Since we are looking at the world from a trans-European viewpoint nowadays, it is fascinating to learn more about the history, both by looking around in the streets and recognising beautiful late 19th century buildings, Hungarian-Viennese style, watching the 'street of fame' (statues of important people of the last 2 centuries) in the park and by reading about it.
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| the Dacian king |
Ancient Romania was inhabited by Thracian tribes; from the 1st century BC there used to be a rich Dacian kingdom here with a lot of gold and treasures, which were all taken by the Romans when they invaded in 101-2 AD; the Romans mixed with the conquered tribes which led to a Daco-Roman people speaking Latin. And this is all to be seen on the Trajan's column in Rome!
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| Dacian Cote of Arms |
At that time in the Netherlands we didn't even have much of a civilisation yet...just moors. 
From the 4th till the 10th century waves of migrating peoples , Goths, Huns, Avars, Slavs, Bulgars and Magyars (Hungarians) swept across these territories each leaving their mark on local culture, language and gene pool.
From the 10th century the Magyars expanded into Transylvania, north and west of the Carpathian Mountains, and by the 13th century all of Transsylvania was an autonomous principality under the Hungarian crown.
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| St Stefan cel Mare |
In the 14th century prince Basarab 1 (r.1310-52) united various political formations in the region south of the Carpatians to create the first Romanian principality, Wallachia, dubbed Tara Romaneasca (Romanian Land) 
Stephan cel Mare. 
Throughout the 14th and 15th centurys, Wallachia and Moldavia offered strong resistance to the Ottoman's (Turkish) northward expansion. A legendary figure here was Stephan cel Mare, hence the main street called after him, his big statue there, and his figure on the 1 LEI banknote. After the Ottoman victory in Transsylvania in the 16th century, Wallachia and Moldavia also paid tribute to the Turks but maintained their autonomy. In 1683 the Turks were defeated at the gates of Vienna, in 1687 Transsylvania came under Habsburg rule.
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| Moldavian Cote of Arms |
The 17th century in Wallachia (south of the Carpaths)) was marked by the lengthy reign of Constantin Brancoveanu, a period of relative peace and prosperity, characterised by great cultural and artistic renaissance. In 1775 part of Moldavia's norhtern territory, Bucovina (where the painted monasteries are), was annexed by Austria-Hungary. This was followed by the loss of its eastern teritory - Bessarabia (most of which is present day Moldova) - to Russia.
Independance in 1877. While in the 19th century presentday Romania was ruthlessly "Magyarised" under a ruthless Austrian-Hungary rule, Wallachia and Moldavia prospered. In 1859, with French support, Alexandru Ioan Cuza was elected to the Thrones of Moldavia and Wallachia, creating a national state, United Romanian Principalities. With Russian assistance(! ) Romania declared independance of the Ottoman empire in 1877.
The warrior queen. "There is only one man in Romania and that is the Queen". that is how a french diplomat described Queen Marie ( 875-1938, granddaughter of Britains Queen Victoria). Despite widespread horror in Britain at her mismatch to a prince (Ferdinand 1) of a semi barbaric country, Marie developed a strong kinship with Romania. She ran a cholera hospital during the second Balkan war (1913) and set about reorganising apallingly makeshift hospitals in Iasi.
WW-I the defeat of Austria-hungary in 1918 paved the way for Greater Romania, ratified in 1920 under the Treaty of Trianon: Bessarabia, east of the river Prut (present Moldova), and since 1812 under Russian flag, was joined again; like wise Bucovina.
WW-II Not for long! Greater Romania collapsed in june 1940 in accordance with the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. The USSR re-occupied Bessarabia and called it the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. Bessarabia experienced terrifying Sovietisation, marked by the deportation of 300.000 Romanians to a.s. Siberia. In 1941 allied Romanian and German troops attacked the Soviet union. Bessarabia and Transdniestr fell into Romanian hands. Thousands of Bessarabian Jews were rounded up in labour camps in Transdniestr, from where they were deported to Auschwitz.
In august 1944 the Soviet army reoccupied Transdniestr and Bessarabia and continued where they had left off. Between 1949 and 1952 ( I was born in that time) almost 300.000 were deported to siberia and Kazakhstan. Streetnames were changed and Russian-style patronymics were included in people's names.
Independence, August 1991. Moldova declared its full independence.
Hence this huge freedom monument!
The hermitage is impressive - how have people been living here? No way to grwo food, so dependant on what others would have brought. And especially surviving in winter time seems a hard job, when it's cold and there is snow everywhere around! 
Underway we notice that in the villages people still get their water fom a well. Yes, hauling it wth a bucket, like they used to do in our fairytales and legends. There's a problem here, since there is a lot of arsenicum in the water, children (and adults!) suffer from braindamage. 
