During the three hour trip our guide shared loads of information about her country Romania. The minimum wage level was just increased to euro 650 per month. The cost of a communist style flat is around €250 a month. Their tax rate is 25% for the social security tax, 10% for medical and 10% flat tax. Which leaves very little for folks making minimum wage.
Romanians also talked about how during communist times every family had only the same basic house goods available to them. So everyone had the same silverware, plates, cups and furniture. There was not any individualism.
Education can be either public or private. Public begins at Kindergarten level for 3-6 year olds and with the public the only cost is for food. The private school at that age is €1000 a month. Throughout grade school public downside is the larger class size of 25-30 students. Public universities are preferred because those are students that are successful in school, because they have to be to continue. Those in private school pay to stay and may not be as successful in the job market.
In 2004 Romania became part of NATO and in 2007 part of the European union. They do not take the euro because they do not meet the requirements.
During the Communist era farmers had their lands taken away and they basically became tenant farmers. Then after they did get their land back, but no equipment. They struggled because they did not want to take out loans and their children wanted to move to other countries to farm. This caused them to sell their lands to other countries, the largest buyer was the Saudi Emirates who now own most of the farm lands in Romania. Their major crops are wheat, corn, sunflowers and rapeseed or canola.
We arrived at Constanta and our Viking Ship. It felt good to unpack and get settled for our 15 day journey up the Danube. We took a short tour of the town here. It has a population of about 300,000 and is the second largest town in Romania. The old town has several churches and one mosque. Like most areas of Romania, they have almost finished buildings and buildings that have not been touched for many, many years. The Catholic church was not very old, but it was a look out point during WWII. There was a ceremony of some sort going on in the Russian Orthodox church. This is a recording from part of that service. This is palm Sunday, their church calendar is different than our church calendar.
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