Hello, I am Caroline Juler and this website is dedicated to my (entirely prejudiced) views of Romania. It contains information about some of the places I’ve seen on my travels, projects which I’m interested and research that I’m carrying out there.
In 1996 I lived in Romania for five months while researching the Blue Guide. In 2006 I wrote the National Geographic Traveler guide. My other book about Romania is a personal travel story called Searching for Sarmizegetusa.
This website is far from perfect and several of the pages are under construction or ‘resting’ while I find the time to carry on with them.
If you want to read more, please scroll down. Otherwise, click on the Romania menu or simply leave now!
Home About Romania menu Contact Links
My passion for this beautiful, slightly battered country was fired in 1993 when I went to AnnArt, a festival of performance art held in the mountains of eastern Transylvania. Tormented by a hornet’s nest of emotional and political contradictions, I had ‘crossed the divide’ which still separates western from eastern Europe in search of some kind of salvation, stability, fulfilment and peace. Like so many other English-speaking visitors I was drawn to the much-publicised romance of Transylvania but hardly realised it. In spite of many difficulties, not the least of which were the struggles of Romanians themselves to find their own balance after catastrophic changes in their lives (from communism to EU membership via revolution/coup and the shift from a centrally-organised economy when everyone had a job to a market-driven economy where the gap between rich and poor is much wider), I found the experience immensely valuable. One of the reasons I like Romanians is because of their sense of humour. Some might call their attitude to life superficial, but I prefer to see it as a wonderful capacity for optimism, and I love their ability to make fun of misfortune - facând haz de necaz. Another benefit of getting to know Romania a bit better than the average holiday-maker has been the chance to make a great many friends and occasionally a different way of looking at the same problems. Because of that - and my promises to write books - I have returned to Romania every year. You may ask why I don’t live permanently in Romania. The answer is that so far, I’ve lacked the courage to make that commitment, but, who knows it still might happen!
There are also pages about my favourite people and places. Finally, although I have led one or two tours in Romania and wanted to establish walking holidays there, this site is not primarily designed as a tourist guide, and I can’t take responsibility for the dissatisfaction you may feel if you go there.
