Maramures--Sighetui Marmatiei

Sunday in Maramures provided an absolutely perfect early June day for our drive over one of the Carpathian passes to Sighetui Marmatiei. This area retains the most traditional culture and architecture of any place in Romania (and, indeed, in most of Europe). I'm thrilled we got to see it under such fine conditions with tour guides having unsurpassed knowledge.


a tiny wooden roadside church not far from Surdesti





prepared for winter (next door to the famous Surdesti wooden church)


Interior of the Surdesti church with typical embroidered scarfs as decorations


local citizens keep up the church, replacing the wood shingles on the spire every 30 years!

the cemetery is beautiful, if overgrown

Mama hen had all these chicks under her wings as we walked up, but they wriggled out.


entrance to the famous Surdesti Greek Catholic church (1721, 72 meters high -second highest wooden spire in Europe). We saw the priest, who holds daily services for this tiny farming community.


typical entrance gates to a Maramures home - Alina said they often cost as much or more than the house.

Elie Wiesel (holocaust survivor, Nobel Peace prize author, and peace activist based at Boston University) birthplace memorial in Sighetul Marmatiei. The area of Maramures went from 35,000 Jews in 1910 to 48 in 1992. Wiesel lost most of his family after they were "arrested" in 1944. The authorities were frantic to exterminate as many Jews as possible, before the Allies arrived. Sigh.........




a late afternoon snack next door to the Elie Wiesel birthplace memorial. There was a christening party going on with much dancing and music-never saw the infant, however

courtyard of the Sighet prison museum, which features the tortures under the Securitate (secret police), but also the resistance movement

wall honoring victims of the Communist regime in Romania-unlike the Vietnam memorial in DC, this one is below grade with a confined feeling reminiscent of being in prison

June 7, 2008 we arrive in Baia Mare to meet Alina's family

Then up the hill to Victor's (Alina's father), big 10-year old house with a huge garden and orchard behind the house just at the foot of the mountains.

The BEST sweet, dark cherries you can imagine.


FIRST we had a fantastic, all home-cooked Romanian meal with Victoria, Alina's mother. Her top-floor apt. in the city of Baia Mare (it means 'Big Mine' for the ancient gold and other heavy metal mines going back to Roman times) has views of the Carpathian mountains. This was a strategic center for millenia.


shopping mall (Chuck helped develop) to break up the drive

Sighisoara, June 6, 2008 second overnight toward Baia Mare

We celebrated Alina's birthday in the charming, early town of Sighisoara. As picturesque as any in Europe, its fame today rests largely on being the birthplace of Vlad Tepes (made famous in the 19th c. by Bram Stocker as 'Dracula'), though the house to which that honor is attributed was built long after his birth! Dracula fans don't seem to mind this tiny discrepancy...


Alina's birthday cake. We ate in the pretty courtyard of the Sighisoara Hotel.



Louie at the top of the student steps, built in 1642 to serve the hilltop church and school. It's quite a hike at 172 steps!

Scottie at the bottom of the student steps near our hotel.
Given winters in these mountains, it's such a sensible idea.


The lower, more modern town

Alina, Christie, Andrei at the top of the Clock Tower overlooking the higher hilltop church & school


Our room at the Residence Fronius-recently renovated, gorgeous 1609 house

courtyard of the Fronius Residence

June 5, to Peles Castle and Brasov overnight, first leg to Baia Mare

The Kolping Hotel in Brasov sits on the hillside above the city and will forever be a family story because of the bear who greeted us when we returned from dinner. He'd found a garbage can with a loose lid, and was having fun in the driveway when our car pulled up. It created huge excitement, not only from Christie & Andrei, but Louis, too, who'd never seen a bear close-up and outside a zoo. I had memories of the Great Smoky Mountains when Mom & Dad would cringe at the way people put their little kids next to the roadside bears for photo opportunities.

View from our room



Walking down into the old city


Brasov's famous Black Church got its name from the black appearance after the great fire of 1689. The church was started in 1385 for the German Saxons who settled here early on. Today, it's a German-speaking Lutheran community church. In ancient times, local merchants started bringing back Turkish prayer rugs (Muslim) to decorate their homes and church. It's gorgeous.

old town gate (entrance in the original fortification walls) to Brasov

Old Town Hall at the Central Plaza-Brasov

Ice Cream lunch to celebrate Alina's birthday

Peles Castle near Sinaia



Our first stop on the journey north to eventually reach Baia Mare, Alina's home (12 hours north of Bucharest), was Peles Castle. Really a palace more than a castle, it was built by King Carol I, the first king of a united Romania in the 19th century . It's in a gorgeous mountain setting near Sinaia.



Why do dandelions have these feathery, silky seed pods?

Chuck and Andrei

June 4, 2008 Bucharest

After a relaxing morning of laundry and lunch of leftovers at the Vernon's apt. (after Christie & Andrei had gone to school), we met Alina at her office in the center of the city for a couple of quick museum visits, dinner at a bistro behind the museum/memorial to Enescu (Romania's most famous composer/violinist), then The Barber of Seville at the National Opera House. A terrific day.

Fantastic performance of The Barber of Seville, for 1/10th the price it would be at home

National Opera House

early supper at Bistro Athenu behind the Enescu memorial and before the opera

Enescu (violinist & composer) house/memorial (his wife was rich!)

Athaneum with topiary in front