FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: Maramureș

Turda Salt Mine

Today we headed north towards the Maramureș, skirting the Ukrainian borders, and entering the real rural Romania. We stopped at Turda Salt mine prior to leaving Transylvania. To be more accurate, it was a former-salt mine-turned-recreation-centre. They've built ferris wheels, mini-golf, bowling and even a mini lake in the cavernous spaces. It was fortunate that we visited during low season as there was only 1 elevator which had a capacity of seven to go down to the first open chamber and then another elevator which only had a capacity of 4 to go further down to the lake level. During high season, your choice would be to wait and line up for the elevator or walk down around 28 floors of stairs to get down to the very bottom...The children took the stairs. Oh to have the energy of youth!

Down a tunnel

Along a long corridor

An example of what the mined salt looked like

Going down again for the elevator to go further down...George explaining why everything was made of timber

Below us was the first large chamber

Large enough for a ferris wheel

From there, you can go further down...where there is a small lake and mini island

Looking up to the upper chamber and the elevator shaft

As you do, you row a boat around a mini lake in a salt mine

Amazing patterns of salt against the wall

Putt putt. Mal could not resist

Not sure who had more fun. The man

Or the kids

From the salt mine, it was a long drive to get to Maramureș, where the people are still "traditional", living a rural lifestyle that had remained unchanged for decades. We could still see horses being used for carts and personal transports, and examples of the beautiful wooden gates we saw at the National Village Museum. Unfortunately, many of the young have left for to work in Western Europe, leaving their children behind with grandparents and sending money home. What initially began as a one or two year plan, had become decade long trysts with "just one more year". It has created social issues, as well as changing the landscape dramatically with big modern homes being built for "when they come home". These new houses currently sit empty as the elder generation prefer their older, smaller traditional houses.

Our first stop in Maramureș was the Merry Cemetery in Sapanta, so named because of the colourful crosses and witty epitaphs. It was started by a local woodcarver Ioan Stan Patras in the 1930s who wanted to celebrate the life of the people who had died. Each cross was a mini story of the person, and many had carvings which depicted traditional trades typical of the rural community. Some were a little sad, showing the cause of death, like the 3 year old who was hit by a car :(

Our final destination was the home of John and Silvia, locals in Vadu Izei one of the Maramureș village, where we would have a home stay. I know what I'm about to type is spoilt, entitled and difficult but here goes...it was a catch 22. We were a little disappointed that the village was a lot more modern than expected. At first glance it did not seem too different from other places we had been to in Romania. We were relieved that it was more modern than expected. We had a warm & clean modern room to sleep in and we had wifi.

The highlight of our visit though, was our meal prepared by our hosts. John and Sylvia were warm and welcoming, and our meal was delicious and hearty. We were treated to their home brew and made to eat A LOT. What previlege it was! We felt so blessed to have been able to have this experience and interaction with the locals.