Even a continent as thoroughly explored and examined as Europe has, if not secrets exactly, at least areas of tantalizing unfamiliarity. Romania is one of them.

The ghosts of the four decades the country spent behind the Iron Curtain are everywhere: in the halls of the vast Palace of the Parliament, built by dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, which dominates Bucharest; in westerly Timișoara, where the protests that sparked his fall started. Yet Bucharest, for all its Communist echoes, is today a vibrant, modern, riverside city. Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu and Brașov are elegant, steepled and spired. There is a darkness, of course – Dracula, or at least the fictional idea of him, looms over Transylvania, the Carpathian Mountains and the castle town of Bran. But there is also a great deal of light – notably the sunshine enjoyed at the many beachside resorts of the Black Sea coast.