E-guidebooks replace sightsmen in Piatra Neamt. What are the city’s main attractions?

Tourists who arrive in Piatra Neamt (eastern Romania) don’t need sightsmen anymore to tell them the city’s history, as they were replaced by the new technology. All they need is a smartphone or a tablet and they can access a digital guidebook in Romanian and English which is providing them with a virtual tour of 27 sights in Piatra Neamt, considered one of the most picturesque cities in Romania due to its privileged location in the Eastern Carpathians.

How the app is actually working? In only 10 seconds since the app opens, the tourist is redirected to YouTube where a promotion movie about a certain monument is available on the spot. The shot is presenting historical information as if a tourist guide was speaking. All that the tourist has to do is to scan the code placed on every touristic building.

The project cost a little bit over RON 200,000 and was implemented by the local authorities in order to supplement the lack of sightsmen.

“This system will help those who visit our city, as we don’t have so many professional sightsmen to explain people all information and for that reason we resorted to this online system,” Bogdan Puscasu, Piatra Neamt city manager told Digi24.

Piatra Neamt lies on the Bistrita River Valley, surrounded by mountains. The city is located 350 kilometres (217 miles) north of the capital city of Bucharest, in the historical region of Moldavia. The nearest airport is in Bacau, 60 km (37 miles) south.

The area around Piatra Neamt is one of the oldest inhabited areas in Romania. The oldest traces of human civilization in the present territory date back to the higher Paleolithic about 100,000 years BCE.

Excavations just outside the city revealed the ruins of a large Dacian city, Petrodava, mentioned by Greek geographer Ptolemy in the 2nd century.

The Princely Court of Piatra Neamt is mentioned for the first time in a document dated April 20, 1491, and has been allegedly set up sometimes during 1468 and 1475, under the reign of Stephen the Great.

The city’s main attractions are the natural beauty of the area (the mountains and the lakes), the historical buildings, the museums and the festivals.

Besides Petrodava citadel ruins and the Princely Court, one can visit the Bell Tower in the historical center of the city, next to “St. John the Baptist” Princely Church.

The city’s surroundings are as appealing as the inside attractions. Piatra Neamt lying on Pietricica Mountain foot is an excellent starting point for the mountain routings that lead to Durau mountain resort located at Ceahlau Mountain feet (also known as Moldavia’s Olympus or the Sacred Mountain), to Bicaz Gorges National Park (http://www.romaniajournal.ro/bicaz-gorges-the-breathtaking-natural-attraction/) or to the Red Lake/ Lacu Rosu resort, which is however in Harghita county (http://www.romaniajournal.ro/the-red-lake-the-killer-lake-in-harghita-county/).