhere in Câmpina

Being more or less centrally located in Romania, yet closet to Bucharest, Câmpina is home to a detective school for the national police force.  

This is the only such academy for police agents in the country.   The population of about 35,000 also supports several trade-school level secondary schools which prepare the youth of Câmpina for careers in the petrochemical, forestry, and machinery fields, as well as the more arts and letters oriented Nicolae Grigorescu National College.

There is a little museum at the Saint Nicholas church dedicated to the abbot of the Slobozia hermitage, and the local residence called Vila Ştefănescu is also known as the House with Griffins (the mythical lion-eagle character), along with the Basic House for Children and Students (used by the communist era Young Pioneers organisation).   See the local mayor's office website for more photos and info in Romania.

Breaza

Foothill Town Charm!

Sweet and sleepy Breaza has a name which means “courage” in Romanian, and has a population of slightly fewer than 20,000 townspeople.  

You'll be struck by the charm of the place as your see the country cottages with their wooden carved verandas, neatly lined up along the town roads, and the gorgeous little Saint Nicholas church from the late 1770s, complete with the traditional murals and frescoes on the welcoming verandah.

The Breaza area was a little fiefdom in the 1600s and remained a little agrarian centre until it was declared a spa town in the 1930s.

The township includes a couple of small villages (Podu Vadului and Breaza de Sus) and the townsfolk subsist with farming, needlework, and jobs in other nearby towns.

Luckily for the smart tourist, many houses rent out rooms in the summer months, and Breaza is almost perfectly located between the museums at Ploieşti, the historical sights at Târgovişte, the royal palaces at Sinaia, and skiing and hiking in the Bucegi mountains. Breaza is also well located to get to Braşov within an easy driv