Beyond the postcard.

The old Saxon basin around Brașov — fortified churches, beech forests, and a mountain wall at the southern edge.

Sibiu, Sighișoara, and the seven Saxon villages between them — a quiet, fortified, slow-travel landscape.

The western mountains — caves, ice, scattered hillside farms, and a quieter kind of Transylvania.

The wooden-church north — tall shingled spires, hand-carved gates, and a graveyard that laughs at death.

The painted-monastery north-east — Voroneț blue on exterior walls that survived 500 winters.

Europe’s largest wetland — pelicans, fishing villages, and 4,000 km² of channels you can only see by boat.

The capital — Belle Époque arcades, Communist megalomania, and the best coffee scene in the country.

Corvin Castle, Roman ruins, and a country where dwarf dinosaurs once lived.