Sun-splashed beaches, four-star resorts, Greek colonial ruins and rows of all-night discotheques. Pothole-ridden roads, nauseating breakfast buffets and busy intersections without traffic lights.
The Spanish Costa del Sol it is not, but Romania’s Black Sea beach towns do offer a chance to catch some relatively inexpensive sun and sea while also exploring the often contradictory subtleties that distinguish this former Eastern bloc state.
Romania’s a country pounding its collective chest after joining its far wealthier western neighbors in the European Union earlier this year while simultaneously struggling to overcome its often justified reputation as a haven for corruption, graft and all-around dodgy behavior.
18:38 August 17, 2010