We initally were planning to rent a car, drive to Maramures, and find our way around the countryside. However, a few days before the trip we decided to switch to a guide, and this was the best decision we EVER could have made. We used George Iurca, who was recommended by a friend and who also is highly recommended in the Lonely Planet book. For a total of $125 per person (for all 3 adults) we got a tour guide (in a car) for basically 3 full days, 2 nights stay, and amazing homecooked food for breakfast and dinner (and the total includes the tip we left). Not only was the price amazing, but George is just great. He is from the area and was able to show us all sorts of neat places.
Thursday, May 27, 2019
We almost took the wrong bus, but luckily George got in touch with me Wednesday night, and we figured everyone out. Whew! We almost ended up in Baia Marie, which also is in Maramures but 100 km away from where we were going. For your reference, you need to get on the bus from Cluj to Sighetu Marmatiei (Sighet) and get off at Sieu, which is about 3 hours. Apparently if you drive yourself it is much faster, but we were on tiny little roads with oodles of potholes, and I am pretty sure that much of the trip was spent going around 30 to 40 miles/hour. Talk about slow! Still, it was a nice ride and seemd to go fairly quickly because the scenery was so unbelievably breathtaking. Growing up in central Texas, I just always yearned for trees and grass and green things and water, and trust me when I say that Romania in the spring really delivers all of those things.
Gypsy house! They are so interesting and almost always half finished like this.
If you can't read the sign, it has Judetul Maramures, which means Maramures County.
We arrived in Sieu promptly at 11am, and our guide George met us at the bus stop. Instead of stopping by his place to drop off our bags, we just stowed them in the car and jumped right in to sightseeing. First stop, Barsani Monastery in the village of Barsani. This is a pretty interesting place. It was built in 1998, and they actually are still working on parts of it, but it is on the site of a much older church (and maybe monastery) from the 1700s, I believe. It burned was destroyed more than 100 years ago, and they just recently have been working on the new buildings. 12 orthodox nuns live there now and run things. They have a beautiful wooden church (this is what Maramures is known for!), an outdoor altar, a place with healing waters, a museum, the home for the nuns, the home for the priest, a building where the nuns make crafts for sale, and a building for the pilgrims to stay and eat.
Walking up to the monastery.
The church at the monastery.
The whole complex: building for the nuns to live in, for the priest to live in, a workshop, a museum, the church, an outdoor altar for the summer, and a place for the pilgrims to stay and eat.
Beautiful lupines at the church.
While still in Barsani we also went to see a woodcarver's home and workshop. In addition to the magnificent wooden churches, many of which are on the UNESCO World Heritage list, Maramures also is known for its intricately carved gates. We went to the home of own of the most well-known carvers; he even was one of the invited guests to represent Romanian folk crafts at the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival when it featured Romania! He wasn't home during our visit, but we still got to look around.
The ornate gate leading to the woodcarver's home and workshop.
This is our guide George with a new entry way going on the edge of town!
After we finished up there, we headed down the rode to Ieud where we went to 3 churches, one modern and two wooden. First, we tried to go to the "church on a hill" (called that because, well, it is on a hill...and a steep one at that!), but George could not locate the priest with the key. So, instead we headed off to another wooden church in town. This one is called the Biserica de Lemn din Ses and is a Greek Catholic church built in 1717. Today it houses one of the largest collections of glass icons in Maramures. They are not my favorite things, but they are definitely something distinctive of Transylvania.
The church in Ieud.
Just sitting in the cemetery....
Oh no, I don't fit in the door!
As you can tell, there are LOTS of glass icons.
And, as you also can tell, I did make it through the door.
Just the cutest picture ever. Theodore with the lady who keeps the key for the church.
On the way back to find the keys to the "church on a hill" we stopped at a new Orthodox church. It was locked up, but we were able to see some neat murals from the outside, including one of Jesus ministering to a group of people dressed in traditional Romanian costumes, specifically ones from Maramures.
Terri's wonderful picture of the new church.
Can you see the traditional costumes?
Finally, we tracked down the person who had the key to the "church on a hill" (offically called Biserica din Lemn din Deal) and headed up. It is the oldest wooden church in Maramures and was built in 1364. If that ancient date for a wooden church isn't impressive enough, this church also used to house the first known written document in the Romanian language (although written in Cryllilc). It is from 1391-92 and today is in a museum in Bucharest.
I think I just posted one of the Eiffel Tower from the same angle.
One of the interesting carved grave markers.
View from the top of the hill. How beautiful is it?
From there we went on to Poienile Izei to see our last wooden church for the day. This was a very interesting church with great paintings inside, including ones of devils torturing sinners. Let's just say that they came up with very...inventive....punishments. No pics allowed inside, but here are some great ones form the outside:
Sitting with Theodore and the man who has the keys to the church. Notice the wonderful painted doors and the man's tiny little hat (very traditional for this area).
Pretending the play the special board, only used on special times when the bells cannot be rung (like the week before Easter).
Another cemetery shot.
Finally around 6pm we got made it to George's house and were able to unload all of our stuff and eat dinner. Talk about a spread. We walked in to the dining room and saw all this food - some kind of fancy egg dish with sauce and hard boiled eggs, fresh homemade bread, branzoica (this one was a dough with cheese, dill, and onion inside), and a plate with veggies. Little did we know, but this was just the appetizer! We also had soup with potatoes and grated carrots; the main course with creamed wild garlic (delicious!), cabbage (varza) mushrooms, and pork (none of that for me); and dessert of cake. Wow.
Our bed and breakfast in Botiza.
The orchard/garden in the back of the b&b.
After dinner, Michael and I decided to walk around town (the village of Botiza with around 2,000 people) before it got dark and while Terri put Theodore to bed. There was a new orthodox church and old wooden church up a hill right behind where we stayed. The new church had a group of guys, including the priest, playing cards outside, which was too funny. On the way up to the wooden church (it was locked; we just checked out the cemetery and outside of the church) a couple of kids started to follow us. They heard us speaking English, and one of them knew a little. They wanted to show us a nut tree in the cemetery and picked lots of flowers for me, which we left on a little girl's grave (the kids chose the spot...awww). Our walk didn't last too long, though, because they wanted me to go to their house...and Michael had started talking to the priest, who was the kids' grandfather, and he also invited us over. We got to see some pictures and met his daughters, both of whome spoke English and lived in Cluj (what are the odds?!) and were in town for the church's anniversary that weekend. It was a fun time even though we didn't get much of a walk in!
More pictures from Day 1:
Lots of stork nests on the telephone poles.
Someone's small and very nicely organized garden.
Laundry day.
From the river.....
.....to the line.
Ox-drive cart with a load of hay.
A little calf in a cart....how cute is that?!
Working in the fields.
Friday, May 28, 2010
We didn't end up finishing breakfast (fresh veggies and crepes with jam!) and actually heading out of town until around 9:45 in the morning, so we had to adjust our plans just a bit. Instead of seeing more wooden churches, we decided to focus on some other things. First thing, we went back to Barsana and went to a market on the edge of town. Monday is the big market day, but there were still lots of people there, both buying and selling. It was pretty interesting to go to. Lots of places sellings basic things like safety pins and diapers because the small villages do not really have stores to sell that kind of thing. But, there also were the stalls filled with women looking at scarves and yarn to make rugs and the stalls for men checking out the sharpest scythes. Yep, they still use scythes here - no mowers at all. And, there also was an area on the end of the market where people were selling animals: piglets, chicks, calves. Too cute.
The market, nestled up against the hills.
Just your normal day at the market - while the women check out the yarn for rugs....
...the men test out the scythes.
And you can even pick up your tombstone!
We spent quite a bit of time at the market, checking everything out and making a few purchases. Some bells for Theodore, and Terri and I both got a few of the traditional scarves. I have no clue if I will end up wearing them, but they are brightly colored and lots of fun.
A family taking a break from all the shopping.
The traditional shoes for sale...pinch-something.....
A gypsy (Roma) mother and daughter packing up.
From there, we headed out to the village of Sarbi where we saw a water mill. By controlling the flow of the water, they were able to run a few machines - a thresher in the summer, a mill to grind the corn into corn meal, a machine to turn wool into felt for the traditional vests and jackets, and a washing machine. There are smaller ones to wash clothes, I think, but this was a huge one for big rugs. It was a pretty impressive site, to say the least.
The traditional, water-run washing machine.
At the same place, they also were making palinca (kind of like tiuca but stronger). It was one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen! Big metal barrels filled with rotting apple mush - with part of the barrel rusting into the apple mush. Ick. No wonder that stuff is so disgusting to drink!
The makings for palinca. Gross!
We also were able to play with some baby kittens and puppies. I almost took a kitten home with me (we had a real bond, I promise!), but since I am leaving so soon, I guess I can't really do that. We also got to go inside their home and see some of the amazing embroidery work and rugs that the woman had made. I was able to buy one table runner, but most of the stuff was not for sale. I can't even imagine how long it would take to make all of that, so I can't imagine selling it if I made it either!
All the embroidery.
Theodore sporting the men's traditional hat :)
Up until this point, we pretty much had been in a valley, and now we drove up into the mountains. Again, it was just so beautiful. We had lunch near a little ski slope and then went to see a place where they made charcoal. It was a pretty interesting, but definitely dirty process. However, the charcoal maker lived in the most amazing setting. Up in the mountains, right next to a small river. It was just beautiful.
Burning piles of wood, soon to be charcoal.
Then we continued over the mountains to go see some water buffalo herds. What, you might be saying?! Am I talking about Cambodia now? Nope, apparently they have been raising water buffalo here for more than 100 years. Trust me, I was surprised, too! They are stronger than horses for doing work, they give more and better milk, and there were other good points but I cannot remember them all right now. Anyway, we passed several herds and then were able to get out of the car to see one group close to the road. Now that definitely was a site that I was not expecting to see in Romania!
Water buffalo and the water buffalo herder (shepherd?).
Up close!
Out near the water buffalo we passed a migratory gypsy family.
And, our journey did not end there. We went to another wood carver's house. The one we visited on Thursday did the big gates outside of people's homes, and this one did smaller, more decorative carvings. We didn't get to see him work, but we did look around his studio...and I, of course, bought a few things, including a great little statue of a woman carrying a container of sticks on her back.
And, just after we left the woodcarver's, I saw two women actually carrying the baskets (sans sticks).
Finally, we were finished wtih our touring for the day, but we still had a 2 hour drive to get back over the mountains and back to Botiza for dinner. It was a long but really good day! Once we got home, dinner was delicious, as usual. We started with appetizers of an omelet like thing, cucumber and tomato salad, zacusca (a spread made out of red bell peppers), and tomatoes with a cheese and dill filling. The main course included chicken (it smelled really good), fish, and mashed potatoes, and we had fresh Romanian strawberries and hazlenuts for dessert. Following dinner, Terri and I walked around town for a little bit. There wasn't much to see, but it was just nice to get out for a little bit.
Other pictures from Day 2:
A pot tree. Used after WWI to 'advertise' a daughter who was ready to be married.
Cute old lady wearing the traditional skirt/apron of Maramures.
Traditional blue homes.
The infamous Romanian potholes. I thought our car was going to fall into some of them!
This is just so iconic of Romania: church, horse drawn cart filled with hay, and potholes.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Today we were on a tighter schedule because we had several things that had to get squeezed in before our bus left Sighet at 4:30pm. This meant that we actual finished breakfast (cornmeal pancakes!!) and left town by 9am. Of course, we started off a little slowly because there was a small market in Botiza that we checked out. It had a lot of the same things as the other market but was smaller, so it did not take too long to look around.
Scarves and cloth for sale. Terri and I got some at the market in Barsana.
Terri (wearing one of her scarves) hanging out with Victor at the b&b.
Then, we drove up to Sighet and on to Sapanta. Both of those places are right on the border with the Ukraine, which we could see in thebackground. We also drove past the only high school in Romania that is taught in Ukranian. Pretty neat! Also, it might surprise you to know that this area is just 13 km south of the geographical center of Europe (north to south and east to west). So, it is called Central Europe for a reason. No Eastern Europe here!
The trees and hills are in the Ukraine!
In Sapanta we were able to see the Merry Cemetery, which was a really neat place. It is called this because it is filled with around 2,000 brightly colored carved crosses. On them are paintings and sayings (even jokes) about the person's life and death. It is such a unique place and a lot of fun to see even if you don't speak Romanian or go with a guide. The original carver started doing this in the 1930s and continued through his death in 1977 (I believe) and a couple of other carvers have taken over for him, so the tradition continues today, which is really nice.
The cemetery. You can see the older headstone on the left and the newer, restored one on the right.
Peaking around the corner of one of the crosses.
There it is.
In Sighet, our first stop was Elie Weisel's house. If you are like me, it might surprise you to learn that, yes, he in fact was Romanian! Who knew?! Unfortunately, the house isn't open on the weekends until June, so we were one week to early. We just managed to snap a few shots of the outside. Then, we went to the Museum of Arrested Thought. This museum is devoted to communism and the fight against it. While mostly about the situation in Romania, it also covers some of the neighboring communist countries in Europe and even touches on places like Vietnam, Cambodia, and Cuba. It is a very good, thought-provoking museum, largely because it is housed in one of the most infamous prisons during communist Romania. Some national heroes like Gheorghe Bratianu and Lucian Blaga (you will see buildings and streets named after them all around the country) died in this prison. The exhibits are in Romania, but they have an excellent booklet in English that you can use during your visit. Ask for it if they do not offer!
Outside of the museum.
Inside the museum.
Our last stop before the bus was the Ethnographic Museum. We had just visited the one in Cluj the Saturday before, and the one in Sighet paled in comparison. Still, it was nice to walk through quickly and to see some of the differences in the Maramures traditional costumes. From there, we bid farewall to our lovely guide George, hopped on the bus, and headed back to Cluj. It was such a great trip, and I am so glad that I was able to do it before I left the country. I wish that I had figured out how easy and affordable it is to do trips on the bus and train and to use guides. Of course, winter was long and meant no travelling for quite some time, but now I know for the future.
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