Bigar Waterfall in Caras-Severin was voted the number one waterfall by The World Geography. Romania was a source of inspiration for two very famous novels: “The Castle in the Carpathians” by Jules Verne, and “Dracula” by Bram Stoker.

The archetypal vampire Count Dracula, created by Bram Stoker, was inspired by the Romanian prince Vlad Tepes, also known as Vlad the Impaler, because he was fond of impaling his enemies and leaving them along the roads.

The city of Brasov is home to the largest Gothic church between Vienna, Austria and Istanbul, Turkey.

The tallest wooden church in the world, and the second tallest wooden structure in Europe, can be found in Sapanta Peri, Maramures, in northwestern Romania. It has a 23 feet tall cross that weighs 1,000 lbs, on top of the 257 feet tall church.

Transfagarasan mountain road or the national road 7C is one of the most spectacular roads in the world. It is 90 km (56 miles) long and the world’s best road trip according to Top Gear.

The Danube River flows 1,788 miles from its springs in Germany’s Black Forest into the Black Sea. Just before reaching the sea, it forms the second largest and best-preserved European deltas: 2,200 square miles of rivers, canals, marshes, tree-fringed lakes and reed islands.

The statue of the Dacian king Decebal, carved in the rocky bank of the Danube River, is the tallest rock sculpture in Europe (135 feet tall).

The Carpathian Mountains are home to one of the largest virgin forests in Europe. 400 unique species of mammals, including the Carpathian chamois, call the Carpathian Mountains home. 60% of European brown bear population lives in the Carpathian Mountains.

The Romanian Palace of Parliament in Bucharest is the second largest building in the world, next only to the Pentagon in the United States.

The Voronet Monastery in Moldavia is considered the Romanian counterpart of the Sistine Chapel.

Peles Castle was the first European castle entirely lit by electricity that was produced by the castle’s own plant. The castle’s central heating system, built in 1888, is still functional and in use today.

Timisoara became the first city in Europe to have electric street lighting in 1889.

The earliest Homo sapiens fossils, up to now, were discovered in 2002 in southwestern Romania, in the Cave of Bones. The fossil’s age is estimated at 37,800 to 42,000 years old.

Three clay slates, dated around 5300 BC, discovered in the village of Tartaria in central Romania, have been the subject to considerable controversy among archaeologists, some of whom claim that the symbols represent the earliest known form of writing in the world.

The Danube to Black Sea canal in southeast Romania is the world’s third longest manmade navigation route, after the Suez and the Panama Canals.
The Romanian inventor Traian Vuia was the first European to build and fly a fully self-propelled, fixed-wing ‘automobile airplane’ in March 18, 1906.

The modern jet engine was invented by the Bucharest-born inventor Henri Coanda in 1910.

Romania is the ninth largest wine producer in the world.