- Duration: 7 Days
- Location: Departure from Cluj-Napoca
- Available Seat: Please contact us!
- Price: 697 €/person
The individuality of Maramures is legendary. Their inhabitants are the Dacians’ descendents and their development reached its peak under the king Decebal, before the Roman conquest. The villagers are fighting for their customs and folklore with such tenacity, that they were called “the wolf people” during the Middle Age. Today you can visit and admire their unique and peaceful lifestyle and so few others parts of Europe have preserved so distinctively the rural culture.
There is a veritable culture of woodcarving. The portals of Maramures homesteads greet you with an extravagant display of imagination, with the matchless designs of their meticulousity carved wood: solar disks, the Tree of Life, the Cross, birds, serpents, geometrical and anthropomorphic motifs. The most beautiful portals can be found in Vadu Izei, Desesti, Giulesti and Sapanta.
The wonderful culture of woodcarving is also dazzlingly embodied in the churches. Comparative with the massive churches of stone, the small wooden places of worship offer an alternative order of spatiality. Expression of the local spirituality, the wooden churches in Maramures villages seem to have overcome the perishable nature of the material from which they have been carved.
In addition, embroidery of traditional costumes is highly developed. On Sunday afternoons, men and women often parade and dance as they did for centuries. Women wear colorful headscarves and flowered skirts with black sheepskin jerkins; men wear black trousers and white jerkins. The Easter festivals are a particularly good time to see them.
Day 1
Cluj-Napoca
Arrival at the international airport of Cluj-Napoca. Depending on the arrival time, free time for city tour: Saint Michael’s Church (built in the 14th century in a Gothic style), The Orthodox Cathedral, The National Theatre, Palace of Justice, Iuliu Maniu street (also known as The Street in the Mirror), the Hoia Forest (well-known for its paranormal phenomena which crooks the trees and offers great visual effects), The Ethnographic Museum.
Welcome dinner and overnight in a 4* hotel.
Day 2
Cluj-Napoca – Bontida – Cernesti – Surdesti – Plopis – Baia Sprie
Drive to in Bontida and visit the Banffy Castle, also known as The Versailles of the Transylvania. The Banffy Castle was built in several stages, starting from the 16th century. The estate was devastated in 1944, when the retraining German troops set in on fire and plundered it. In the Communism regime the castle was used as an agricultural cooperative headquarter. The estate is currently in a restoration and reconstruction process, meant to redeem it to its former glory.
Continue to Cernesti and visit the works of contemporary art sculpted in limestone, andesite, marble, sometimes bronze, exhibits of the Florean Museum. The collections are hosting over 10 000 pieces of art from all over the world and became a great cultural bench-mark in the tourism of Maramures.
Visit the wooden churches in Surdesti (with a tower of fifty-four meters and a polychrome iconostasis with baroque wooden ornamentation) and Plopis (unique by the three-lobed ceiling vault of the nave). Both churches are included in the UNESCO Patrimony.
Arrival in Baia Sprie. Short hike to the Blue Lake, an elliptical water surface of 4 m depth formed through accumulation of the rainfalls in an abandoned mine of iron sulfate and melanterite. This composition gives to the water the green – blue color. When there are people in the water, the color is changing, having differing shades and inflexions.
Dinner and overnight in a 3* pension in Baia Sprie. The owner is as well a famous potter and will make you pottery demonstrations and even teach you the art of clay.
Day 3
Baia Mare in place
Visit Baia Mare, city first attested in the 14th century as a mining center and developed as a medieval city having on base the mining and the craft tradition. Visit the Belfry Tower St. Stephen (a historical monument from the 15th century) part of the architectural complex St. Stephen Church. This is the only Gothic hall-church in the north-west of Transylvania, raised in the 14th century. Visit the Butchers’ Tower, Iancu de Hunedoara House, Black Eagle Inn, the Mineralogy Museum, the Ethnographic Museum of Maramures (with a pavilion section and an open-air section), Mara Park etc.
Return in Baia Sprie. Easy walk to the Blue Lake, where the water is blue, naturally and misty shadows are crossing over the water surface. It is formed through the accumulation of the rainfalls in an abandoned mine of iron sulfate and melanterite. This composition gives to the water the green – blue color. Dinner and overnight in the same pension.
Day 4
Baia Sprie – Ocna Sugatag – Sighetu Marmatiei – Sapanta – Peri – Barsana – Ieud
Departure to Sighetu Marmatiei passing over the Gutai Pass. Here you can admire of even have a hike to Creasta Cocosului, a group of rocks with crenellated shape that spreads on a surface of 50 ha. In Ocna Sugatag have a short walk around the salted lakes formed in dissolution sinkholes or through the collapse of the salt mine ceiling. Some lakes have lover salinity (cause to precipitations and to rivers capitation) and now are hosting species of plants and even fishes.
At Sighetu Marmatiei visit the Memorial of the Victims of Communism and Resistance. Founded in 1993 on the base of the former Sighet prison, the Memorial presents the atrocities of the totalitarian system in communism; each prison cell became a museum room.
Continue to Sapanta in order to visit the Merry Cemetery, famous for its colorful tombstones with naïve paintings, describing the buried persons’ life in an original and poetic manner. Close to the cemetery is the Peri Monastery church, the tallest wooden structure in the world – 75 m.
The next visit is at the Barsana old church, remarkable for its small scale, rectangular plan and the double slope of the roof; the wooden church is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Visit the wooden complex of the Monastery Barsana.
Arrival in Ieud. Dinner with traditional musicians called “ceterasi” and overnight in a 3* pension.
Day 5
Ieud – Viseu de Sus – Mocanita tour – Ieud
Early breakfast. Departure toward Viseu de Sus in order to take the Mocanita train, a steam-power locomotive. Using a narrow gauge railway, Mocanita will offer an unforgettable experience for 3-4 hours for a distance of 43 km long following the Vaser Valley, with a motion speed of 10km/h. Package lunch.
Visit the wooden church in Poienile Izei, one of the most beautiful and best preserved architectural monuments in Maramures. An uncommon trait of the church is that it features a metal horned moon under the cross. This is erected as a means of protection against the Tartars. The church houses a number of old icons painted in vivid oil colors on wood tiles that date back to the 18th century.
Visit the wooden church in Deal, the oldest in Maramures. Its murals are painted in the 15th century in a primitive Byzantine style. Free time to spend in discover the lifestyle of the village. Visits at the traditional installations and craftsmen. Dinner and overnight in the same pension.
Day 6
Ieud – Beclean – Cluj-Napoca
Departure to Cluj-Napoca, following the road from Sacel over the Setref Pass an Stefanitei Hill, with beautiful landscapes and panoramas.
Arrival in Cluj-Napoca. Farewell dinner and overnight in a 4* hotel.
Day 7
Cluj-Napoca
Depending on the departure time, last visits and shopping. Transfer to the airport. End of our services. Departure.
HIGHLIGHTS
* Banffy Castle in Bontida
* Sculpture Camp in Cernesti
* Surdesti wooden church
* Plopis Wooden church
* Pottery session in Baia Sprie
* Blue Lake in Baia Sprie
* Baia Mare town
* Memorial of Victims of Communism and Resistance in Sighetu Marmatiei
* Merry Cemetery in Sapanta
* Peri wooden church
* Barsana Monastery
* Mocanita steam-power train
* Poienile Izei wooden church
* Ieud wooden churches
PRICE:
Organized groups: 697 €/person
Special! Private tour: 1 293 €/person
*150 €/person SGL Supplement
Included:
- Accommodation 2 nights in 4* hotel and 4 nights in 3* pension
- Full board (check-in with dinner and check-out with breakfast)
- All transport and round transfers
- Fuel, road and parking taxes
- Entry tickets for the visits in the program
- English speaking attested guide
- Festive dinner with musicians in Maramures
- Pottery session in Baia Sprie
- Telephonic emergency call and support 24/7
Not included:
- Air tickets
- Taxes for cameras and filming
- Drinks off the boarding
- Driver for private tour
- Tips
NOTE
- The program in the present form is available if Day 1 is Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Sunday, according to the opening hours of some visits or activities in the tour. If Day 1 differs, they will be replaced or cancel.
- Rates do not apply during the main holidays (Easter, Christmas and New Year) and during great events (festivals, concerts, fairs).
- The price for organized group is calculated on a base of 10 persons. For other group size, the price will be recalculated.
