Maramureș region

Up early (again!). It has been pouring with rain overnight but we did not hear a thing through the thick walls of our residence. I set off to wander around Sighișoara and have a wonderful early morning walk - little bits of sunshine which was lovely and so quiet. To reach the Church on the Hill, there is a covered wooden staircase (Scara Acoperita) known as the Scholars' Stairs.


Off after breakfast to Desești but first stop Budești to see one of the UNESCO-listed wooden churches for which Maramureș is famous. This is Maramureș country, in the NE Carpathians. UNESCO has acknowledged eight of the wooden churches in Maramureș as World Heritage sites. The wooden churches of Maramureș appeared in a time when the ruling Austrian-Hungarian Empire had forbidden the locals to build churches with more durable materials. Nevertheless, the solution of the inventive craftsmen of using wood, their traditional construction material, proved to be successful in conveying the message of their religious beliefs over centuries.

However, we end up at the WRONG Budești; apparently there are two in Romania. Fortunately we are not completely out of the way as we DID check it relative to our destination on the Navman before setting off.

So, thoroughly confused, we continue on. It is cloudy, bits of rain, only 14 deg C. today (26 deg C yesterday!). Tediously slow @ 50 km/hr travel for part of our journey through boring little suburbs then 90 km/hr (in theory!) along narrow winding steep roads through woods and valleys. Lovely.

Lots of ethnic dress in the towns we pass through: the older women mainly - headscarves, long skirts, long socks, colours mostly black with bright-coloured embroidery; the young ones usually in modern garb like jeans, but not always. Farmers are using long scythes in the fields to cut grass.


We pass a guy peeing on the verge and using a mobile phone; who said blokes can’t multi-task? I’m glad he was wearing gumboots though!

We stop for petrol, coffee, toilet and bakery at Lechinta: 20 Lei ($A4) total for food and coffee!! The bars double up as cafes. The woman in the one we stop at for coffee is lovely.

We saw a train moving along at snail’s pace almost hidden by the vegetation and the track quite overgrown. There is water over the road in parts and the road has given way in sections. In fact an alert goes off on our phones regarding extreme water conditions (gosh, thank goodness for Italian - a bit of that goes a long way here; apparently, the language is based on Latin, with Slavic influence and the funny bucket things on top of the letters is Turkish influence).

The river at Cociu is in flood: brown and full of debris. Fortunately we start climbing up into the hills although we don’t seem to be escaping the flooding as we keep criss-crossing over bridges. We stop at Celciu for a photo. We have never seen anything like it! In one place we engage 4W drive to get through water (we are feeling very grateful for the upgraded vehicle that the Sixt car rental gave us!).


At the top of the mountain, the weather turns. There is sunshine as we descend. The countryside is beautiful - a bit like Switzerland.

We turn off for a St Nicholas Church at Săliștea de Sus. Built in 1736, it is a unique wooden church because of two towers. There are still traces of paintings that depict the archangels Michael and Gabriel near the front door.


Further on, we come to the enormous Mănăstirea Bârsana complex. We have a welcome break here to walk up to it and have a look around. It is late afternoon and the sun is out. The monastery is in a commune composed of two villages. But the church was not built here as it was moved in the year 1806 from the Jbar Hill that was used as a cemetery for the plague victims.

On we drive, not far to go now. Lots of storks’ nests today; we saw a stork on top of one either feeding its young or making the nest. And haystacks. The skills needed to build these are passed down from generation to generation.

Close to our destination, we pass through the village of Ocna Șugatag. I am very excited as this is the village where, at the Thursday market, William Blacker describes buying a scythe in his book Along the Enchanted Way (one of the books I read before coming on this trip).

We arrive at our B&B at Desești using the GPS co-ordinates we have been provided - our Navman works perfectly. It has been a long day and we are tired but walk up the hill to see the famous wooden church here. It is close to 6 p.m. and miraculously, as we arrive, two young men are leaving and very kindly re-open the church for us and do a mini-tour as it were.

The St Parascheva wooden church is a Romanian Orthodox church in wonderful condition and the paintings all over the walls and ceilings are gorgeous. It was built in 1770, after the first church burned during the Tatar invasion from 1717. The interior paintings done in 1780 are well-preserved, illustrating classical Biblical themes, but adding also some particular scenes. A unique element is the painting of different nations – Turks, Tatars, Jews – dressed in traditional costumes in the painting of the Last Judgment. The cemetery of the church has many Celtic crosses, displayed in circle or semicircle, attesting various cultural influences and its old age.


Unbelievably, while we have been inside, the rain has re-started and even with an umbrella, we get quite wet returning to our little B&B.

Maria our host cooks us a home-made meal at our B&B and we try Țuică which the neighbour has made from plums - like schnapps.