Tourist in Romania: Maramures - Romanian Traditions and Heritage

Maramures is a region situated in the northern Romania.
It's an area that managed to keep it's tradition, beauty and special attributes over the years. It;s that place where younger people are proud to be "moroseni" and they enjoy wearing traditional clothes and dancing traditional dances.

1. Nature and surroundings

The central part of the area is a big valley, surrounded by mountains. There is a beautiful waterfall hidden here, one of the highest in Romania: Horses Waterfall.

The forests covering more than 50% of the region are home for a lot of animals like bear, wolf, fox, deer. Here also was hunted the last Romanian's bison, in 1852. The last black goat, easy to find in other parts of Carpathian Mountains disappeared here last century when poaching was not that severely punished.

The highest summit here is 2303 m, Pietrosul Rodnei. It's another beautiful trail and if you are lucky enough to visit it in August you will enjoy a variety of forest fruits on the way.

Maybe on of the best shoots we took was on the way up to the Mountain, we the lake below our feet, looking similar with Romania's contour. Happy Birthday, Romania!

2. People in Maramures

Maramures is the place you wanna be if you enjoy eating and drinking, telling and listening to stories.
You will find here people showing so much kindness and care for each other and for the tourists. It's a simpler way of life, like a mouth of fresh air when you normally have a fast forward living, in a crowded place.
There is no hurry and you'll see so much wisdom in this people's life.
I'm not a religious person but couple of years ago I met here a priest and it was the first time when I considered someone really gifted. He was talking about acceptance and love, not about what I should do and what prayers should I say.

Fun fact. Did you knew that Prince Charles has a private property in this area and he really enjoys taking part in the village life?

3. Heritage and tradition

People are beautiful here in their traditional clothes. There are 2 different costumes specific in the subareas (and a lot of other small changes, from village to village). The creativity in this area is at it's peak.

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From the specific traditions I want to tell you something about two of them:

1. Christmas Carols - as we are almost there. People here celebrate in their national costumes and they walk from house to house singing and then being offered a "palinca" to drink. Palinca is a very alchoolized drink, very appreciated in the area and all over Romania.

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2. Egg painting

Local artists are working couple of months before to create this beauties

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They use old methods, removing the content of the egg and paint it on honey bee wax. If you are interested in learning there are workshops happening in the area in spring.

4. How do I get here?

For this region I'm not sure if being in Bucharest helps as the distance is quite big to be covered by car.
I recommend more taking a flight to Baia Mare or Cluj Napoca and rent a car from there.

I will stop here talking about this beautiful part of the world. Let me know if you are interested in other details. Also, @munteanu is a resident of the area, I believe he can help with suggestions. I was just a tourist there, many times until now but still a tourist.