Yes Clifton, interesting indeed. Are you a teacher or professor by any chance? I had a history teacher once that brought the same type of interesting stories to his class. Even the normally not interested in studying students sat up and took notice when he talked. Thus my question. Although I and am sure most Fodorites do enjoy historical infomation. Your thread is most interesting. Thank you.

<b>Harmann and Prejmer</b>
We headed off from the Sinaia area towards Sighisoara and caught these two small towns along the way. We'd really wanted to see Brasov and the Black Church, but figured we could backtrack later. It never happened, and that's regretable, but we had 3 days of reservations in Sighisoara.

There are a multitude of Saxon originated villages spread out across southern Transylvania, each with a church in the center which had fortified walls surrounding it. This is where the townspeople would house their valuables and foodstores, a refuge in case of attack. Many of these are still standing and we visited several of the best preserved on this trip.

We stopped at Prejmer enroute and took a few photos of it's octagonal clock tower from outside, as it was closed, and moved on to Harmann. Here we found the gates open and the caretakers raking leaves in the inner yard, and issuing reprimands in German to David, their very active 3 year old son. We wandered around inside the walls as they worked, equally enjoying the bright day, the buildings and the boy rolling around in the leaves they'd just raked. As we made our way around to the outer gate again, the gentleman asked if we'd like to see the inside of the church itself. He took us in and instantly it reminded me of some of the old churches in the small river towns in Eastern Missouri near where I'd grown up. We talked about the similarities as the towns at home had many of only a generation or two ago who spoke only German and here in Romania, this was also an enclave where &quot;Saxons&quot;, Germans of western Germany had settled back in the 1400's.

He told us about how until only 10 years ago, the village had been home to over 2000 German speaking residents among the ethnic Romanians and Hungarians. Now, since the revolution of 89, there are less than 200. The exodus of these people back to Germany is apparently widespread and continues.

The church itself is simple, yet elegant, with vaults, a gold guilded alterpiece and a pipe organ. Member's cushions and personal items remain in the pews, holding their seats.

We thanked our host for his time and purchased a couple of postcards to help in support of the maintenance of the church and headed up the road through similar villages such as Bod and Homorod, chasing sunlight on our way to Sighisoara.

<i>Next - Sighisoara, the Pearl of Transylvania, Birthplace of Vlad - on Halloween</i>

Hi LoveItaly,

No actually I'm a computer systems engineer out here in the corporate world. Not at all qualified to teach, but I am very interested in history and try to learn about why things are the way that I found them.

Well Clifton I disagree with you. You certainly are qualified to teach.

In all sincerity I find your thread absolutely enthralling.

Well, I might have gathered a few things, but credentials are quite another. Still, it's very nice of you to say.

Shall we go on?




<b>Sighisoara</b>
This town, at least the citadel, is not to be missed. I've read somewhere that it is the possibly the best preserved gothic citadel anywhere, but I have a lot of travel to do before I could verify that. Don't mind trying though.

It's not a big center, but once you're inside the walls, you're back in time. The origins here go back to a Roman citadel, but the current look is all medieval Saxon, back around the 16th century. What I like about it is that it's not squeeky clean and all restored for the tourist public. But you can't mistake here that they are well aware of the value of tourism. There are 4 small hotels in the citadel and a couple restaurants and internet cafes. I don't think you could go wrong with any of them. The Hotel Sighisoara is the largest at 28 rooms, I think. The Casa Cu Cerb (House with the Stag) is the most recently renovated and has a very good restaurant in the barrel vaulted center. The meals and service at Casa Wagner were both better though, and we found out here that even though the wine (Jidvai this time) is good and really cheap, two bottles is not necessarily better. There's also a little place called International Cafe with assorted baked things and has some very Americanized food choices if you're feeling like a bit of home: PB&amp;J sandwiches, brownies, chili and cornbread.

Ultimately, for a place to stay, we chose option 4 - Casa Legenda, a small guest house. This is a hands off sort of operation (the room is not made up daily). But the decor is unique to each room, very homey with heavy arched wooden doors and wooden floors. Ours, the Countess room, opened directly to a little entryway outside, as did the &quot;Old Room&quot;. Price was 1200000 ($36) per night. You can see the picture of the rooms at the website: legenda.ro

There is an internet cafe right next door that charges 50 cents per hour. The computers are almost as old as the building.

Back to the sightseeing, I'd say this one is a do not miss. I'm not sure you really need the three days we gave it, but it's also a good base and has decent rail connections to Sibiu, Brasov and Targu Mures. Ultimately though, the appeal of this town comes from the architecture and feel. We parked in a lower lot and walked up the stairs with just the backpack to find the Legenda. The tunnel-like entrance to the walled area is hard to locate and requires driving through a residential area, so we went back to bring the car up later. We were later able to drive around and park inside the walls. From the parking lots below, it would appear this is probably not the case in high season.

As we topped the stairs, we came right up on the covered walkway beneath the famous gothic clock tower. This is the symbol of Sighisoara. It has working wooden (nearly life-size) characters parading out each day, a different one each day, almost like a cuckoo clock. The tower itself is very large at 64 meters high and topped with a main spire and 4 surrounding ones. Very transylvanian. You can climb to the top during hours for a small fee (can't recall, and there is also a mesuem of torture devices and an old pharmacy inside. The most interesting part is that you can see the internal clockwork mechanisms and have a close up peep at the wooden characters. Then outside, you have an unobstructed view each direction.

We headed right, around the tower base and came up on a large crowd around costumed players, conducting a mock witch trial. Very animated, only Romanian spoken, but cute to watch. Lots of theatrics. It was a campy introduction to the city, but we enjoyed it. One block up is the house that Vlad himself was born in, and then across the tiny square and right again and there is the Legenda.

If you go straight at the square, you see the covered gates to the citadel. If you make a left (the Casa Cu Cerb is on this corner), you pass the Hotel Sighisoara and keep ascending the cobblestones until you reach the old covered wooden staircase (built in 1542). The staircase takes you to the very top of the hill, surpassing the height of the clock tower, to the church on the hill and the &quot;old&quot; German cemetary. I say old, but in fact, while it obviously has been here for centuries - activities, local visitors and recent dates show that it's still growing. (I was looking for a better word but &quot;active&quot; hardly seems correct).

Shoring up the outer walls at various points are 9 out of the original 14 towers, each labeled for a different occupation. There is a nice walk with a view of the modern town partially around the outside of the wall. This walk looks out on the modern black and white orthodox cathedral.

For those who are curious: No, there isn't really any activities, even in Sighisoara that are &quot;Halloween-ish&quot;. But it was kind of intriguing to be there on that day, even if it was just as happenstance. We saw a jack-o-lantern in one pensiune window and that was it. The next day though is the Day of the Dead, a memorial day, and there were families everywhere taking flowers to the cemetary.

Shopping: We rarely shop, especially not for ourselves. Gifts sometime. Here though, we bought a couple of nice small carved ceramic vases for friends and this rolled glass vase by a local artist for ourselves. It has several layers of etched glass, each layer a different color, layered on after etching scenes into the prior layer. Gives it a 3D look and must have taken a long time to do. About $20.

Well, we covered the cabbage back in Sibiu (and frankly, a few too many times in other meals on the trip). It was here in Sighisoara that the blessing occurred. On approach to the old wooden staircase, we could see an older woman tucked just inside the entrance. She was selling black walnuts from a plastic bucket there and tried to get our attention without english, but with a nice smile and a wave toward her wares. We declined, just being on our way up and all. Several steps up was a young Russian girl who was growing impatient in trying to get a photo of the light breaking through at odd angles from the side slats of the bridge. Just as she'd get set, someone would appear at the top or from behind and get in the way. This time it was our turn to be the pests, but we waited and we got into a conversation about photography and cameras, us both trying to get the shot (got it!).

We wandered around at the top, looking at the church and at the headstones and of course, the views back towards town. We headed back down the staircase and decided at some point that we both sort of liked the idea of some walnuts. So we signed that would like a bag. What a sweet lady, after standing all day, even though we had no idea what each other said. And the walnuts were delicious at about 26 cents for a big bag (cracked, still in the shell). Munched off and on all day on these things and then decided it would be nice to have more for a day trip the next day. We walked back up as light was beginning to fail and motioned that we'd like another. Worked as hard as I could to ask in what Romanian I knew. Goodness, the response! She pointed to each of us, then pulling the corners of her mouth up with her fingers and reaching to ours to do the same. Ear to ear smiles from her as she hugged my wife and made the sign of the cross for each us and nudged us together. We each managed a &quot;multumesc&quot; (thank you) but overall, we got a bit of what all was going on. Not much. I handed her the same amount as before, and she dumps the remainder of the bucket into the bag, so that it would barely close. More hugs, more &quot;talking&quot; and a photo. More signs of good wishes. We sure <i>felt</i> blessed anyway.

As we walked away, we spot the young Russian girl again, still with her camera. She looks at us... looks at the walnuts... and we all crack up laughing as she teasingly rolls her eyes and shakes her head at us. Could we really be such soft touches? It was a good visit.

I'll save the daytrips for another post. Sighisoara deserves it's own.

Wonderful. Please go on and don't hold back on words.
(if you want a recipe for the cabbage rolls let me know )

Clifton, I have just spent the better part of my lunch hour travelling vicariously with you through Romania. (that is, catching up since I last checked in) So far this has been a great report, I can't wait to hear more.

Clifton - An excellent report. I was in Romania at the same time as you and didn't see this post in time but posted a small bit of my trip on the &quot;thank you&quot; posting that you started previously. (does that even make sense??) Anyway, if anyone would like to read mine (it's short) you can find it there. Although Clifton's is WAY better and I've found it fascinating. Great job!

Fantastic! Absolutely fantastic. What resources did you use to plan this trip? Your report has truly peaked my interest. I'd love a short list of what you found to be most useful and informative.

Thank you,
Sharon

<b>Near Sighisoara - Biertan, Medias, Cris, etc</b>
While Sighisoara could conceivably be be &quot;done&quot; in a day, I'm glad that we chose to base here for a little while. There are a number of other interesting places within an easy drive, some of which may be more difficult with public transport. I'm no authority there, but assume in the absence of trains to some of the places up next, there'd be public buses.

We set off south on a secondary road out of Sighisoara and were quickly out of town, passing through village after village, in the direction of the town of Agnita. A distinguishing characteristic of almost every village along the way is of a walled church. As in the case with Harmann and Prejmer, these were built as a defensive base for the local Saxon population, but each is different in some way. Many are unfortunately in some state of disrepair, but looked at another way, this seems to add to the sense of history surrounding them. For instance, the first we passed, in the town of Saes, has a clock tower that is split from top to bottom.

I want to insert a logistical note here which would have been useful earlier. The Freytag &amp; Berndt map of Erdely/Transylvania was invaluable in locating these buildings. It has the names of each town in Romanian, Hungarian and German (where applicable) and a very good legend showing churches, castles, etc. The only drawback was that it cut off Bucovina, which makes sense, as that isn't in Transylvania. We did not see this map anywhere along the way, so if you're driving, I'd get it ahead of time.

Without trying to describe each town and each church (ok, ok - no cheering), just be aware that if you're into exploring, you can't go wrong wandering anywhere just south of Sighisoara. We passed each town, skipping some churches, checking out others. In Agnita, we drove to the center of town to check out the church there, bigger any we'd past so far, but similar. From here, we headed north, enjoying the rolling countryside.

Our next big stop was the city of <b>Medias</b>. It's not terribly attractive on the outskirts, but this is something you get used to after awhile. Continue to the center - parking is easily found near the main square. Medias is also on the main train line coming from Sighisoara. The old center of the town is very pleasant, with a host of colorful buildings surrounding a flower filled square. Never saw a tourist here anywhere, but that's true for most places we went. Above the square is a giant clock tower and other lookout towers. It's a nice walk going up the hill and finding your way back down around the brightly painted yellow and red church and through covered arched walkways. There's a very nice looking cafe just to the left of the square as you're facing the towers, but we opted to walk down to the base of the hill, to the modern town. We walked through the market, with hordes of vegetable and flower sellers filling quite a good sized area. Back around, we stopped in a little bakery and bought ourselves a slice of very questionable pizza. Here's something... uh, interesting. Something I'd read and caught just in time. You may want to ask for your pizza without catsup. I just caught her before she squirted the Heinz bottle. Of course, you may choose otherwise. Either way, the pizza was so-so, but the cakes were pretty good. Fended off a young boy who slipped in while my wife's back was turned and slowly was reaching for her bag. A quick little thing where I looked like I was coming out of my chair and he vanished. (I'm very scary)

From here, we went on to <b>Biertan</b>. Without a doubt, the largest and best preserved of the walled churches we saw. Imposing as it sits on a rise in the middle of town, it's double walled and there's a covered wooden staircase to the top. Biertan and it's church is a Unesco world heritage site. The town itself is small and well kept and there's a cafe at the base of the hill. At the top, there was a young lady sitting and reading on the lawn who walked us in and gave us a brief tour, in English, then allowed us to have our own look around, as she waited and answered our questions. She showed us to the treasure room of the church where the town valuables were kept. She explained that the door required both a key and a specially formed crank to unlock two different mechanisms. Inside the door, 14 iron rods slide into the floor and door frame in every direction. Overall, in my opinion, I'd say that Biertan would be the best single choice for a village to visit in this area. No charge for admission to the church, but there is a donation box.

From here, next was <b>Cris</b>, which is fairly close and moving in our clockwise circle back towards Sighisoara. We set out to see the church here too, but it didn't really turn out that way, and the church itself, while worth seeing, didn't compare to the impressiveness of the one at Biertan. But we enjoyed this stop most for another reason. There was also some sort of castle showing on the map, but I hadn't read anything about this.

Our first impression of the town was rather funny. We're driving down the main drag, which is really just a small paved road through town, when we see something of some size lying in the road ahead. We slowed way down, creeping forward, both of us leaned forwad trying to make out what it was. At first we thought maybe a horse, but a few yards closer we could see clothing and a bicycle wheel poking up from behind. A bicyclist was hit, we thought. We could see a number of people standing on a bridge on a side road ahead who were also looking. Two of the young guys from the crowd run down to the man in the road just as we're getting close and together lift the man to his feet just as we're getting there. The man who was just lying there a minute ago was napping, or more accurately, sleeping it off. He grins at us, red faced, stumbling and amazingly enough, takes a drag, as he still has his cigarette lit. The two young guys are laughing, wave and shrug. Welcome to Cris.

We eased past, turning over the bridge and spotted the castle in semi-ruin there above us. We turned into a gravel drive that led up the small hill but found that the 3 winged castle was fenced off at the opening. Figuring this was going to be not much more than an opportunity to snap a picture, I stepped out and just left the car running. It was then that a man in a sweater and cloth hat appeared out of nowhere and came to the gate in the fence. He came out and waved, motioned back to the castle with a questioning expression. I sort of nodded that way, pointed at myself and asked &quot;da?&quot; Nodding, he pointed at the car, made a turning key gesture with a &quot;la machina&quot;. Yes, probably a good idea. From there, this very kind gentleman walked us through Bethlen Castle for well over an hour and a half with not another soul around. All other plans fell by the wayside. This gentleman was the caretaker for the property, which is currently being renovated to be turned into a hotel complex. Looks like it's going to be nice, but they are only in the initial stages of restoration now. It's funny but even though he spoke 3 words of English the entire time and us only a few more of Romanian, it's amazing how you manage to understand. Then there's that disturbing habit I have of nodding even when I'm not getting a word, but that's a matter for some other forum.

We climbed towers on rickety spiral staircases, went down into the cellars, from wing to wing. He diagrammed the property on the ground and pointed at the towere at each corner of the structure. &quot;Uno, Due, Trei, Patru&quot; as he pointed at each. As we walked around, he would refer to each tower by number. He gave us the history, pointing at the central turret, saying &quot;ani&quot; and scratching 1360 onto the ground. Pointing to the adjoining Italian style loggia, the number was 1402. He was always sure to make the gesture of a camera in use when something significant was near, such as the family crest of the Bethlen family, or the well carved from solid block of stone, or the original vaulted chapel. Charades communicated the spot where the new bar would be (drinking), where the dungeon was, or where alcove where hangings were performed (the old self hanging by a noose clue was pretty obvious). He made the motion of a trap door to show where the victims would drop afterwards. He showed us frescoes that are to be restored from photographs soon. At one point, he took us into the office and motioned that the camera should be put away before we entered. He then walked us through the blueprints of the plans for the hotel, re-using the gestures from before to point out each room on the plans.

Although we could have easily stayed longer, we'd taken enough of this man's time, said our goodbyes and thank yous and were off, back to Sighisoara.

jotravel,

I'd just read your report on the other thread. Enjoyed reading it!

Wasn't it a beautiful time to be there? Pretty cool that you went up to Poenari. I think that many steps could have done me in for the rest of the trip, but we did think about it. Thanks for posting yours too. I think Romania deserves more attention than it gets, so the more the merrier!

SharonNRay,

Besides the LP and Rough Guide, I had quite a few websites bookmarked. I'm not so sure you'd call it planning as much as research, but I found these very useful for orientation.

Octavian's site:
http://www.spirit.ro

Country info sites:
http://www.aboutromania.com/
http://www.beyondtheforest.com/
http://www.turism.ro
http://medieval.romanianfolkart.ro/

The great Romanian Bat's (Alex's)page on Virtual Tourist:
http://www.virtualtourist.com/m/30132/35f/
Be sure to look him up on Lonely Planet's Thorntree forum as well. Ask about Romania. He'll find you.

Language:
http://romaniaguide.tripod.com/language.html
http://www.travlang.com
http://www.jeroenvm.dds.nl/romlimba.htm

Hotels, guesthouses:
http://www.tourneo.net/F_New/
http://www.legenda.ro
http://www.ruraltourism.ro/indexen.html


Hope you all have a great time in Romania, will be posting the rest of the trip in a couple more posts, but let me know if I can help.

Luli, actually I enjoy experimenting with cooking different types of meals and yes, I would like to try making this. THe sarmale recipe would very much be appreciated. I liked the mititei as well (I think I spelled that wrong, but it's close)

And P_M - don't be starving yourself on our account. lunch is one of the 3 most important meals of the day.

<b>Bicaz and Bucovina</b>

The road out of Sighisoara to Bucovina can take you one of two ways - Up through Targu Mures, Bistrita and then the Borgo pass made famous by Bram Stoker or you can go through the Szekely land and through the Bicaz Gorge. We chose the latter, as we weren't on any sort of literary agenda.

The Szekely land is an area that is still primarily Hungarian and the churches were different than we saw elsewhere. We stopped only briefly though, as our goal was to get to Bucovina. We made our way through until we reached Gheorgheni and connected with the road to Lacu Rosu (Red Lake) and Bicaz. The scenery on this route is phenomenal, with the gorge being the centerpiece of the drive. After stopping off to eat a excellent lunch at a lodge on the shore of Lacu Rosu, we headed back into the mountains. You arrive at the gorge after passing ever more dramatic views of rock formations, until the gorge is upon you, literally looming above you as the road cuts through beneath the overhangs. Rather than to go on and on, have a look at the photos for this location. They do a better job than I can. Yosemite has competition. One particular peak reminds me a little of Devils Tower in Wyoming as well, but with a cross mounted at the summit.

At the town of Bicaz, we swung north and drove along Lake Bicaz and more great views before branching off in the direction of Targu Neamt. We finally (this day was mostly driving) made it to Gura Humorului, a large town amongst the monastaries that we'd come to see. Finding no ATM at first, we drove down the road towards Voronet and settled in at the Casa Elena. This was a very nice &quot;guesthouse&quot;, although they have recently expanded and have a much large building to the back now. They also had a small restaurant and an excellent wait staff. More local wine and mititei, a type of spicy local sausage We finally found an ATM in town with the help of the folks at Elena, but it wasn't easy. It's right in the center of town. If you find the Best Western, it's right across the street, diagonally. The next day, it was out of order, so we lucked out as we needed to pay for the room in cash. The room was mid-range - not to basic, not flash. About $32US.

The stars of Bucovina (Southern Bucovina to be precise- Northern Bucovina is just across the border in Ukraine) are the painted monastaries. There are a number of other monastaries in the region with similar architectural styles, but 4 of them were painted centuries ago (16th century) with frescos that cover the exterior of the central church and still remain painted today. Absolutely phenomenal. Each a cigar shaped church with drastic wrap-around eves, completely (with one exception) covered in brilliant pictoral stories of martyrs, the crucifixion and judgement day. 3 of the 4 of these are surrounded by fortifications and each are attended to by orthodox nuns. Each monastary is known for a signature color. As you walk around these buildings, the art tells a story, panel by panel.

There is a small fee to enter each one and an additional small fee to take photos (this was true at other sites as well, but I've neglected to mention it. The camera fee is usually around 20000 lei, about 75 cents US)

The hotel is right up the road from the monastary at <b>Voronet</b>, so we were able to visit bright and early. It was rainy and a little chilly all day in this area, but manageable. Of the four monastaries we visited in the region, this was probably our least favorite. I think though, that was because there was construction on the pathways around it going on, and you couldn't get close to it. Still, the sight of the church is pretty inspiring and as each panel is about 5 foot tall, we could still admire the art, which is faded near the base due to the elements, the rest amazingly preserved. The color here may be found in some crayon boxes. It's called Voronet Blue. On one side is the Creation, the other, Judgement Day.

Moving along we went just north of Gura to <b>Humor</b>. Humor is red-based. While the themes are similar on the exterior, the interior of this church is just as fully covered. It's unique from the others by having the most elaborate interior. Inside, the theme is the martydom of the saints, with all the inhumanity of the tales on display. There is a mausoleum in one chamber and a stunning alterpiece at the end.

After an aborted attempt to take a white road from Humor, which quickly devolved into a mud plain, we backtracked to Gura and went the longer way around north to <b>Sucevita</b>. This was easily our favorite. Similar admission pricing, plus a 50 cent parking fee across the road. Sucevita is the most heavily fortified of the 4 monastaries, looking quite like a small fortress from the road. Inside the other walls sat the familiarly shaped church, this time in green. This church is larger than the others and we found the nuns out and about, arranging flowers at a table on the side and tending the garden. The church here is noticeably larger than the others, but almost bare on one side. I'd read that a painter had fallen and died and that the rest refused to finish the work, as an omen. None the less, the side that IS finished was my favorite. It depicts a ladder running diagonally the full height of the wall, with the march of man upwards, rung by rung. Above them angels assist, while those who were unsteady fall, devoured by the demons waiting at the foundation of the building. Further, Sucevita is ringed with tree covered hills, shrouded in a mist on the day of our visit.

Finally, there is <b>Moldovita</b>. And not to give short shrift to this place, but it's harder to find it as memorable, having already seen the best of the art and your own personal favorite beforehand. It's also a small fortress, the paintings are based around yellow as a theme, but are more faded than the others. It's theme is Constantinople, under attack by the Persians. The town itself is nice as well.

After leaving the area of the monastaries, we passed through the town of Ciocanesti, worth mentioning for it's unusual houses. The majority of the homes in this town are covered in unique geometric patterns, no two alike. We saw nothing else like this in any other town in the area or in Romania. I am still not sure what is the reason why this one town has taken to this practice, but I'm glad they did.

From here, we cross the Prislop pass for more views, then decend into Maramures, the most traditional area in Romania and home to the wooden churches.

Clifton, thank you so much for the resource list.

-Sharon

Clifton, I'll be happy to post the sarmale recipe but not before your trip report is over, as I don't want to mar its beauty.
As for the mititei (you spelled it right), you can order them from a small store in NY - the recipe it's pretty complicated and honestly, not easy to achieve decent results. Hard to believe for such an apparently simple dish.
But let's talk about foods of Romania later.

Clifton, thanks for another good read on my lunch hour. It's good to know there's still an inexpensive place left in this world of the incredible shrinking dollar. Thanks for the warning about catsup on pizza---YUK!!

I thought that catsup was interesting (not I would want to have any - yuck is right) but just interesting that they had it. Ah, American marketing.

Again Clifton, your report is so interesting. This must of taking you a lot of time to make notes and than post your trip. Very generous of you. Happy holidays to you and yours.

<b>Marmures</b>
Maramures is the most noticeably traditional area we visited anywhere along the course of our trip. After passing through over the Prislop pass, we made our way up to and settled in the main town of <b>Sighetu Marmatiei</b>, also known as Sighet. The twon itself is a suitable base for setting out towards the famous villages that surround it, but it also has a number of things to see there in town. Sighet isn't a particularly inspiring place, but it's also not unattractive. We stayed at the Perla hotel, having arrived too late to go knocking on doors for a homestay type place. I don't know, we weren't feeling that warm and fuzzy about the Perla's staff really, having gotten a general feeling that we were a bit of an imposition. A few smirks and a nod that the room was upstairs. Later one of the two at the front desk was also the waiter in the little restaurant and one of the dishes came out with one of those toothpick American flags. Could have been intended as a nice gesture - I don't know. Still, the room was clean, fairly roomy and it cost $26, so all's well.

In Sighet, the former Communist detention center for dissidents has been converted into a museum. Additionally in town is the home of the writer Elie Weisel, a folk art museum and an open air village museum. For us though, the focus was getting to a few of the Unesco listed villages in the surrounding area.

Branching off from Sighet are two valleys - the Mara and the Izei. We spent the majority of one day exploring around the Izei valley, heading as far west as Ieud. In <b>Ieud</b>, we drove into the village and immediately saw people everywhere of the older generation dressed traditionally, with men in wide brimmed hats and the women in colorful skirts and aprons, wide red and black horizontal strips being a predominant pattern. This sort of thing isn't retained for the benefit of tourism, but is just a part of life. Very few cars are seen here, except on the main road passing through near the towns. In fornt of houses, etc, only an occasional Dacia sits, but horses are everywhere. Every home has a tall wooden fence in front, each fence accessible through a wide carved wooden gate with a mini-&quot;roof&quot;. No two gates are alike and each one has a small bench outside, where the women sit and talk and sew. Except at lunch time. At lunch, it seemed the towns were abandoned, everyone adjourning for lunch.

We pulled into Ieud, and like so many villages here, a tall, tall steeple of unfinished wood pokes up from above the homes. Everyone one of these churches are different, but it's obvious that together they make up a unique style that makes them exclusively a part of this region. Ieud has the oldest of these, built in 1364. Ieud, I'd read, was also one of the most traditional, evidenced by the fact that there'd been no divorces here for 300 years of people tracking that sort of thing.

After we pulled in, we wandered to old graveyard but found that church was locked. Ah well, it was still impressive from the outside, it's steeple so huge in relation to the size of the church itself. Clad in rough hewn dark wood and intricately cut and fitted pieces of wooden shake roofing. We wandered back out through the gate to the road where the car was parked when a man approached from across and up the road a little ways. He pointed at the church &quot;biserca?&quot;. We nodded, hoping we'd understood the question and he headed off to another house and brought out a lady bearing a key. She didn't speak but a few words of English, but took us in.

Inside it's like another world. Nothing at all like those cathedrals of the cities or even of the simple Saxon churches. This church is as rustic and handfashioned from local logs as the outside is. Religious memorabilia abounds inside, decorating the walls with prints of the last supper, of icons and artifacts from wherever they may have been available. One was a Jesus hologram, his eyes following you around the small hall. I would motion to the steep ladder leading to the balcony. The woman responds &quot;It is possible&quot;. (This caused us to hold back a grin, as &quot;It is not possible&quot; has been a running phrase throughout the trip whenever a dish was not available or a place not open). And the long white hand embroidered scarves are draped over everything - every painting, table, light fixture and window frame. Every scarf has a different pattern.

Grandeur isn't what you'd think of to describe these churches. But don't miss them.

Near Ieud is <b>Poienile Izei</b>. It too has a wooden church, which sits up on a hill next door to the new church. It's a bit harder to find as the town is hilly. We went the wrong way and sat as we watched a crew trying to back a truck through this town. Townspeople came from everywhere to watch as well, A few engaging us in a conversation of mime to discuss the goings on. Finally, we decided to back up and try going around somewhere else when we happened on the church we were looking for anyway. It's off to the left hand side of the main road. This church is in a picturesque setting, a graveyard steeply climbing away from the entry gate to the church above, haystacks piled among the grave markers. Unfortunately, we did not find the keeper of the key here, likely that they'd gone to see the excitement with the truck.

As we drove around these areas, I'd talked several times about the photos I'd seen of people from the area and how it's not so easy to just walk up and ask for a photo. We'd seen a group of elderly ladies on either side of the road as we'd entered town, one weaving from wool she had wrapped around a stick. What interesting features they'd had. My wife says, &quot;well give me the camera, I'll ask&quot; and as we head back out of town, she does. Holds the camera up as we approach the woman and the woman nods. Smiles and holds up her work as the picture is taken. What happens next is... well, unique. She says something to us which we don't understand. Even gestures that aren't getting through to us. The two women, sitting across the road, each dressed in all in black are laughing as our subject gets louder and louder. Thinking the best recourse after several minutes of miserably failed communications is to pull back! This is when one of the two on the opposite side, who are both still laughing to tears, gives the biggest, most oddly satisfied smile I've seen in some time - as she drags her rigidly held forefinger slowly across her throat. LOL I kid you not.

Anyway, we also visited the beautifully kept monastary at Barsana and the village of Calinesti and Desesti in the Mara Valley and the Meery Cemetary of Sapanta

The <b>Merry Cemetary of Sapanta</b> (can't remember the exact admission but apprx. 30000 lei plus camera fee) is without a doubt an unmissable part of Maramures. It's due east of Sighet and just a mile or so from the Ukraine border.

For the last several generations, nearly every single person buried here has a tall wooden marker carved, with a depiction of their life on the front and often, a similar depiction of their death in the back. Each board is usually blue, with the older ones fading among the new. Many also carry a verse to explain the person or to explain their departure. While my Romanian isn't good enough to read them, I've seen a couple which had been translated. My favorite:

<i>Here lies my mother-in-law.
Had she lived another year,
I'd have lied here.</i>

More often though, from the carvings, as simple as they may be, the feeling is poignant or solemn, such as seeing a mother depicted with her children, or of a farmer beheaded by a man in uniform. This place could take as long as you'd like to look.

With that, we leave Romania and enter Hungary at the town of Petea, after gassing up and giving the little bit of leftover lei to some young kids who were playing in a town near the border.

<i>to be continued... but not for much longer, I promise.</i>

By the way, the Poinile Izei incident is where the curse came in. Or could be... probably as close as we'll ever come. Either it wasn't the best curse, they were actually wishing us well or the earlier blessing from Sighisoara was even better. However it came about, after this point, we got he best room in the hotel back in Budapest, an exit aisle on the BA flight back to London and a business class upgrade on the trans-atlantic on AA. Now if I could only figure out what this strange growth is...

Luli, I'll take you up on that once it's finished. Happy Holidays to all of you.

<font color="red">Hungary</font>

<b>Nyiregyhaza, Tokaj and Sarospatak</b>
We entered back into Hungary rather late in the day, short on forints and daylight. We stopped off in <b>Nyiregyhaza</b> to look for an ATM and ended up doing a brief walk around the city center. We hadn't done any research on the town but was surprised how pleasant it was to walk around. Not historic in appearance, but quite a bustling cosmopolitan sort of feel to the place. We both agreed that we'd like to come back and explore further someday.

After we'd located an ATM and checked out the main square and a church, we headed back out, making it to <b>Tokaj</b> just after dark. You can make up some time on Hungarian roads, with everyone zipping along very quickly. We'd considered Sarospatak as our night's stop, but were really just tired and ready to stop. We found the Millennium hotel just over the bridge into town and to the left and got a room. The rooms here have a very contemporary feel to them and the bed was low and a little firm, but it was perfectly fine. We paid about $50 for the night. Next door is a little internet facility (not a cafe) and at the end of the hotel is a tiny restaurant with 6 tables. Very good paprika based dishes and a friendly owner who recommended local golden Tokaj wines.

And Tokaj, if anything, is a wine town. It's a very pleasant, clean little town that seems completely focused around selling wine. Now the Tokaj wine we tried was good but all seemed like dessert wine to us, the first small glass being sweet, but too sweet for our tastes beyond the first <i>small</i> portion. In the morning, we walked up the main street, looking in shops, both wine and other, before heading off. Strange that we found the town sort of generally appealing, but not terribly interesting. Didn't even haul out the camera, which is rare for me.

<b>Sarospatak</b> is just a 30 min drive or so from Tokaj, heading north west, so we decided to see it before continuing east. Sarospatak too is a nice town, much bigger than Tokaj, much more a living town. We'd set out to see the castle here and found it without any really difficulty due to the signs through town. Rakoczi castle itself is partially of the stone tower variety from the 15th century and partially newer renaissance style. It houses a museum, but unfortunately, there were no English tours available at the time we were there.

We particularly enjoyed to gardens here, full of autumn color and outer wall remnants, and we strolled around these for a good while. We hoped to make it further east before the day was out and devote some time to Eger and the drive there, so we headed off.

The route we chose took us through the city of Miskolc, which is a largely industrial town, full of communist era housing blocks. Not much to detain us here other than a series of signs directing us through town towards Lillifured. Suddenly, after one major jog left, the signs ended, leaving us to guess from then on. Determined that we were heading for those hills over there, we just kept pointing the car generally in that direction and oddly enough, emerged on the road to Lillifured and the Bukk Hills.

Lillifured seems to be a gradn hotel and spa area set in the foothills just east of Miskolc. Beautiful setting. Spas are not our thing, but this location couldn't be beat for those who enjoy that sort of thing. The road leading off from Lillifured takes you through the very pretty Bukk Hills, with a road winding through a hilly forest. Eventually it leads you down from the north into the city of Eger.