Alexandria, Romania

Capital City

With a population of just 40,390, Alexandria is a sleepy provincial capital that offers little beyond basic amenities. The city's main trade used to be grain, but that's long gone - today, it's a quiet backwater where the 44th parallel north passes by unnoticed. Bureaucracy is a persistent headache, as the city's six large factories from 1989 have dwindled to a fraction of that. On the plus side, there are a handful of decent high schools and the Romanian Orthodox Diocese is based here. But overall, this is a place that offers little draw beyond cheap living costs - and that's about the best that can be said.