Croatia or Transylvania: Which is more culturally "Balkan"?

[robertb]

Romania is an interesting country and I've read a few history books about it. Seems a very beautiful country I would like to visit. I prefer rural places over cities except if they have good museums. Probably because I've always been a small town rural guy.

I would also love to see all the different churches. I stay out of discussions about who should own what because Europe has changed borders to often to keep up with.

[dviz]

Romania is an interesting country and I've read a few history books about it. Seems a very beautiful country I would like to visit. I prefer rural places over cities except if they have good museums. Probably because I've always been a small town rural guy.

I would also love to see all the different churches. I stay out of discussions about who should own what because Europe has changed borders to often to keep up with.

Romania has many styles of churches, and some of these styles are original.

I like the wooden churches of Maramures - they have an odd, insect-like appearance.
It's interesting that illiterate peasants were able to construct such structurally intricate buildings, and pass down this knowledge orally.

[Scar95]

No they aren't.

Which are then?
The Szekely counties are among the poorest in Romania, there are 0 investments in Harghita and Covasna..except Tirgu Mures(which cannot be compared to Brasov, Sibiu and other big transilvanian cities) everything else is a village.
Probably 99% of the tourists in Transilvania never visit the szekely parts.

[Jana]

Which are then?
The Szekely counties are among the poorest in Romania, there are 0 investments in Harghita and Covasna..except Tirgu Mures(which cannot be compared to Brasov, Sibiu and other big transilvanian cities) everything else is a village.
Probably 99% of the tourists in Transilvania never visit the szekely parts.

Pretty sure you are Romanian.

Yes they are poor today, but they are notably more orderly and cleaner than average Romanian villages in Transyvania. Szekely towns has gilds and crafts since middle ages, when ancestors of Romanians dwellt in Carpathians.
Szekely Land is poor because it refuses to integrate into Romania fully, obviously.

[Dušan]

All areas where are Serb majority settlements are Balkans.

Also Croatian settlements in Dalmatian hinterland are culturally Balkans too.

[dviz]

Pretty sure you are Romanian.

Yes they are poor today, but they are notably more orderly and cleaner than average Romanian villages in Transyvania. Szekely towns has gilds and crafts since middle ages, when ancestors of Romanians dwellt in Carpathians.

Medieval Romanians had their own guilds, they were called "starostii".

[Scar95]

Pretty sure you are Romanian.

Yes they are poor today, but they are notably more orderly and cleaner than average Romanian villages in Transyvania. Szekely towns has gilds and crafts since middle ages, when ancestors of Romanians dwellt in Carpathians.
Szekely Land is poor because it refuses to integrate into Romania fully, obviously.

> Szekely Land is poor because it refuses to integrate into Romania fully, obviously.
This isn't true, there's no agenda from the Romanian government to keep them poor.
Szekely land is poor because there's nothing going on in there: 0 foreign investments, it's too badly positioned, southern Transilvania is getting all the tourists, the youth is leaving to Cluj or Bucharest etc... it's a dying place, same as most of the moldovian counties and many others.

[Jana]

All areas where are Serb majority settlements are Balkans.

Also Croatian settlements in Dalmatian hinterland are culturally Balkans too.

OP isn't asking about culture of Serbs in Croatia, we know it's very Balkan.

[Jana]

> Szekely Land is poor because it refuses to integrate into Romania fully, obviously.
This isn't true, there's no agenda from the Romanian government to keep them poor.
Szekely land is poor because there's nothing going on in there: 0 foreign investments, it's too badly positioned, southern Transilvania is getting all the tourists, the youth is leaving to Cluj or Bucharest etc... it's a dying place, same as most of the moldovian counties and many others.

Says Romanian emigrant in France.

[Jana]

Medieval Romanians had their own guilds, they were called "starostii".

Cool, I didn't know since I tought they weren't townsfolk.