We had been looking forward to our trip to Romania for several years and it was even better than we hoped for. Meeting Monica and opening our welcome package included painted eggs and snacks started the trip off well. Our first stop the next day at Peles Castle was beautiful inside and out and included the first and last crowds of the trip. It was also the beginning of our ongoing history of Romania lessons from our wonderful guide Andrei. Our rooms in Brasov, Sighisoara and Cluj included a nice combination of traditional decorations and modern amenities. We began the first of many visits to beautiful churches, learning more of the complicated history of Romania over many centuries. Our day in Sighisoara also included a wonderful visit with Emese and family ,touring her gardens, discussing herbs and teas, and having a delicious Easter meal.

Our stay at Village Hotel in Breb was very special with sounds of the creek next to our traditional cottage and the helpfulness and pleasantness of Penny and Andrada. Our dinner with a Breb villager demonstrated the self sufficiency of village families with room full of handmade woolen rugs woven from her own sheep’s wool, dinner including polenta from her own corn, ground in her own woolen mill, mushrooms picked locally and blueberries as part of the delicious dessert. The visit to the Museum of Communism in Sighetu was very powerful, largely due to the photos of victims involved. Our guide knew of a small woolen mill with a rug washer which made an unusual interesting stop.

Returning to the sight of Breb in the valley felt like coming home but we moved on to Bucovina region for Orthodox Easter. Our room at Casa Cu Cerbi included beautiful traditional furnishings and the owner and cook Vio and family made us feel at home and made wonderful breakfasts and dinners. Our main reason for traveling at this time was Orthodox Easter and the midnight and Sunday services and food traditions were very moving. Seeing and learning about the stories on the painted monasterieswas another highlight.

We were able to stay in King Charles’ cottage in Valea Zalanalui. A 3 1/2 hour walk with our very knowledgable biologist guide Chafa was very enjoyable and we were able to see and learn about many Romanian flowers which was another goal of our trip, though we will need to return in May or June to see a larger number! We thought that without our guide Andrei we would have felt somewhat lost and unaware of activities there because of communication difficulties. The meals , though good , were not as interesting as our other villages.

In Viscri we had our best chances to meet local craftsmen including watching a Roma villager making boiled woolen slippers , blacksmith visit, and a very educational time with the royal beekeeper in Crit. Once again the meals with another Vio cook were great.

Lastly, Bucharest surprised us with it’s vitality, green spaces, and wonderful old buildings.

The great success of our trip with a large variety and number of activities was due to the planning and ongoing daily adjustments of Raluca and Monica and particularly to our great guide Andrei. He was able to determine our interest, physical limitations, and schedule very easily and was always pleasant, reliable ,easy to talk to, and extremely knowledgeable about Romanian history and culture.

We enjoyed the gift of the Romanian cookbook and already planning on making a polenta recipe. We also appreciated Monica going into the airport with us on departure and making sure we were through security.

We are very happy we finally were able to take our trip to Romania and witness the beauty of the countryside and the people.