On the subject of Romania (Jan 1st 2014 the invasion that never happened) I would recommend the following as my personal favourite holiday destinations:- The Bucegi Mountain range - in particular the route past Sinaia and Peles to the gorgeous old town of Brasov; superb mountain scenery as well as castles to visit - take the cable car to the top as there is plenty of very cold snow even in the height of Summer. Then on to Bran for the start of the Count Vlad 'Dracula' hype, great fun if a bit OTT. Sighisoara is a superb mediaeval town, worth a visit as is Sibui and much of the West. To the East try Iasi, we were lucky on our last visit as it was an Orthodox festival and all the ancient churches were open for the day.
GDP growth in Romania is better than the UK, and like much of Eastern Europe it is developing into a power house of economic growth. One day many will regret denigrating Eastern Europe, as we will look to them as potential export markets, and they might well remember how badly they were treated by our outrageous popular media and unreasonable politicians.
Though to be honest my favourite country to visit remains Slovakia, especially the Spis Region, and Mala Fatra mountains. Kia now build their cars there (near Zilina); and we risk losing our car industry to other countries should we choose to isolate ourselves from the biggest single market in the world.
The Buuk region of Hungary runs a close second to Slovakia for natural beauty for me - Eger for History & Castle - on to Silvasvarad for a great day out with the family, or try the little trains that run through Lillafured - then North to the Border and the cave regions of Agetelek and on to the Southern Slovakian cave regions - try the underground boat trip in the Domica cave system.
The best of Poland I think is the South East - Kazimierz Dolny for a trad tourist stop-off on the Vistula, via Lublin if you can for pure history, but pay your remembrances at the Madjanek concentration camp before you leave (and hopefully understand why the post-war generation established the 3 pillars of European prosperity, security and personal freedom - The EU, NATO and the Council of Europe). To the East you start getting the forests and open plains that lead to the Ukraine & Belarus. We really liked Zamosz, with its amazing star layout, but for Jewish History try the Jewish Museums in Vlodova - beauty and sadness combined. The road from Zamosz to Vlodova can be used to divert to the site of the Sobibor Concentration Camp, another reminder of why we must work and stay together as a Continent and not disintegrate back to Nationalism - Sobibor is famous for being the location of largest escape from any Nazi prison camp, when 600 prisoners escaped, of which only 150 made it to freedom.
The Estonian northern coast is stunning, especially the light and the beaches. Our main base was Lahemaa National Park, from which you can drive East to the Russian border at Narva in a matter of hours, picking up sites en route.
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