Romania and Istanbul

2 day guided tour, overnight in Breb. We are next to the Ukraine border but nowhere near the war.

My guide, Florin, is from this area now living in Cluj. Again it's just me and my guide.

We stop for coffee in Baia Mare, this is Florin's hometown. In the coffee shop we bump into one of his friends who used to live in the same apartment block. Baia Mare is in a valley and when the communist gold mine was operating the smoke would settle and the area would be contaminated with heavy metals that are a by- product of gold mining. Consequently, people in this valley don't live much past their 60's. Florin's dad dies at 54 and he doesn't anticipate to live longer than his 60's, even though he is no longer living there. He feels the damage is already done.

Next stop is a Wooden Church with the tallest spire in Romania (?Europe). It starts to drizzle and get colder here. True to Maramures it has a wooden welcome gate. The church is beautiful. The wood is carved and every symbol means something. The paintings inside are spectacular and of course depict Christian stories. This church has pews to sit on because it's Greek Catholic . Orthodox churches require you to stand.

The rain increases and the foggy roads shut out the view of the monutains we are driving through. We stop for lunch at a traditional restaurant on the side of the road. This area is a ski Mecca in Winter.

As it's raining we opt to do an indoor activity so we go to the Communist Victim museum. See separate page for this visit. And the sun comes out but is still cold.

We then head to the village of Breb, where we check me into Veronica's Guesthouse. It is modern and warm, and I am the only guest there. I was expecting I might be in a cold wooden house so packed layers but not needed. Veronica is a young lady, happy and bubbly. She insists I have a fruit liqueur shot, or 2. They have 2 sorts of traditional spirit. The "women's" one is less proof and fruit flavoured, very nice. The "men's " one is the clear super-proof aviation fuel, typical of many countries. Florin explained the he/she is traditional but doesn't need apply these days.
We also are served a traditional round donut hit from the pan , dusted with icing sugar her mother made. Delicious.

Florin checks into his cheaper accommodation ("otherwise how we would make money?") then an hour later we drive through the village to the next village to a bed and breakfast place for a traditional dinner. Sour soup, chicken offal, mashed spud with dill, pork. Then a lovely blueberry muffin for dessert. It's here I try the rocket-fuel shot 😂.
The host is Maria and she serves way too much. There is a saying in the Maramures that you will never leave Maramures hungry. So true!!Läs mer