Hotel Rivulus Baia Mare

I wake at 4:30 for my train to Sighetu Marmatiei, the main town of the NW region of Romania, Maramures. I had packed a couple of yogurts which hits the spot and the coffee machine at the station actually is not bad.

Foggy as the sun just begins to emerge, a perfect backdrop for a train ride through Transylvania.

Train gets significantly colder as we head North and higher in altitude. I put on my down on top of my fleece. The trees are further along in ...

... amp; I did our normal shrugging and shaking of heads. He persisted. “Two lei.” He gestured with his head toward the shop we had just exited as if to say, “I won't spend it on alcohol. I just want to enjoy an ice cream. I’ll go to that shop right there and buy one, just like you guys did. You can’t in good conscience deny me the pleasure of an ice cream, can you?” We got up and moved a few hundred feet away to finish our meal in peace. I ...

... example, a farmer is usually shown with animals or on the tractor and a miner is shown down in the mine with his jack hammer or pick axe. But some of the headstones also depict how the person died. One that I remember was of a child who was hit by a car. His headstone actually shows a child getting hit by a car. Also in Sapanta is a monastery that has the tallest wooden structure in Europe. Although that is disputed by some as the structure (which is a church) has a stone base. So a bit ...

... us at the station. We pile into his car for the twenty-minute ride to his countryside pensione. The Maramures countryside is supposed to be stunning, but without our own wheels, it will be difficult to visit. Fortunately, Florin does tours, but what to see? The details are discussed over glasses of homemade Tuica, plum brandy. By his own accounts, Florin's concoction is somewhere above 100 proof, and sipping it straight without faces ...

Maramures is certainly the region to see outstanding woodwork. Homes are trimmed in elaborately carved wood, wooden gates and even fences are intricately carved. We were told a family's community status was displayed through the gate - the more elaborate, the more important the family. We saw furniture, spoons, ladles, walking sticks, chests, dolls, and more, at souvenir shops and stands. The whole region is like an ...

... s burial ground. The history of the Merry Cemetery started in 1935 when local carver, Stan Ion Patras, carved the first markers out of oak, painted on informative images of the deceased, and inscribed them with personal epitaphs. The rhyming verses offer advice, curses, or apologies of the dead to their families and the community. The paintings describe the person's character, occupation, place in the community or the circumstances of death. Master Stan Ion ...

... we missed a small, scruffy square in old town; the Art Gallery with canvases by artists of the Nagbanya School of art; the County Museum; and the Museum of Mineralogy with a myriad variety of rocks, crystals, and ore deposits extracted from the region's mines. It was best, though, to have a longish lunch and soak in the pleasant atmosphere of the ...

... cross into Romania as it was looking problematic and effected our route. Found Ukrainian English couple who were over helpful, making calls to friends to look on internet. In the end they asked some other people who said there was a new crossing at Solotvyna. Descended following river through horse and cart poor area and past dam where the road was a dirt track in places ...

... excellent sausage and cornmeal balls. After that came a (mainly cabbage) cream vegetable soup. Pork and Potatoes was the main, followed by chocolate cake. So amazing, but so full! It was one of the girls birthdays so a bottle of champagne broke out with the cake. To top it all off, we were eating outside as the sun was setting over the fields. Pure bliss! After all that it was a bit more homemade brandy and then up to bed. I think I am going to like Romania!

... from the cow!) Many of these people have no running water! We saw lots of people washing their clothes and dishes in the river or in streams running along side of the dirt road. Our new friends only received electricity in 1991 and they still use an old-fashioned outhouse. (no seat) They have a big barn, 2 horses, 2 cows, a few pigs, chickens, ducks, sheep and a dog. Their yard was a field of mud. In fact, everywhere, there seemed to be mud. Though, for the time ...