Two Days Tour To Maramures From Cluj-Napoca

You’ll be leaving Cluj-Napoca at 09:00, after your guide picks you up at your hotel, and head out of the city towards the north. The drive to Maramures is a little over 3 hours, and your first stop is at a wooden church built in the seventeenth century. These wooden churches were designed not by just peasants, but talented and skillful artisans specialized in building ample log structures with well-joined walls. The wooden church in Calinesti keeps the original paintings from the 1700s made by one of the most famous painters of Maramures in the eighteenth century. Next, you will visit Breb, a beautiful village first mentioned in 1715. You will have time to uncover Breb's scenic surroundings by taking a guided walk around the village. Breb is an authentic traditional village where people still go to the church on Sundays dressed in their traditional Romanian clothes. In the village, you will visit these artisans that preserved their arts and crafts from the Middle Ages. The dinner is included in the tour, and tonight you will try some of the most authentic dishes from the village life. Your accommodation is in a traditional guesthouse in Breb village.

The second day starts at 9 AM with a drive to Merry Cemetery – this unique and peculiar cemetery where all the crosses are carefully decorated and hand-carved.  When someone passes away, on the tombstone normally you can only find their name and the words “Rest in peace” maybe. However, this cemetery brings back all kinds of truths (good or bad) about the deceased, lyrics being sculpted on the colorful wooden crosses. The first tombstone in the cemetery that started this tradition was sculpted by Stan Ioan Patras local craftsman and woodcarver, in 1935. Today, the cemetery has more than 800 colorful wooden crosses, with epitaphs such as: "Underneath this heavy cross Lies my poor mother-in-law Three more days she would have lived I'd be here and she would read You, who here are passing by Not to wake her up please try   Cause if she comes back home She will criticize me more. But I will surely behave So she'll not return from the grave Stay here, my dear mother-in-law!" The highlights of the day are the most famous wooden churches in Maramures: Barsana and Poienile Izei, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Barsana is the most popular pilgrimage destination in Maramures, with the tallest wooden church in the country – 57 meters tall.  Poienile Izei church is unique thanks to some of the most dramatic and best-preserved frescoes of hell of all the wooden churches. Furthermore, you will be introduced to the most natural and ecological washing machines, Valtori. The river whirlpools are used as actually washing machines, and the locals are still washing their wool made rugs inside them. As Romania is well known for the Carpathian Mountains, beautiful landscapes with forests, waterfalls, and gorges, on your way back to Cluj, our guide will stop to admire these magnificent landscapes. Your drop-off point in Cluj-Napoca depends on your travel plans and might be at the airport, a hotel for an additional overnight (not included) or train station.