DID YOU KNOW? THE BRITISH DAILY THE TELEGHEPH PUBLISHED AN ARTICLE IN WHICH IT MENTIONED 17 FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT ROMANIA

1. It's home to the world's heaviest building - the Palace of Parliament, which cost about $3 billion. The building contains 3,500 tons of crystal, 480 chandeliers and 700,000 tons of steel and bronze were used for the monumental doors and windows. Guinness World Records declared the building the heaviest on the planet.

2. The world's most beautiful road is also located here: Jeremy Clarkson said he found the most beautiful road in the world in the middle of Romania - the Transfăgărășanul.

3. Romanians like to drink - Romania is the fifth most alcohol-consuming country in the world, after Belarus, Russia, Moldova and Lithuania. 

4. Tourists might find Europe's largest mammal - the bison - hunted almost to extinction but brought back to several European countries, including Romania.

5. It's the real home of Borat - scenes from Sacha Baron Choen's film were shot in the village of Glod in Romania.

6. Bucharest is home to one of the most beautiful bookshops in the world - Cărturești Carusel, which stocks more than 10,000 books.

7. The 4G network here is enviable; network quality ranks fourth out of 78 countries. 

8. The rail network is also impressive - it's 22,298 km long, making it the 15th largest in the world.

9. Here there is an Arc de Triomphe similar to the one in Paris.

10. There is even a mountain carving similar to the one on Mount Rushmore (near the Iron Gates).

11. One city here even mimics the Hollywood sign: Brasov.

12. It's the birthplace of good coffee: Francesco Illy, founder of the Illy coffee company, was born in Timișoara; he later moved to Vienna and then to the Italian city of Trieste.

13. Romanians made the world's biggest flag: a five-tonne flag measuring 349 metres long and 227 metres wide was made in Romania in 2013.

14. Romanians have broken a few more records: they made the world's biggest sausage and the world's largest bowl of goulash. Also, the insurance company ING Life Insurance (now NN) printed the world's largest document (over nine metres long).

15. They invented a lot of things: Nicolae Paulescu discovered insulin, Henri Coandă invented the powered airplane and Petrache Poenaru, the pen. The country has four Nobel laureates: George Emil Palade (medicine), Elie Wiesel (peace), Herta Muller (literature) and Stefan Hell (chemistry).

16. Romania's churches are spectacular - the Voroneț monastery, for example, has been called Romania's Sistine Chapel.

17. There is also a very interesting cemetery in Romania - the Cemetery of the Merry in Săpânța.