Short, one day trip to Sighișoara, what do you recommend?
Jul 11th, 2016, 09:17 AM
#21
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Lily3
We're very laid-back travelers, so a place like Malancrav will fee like home, haha! While timing can be an issue in villages like this, (as evidenced by yourself and Minamax10!) it contributes to a lovely, relaxed atmosphere.
We met some people from Maramures selling quiches, pies, cakes and other goodies at the weekly fair next to the Peasant Museum in Bucharest. Their cooking was excellent and they were a lovely group of people, we hope to visit Maramures someday! Bucovina also seems quite lovely.
Minamax1
We most certainly will! I'll make sure to tell you all the juicy details!
We're very laid-back travelers, so a place like Malancrav will fee like home, haha! While timing can be an issue in villages like this, (as evidenced by yourself and Minamax10!) it contributes to a lovely, relaxed atmosphere.
We met some people from Maramures selling quiches, pies, cakes and other goodies at the weekly fair next to the Peasant Museum in Bucharest. Their cooking was excellent and they were a lovely group of people, we hope to visit Maramures someday! Bucovina also seems quite lovely.
Minamax1
We most certainly will! I'll make sure to tell you all the juicy details!
Jul 25th, 2016, 10:08 AM
#23
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Apologies for the delay everyone! In short, we had an interesting time in Viscri. And while we did enjoy it, we all have some thoughts to share. I've been struggling to find the time to write a proper, detailed journal but I've been working on it these past few days.
You should see a full post from me soon!
You should see a full post from me soon!
Aug 1st, 2016, 11:07 AM
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First off, please allow me to apologize for the obscene delay. I’ll be writing this in two parts as I don’t want to keep you guys in the dark any longer. The first one will consist of the drive + exploration of the village. And I will focus on Gerda and my conclusion in the second part.
We left Valenii de Munte at 4AM, and first took the Cheia road to Brasov. It’s a stunning journey, as the road wends its way through these massive, forested mountains. As dawn arrived, we could begin to see dappled light on the forest floor. Lovely stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLTW7pH7nsU - This video does not do it justice, but should give you an idea as to how lovely this drive is.
A few hours later, we entered Viscri, stunned by the golden, rolling hills. It truly is a remotely situated place. Our high hopes became even higher.
Gerda welcomed us and we had a lovely little chat with her. (I mentioned your name and she smiled!) We could already smell the food cooking and hungered for lunchtime to arrive as soon as possible.
As the cart was ready and waiting; we hopped In and rode to the top of the mountain. I wish you all would have warned us that trying to stay on the cart works your abdominals! But, I can’t thank you enough for recommending this cart-ride, as for us it was the crown jewel of this trip. The silence, combined with the expansive view was a reverent experience that words simply cannot do justice. We are simple people who enjoy simple things, and this was right up our alley. On a lighter note, it was just the perfect duration as well, If I spent more time on the cart I might have fallen off!
When we returned, it was still too early for lunch, so we decided to explore the village and visit the church. We noticed that off the main road within the village, houses were beginning to be renovated with cheap, modern materials. The antithesis of the ethos that the Mihai Eminescu foundation seeks to cultivate.
Even the houses maintained with local materials had sides were roughshod and neglected, with only their front façade being in passable condition. Presumably so that pictures could still be taken for promotional materials.
The church is, for all accounts, a decent church. There are glimpses of a strong, humble past in the thick beams and hand plastered walls. But if a church is mirror of a villages’ character, then this is a ghostly reflection. I’ll explain further.
We have visited several churches/monuments in Romania. Our favourites are the Royal Church in Targoviste: https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/roya...chian-capital-
And the humble village churches in the village museum in Bucharest. (This one was especially striking.) http://c8.alamy.com/comp/A8Y9AE/wood...nia-A8Y9AE.jpg
These churches fall on opposite ends of a spectrum. (Village architecture vs Royal architecture.) I’d venture to say that the fortified church in Viscri is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum I mentioned above. But the physical characteristics of the church matter less than how the structure has been kept. In this case, the church has begun to fall into disrepair. The villagers don’t seem to see their church as a place of worship or heritage, as much as a source of side income.
In hindsight, looking at pictures of Viscri online. (Which tend to be dated from 5 years back to last year.) We were struck by how it has lost it's sheen. While we certainly believed (and believe!) that Viscri was a proud and independent village, we felt as if we came a few years too late.
This was mirrored in our visit to Gerda, which I will outline in my next post!
We left Valenii de Munte at 4AM, and first took the Cheia road to Brasov. It’s a stunning journey, as the road wends its way through these massive, forested mountains. As dawn arrived, we could begin to see dappled light on the forest floor. Lovely stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLTW7pH7nsU - This video does not do it justice, but should give you an idea as to how lovely this drive is.
A few hours later, we entered Viscri, stunned by the golden, rolling hills. It truly is a remotely situated place. Our high hopes became even higher.
Gerda welcomed us and we had a lovely little chat with her. (I mentioned your name and she smiled!) We could already smell the food cooking and hungered for lunchtime to arrive as soon as possible.
As the cart was ready and waiting; we hopped In and rode to the top of the mountain. I wish you all would have warned us that trying to stay on the cart works your abdominals! But, I can’t thank you enough for recommending this cart-ride, as for us it was the crown jewel of this trip. The silence, combined with the expansive view was a reverent experience that words simply cannot do justice. We are simple people who enjoy simple things, and this was right up our alley. On a lighter note, it was just the perfect duration as well, If I spent more time on the cart I might have fallen off!
When we returned, it was still too early for lunch, so we decided to explore the village and visit the church. We noticed that off the main road within the village, houses were beginning to be renovated with cheap, modern materials. The antithesis of the ethos that the Mihai Eminescu foundation seeks to cultivate.
Even the houses maintained with local materials had sides were roughshod and neglected, with only their front façade being in passable condition. Presumably so that pictures could still be taken for promotional materials.
The church is, for all accounts, a decent church. There are glimpses of a strong, humble past in the thick beams and hand plastered walls. But if a church is mirror of a villages’ character, then this is a ghostly reflection. I’ll explain further.
We have visited several churches/monuments in Romania. Our favourites are the Royal Church in Targoviste: https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/roya...chian-capital-
And the humble village churches in the village museum in Bucharest. (This one was especially striking.) http://c8.alamy.com/comp/A8Y9AE/wood...nia-A8Y9AE.jpg
These churches fall on opposite ends of a spectrum. (Village architecture vs Royal architecture.) I’d venture to say that the fortified church in Viscri is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum I mentioned above. But the physical characteristics of the church matter less than how the structure has been kept. In this case, the church has begun to fall into disrepair. The villagers don’t seem to see their church as a place of worship or heritage, as much as a source of side income.
In hindsight, looking at pictures of Viscri online. (Which tend to be dated from 5 years back to last year.) We were struck by how it has lost it's sheen. While we certainly believed (and believe!) that Viscri was a proud and independent village, we felt as if we came a few years too late.
This was mirrored in our visit to Gerda, which I will outline in my next post!
Aug 5th, 2016, 10:57 PM
#26
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Hi JadeDry, happy to read your report and definitely looking forward to the 2nd part of it!
First part of your day sounds lovely and makes me miss Transylvania even more. I have seen the wooden church at the Village museum in Bucharest. It made me sad that we were unable to visit the Maramures region to see this type of churches in the place they originated in. The second church you mentioned, I didn't get a chance to see. As for the fortified church in Viscri... in the very short visit that we had, it did leave a slightly different impression on me than it did on you. I found it charming in a bit ran-down sort of way. I felt that it was unique to many other churches I've seen in Russia and Europe. No bling no glamour. Difficult to explain but it had that "hand-made" feel to it. And that's what I liked about it. But once again, we only spent a short time there, and most of my time was spent on taking photos of the ladies in my group, so I was pretty busy
)
Horse cart ride....yeap, should have mentioned that for the first few minutes it's actually a bit scary to be on the cart. I too was afraid of falling off! We had 3 carts, and our driver was very skilled, so in the end one of my ladies actually did fall asleep! We had to grab her so that she would not fall off! I asked her to sit in the middle on the way back The other cart I was told had a much rougher ride. The horse was young and so was the driver, so I think it was a bit more similar to the F1 racing ...on a village horse cart! But nonetheless, we all loved the experience for the same reason that you did. Simple pleasures of life. And the scenery around Viscri is just absolutely perfect for this type of activity.
well, I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of the story including your lunch experience at Gerda's!
First part of your day sounds lovely and makes me miss Transylvania even more. I have seen the wooden church at the Village museum in Bucharest. It made me sad that we were unable to visit the Maramures region to see this type of churches in the place they originated in. The second church you mentioned, I didn't get a chance to see. As for the fortified church in Viscri... in the very short visit that we had, it did leave a slightly different impression on me than it did on you. I found it charming in a bit ran-down sort of way. I felt that it was unique to many other churches I've seen in Russia and Europe. No bling no glamour. Difficult to explain but it had that "hand-made" feel to it. And that's what I liked about it. But once again, we only spent a short time there, and most of my time was spent on taking photos of the ladies in my group, so I was pretty busy
) Horse cart ride....yeap, should have mentioned that for the first few minutes it's actually a bit scary to be on the cart. I too was afraid of falling off! We had 3 carts, and our driver was very skilled, so in the end one of my ladies actually did fall asleep! We had to grab her so that she would not fall off! I asked her to sit in the middle on the way back
The other cart I was told had a much rougher ride. The horse was young and so was the driver, so I think it was a bit more similar to the F1 racing ...on a village horse cart! But nonetheless, we all loved the experience for the same reason that you did. Simple pleasures of life. And the scenery around Viscri is just absolutely perfect for this type of activity. well, I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of the story including your lunch experience at Gerda's!
