Romania - Castles and Monasteries

The guy next to me on my plane ride back from Europe spent 6 weeks in Romania, seeing castles and monasteries. At the time I didn't think much of it, except that he spent a ton of time in Romania. Now that I'm looking at places I might want to see, I checked out Romania. What I found is that there are a ton of castles and monasteries, some of them famous. Wiki has a list of over 200 castles. I found info about several monasteries. Romania actually looks like it would be a really cool country to see. I'm going to highlight some of the places I found interesting.

Bran Castle: This castle is commonly called Dracula's Castle. It was built by the Teutonic Knights in the 13th Century. Now it's a museum and national landmark. Even though this castle looks cool and has a place in literature and culture, we don't need to go to the middle of nowhere to see it. It's located near Braşov. Braşov is a city with over a quarter million people. There's a huge section, which is called Old Braşov. This area has nice Romanian architecture and several churches. It looks like we'd be able to stay here, and make a brief trip to see Bran Castle.

Bucharest: The capital city of Romania. There is a lot to see here. The Palace of Parlement is probably the most prominent landmark. There's also the Arcul de Triumf, the Radu Vodă Orthodox Monastery, Stavropoleos Church, the Romanian Athenaeum, and much more.

The Palace of Culture: Located in Iaşi, the cultural center of Romania. This palace is one of the largest buildings in Romania and contains four museums.

Curtea de Argeş Cathedral: Not sure why, but this is supposedly one of the most famous buildings in Romania.

Peleş Castle: Just wanted to mention it. It's a large castle near Sinaia.

Putna Monastery: This Romanian Orthodox monastery was built by Stephan the Great to give thanks to God for his war victories. It became the most important religious site of Romania soon after it was constructed.