Explore Maramures

Explore Maramures Be a local in Romania www.ecotourism-romania.com www.explore-maramures.com 1

Historical Maramures “Visiting Maramures is an extraordinary experience, like walking into a fairy tale or stepping back into medieval Europe� (By Sarah Shuckburgh) 2

Be a local everywhere!

Explore Travel is the travel agency that pushes conventional tourism to a new stage that of traveling to the essence of things. For this reason, we go for the authentic, for the melding of the traveler in his new environment. We cherish travelers that don’t visit cities just for the sake of doing so, those that try to mold their passion for traveling into a new and unforgettable journey.

And we’re just like them. We travel because we want to discover new things, be it at Covent Garden or in the Antananarivo Central Plaza. With each new journey, we seek out the new and the unconventional - so we can take you somewhere exciting. Even in a city you’ve visited before.

We do this by delving deeply into the culture of the regions we visit and by living there, for a few days, as if we were locals. Wherever you decide to go, we’re bound to find an authentic way of experiencing it. We’re glad to know you’re with us and that, together, we can become locals anywhere.

The Explore Travel Team

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Maramures is located in the geographical heartland of Europe. The part of the county beyond the mountains hedgerow, known as “Historical Maramures”, is a land of wooden churches, mythological richness, impressive landscapes and very ancient customs. While looking ahead to develop, it has preserved the culture, traditions, and lifestyle of a medieval peasant past. With its picturesque countryside of small villages, rolling hills, pastures, and meadows full of wildflowers, Historical Maramures epitomizes all that the rural lifestyle encompasses: interaction with locals is totally refreshing, and visitors have a unique opportunity to step back

in time and witness simpler lives.

Historical Maramures is like a living museum that is at once within reach yet simultaneously beyond the grasp of the curious traveller.

Be a local in Maramures!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------» Go to a religion service in one of the beautiful wooden churches. » Join the locals for making hay. » Visit a peasant market to see the local trade in grain, chickens and pigs. » Go picking berries, herbs and mushroom. » Learn to prepare polenta, “balmos” or traditional sweets. » Carve your own wooden spoon or sew a “zgardana” (necklace) of glass beads

WWF Romania choose Maramures as a conservation priority area primarily because of its nature values consisting of: a dense hydrographical network belonging entirely to the upper Tisa river basin, the longest tributary of the Danube; forest habitats that are the preferred home of wild mammals like the brown bear, lynx, Carpathian deer, wild boar, fox, squirrel, wolf, deer, hare, marten as well as the specific biotope of many birds and biodiversity-rich grasslands.

WWF Romania has developed an innovative funding mechanism to support nature conservation and a sustainable path of development in the Mara-Cosau-Creasta Cocosului area, in the heart of Historical Maramures. Through this mechanism a link has been established between tourism businesses and protected areas administrators so that the latter have the resources they need to implement conservation measures.

The goal is to help the area become a proper and officially recognised ecotourism destination. Gradual steps to achieve this are being made: developing an integrated network of quality tourism services and building a consistent brand identity. The logo created for the area is used as a tool, to help tourists identify those businesses that are operating in a responsible and environmentally-friendly way.

The Explore Maramures programme includes products and services from the ecotourism destination and contributes to the local conservation fund. Choosing to visit Maramures through this programme gives tourists the power and the opportunity to positively influence the way the area and local communities develop.

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Day 1: Baia Mare – Breb

---------------------------------------------------------------------------Arrival in Baia Mare. Transfer to Breb (52 km) by minibus.

Arrival at the guesthouse.

Free time. Lunch at guesthouse In the afternoon, you are free to wander around Breb village, an authentic open-air museum. Enjoy the amazing, luxuriant surroundings and take in the beauty of the wild flowers. Take advantage of the quiet narrow pathways which go up and down through people’s yards and onto the pastures bordering the small village. The village has taken its current name of Breb in 1715. On the 20th of September it is mentioned as Viata Olahalis or Hodpataka, which could be translated as “the village of the creek with brebi”, where breb stands for “beaver”. The village still preserves important historical sites: the wooden church, built probably in 1531, significantly altered between the 18th and the 19th centuries, as well as the former Greek-Catholic confessional school.

Afterwards, you will spend some time with one of the local craftsmen. In Maramures,

The wooden church of Breb -----------------------------------------------------------------------The wooden church of Breb is one of the most important monuments of its kind in Maramures, Transylvania and probably in all of Romania.

With a structure built in 1622, a tower from 1531 – the oldest tower preserved in a wooden church in Romania –, along with still visible mural paintings dating from 1626 (also amongst the oldest preserved artwork in Romanian wooden churches), with a valuable icon collection from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, an arch beam unique for its sculptures and an archaic wood is an important raw material and a source of inspiration for a great variety of artwork. The old artisan makes wonders out of wood, sculpting “pecetare” (seal engravers used by women for breads involved in various rituals), “fuse cu zurgalai” (spinning wheels) or small objects for domestic use, richly decorated with traditional local motifs, such as crosses, wolves’ teeth or solar symbols. All the wooden pieces in these objects are bound together perfectly, without nails. During the

roof preserved beneath the current one, this site is a mustvisit. The church is part of a wellmaintained architectural and religious ensemble that includes a room for memorial and consecration services, a cemetery with stone, wooden and wrought iron crosses, dating from various periods, a bell-tower from 1992, wooden gates – one from 1790 – and a parish house from 1903 (replacing the initial one, built in 1801). Ancient boundary and roadside crucifixes dotting the beautiful natural scenery are also worth mentioning. Here you can also experience from up-close the well-kept local rituals and traditions. summer, the craftsman works in an open-air barn, enjoying a wide-view of pastures dotted with haystacks against a blue sky. The man is over 90 years old, so he knows lots of stories – he will tell you which is the best wood for a spinning wheel or a spoon and if you’re keen, he will even make room for you at his work table. While giving a help in hand, don’t forget to take in the beautiful panorama.

Dinner at guesthouse.

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Day 2: Creasta Cocosului – Gutai Mountains

Creasta Cocosului – is one of the most spectacular andesite landforms, shaped as a rooster’s crest – as its name --------------------------------------------------------------------indicates in Romanian – and is Walk from the guesthouse to part of the volcanic cone which Creasta Cocosului (1394.7 erupted nine million years ago; m), the most beautiful peak it offers the best panorama of in Gutai volcanic mountains.

Tibles and Ignis Mountains, A red-cross marked pathway while providing a habitat starts from Breb village, going for lynx and predatory birds, through Taul Morarenilor and important at European level: Taurile Chendroaiei before the golden eagle and the lesser reaching, after about three and spotted eagle. Your guide will a half hours, Creasta Cocosului. offer you some insights about Taurile Chendroaiei are two small how habitats are connected to lakes – remnants of a glacier protect big carnivore mammals Similarly to Breb, Budesti and Sarbi are villages where you lake – mirroring the spectacular in the area. will appreciate how the local Creasta Cocosului. Both are Have a packed lunch up on communities value their wood. about 5 meters wide, and 10 Creasta Cocosului.

You will visit the wooden and 15 meters long, respectively. church of Josani, a UNESCO Surrounding them, on the former The descent follows the “red world heritage site and you ribbon” trail for about two surface of the glacier lake is the will socialize with the locals in “tinov” – a raised surface of about hours, until reaching Pintea their traditional houses. The Viteazul Inn. Minibus transfer 4 meters high – an active peat iconic architectural elements to Budesti, where your visit moor created in the bog area to focus on here are the continues on a traditional left by the drying glacier lake. famous wood-sculptured wagon pulled by horses The peat in this grassy marsh is gates typical for Maramures. through Budesti and Sarbi. considerably thick, up to 8 meters.

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The wooden church of BudestiJosani (a UNESCO world heritage site since December 1999) is a place of worship displaying “cheotori” (wooden clasps) from 1643, considered a “magnificent” construction for its age and long time afterwards. The building, the biggest wooden church in historical Maramures, is impressive in size and artistic value, adorned with popular murals from 1762.

Sarbi village displays a great array of finely sculpted wooden gates.

It is worth stopping to take a look at the traditional, water-actioned mechanical systems: the mill, batoza (the water-powered thresher), piua (a thumping device in which heavy wooden beams pummel hot, wet sheep wool into felt for coats, waistcoats and blankets), valtoarea (a washing machine which tumbles clothes in a churning pool), the palincamaking devices – examples of peasants’ ingenuity, still used today for cereal processing and washing woolen fabrics. In Sarbi village there are many highlyskilled craftsmen – hay and wood chips hat makers, who add a final touch to the traditional costumes in Maramures; sheepskin coats and breastplates makers; wood sculptors creating, among others, surprising horinca bottles, in which a spinning wheel or a wooden ladder seem to miraculously appear out of nowhere.

Dinner at guesthouse

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Traditional gates like faces, supposed to protect the family ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ house and fortune.

Usually built with three columns and a Some of the sculpted motifs bear magical front (the upper gate lintel) made of oak connotations, but most of the elements used tree and with a furred roof, the typical by craftsmen reveal a mythological preMaramures gates have often been compared Christian universe: the rope, the knots, the to “triumphal arches”, which the peasants, solar rosettas, featuring simple or concentric proud of their descent, would go through. circles, an anthropomorphic Sun – all based on Building the structure, sculpting the motifs, an ancestral solar cult; other motifs include: going through the gate entailed a specific the tree of life (a symbol of eternal life and ritual, based on deeply-ingrained beliefs (of abundance), the snake (household guardian), a more mythical origin). Thus, the oak tree human faces, birds, the wolf tooth, the pine was cut during the full-moon period – to tree, etc. keep the household away from troubles and For peasants in Maramures, passing through “evil hours”. Then, carrying the wood from the gate was almost a ceremony that purified the forest would be done only on a working them mentally, from the profane world, and day, with no fasting (either on Tuesdays, prepared them to enter into the family and Thursdays or Saturdays), for good luck. household universe. Usually, passing through a Under the column supporting the threshold, gate symbolizes transformation in all traditional people would place money, holy water and cultures. frankincense, to keep the plague away, while the columns would be decorated with human8

Day 3: Ride on the Mocanita train

Mountains.

example of technical cultural heritage. Travelling over a network of narrow-gauge track (of 760 mm gauge), you can still find wood-burning steam locomotives running alongside several diesels and railcars. The railway winds up the valley with many curves, over bridges and through wild romantic scenery of the Romanian Carpathian

Lunch at Paltin resort layover.

Return to Viseu de Sus train station at 3 pm, the latest.

While in Paltin, you can spend ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- some time in nature, have a Breakfast at 6 am. Departure to picnic, take in the view from the platform installed on a rock Viseu de Sus, at 7 am, on the nearby or make a short trip to minibus. Mocanita will depart the Second World War galleries. the station at 9 am.

You can also follow a route (of The steam train for tourists about 45 minutes) created by has been in circulation since 2000. The trains go up to Paltin WWF Romania and the National Park of Maramures Mountains station (21.6 km), at about two – a theme route during which hours away from Viseu de you will find out more about the Sus, reaching a very pleasant point for a layover. Sometimes importance of the forest and the area’s biodiversity. You will known as the «Vaser Valley be guided by a national park Railway» the forestry railway ranger. of Viseu de Sus is a unique

On your return to Breb, you will briefly stop in Sacel to visit the workshop of one of the most famous ceramics artisans in Maramures. Sacel ceramics is one of the oldest and most important type of traditional pottery in Romania.

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Sacel pottery -------------------------------------------------------------------Sacel is the only pottery center in the country where un-enamelled, red pots are polished with stones, something done only in Moldova, in the case of black ceramics. Sacel pottery is made of high quality, burnt red clay, extracted deep from the ground, from wells at about 10-15 m deep.

Pots are shaped, decorated and manufactured in a similar fashion to Dacian ceramics. However, the oven used to burn them, dating from the 16th century, resembles more the Roman ovens. There is a great variety of Sacel pottery: jugs, milk pots, pots to give away during memorials, sieves, threelegged pans, plates. They all are polished using stones, creating a zigzag design and undulating lines; their brownish color is given by grinding a specific type of stone, while their decorum is brush painted.

Optional stop at Ieud – a 14th century-old town with a wooden church and an etnographic museum. The church is made of pine wood, and some researchers consider it the oldest wooden construction in Europe. “The Ieud Codex”, a document from 1391, was found in the church’s attic and is considered the first writing in Romanian.

Visit to Barsana – a little town with a wooden church and monastery, famous around the country and beyond. The Church of the Presentation of the Virgin was built in 1720 and was moved to its current 10

location in 1806. According to the legend, the church has been moved so that the souls of those killed by plague could rest peacefully in the shadows of the worship place. Further down, on the left side of the road, you will see Toader Barsan’s workshop, a renowned wood craftsman at national and international level. His son, Ioan Barsan, has inherited his talent and skill and continues the tradition, along his father.

By the southern exit from the village stands Barsana Monastery, probably one of the most visited places in Maramures. Go in and enjoy

a unique feeling emanating from the surroundings. Most of the buildings here are open to visitors.

In the evening you will learn how to make homemade bread and traditional cakes – you will visit one of the village housewives who will show you how to batter the dough, and while it rises, you will help prepare a cake typical for Maramures. Dinner will blend in perfectly with your freshly baked, warm bread, while desert will leave you with the sweet aftertaste of Maramures.

Dinner at guesthouse.

Day 4: Be a local…in Maramures! Celebrate in the afternoon, along with the local artisans

the fall – join the locals for the plum harvest and if you’re lucky, you’ll be able to help with making horinca (or palinca) (optional activity). Horinca is a staple product in Maramures and one of ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- its best ambassadors. Maramures Free time in the morning for horinca is 100% natural, created various optional activities. using a traditional fermentation process, then distilled in copper You can stay in Breb and enjoy cauldrons, on a wood fire. the guesthouse’s peacefulness.

Get a book and read under the Distillation entails two phases – in shadows of the trees, on one of order to obtain the 50% alcoholic the wooden benches or one of strength and to refine and purify the swings in the garden. Or its final taste. Its preparation just sit and relax listening to the makes it special and sought sound of the stream passing after by everybody who gets a just outside the backyard. taste of it, making it a cultural Or, during summer and autumn, brand by excellence. The locals care a lot about their traditional join the locals heading for the beverage, consistently saying pastures to mow the grass and gather the hay (optional activity). no to whiskey or any other hard liquor. When you’re toasting with You can learn how to cut the the host, make sure you drink up grass with a mower, how to before putting your glass down. gather it using a wooden fork, how to dry it and make haystacks. Otherwise, you might upset or bring them bad luck.

If you’re visiting Maramures in

Do you like fresh cow’s milk?

How about ewe-cheese and eggs? But do you know what route they take before ending up on your plate? If you’re curious, you can help your hosts by feeding the chicken, taking care of the cows and milking them or helping out with preparing cheese (optional activity).

You could even visit the village’s blacksmith (optional activity).

With a bit of luck, you will see how he puts shoes on horses, following a centuries-old ritual.

Take a look at how a horseshoe is made and how it’s put on.

Horses are brought here about four times a year, and winter horseshoes are different from summer ones. The blacksmith also needs an assistant – making the horseshoes requires rhythmically beating the iron, switching between two hammers at the same time; 11

putting the shoes on requires even more help for holding the horse and its legs. The mouldy horseshoe is fixed with special nails, pierced through the hoof wall. It is said that horse shoes are lucky charms, so if you ever find one by the side of the road, don’t leave it behind!

have geometrical patterns, with contrasting colours, while their edges are adorned with human figures and traditional scenes.

Towels come in flashy colours, in powerful tones of red and black, with sizeable motifs, resembling those on carpets. Cloths are colored in two, up to four colors.

Authentic fabrics are dyed in You can also choose to visit a weaver (optional activity). Women natural colours, extracted from in Maramures have craftily used plants and tree bark. Over the summer, women pick up flowers a loom to clothe their family, and leaves, roots and treebark to decorate their homes and and use them to dye the wool, churches. Sewing needles and weaving pagan and Christian tired eyes during long winter symbols into wonderful carpets. nights have produced clothes and carpets, togs and cloths, Enjoy the sitting* (“sezatoarea”) bags, big or small, tablecloths in the afternoon. Local artisans and beddings. Each guesthouse will gather in guesthouse had a “ruda” – the good room garden – you will learn to make preserving the girls’ dowry, beaded collars, traditional comprising of wool and hemp masks and hats – the clop, the woven fabrics and everything traditional hat in Maramures; else required by an orderly you will encounter craftsmen household. Fabrics vary in colour producing agricultural tools such and pattern, according to their as ashwood forks and racks, function and value. Carpets designed for gathering the hay

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and grass, as well as carpenters highly skilled in making crosses; you will learn how to weave baskets of different shapes and sizes, hand or back baskets to carry food or wood.

We will show you how to make cloths and spin wool. But how could you leave Maramures without finding out more about its traditional costumes and even trying a typical shirt?

You’ll be amazed to hear that an old-fashioned, handmade shirt can take a whole winter to be finished!

While enjoying all this, you will also relish a background of songs and dances performed by a group of teenagers (locally known as “coconi”). *Sitting will be organized only for groups of minim 8 persons.

Have dinner by the fire – our host will prepare a special menu!

Day 5: Ignis Plateau

the conservation work done in ----------------------------------------------------------–----------------- collaboration with local shepherds, aimed at restoring abandoned This day is dedicated to natural fields. protected areas and traditional agriculture on Ignis Plateau. Travel Have lunch at a traditional sheep by minibus through Tatarului cot on the plateau. You will be able Gorge, then by foot along the to join the shepherds in their day-tosunny pastures and deep forests, day activities: you will learn to milk while discovering how nature is the sheep, prepare the ewe and benefitting people, providing them green cheese – while the shepherds with local plant remedies for every will offer you an insight into their ailment. You will also learn more lifestyles high in the mountains. about the pastoral history of the Lunch will include polenta, ewe and area, which still provides lush and green cheese, lamb sour soup and biodiversity pastures. Your guide marble cake. In Maramures, polenta will include information about is prepared in various ways; in the

past, it could also substitute bread when wheat flour was hard to find.

The balmos, made of sheep cheese, milk and polenta, is the shepherds’ specialty.

Sheep sambra -------------------------------------------------------------------The Sheep Sambra is an old custom in Maramures, a yearly spring holiday including folk music and dances where people dress in traditional clothing. It is also called Ruptul Sterpelor, meaning separating and counting the sheep. At the beginning of May, the sheep are divided into flocks and sent to the cots for the entire summer. The fertile sheep are separated from the sterile; the milk is weighted to establish the daily amount of produce the owners need. This is why the tradition is called “Milking the weigh” or “Measuring the milk”.

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In the afternoon visit the wooden church in Manastirea Village (Giulesti), set on a former place of worship built in 1560 and brought down in 1782, during the reign of emperor Joseph the Second.

The old little church includes a bell from 1679, hidden in a wooden bell-tower and rung using two ropes found in the narthex, as well as a funeral stone from 1712.

Here, in the only church in the village, unlike in most historical, heritage churches in Maramures, two priests still hold Sunday and holiday services, one for the GreekCatholic, the other, for the Orthodox locals.

Visit Desesti wooden church, a UNESCO world heritage site. In 1717, after the Tartar invasion, the legend says the church was burnt down. Just one stone was left and tradition had not allowed the villagers to build another church in that place. The location was not the most fortunate, as many had died there, trying to put out the fire. Locals have tried five times to choose a new site for the construction. The fifth time they rolled the stone and it remained vertical, they chose the new church location. Its patron is Saint Paraschiva.

Dinner at a traditional trout farm, where locals have ingeniously managed to use the advantages provided by natural resources to preserve traditions.

Wooden churches --------------------------------------------------------------------

the Saint Archangels in Rogoz is in Tara Lapusului.

Religion is a big thing in Maramures, where there are over 100 wooden churches.

Here, the locals gather to pray, cross, touch the icons and kiss the church rugs. To recognize their uniqueness and the skilled craftsmen in Maramures, eight of the about 100 old wooden churches in Maramures have been declared UNESCO world heritage sites in December 1999.

Together, these eight wooden churches represent a remarkable example of various architectural solutions from different areas and times. They are narrow, but tall, with long, spiny spires at their western sides, all speaking of the unique cultural landscape in this mountainous area in northern Romania.

The wooden churches of Budesti, Josani, Desesti, Barsana, Poienile Izei and Ieud Deal are in historical Maramures, those of Surdesti and Poplis are from the old Tara Chioarului, while that of 14

The technique used for bonding the wood and shingling the roofs, their ornate motifs on portals and frames supporting the columns, displaying chiseled and sculpted vegetal, animal and geometric elements, make them remarkable sites.

Day 6: Visiting the virgin forest of Strambu-Baiut

---------------------------------------------------------------------------Ride the minibus to StrambuBaiut, a former mining town.

Today the mines are closed, but exiting the town you will be able to see where coal is made. However, the main purpose of the trip is visiting one of the few remaining virgin forests in Europe, where human intervention is almost absent and about 30,000 species still live in harmony. Your hike will start along the forest route leading to the areas protected with the help of WWF Romania in Grosii Tiblesului Mountains.

You will go through a theme track, learning about the forest’s uniqueness, its flora and fauna, the last giant trees in Maramures and responsible forest management basics.

Lunch at a local guesthouse.

Free time during the afternoon.

Optional, you can choose to learn how to make traditional jams and syrups or how to preserve vegetables for winter. But first you must pick the fruits and vegetables.

Depending on the season, you can make berry, apple or plum jams or syrups. You can also stew or pickle the vegetables.

Dinner at guesthouse.

Virgin forests --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In Maramures WWF Romania works for the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification of forests in partnership with forestry administrations. This certification means that these forests are administrated responsibly and their management takes into consideration environmental, social and economical criteria.So far, in Maramures 64.000 hectares have been FSC certified with the help of WWF Romania, which also works in Maramures for the identification and preservation of virgin forests. The project’s

objective was to save and protect the secular Strambu Baiut forests, through promoting the extraordinary landscape and the sustainable management of these forests, as a solution for local community development.

The result was achieved, as the Maramures Forest Administration became FSC certified and committed to not intervene in any way in the forests’ natural processes. On a national level, now, 2.4 million hectares of state and privately owned forests are FSC certified.

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Day 7: Sapanta and Sighetu Marmatiei

hundreds of wooden crosses bearing humorous inscriptions.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Each cross displays an epitaph evocating a significant fact from Visit two renowned towns the dead person’s life. Patras in Maramures: Sapanta and died in 1977 and was buried Sighetu Marmatiei in this cemetery, close to the The Merry Cemetery, an church; he had designed his important touristic attraction, own cross before dying and has made Sapanta famous. his work is taken further by his Legends say that the Dacians apprentice, Dumitru Pop Tincu, would receive death cheerily, as who lives in his master’s house, they believed in eternal life and which is also a museum. About saw their passing away only as a 10 crosses are made every year. passage to another world. They Visit also Sapanta-Peri didn’t see death as something Monastery, with its patron, tragic, but as a chance to meet St. Archangel Michael, sober Zamolxe, their supreme god. and imposing, rising at 78 m The cemetery dates back from above the ground! Currently, the mid 1930s and was created this monastery is the highest

by Stan Ion Patras, a popular wooden church in the world, sculptor, painter and poet. being included in the Guinness His creativity brought to light World Records. this monumental, well-known Lunch in a local restaurant. work of art. For more than 50 years, the artist has created 16

During the afternoon, visit two of the most important attractions in Sighetu Marmatiei: the Maramures Village Museum (an open-air museum) and the Maramures Etnographic Museum. The former includes monuments in rural architectural style and aims to recreate a typical village, with households grouped according to the main historical areas in Maramures. At the Maramures Etnographic Museum, get a close look of objects used throughout history in basic activities around Maramures.

The Etnographic museum also exhibits wooden and glass icons, traditional clothing, masks and costumes worn during the winter holidays etc.

Transfer in the afternoon from Sighetu Marmatiei to Baia Mare.

Sighetu Marmatiei -------------------------------------------------------------------Other touristic attractions: The Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance is another important touristic site in the town (nearby the city hall). Since 1995 the former prison, turned into a memorial of the suffering, is under the patronage of the European Council. The first rooms in the museum were inaugurated in 1997, when the memorial was declared an “ensemble of national interest”, being

acknowledged at the same time as the most important project done by civil society to retrace and analyze its communist past, a unique endeavor in Eastern European countries.

The Jewish culture Museum and the Museum House Elie Wiesel – with an exhibit dedicated to Elie Wiesel, a local of Sighetu Marmatiei distinguished with a Nobel Peace Prize.

The Museum House Dr. Ioan Mihaliy de Apsa Buildings in the city center, most of them from the 19th century.

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The essence of Romania

A Fairy Tale in Maramures

Maramures - the land of ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -a wonderland for children- woods and rivers Authentic, Natural and Cultural are the words that best capture the essence of Romania, a dynamic country rich in history, arts and scenic beauty. Take a step back in time as you visit one of the world’s famous painted monasteries in Bucovina, the ancient, hilltop citadel in Sighisoara or an authentic, centuries-old, folkloric village in Maramures.

Day 1: Visit Curtea de Arges city, the pottery center in Horezu and Sibiu – the 2007 European Cultural Capital.

Day 2: Sibiu – Alba Iulia – Turda – Cluj.

Tours of the cities.

Day 3: Visit Baia Mare – the gate to Maramures, Sapanta with the famous Merry Cemetery and Sighetu Marmatiei reknown especially because of The Maramures Village Museum (an open-air museum) and The Maramures Etnographic Museum.

Day 4: Breb – Barsana – Vatra Dornei. We’ll use this day to discover the UNESCO World Heritage wooden churches.

Day 5: On this day we’ll visit some of the most beautiful Moldavian painted monasteries which became UNESCO World Heritage sites starting with 1993: Voronet and Sucevita.

Day 6: Enjoy Cheile Bicazului – one of the most beautiful touristic areas in the country.

Day 7: Brasov – Viscri – Sighisoara – Brasov. Time to explore Brasov – one of the greatest German cities in Transylvania, the medieval city of Sighisoara and Viscri with its fortified church.

Day 8: Explore Bran Castle - famous after the Irish writer Bram Stoker called it Dracula’s Castle and Peles Castle – the summer palace of King Charles the First.

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“Visiting Maramures is an extraordinary experience, like walking into a fairy tale or stepping back into medieval Europe” (By Sarah Shuckburgh)

- bike tour ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cycling enthusiasts will be delighted to find out that Maramures has a complex network of forestry trails and marked footpaths, which offer great views of the villages and of Day 1: Baia Mare – Breb the amazing northern Romanian Arrival in Baia Mare. Free are free landscape: Maramures, the ‘land of to wander around Breb village, an silence’, ‘the land of woods’ or the authentic open-air museum. ‘land of deer’, is one of the most isolated and undiscovered regions of Day 2: Creasta Cocosului – Gutai Europe.

Mountains Hiking on Creasta Cocosului – is one Day 1: Get together in Baia Mare. of the most spectacular landforms, Baia Mare - Lake Firiza -16 km from shaped as a rooster’s crest Baia Mare Day 2: The start of our cycling Day 3: Ride on the Mocanita train experience through Maramures.

Mocanita ride - Travelling over a Izvoare-Pasul Gutai-Mogosa-Cavnicnetwork of narrow-gauge track, Surdesti (-Plopis) ~40 km the railway winds up the valley with many curves, over bridges and Day 3: Surdesti – Cavnic – Budesti through wild romantic scenery of the – Breb – Ocna Sugatag – Calinesti – Romanian Carpathian Mountains.

Valeni – Barsana ~ 52 km Day 4: Barsana – Stramtura – Day 4: Be a local…in Maramures!

Rozavlea – Ieud – Bogdan Voda Celebrate in the afternoon, along – Saliste de Sus – Sacel – Moisei – with the local artisans Viseu de Sus – Viseu de Jos ~ 75 km Meet the local craftsmen and enjoy the sitting (“sezatoarea”)* in the Day 5: Viseu de Jos – Valea Scadrei – afternoon(optional activities).

Novat with the steam train. Return by bike for ~ 16 km Day 5: Ignis Plateau Day 6: Viseu de Jos – Ruscova Join the shepherds in their day-to– Petrova – Barsana – Nanesti – day activities: you will learn to milk Oncesti – Vadu Izei ~ 48 km the sheep, prepare the ewe and green cheese – while the shepherds Day 7: Vadu Izei – Sighetu will offer you an insight into their Marmatiei – Sarasau – Campulung la lifestyles high in the mountains.

Tisa – Sapanta ~ 30 km Day 8: Sapanta – Vratajel hut – In the afternoon transfer to Baia Colibi hut – Plesca hut – Izvoare ~ 40 Mare. km Day 9: Izvoare – Baia Mare ~ 25 km and departure

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