Maramureș Region Day 2.

Today wasn't as full a day for us. We didn't travel too far. The plan was to see 2 or 3 more wooden houses. It is amazing how they were built with no nails etc - just all wood. We mapped out a route and I realised we were only a few kilometres from Baia Sprie and we would be driving through there. My friend Suzanne Johnson has Romanian heritage. Her now deceased aunt and uncle used to look after a little round church there. We decided we would visit the church on our way through.

We noticed a wooden church on the way out of Baia Mare and stopped for a few minutes before hunting down the round church in nearby Baia Sprie. It was quite a marathon getting to the church. The very narrow uphill road was incredibly rough with lots of loose stones. We wondered if we should drive our standard (not 4-wheel drive) on that road. We finally parked when we got as far as cars were allowed and then climbed a hill through the overgrown yard - but we got there! It obviously hasn't been used for a long time and unfortunately we could only see it from the outside.

We then visited the wooden church at Plopiș. Back in 1798, when its construction started, 49 families lived in Plopis, a village renowned at the time for the carpentry skills of its inhabitants. Each family contributed with one gold coin to the construction of this splendid church, the 49 coins being later discovered at the base of the altar. The artwork on the walls and ceilings inside have never been repainted just cleaned - no doubt with much care when the church was renovated.

Only 2-3 km away, the wooden church of Șurdești (from 1767) was the next church stop. It is renowned as the tallest wooden church. It's 72 metres high. The Săpânța wooden church is 75m high so its claim to the tallest title but has a stone base so is not really all wooden.

As we walked home from dinner to our hotel in Baia Mare we passed a square of beautiful buildings, some ruins and bells.Read more