Legendary Heroes of Romania

Although these are past rulers, from the 15th and 16th centuries, their grip upon the Romanian consciousness persists today, and when visiting the country's cities and towns, churches and monasteries, you will see their images in statues and stained glass, their names on street signs and school buildings, and you are likely to meet males of all ages whose parents gave them these names: Vlad, Stefan, Mihai.

During our first lunch in Bucharest, my travel-companions and I were advised that, if we wanted to understand Romania and its culture, we would need first to get familar with the history of Turkey and the Ottoman Empire, which repeatedly sought to annex lands of the Byzantine Empire, which included territory of today's Romania, and each of the rulers pictured above had to fend off military assaults by the Ottoman Turks.

                                      Vlad

                                      Stefan

                                      Mihai