Maramures

Description:

Maramures is, as the old ballad goes, "a land old and fair, whose people are beyond compare". The villages are unique in Romania. Every year they are invaded by tourists in search of the archaic and picturesque atmosphere of times gone by. All of them want to see the magnificent wooden portals and churches, to take part in the celebration of old customs, to drink horinca and eat bacon three fingers thick, to admire the traditional costume of the villagers, to ride the archaic steam train along the Vaser Valley, to visit the Merry Cemetery at Sapânta...

The villages nestling in the Mara, Iza, Cosau and Tisa valleys are included in all the tourist itineraries through Maramures. In no other region of Romania is agricultural tourism as well developed as here. Why are the villages of Maramures so sought after by the tourists? Perhaps it is because of the atypical image they offer: although they manage to remain in touch with today's world, they have not renounced the ways handed down by their forefathers. Each village offers us the image of a complete world, with well-established values, passed down from generation to generation. "Authentic" is the adjective that best characterises these villages. Old technologies (such as the valtoare, a primitive hydraulic device, by means of which the peasants wash their clothes, or the horincie, an installation used in the preparation of the local beverage), houses built in the traditional style, and pastoral customs stand as witness to a universe unspoilt by time. At the centre of each community; there is a wooden church with tall steeple, adorned with handcrafted carvings (see the chapter on UNESCO heritage sites in Romania). Around the church, on Sundays and religious holidays, revolves the entire soul of the village. On such occasions, you will have the chance to see a veritable parade of Maramures traditional costumes.