ROMANIA

Calarasi County

Calarasi County is located in the South-East of Romania, on the lower terrace of the Danube River. On the south and the eastern side of the county appears the valley of Danube, which, on the eastern side splits into a number of branches forming islands, now drained.

Plains, meadows and ponds, crossed by Danube and Arges River, represent the landscape of the Calarasi.

Tourism industry in Calarasi is characterized by a relatively low intensity. The overall tourist accommodation capacity in Calarasi is low, with around 600 places available in 2012. The environmental quality of the county attracts tourists that visit the county especially for fishing and for natural unique landscapes:

  • Natural Reservation Ostrovul Soimu,
  • Natural Reservation Ciornuleasca Forest.

Cultural and historical architectural objectives:

  • Monastery Plataresti,
  • Gumeltnita Civilization Museum.

 

Giurgiu County

Giurgiu County is located in the southern part of Romania, in the historical region Muntenia in the middle course of the Danube River, as a part of the Romanian Plain. The landscape of the county is flat, crossed by small rivers and dominated by the valley of Danube, which forms the border with Bulgaria.

The accommodation infrastructure is organized mainly for business and transit tourists.

Counting around 800 available places for accommodation in 2008 and recording a slightly decrease in 2009 as an effect of the economic crisis, the Giurgiu county notes a growth in number of accommodation places after 2010 stimulated by the economic recovery.

Some of attractions developed recently in the county are dedicated to cultural and nature tourism:

  • Comana Natural Park Giurgiu Fortress,
  • Comana monastery,
  • Clock Tower from Giurgiu.

 

Teleorman County

Teleorman County lies on the south of Romania, in the historical region Muntenia, in the Romanian Plain. The southern limit of the County is represented by the Danube valley, which is very wide with ponds and small channels.

Transit tourism is predominant in the Teleorman, especially in the area of Zimnicea city.

On the other hand, cultural, historical and religious tourism is not very developed. Attraction points:

  • Medieval Fortress Turnul,
  • Zimnicea Archaeological Site,
  • History Museum of Teleorman County,
  • Dormition of the mother of god Church, Church “Sfanta Vineri si cuvioasa Paraschiva”.

The main point of interest for leisure tourism is the Danube River and its meadow, providing natural habitats in which hunting and fishing are the main touristic attractions

The accommodation capacity of Teleorman County is not significant. After a drop in 2008 (the economic crisis), the accommodation capacity started growing and maintained this upward trend in the following years.

 

Olt County

Olt County is situated in the south west of Romania, in the historical regions of Oltenia and Muntenia. The county lies on a flat area on the Western part of the Romanian Plain crossed by the Olt River, giving the county its name. The Olt County is part of the category of counties having an aperture on the Danube river and on the Black Sea through the Danubian Port Corabia

Besides the economical attractiveness of the county for new investments and for a business and an urban tourism, cruise tourism and leisure tourism are also specific to Olt County, but not yet well developed.

Historical, cultural or natural touristic objectives:

  • Museum of archaeology and ethnography Corabia,
  • Sucidava Fortress dating from century II – III B.C,
  • The ruins of royal court from Caracal,
  • The Brancoveanu Monastery built in XVI century

 

View from Corabia town, a small Danube port:

Dolj County

Dolj County is located in the Oltenia Region, in the south of Romania. Hilly areas, low land, rivers and lakes characterize the geographical environment of the county.

The main tourism form in the Dolj County is the business tourism that can be classified as MICE tourism (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions).

The leisure tourism is marginal.

Key touristic attractions:

  • Ornithological Reservation Ciuperceni – has been declared a natural reservation since 1971. On its territory over 140 bird’s species can be admired, some of them very rare: Black Stork, Little Egret, Gadwall, Coot, White Wagtail, Purple Heron.
  • Calafat art and ethnography Museum, which was built between 1906 and 1908, in French Neo-Baroque style with rococo accents.
  • Art Museum from Craiova built between 1900-1907 by the French architect Paul Gottereau
  • Metropolitan Church of Oltenia is the first Mitropoly in the Oltenia area from 1370. It was founded during the prince Vladislav I (1364 – 1377).

The accommodation capacity of the Dolj County has recorded a constant growth since 2008

 

Mehedinti County

Mehedinti County is situated in the Historic region Oltenia, Banat, in the southwest of Romania. The landscape of Mehedinti County comprises approximately in equal proportions all three types of landform characteristics of Romania: mountains, plateaus and plains.

Sunset on Danube, view near Drobeta Turnu-Severin city:

The tourism activity of the Mehedinti County includes different types of tourism: mountain tourism, hunting and fishing tourism, health tourism or cruise tourism over the Danube. In the last years agro tourism has been developed in the county to answer to a clear tourism demand. The main tourism form is the business tourism.

Drobeta-Turnu Severin and Orsova represent a pole for the business and cultural tourism due the important cultural and historical heritage of the cities and their surrounding areas.

Mehedinti Mountains and Danube River offers most of the counties natural attractions:

  • Natural Park “Iron Gates”, largest natural park in Romania. It is the area where Danube forms one of the most beautiful and biggest gorges in Europe. Numerous species of plants and animals, many of them very rare or endangered can be admired,
  • Ponoare Cave, part of the geomorphological Reservation Karst Complex Ponoare measuring 734 meters in length and housing at least 3 species of bats.

Cultural and historical attractions:

  • Ruins of Trajan’s Bridge, constructed in 105 AD by Apollodorus of Damascus, the first bridge built over the lower Danube; for more than 1000 years it was the longest arch bridge in both total and span length.
  • Medieval Fortress of Severin, built in 1233 over the ruins of Drobeta Fortress, placed in a military strategic location, considered in the Middle Ages the most important fortress of the region

 

Tourism accommodation capacity of Mehedinti County has recorded a positive evolution since 2008, with a noticeable growth in 2008-2009.

 

Winter view of Orsova city:

web source: http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orșova#mediaviewer/Fișier:Orszawa.jpg