The primary identifiable feature of Romania is their utility poles. These stand out for two reasons. Firstly, from the European countries, only Romania, Hungary and Poland have concrete utility poles with large holes in them (Romania has far more than these other two countries). Secondly, Romanian utility poles often have yellow marks on them (this extends to their other utility poles, not just the concrete ones with holes. Additionally, Hungary also occasionally has yellow marks on their hole-poles). Romanian and Hungarian utility poles have holes that extend all the way to the ground whilst Polish utility poles have holes that stop 50cm before the ground. Romanian roadside markers are also unique and somewhat resemble tombstones that are either red and white or blue and white. Romania also has distinctive red shields indicating their major roads. The Romanian landscape is generally dry and cornfields are a common sight. The landscape varies but most the country is flat however some sections are quite hilly. The sky in Romania is regularly blue and free of clouds. Romanian roads are typically poorly maintained and in need of repair. The country is fairly poor in general. Romanian cities have high rise apartment buildings with the same looking apartment building often occupying an entire road. Small towns tend to have houses with square-base pyramid roofs. The houses often have metal fences separating them from the footpath. The Romanian language stands out to me mainly for the abundance of the letter ş which is an s with a squiggle beneath it. It also has ƫ, ă and ȃ. These last two letters have a ‘v’ and upside-down ‘v’ over the ‘a’ and these letters are fairly common. Romania has a glut of these concrete utility poles with holes. Hungary and Poland also have these poles. France has some similar utility poles but they are much rarer. Romania’s poles stand out as they often have a yellow mark (Hungarian poles on occasions also have a yellow mark). This is one of the easiest ways to identify Romania. Romanian and Hungarian utility poles have holes that extend all the way to the ground whilst Polish utility poles have holes that stop 50cm before the ground. Romanian utility poles are thicker and wider than Hungarian utility poles. This secondary type of Romanian utility pole also has the recognisable yellow mark. A large number of Romanian utility poles are painted with a white base. A Romanian roadside marker. This holds information about the road number and distance to the nearest towns. These are another useful way to identify Romania. These can come in other colours such as blue and white. The ‘24C’ in the image indicates the road number and the distance to the nearest towns is written on the marker. Romania tends to have marginally thicker road lines than the countries nearby it. This can be a great way to identify Romania. Romanian roads are indicated by these distinctive red shields. Fields of corn are common in Romania. Unpaved roads that consist of gravel or dirt are a very common sight in Romania. Small Romanian towns often have houses with pyramid shaped roofs. The houses are commonly separated from the footpath by metal fences. Although they are rarely found in smaller towns, high-rise apartment buildings that look like one another are common in Romanian cities. The Romanian landscape is often dry. The roads are typically poorly maintained. There is a mixture of flat land and hilly land in Romania. The southern section of Romania largely consists of agricultural land. Certain types of Romanian signs have a yellow edge including Romanian pedestrian signs. Dacia Sandero cars are found across much of Romania (as well as Spain and Bulgaria). These gray and white striped poles hold up most of the signs in the south-east Romanian Constanta Country (this country is shown on the below map). The location of Constanta Country in Romania where gray and white striped poles hold up most of the signs. The Romanian language stands out to me as the letters s and t can have a squiggle beneath them: ş and ƫ. Romanian also has ă and ȃ. 

Romania uses standard long, white European plates with a single blue strip on the left.

Romanian is a Romance language similar to Italian, containing the following special letters:

Ă ă

Ș ș

Ț ț

These letters are also found in some other European languages:

Â â, used in French, Portuguese and Turkish

Î î, used in French, Turkish and Italian

The most common types of utility poles in Romania are holey poles with the holes going all the way to the bottom. The holes are typically either quite wide or quite tall.

Poland and Hungary also both use holey poles. Polish holey poles do not have holes near the bottom and Hungarian holey poles generally have smaller holes than in Romania.

Round concrete poles are also quite common.

These are very similar to poles found in Bulgaria.

Trees and poles will often have white painted bottoms.

This is also common in Ukraine and parts of Russia.

This type of extremely large yellow pole sticker is specific to Romania.

Beware that smaller stickers are also common and that both Bulgaria and Hungary can have similar ones.

The town or city name will typically be written close to the middle of these stickers. In this case Podu Iloaiei is written.

Two support bars holding up the metal bar on pole tops, resembling an upside down triangle, can sometimes be found in Romania.

Czechia, Slovakia, Albania and Serbia also feature this pole top.

It is very common to see waystones in Romania. They are typically fairly large, with red or blue framing with the road number on the side, or made of actual stone and somewhat rugged-looking. There is also a very small variant which is all white.

While there are many types of roadlines in Romania, these outer lines, consisting of short dashes with narrow spaces, can be a good clue for the country.

Romanian directional signs are blue, arrow shaped, and have a white border. They will very often display the road number, which can be either red or blue.

The most common type of town entry sign in Romania is a yellow sign displaying a speed limit and a city skyline, with a white sign displaying the town name below.

The upper sign can also either be white or completely absent.

Romanian sign backs are often black.

This is also common in Italy, Albania and Germany.

Romanian chevrons are red on white, often with a yellow frame.

Several eastern and central European countries have the red on white chevrons, however yellow frames are by far the most common in Romania.

Romanian bollards are thin and white, with a red vertical strip near the top. It is worth noting that bollards in Romania are somewhat rare.

Turkey has a very similar bollard.

This yield sign, with an extremely thick red border, with a thin white outline, is unique to Romania. Beware that different yield signs also exist in Romania.

Romanian architecture primarily consists of single-family houses made of stone, typically painted in different pastel colours and with roofs ranging from orange tiles to grey metal. It is also somewhat common to see houses with walls made of painted square tiles in different patterns.

The Romanian landscape ranges from tall forested mountains and hills in the centre to flat or rolling agricultural landscapes in the south, west and east.

This type of haystack, typically featuring a stick going straight through, is very common in Romania.
