“Eastern Europe is what we are” – this is how a citizen of the USSR could confidently say some 20 years ago. Times have changed, but this statement is still not far from the truth: Eastern Europe includes Russia proper, Ukraine and Belarus, and also, depending on the speaker’s pan-Slavic views, Moldavia, Bulgaria and Romania. Actually, this division is even more conditional than the division of the rainbow into seven colors: sometimes this term is understood as the countries of the former socialist camp (which means that the Czech Republic, Slovakia, as well as the once constituent parts of Yugoslavia – now six Balkan republics), sometimes go deep into history even further, including here parts of Austria, Hungary, etc.
Be that as it may, one thing is indisputable: Eastern Europe is the closest geographically and spiritually to Russia part of the Old World, which, although not on the list of the most popular destinations for outbound tourism, has its devoted army of fans. It would not be an exaggeration to say that only a lazy and principled supporter of “real” foreign tourism did not bother to visit the resorts of Crimea. Well, although Belarus does not have a gentle sea and wide beaches, it can offer a real eco-vacation in the green Central Russian expanses: centuries-old oak forests, a delicious abundance of mushrooms and berries, a variety of game and wild “hunting” animals, lakes, nature reserves, healing mud and mineral waters… in general, there is a complete “gentleman’s set” of a tourist destination.
Eastern Europe is the closest geographically and spiritually to Russia part of the Old World, which, although not on the list of the most popular destinations for outbound tourism, has its own dedicated army of fans.
For those who want to “break away” from Russian reality a little more radically and at the same time not go too far to the west, we advise you to pay attention to our distant Eastern European neighbors. In Moldova, for example, in addition to all kinds of eco-baits (dales and villages, forests and fields…) there is also a very specific result of this very ecosystem – wine, cognac and champagne wines. It is not surprising that the tours “under the degree” here fly away simply “with a bang”: a lot of wine roads pass through the country, and everyone will be able to choose their own path – literally and figuratively – based on the level of physical and moral fitness. In addition, lovers of national history should definitely get here: you won’t find such a number of Jewish and Gypsy memorial sites on the entire planet!
The objects of tourist interest in Bulgaria are Golden Sands (as well as the lesser-known resorts of the Black Sea coast), which have become a byword, plus a remarkable number of mineral springs and other deposits of natural healing “appliances”. Don’t forget to grab the well-known bottle of rose oil from the Valley of the Roses. Romania, in addition to the above (beaches, balneology, ecotourism), offers tourists a gloomy but attractive Middle Ages: Transylvania and the castle of the notorious Count Dracula, fortified churches and monasteries and entire ancient cities, as if descended from a medieval engraving.
Among the pleasant “chips” of tourist Eastern Europe are a trifling flight (no more than 2 hours in the air), familiar climate, lack of a language barrier and a completely native, benevolent population. Among other things, it is easy to come to the nearest Eastern European countries by simply driving your own car!
According to Countryaah, Eastern Europe has the following countries:
- Belarus
- Bulgaria
- Moldova
- Russia
- Romania
- Ukraine
