We wanted to show Chuck’s daughters Romania. We also wanted to see more of Romania before we returned to the US. The Romanian tourism industry is not well developed. There is no Rick Steves’ guide. It is not an easy country to drive in. So we hired a van for an eight day tour of UNESCO sites from http://www.visittransilvania.ro/. Dan, our driver and guide, speaks excellent English and was very patient and informative.
The Merry Cemetery of Săpânţa is unique. The many blue wooden crosses feature a carved scene and humorous verses that endeavor to capture essential elements - both the good and the imperfections - of the deceased’s life. There was one person responsible for the idea and creation of these informative head stones. He carved them all. When he died, his son and apprentice took over. The second picture shows the deceased with his red Mercedes Benz car. The picture showed he was rich. The poem on the headstone said in a humorous way that he worked hard at the peril of his family and friendships.
We were visiting the Maramureş Women’s Museum in Dragomiresti when Emily sneezed. The man in charge of the museum insisted that she and Rachel put on the traditional (and VERY warm) jacket and hat to warm them up. And if that didn’t do it, he served them Horincă, a homemade plum brandy.
Among the most picturesque treasures of Romania are the Painted Monasteries of Bucovina (in northeastern Romania). Their painted exterior walls are decorated with elaborate 15th and 16th century frescoes featuring portraits of saints and prophets, scenes from the life of Jesus, images of angels and demons, and heaven and hell.
We crossed the Carpathians Mountains several times on this tour. We hiked along rapids and waterfalls during one of our crossings.
We saw Elie Wiesel’s house in Sighet.
A nice woman walked us to the Synagogue in Piatra Neamt. The caretaker with his grass cutting sickle in hand took us to the Jewish cemetery. This is where a friend’s grandfather is buried. It is difficult for the remaining 230 mostly elderly members of the Jewish community to maintain this cemetery. It was overgrown with vegetation. The caretaker opened a shed to show us the horse drawn hearse.
Agriculture is very traditional in Romania. We saw horse drawn plows and people using hoes in the fields. Horse drawn wagons are common.
A trip to Romania would not be complete without a visit to the 14th century Bran Castle (Count Dracula, Vlad Ţepeș's castle). Even though Vlad the Impaler only visited it for a short period of time and the story of Dracula is mostly fiction, the castle was interesting because it was a working, medieval castle.
We also visited Peleşand Pelişor castles. These castles were show palaces for the Romanian kings.
In Brasov, we visited the narrowest street in Romania, the central plaza, the black church, and the synagogue.
The Prejmer Fortified Saxon Church is 500 years old. The church is at the center of the fortifications. When there were attacks, the village families came into the walls and lived in apartments that surround the church. The walls are 2 meters thick with slots to defend against attacks.
We toured the medieval town of Sighişoara, the fortified German city of Sibiu, and the capital of Burcharest. And, of course, we enjoyed Romania food and beer. The first picture includes our guide, Dan. We all got these savory filled crepe-like things that were pretty and delicious. The last picture is of Rachel’s fish soup. It came with the head of the fish sticking out, with a chili in its mouth!!
No comments:
Post a Comment