Carpati Baia Mare

... and never left. Great place. Feels much more like a bed &amp; breakfast (but no food except for the apples which I was free to pick). I have the hostel to myself for the first night and the bedroom to myself both nights. <br><br>It is only around noon so off to lunch at Consuelas. This is local. It is full of locals on their lunch break. No one there speaks English and no English menu. My little Eastern European dictionary is only sufficient to let me know what is ...

... US government, begging for aid so that Romania might expel the Soviets; too bad that agreements had already been reached by "the big three". There was a surreal moment during which a group of elementary school children had been released in the museum. They screamed and ran about, not realizing the seriousness of the place. An elderly worker scolded them loudly. Of note was a visiting exhibition [in English] on Lech Walesea and the Gdansk uprising.

... that as a topping. On Sept. 14 I went to the place that had first drawn me to Sighet. Close to Sighet is a town called Sapanta and one of the local cemeteries there is called the Merry Cemetery. It has acquired that name because all of the headstones in the cemetery instead of being stone are wood and painted in bright colours. A local man began the tradition of carving a portrait of the person or a moment from the person's life onto their headstone. He would also carve a little story ...

... hotel/restaurant where we had started only a few hours before. "When you travel, you experience in a very practical way,the act of rebirth. You confront completely new situations, the day passes more slowly, and on most journeys you dont even understand the language the people speak. So you are like a child just out of the womb. You begin to be more accessible to others because they may be able to help you in difficult situations. And you accept ...

... spoke to the woman across from him in Romanian. She then spoke to me in French, and I spoke to Matt in English. Takes a long time to have a conversation, but we didn't have anything better to do. Leaving Suceava, we climbed into the Carpathian Mountains and entered a winter wonderland: snow covered firs, small cottages with smoke curling out of the chimneys, sheep with two white coats. We couldn't stop marveling at the beauty of it all or ...

We spent a relaxed couple of hours here wandering around the grounds, crossing bridges, contemplating the beauty. Here's what I learned: Six hundred years since the monastery's first documentation and two hundred years after it ceased to exist, the monastic life returned to Barsana. The monastic compound is made of wood, according to the local tradition, built only by Barsana masters, supervised by architect Cordos ...

We had lunch today at a beautiful restaurant - all wood with traditional carvings and furnishings. Andrei recommended several dishes which didn't sound that good but turned out to be delicious. Ciolan afumat cu fasole is a smoked pig knuckle sitting on top of the biggest serving of white beans I've ever seen. They were absolutely fantastic. Then, for dessert, I had papanasi, a cheese filled doughnut or dumpling covered in jam. Both of these dishes are local specialities.

... First bar we came across asked for some information then got guided tour of cellars unfortunately empty, by very friendly manager. Went to prison museum where Romanian politicians and academics were taken by the communists in the 1947 reign of terror where most died. To bar for a drink then cycled towards Sapanta, camping up a hill and watched fantastic sun set and clear night for stars.

... in the area. There was a very ornate cemetery leading up to a small wooden church. It seemed to have a bit of every religion inside it. It also had some beautiful carvings and paintings on the walls. Back in the van and off to visit a traditional woodcarver and see his workshop and "museum" (store). It was one man and his son that ran the business and did all the carvings in their shop. The father showed us some of his favorites, including a very creative ...

... contrast to all this, Dumitru has 1 of 2 computers in the village and it sits looking out of place on a small table in one corner. We just sat there smiling and talking with them (everything translated between their father and us) while Anuta kept coming back and forth with food or coffee. We tried to politely gesture that she needn't fuss over us, but it was useless...back out into the cold she went, to and from the kitchen. We slept on a very old, high bed with a ...