We stayed overnight in Căciulata, a small town north of Râmnicu Vâlcea. The river Olt runs through both towns, and the area is well maintained and clean. Căciulata is very small; there really was nothing to see, so we went back to Râmnicu Vâlcea, the city that received the questionable award of having the worst traffic on our entire trip—there was a traffic jam along the main road every time we drove anywhere.
I walked around the city centre and found a giant plaza with an equally giant Romanian flag. Just up the stairs from it was a giant vase sculpture with real flowers in the baskets pretending to be flowers. It was funny and actually quite cool. A park with its sculpture of Mircea the Elder (Mircea cel batrân) is attached to a church, well frequented and nice. I kept walking and saw another sculpture at the top of a cascading water feature. It was noticeable everywhere that the city loves its flowers: tulips in all colours were planted throughout the city and street medians. It was simultaneously lovely and somehow… lacking something; the city is trying hard to be nice, but it’s missing charm and character.
Next, I visited the “village museum” (Muzeul Satului Valcean) at the northern edge of the city, where almost 50 old houses in the regional style are gathered in a typical village setting. There is a school house, an inn, a wood church, houses from poor to rich and from different time periods, even an outdoor stage. Many of the houses were open, and I could take a peek inside to see how people used to live in them. Lots of green spaces and flowers in between made it a lovely outing in the spring sun, very peaceful. This was the best part of Râmnicu Vâlcea for me personally.
This was the last stop on our tour through Romania, and after more than two weeks of travel, we were both glad to get back to Bucharest, which felt like coming back “home.” At this point, I just wanted to enjoy a few weeks at one place.
Interesting! The old school house for example reminds me of colonialism in the caribbean!
C
You have done well to keep touring this long, sounds like you need a holiday 🙂