Following the 1877/78 Independents war Prince Charles became a King, and country-the Kingdom of Romania.

Curtea de Arges, a city in the North west of Wallachia was first mentioned in a 1330 document. Here lies the monastery with the same name built a beginning of the 16th century, one of the most beautiful and most important monuments of the Romanian architecture were the Romanian princes Neagoe Basarab and Radu de la Afumati and also the kings Charles I and Ferdinand of Romania with their wives, queens Elizabeth and Maria are buried. Not far from Curtea de Arges to the Mountains there are ruins of the Poienari Castle, a castle of Vlad the Impaler.

One of the most popular touristy areas of Romania is the Prahova Valley with the Bucegi Mountains and Sinaia a resort and winter sports center. The Peles Castle in Sinaia was built during 1875-1883 as a summer residence for king Charles I.

Among the natural sights of interest in the Bucegi Mountains, the rocks known as "Babele" (old women) and "Sphinx" with their strange forms should be seen North of Sinaia, 8 km, at the foot of the Caraiman Mountain. There is the resort Busteni. On the Caraiman peak stand a 40 m high cross-made of steel, dedicated to the Romanian soldiers kiled in the First WW, that can be easily seen from Busteni. 20 km north of Busteni, towards Brasov, lies the Resort Predeal, one of the gates to another Romanian province: Transylvania. Ploiesti 60 km north of Bucharest is thanks to the rich oil sources found in the area an important industrial city.

In Wallachia one of the important region is Oltenia. For tourists the Subcarpathians are by far the most attractive sight. Many customs are still alive and the place abounds in art and architecture monuments. Several monasteries have been built, in the charming, tickled forested area. The most famous one is the Cozia monastery erected on a rock extending out in to the Olt River, in the very place where the river finds its way through the South Carpathians. In the proximity of the monastic churches Turnu, Frasinei and Stanisoara, there is a monk monastery at the foot of the majestic limestone walls of the Cozia Massif. From the Ramnicu Valcea town westwards, you can admire other monasteries: Surpatele, from a piece of wood, Govora, Bistrita, Arnota, Horezu, with a particularly beautiful location.

The town of Horezu is the well-known heart of pottery. Around countryside of the town Targu Jiu, you will find other beautiful monasteries - Polovragi, Lainici and Tismana-as well as the village Hobita, the birthplace of the world-famous artist Brancusi.

The most important cities are: Craiova, the capital of the Dolj county, with Art Museum and a city park (90 hectares), one of the most beautiful parks in Romania; Targu Jiu, the capital of the Gorj county worth seeing particularly because of the works, exhibited in the open, of the forerunner of the modern art, the sculptor Constantin Brancusi: ("Gate of the Kiss", "The Table of Silence" and the "Endless Column"); Ramnicu Valcea, the capital of the Valcea county. The well-known spas Calimanesti, Caciulata, Govora and Olanesti are situated, with their thermal springs having excellent healing effect lie in the Olt Valley, as well.

CRAIOVA - the former Dacian Roman settlement Pelendava-is today a large city in the south of Romania with about 300,000 inhabitants. In the 15th century, as the prince (Ban) of Oltenia settled his administrative center there, Craiova was turned into a city. It soon became the second important center of Wallachia. In 1801 Craiova was conquered by the troops of the Pascha of Vidin and burned down, it was rebuilt but after a short time; Today, Craiova is the third largest and most important city in Wallachia, after Bucharest and Pitesti.

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