At look back at Euro Free Europe: A trip to Romania

“On 1st January 2007, nearly two decades after the fall of communism, Romania joined the EU. With foreign investment and a developing economy most of the country rapidly transformed from one of Europe’s poor relations into a modern, cosmopolitan country.

Isolated by the snow-capped Carpathian Mountains, rural Maramures is not easy to reach. The Romans gave up, so did the invading Turks as they made their way through the Balkans to Hungary. As a result traditions survived here that disappeared in other parts of the country.

Travellers come here for a glimpse of how life has been lived for centuries; horses and carts out number cars on the road, traditional farming methods mean many villages are entirely self-sufficient and with a stone sense of local community the region is, as yet, largely unaffected by the EU.

Visiting is like stepping back in time.”

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