- Picking up the Rental Car from Andrei at Pan Travel in Cluj: The reason this task made the highlight list is that in addition to providing me with helpful maps, Andrei gave a full five-minute briefing on how to navigate around horses and bicycles. "Allow the maximum distance when passing because horses, although used to cars, can be unpredictable. Allow the maximum distance when passing bicycles, because if the biker has been drinking, he could also be unpredictable."
- Entering Maramures on a holiday (Dec. 6th- St. Nicholas Day): As we worked our way from Cluj to Botiza, the roads gradually became narrower and narrower until we suddenly realized that we were sharing a small two-lane paved road with more horse-carts than cars. Almost every horse-cart had a live pig or sheep in it, and several had large packages or barrels. We later found out that two Mondays per month, there is a market where locals can purchase live animals. Because it was a holiday, the streets were packed with people walking or clustered together on the road, having a conversation.
- Meeting our guide, George Iurca (botizavr@sintec.ro), in Botiza: Hiring a local guide was by far the best investment we could have made, and from what I've read, heard, and experienced, George is the best of the best of Maramures guides. Fluent in four languages including English and coming from a family who has lived in the area for generation after generation, George knows the Maramures Valley like the back of his hand. He and his wife run a small, clean and comfortable guesthouse, where we stayed.
- Oldest Wooden Church in Maramures- Ieud: Maramures is famous for its wooden churches- old and new, big and small, Orthodox or Greek-Catholic, constructed in a very traditional style, in all wood from the shingles to the floorboards. Set off the road and surrounded by tall pine trees, this wooden church survived fires set by invaders that destroyed many of the churches throughout the valley. Now a UNESCO Heritage Site, this church features beautifully painted murals.
- Demonstration of making clothing out of hemp fiber and a tour through a Maramures homestead: A chance to see the ingenuity of the people of Maramures, who have developed ways to feed, clothe, house, and subsist solely on materials that they grow themselves using traditional farming practices and lots of good old-fashioned manure (seriously- manure is King here.) I saw more piles of cow, horse, and pig manure and horse-carts transporting manure in these two days than I've seen in my entire life. The Valley has refused the use of artificial pesticides or fertilizers, and you really can tell, from the water quality in the stream, to the clean, fresh air, to the taste of the fruits, vegetables, and even the meat that we sampled there. While on the topic of farming, the other thing that you see in all of the fields is hay bales, tall and thick, standing vertically since they're wrapped around a wooden pole, resting on sticks rather than directly on the ground, with a little wooden roof on top to keep some of the water out of the inner core of the hay. If constructed properly, these hay bales can provide nutritious feed for the animals for up to two years.
- Barsana Monastery: This monastery was built almost entirely by the residents of the small town in which it's located. Donations of time, money, and physical labor have produced several buildings where nuns reside year-round, a wooden church, a front gate, a museum, and a guesthouse for people who choose to make a pilgrimage to this site.
- Dinner and Breakfast at the Guesthouse: Fantastic, home-cooked Romanian food by our guide George's wife. Everything was organic, local, sustainable, traditional, DELICIOUS. We stuffed ourselves Monday night, slept/digested, and were ready for a fabulous breakfast early the next day.
- Traditional Woodcarver: In addition to many wooden gates displayed throughout the nearby villages, this father-son team (the son is an Orthodox priest) is in the process of hand-carving the decorative paneling that will be installed in a Romanian Orthodox church currently being constructed in Roebling, New Jersey.
- Tallest Wooden Church in Maramures- Sapanta: Another UNESCO Heritage Site, this newly-built wooden church has a 75 meter steeple.
- Merry Cemetery: It was raining when we reached the cemetery, but we still left feeling more upbeat than sad, thanks to the cheerful colors and humorous epitaphs on the headstone-crosses. It's all the work of one man and his apprentice, started in 1935. Here's the Wikipedia link for a description of what makes this place different from your average cemetery: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merry_Cemetery.
- Farmers' Market- This was my request. It was interesting to see a lot of Ukrainian products for sale (which makes sense, considering that Sapanta is on the Romanian-Ukraine border.) I was happy to go away from the market with a couple of interesting purchases to sample: smoked pork fat, fresh sour cream, and dried fruit.
- Sighet Prison- (separate detailed post below)
- Small-scale Waterworks Industry: Corn Mill, Felting Wool, Distillery, Washing Machine: Although the original equipment was sold to the Astra Museum of Romanian Ethnography, located outside of Sibiu, this practical water-powered family-run industry was both impressive and ingenious.
(Photo credits for all of the pictures in this post: Jennie Durant)
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