A Beautiful Trip with the Train

I love trains and for sure everyone loves old trains. Well, we got a beautiful small gauge train in Romania and you should come to visit Maramureş and travel by this lovely old beauty. I did it last summer with my friends and was a dream day. It is called Mocăniţa and it lives from Vişeu de Sus village. Info from the site: “The Swiss association „Hilfe für die Wassertalbahn“, located in Bern, Switzerland has been involved with the Vişeu de Sus forestry railway since 2000. The Association is officially registered in Switzerland and according to its articles of constitution aims to „support CFF Vişeu de Sus with material, logistical and financial support, to prevent the line from abandonment. In particular the operation of steam locomotives shall be enabled for the future.”” So because of that I have met some beautiful people who take care of everything, they are from Romania and also from Switzerland and love to do it and you can see it because they always smile. From the site: “The Vaser Valley - with its length of some 50 kms - climbing from Vişeu de Sus to the end of line near Comanu, is rather different from other valleys of the Carpathian mountains. With the exception of a few logging camps, the valley covers a vast area devoid of human population. It is accessible only by railway, along with a handful of logging roads that link key points on the line.” The postcards that you can buy from the train station are gorgeous (see below) and the ticket is like an old cardboard ticket used for a long time in Romania – you should keep it like a souvenir. At halfway is a buffet and the Romanian cuisine will make you not want to leave from Maramureş.

PS: the text was also used on Quality of Romania blog.

47.701358,24.438912 Click for Google Maps or use numbers on your GPS to navigate.

Wikipedia For more information, links, pictures and many more Wikipedia is the perfect site to be informed.

Official Site For visiting information (like fees and open days and times) use the official site.
Romania For travel information, the official site of the National Tourist Board, is the perfect location.

Dacian Fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains

When I was young my parents take us every summer to the grandparents. We live in the eastern part of Romania (Vrancea County) and they live in the west (Timiş County). We always travel with our little Romanian car called Oltcit (it was made in collaboration with Citroen, which is why it has CIT in name). Once we stopped to visit the Dacian fortresses from Orăştie and it was kind of fun even though we were very little. We have spent a little time in the woods searching for the ruins because those were not built in the middle of the city like the Roman Forum in Rome. The six fortresses - Sarmizegetusa Regia, Costeşti-Cetăţuie, Costeşti-Blidaru, Piatra Roşie, Băniţa and Căpâlna - that formed the defensive system of Decebalus were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. Today, treasure-hunters sometimes search the area, as Romania lacks legislation in this domain. The beautiful Coson or Koson coins are one of the things they are searching for and after that they sell those gold coins on black market. The town of Sarmizegetusa Regia was the capital and major fortress of the Dacian kingdom, probably built in the mid first century BCE. It consisted of perimeter walls and fortifications, a sacred precinct, and a settlement area primarily for nobles and supporting servants. It was located at the top of a 1200 meter hill with excellent visibility of the surrounding lands. The sacred precinct was on the east side of the town, with a prominent plaza and circular shrines. There were two settlement areas one on the east side and a larger one on the west. In addition to dwellings they included workshops, storage buildings, and agricultural processing areas. Notable for the time is a distribution system for drinking water that used ceramic pipes. On the postcard you also can see the golden helmet; it is a gorgeous piece that can be seen in the National Museum of Romanian History from Bucharest.

Sarmizegetusa Regia: 45.623042,23.310277 Click for Google Maps or use numbers on your GPS to navigate.

Wikipedia For more information, links, pictures and many more Wikipedia is the perfect site to be informed.

Official Site For visiting information (like fees and open days and times) use the official site.
Romania For travel information, the official site of the National Tourist Board, is the perfect location.

Painted Churches of Northern Moldavia 1: Arbore

A few years ago I have traveled to Bucovina with my family and we wanted to see all the churches included in UNESCO World Heritage List. My mother insisted that not all worth a visit just because she saw them and was disappointed because the poor care and destructions. I decided I have to see all them so we did it and the visit was amazing. One of the oldest ones is Arbore, a very small church from Suceava country. It is dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. The name in the UNESCO list is Painted Churches of Northern Moldavia (there are 8 such places and I will describe all of them in time). The church from Arbore was built in 1503 by boyar Luca Arbore, one of the right hands of Ștefan cel Mare (Stephan the Great), the Prince of Moldavia between 1457 and 1504. The construction of the church was completed in about 5 months. Its exterior paintings date from 1541 and were made by Dragoş Coman and took about 4 decades. The outside paintings on the western wall are the best preserved, as opposed to those on the northern facade, which suffered extensive weather-related damage. This damage arose mostly because the church roof was plundered by marauding Cossack troops and melted in order to make bullets (the original roof was made of lead). Inside painting depicts Luca Arbore and his family offering the church to God through the intercession of Saint John the Baptist. Also inside are the tombs of Luca Arbore and his family. Luca Arbore died in 1523 by decapitation at the order of the Stephan IV (son of Bogdan III; also called Ştefăniţă) (he was the grandnephew of Stephen the Great). Luca Arbore was the regent of Stephan IV until 1523. From 2005 there are no religious rituals.

This is dedicated to Penelope Avril Binder from Germany because she said she is interested and Anca Ioana Bandaş who sends me many postcards from Bucovina.
Also I want to tell that the postcards of the monasteries are from Terra Design and Mr. Marius Vasiliu and his team did a great job editing such amazing postcards. Soon they will publish a series dedicated to all UNESCO Monasteries from Bucovina, including Arbore and for the first time Pătrăuţi.

47.729632,25.920255 Click for Google Maps or use numbers on your GPS to navigate.

Wikipedia For more information, links, pictures and many more Wikipedia is the perfect site to be informed.

Official Site For visiting information (like fees and open days and times) use the official site.
Romania For travel information, the official site of the National Tourist Board, is the perfect location.

Photos taken by me:

The Paradise of Danube Delta

In the summer of 2011 I decided for the first time to go on a one day cruise on Danube Delta. As many of you know, if someone lives in London, maybe he never or very rare goes to visit Tower of London, this is the same with me, which is why it took me 30 years to go visit Danube Delta. I was very impressed because it is a gorgeous place. Every time I visit something I search for the WOW Sensation and for sure I’ve had it in Delta. There were a lot of foreign tourists, I have spotted some from United States, some from Belgium and the Netherlands, some from Switzerland and some Koreans only in my boat. Everyone has its camera and hope for the best photo of a pelican, egret, water lily or anything else.

The total surface is around 6000 sq-km (including the lagoons of Razim-Sinoe). The greatest part belongs to Romania and around 700 sq-km belong to Ukraine. Is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The modern Danube Delta began forming after 4,000 B.C. in a gulf of the Black Sea, when the sea rose to its present level. A sandy barrier blocked the Danube gulf where the river initially built its delta. The Danube branches into three main distributaries into the delta, Chilia, Sulina, and Sfântul Gheorghe (Saint George). The last two branches form the Tulcea channel, which continues as a single body for several kilometers after the separation from the Chilia. Situated on major migratory routes, and providing adequate conditions for nesting and hatching, the Danube Delta is a magnet for birds from six major eco-regions of the world, including the Mongolian, Arctic and Siberian. There are over 320 species of birds found in the delta during summer, of which 166 are hatching species and 159 are migratory. Over one million individuals (swans, wild ducks, bald coots, etc.) winter here.

Ecosystems of running water comprise the Danube arms, as well as a series of more important streamlets and channels. It is an environment rich in plankton, worms, mollusca, ephemerides, grubs, spongiae, with numerous species of fish, such as the carp, pike perch, sheat fish, and freshwater sturgeons (sterlet, Vyza and Danube mackerel). Ecosystem of stagnant water includes the lakes, to which various ponds, streamlets and channels are added. They are characterized by a rich floating and submerse flora. Of the fish, the most important are Tinca tinca, Abramis brama, Scardinius erytrophalmus, Carassius auratus gibelio, Silurus glanis, Perca fluviatilis, Esox lucius etc. The reed plats and floating reed islands (called plaur in Romania) are the most common and well known components of the Danube Delta. Vegetation of this ecosystem consists of common reed, sedge, Dutch rush, brook mint. The plaur is a mixture of reed roots, grass and soil, usually floating or anchored on the bottom.

The Danube Delta is perhaps the least inhabited region of temperate Europe. In the Romanian side live about 20,000 people, of which 4,600 in the port of Sulina, which gives an average density of approx. 2 inhabitants per sq-km.

In 1991, the Romanian part of the Danube Delta became part of the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. Around 2,733 km² of the delta are strictly protected areas. In 1998, under UNESCO Programme on Man and the Biosphere, the 6264.03 km² of Danube Delta were established as Biosphere Reserve shared by Romania and Ukraine.

I am glad to dedicate this to Emmanuel Bonsie. He lives in Ghana and wanted something about Danube. I hope that he will have the chance to visit Europe and of course the Danube Delta.

45.0833,29.5 Click for Google Maps or use numbers on your GPS to navigate.

Wikipedia For more information, links, pictures and many more Wikipedia is the perfect site to be informed.

Official Site For visiting information (like fees and open days and times) use the official site.
Romania Ukraine For travel information, the official site of the National Tourist Board, is the perfect location.

În vara lui 2011, într-o zi infernal de caldă, aveam programată o croazieră de o zi în Delta Dunării. Am plecat cu vaporul din portul oraşului Tulcea şi deşi era cod portocaliu de caniculă, m-am simţit foarte bine. Nu mă aşteptam să fie atât de mulţi turişti, mai ales străini, dar parcă eram într-un loc foarte vizitat din Paris, de exemplu. Am văzut elveţieni, olandezi şi belgieni, coreeni, americani, toţi pregătiţi cu aparatele foto să prindă în poze păsările şi nuferii şi peisajele unice. Delta nu mai este aşa de murdară şi plină de peturi cum era, dar încă trebuie să se facă multe lucruri: pescuitul este interzis dar toţi pescuiesc, muzica tare a turiştilor, bărcile de mare viteză, etc. Cea mai mare parte a deltei aparţine României. Suprafaţa totală este de aproximativ 5000 kmp, din care aproximativ 700 kmp aparţin Ucrainei. Dunărea ajunsă în judeţul Tulcea se bifurcă în braţul Chilia, el reprezintă şi graniţa cu Ucraina, şi braţul Tulcea; apoi braţul Tulcea se împarte şi el în braţul Sulina şi braţul Sfântul Gheorghe. Vegetaţia deltei este reprezentată în mare parte de o vegetație specifică mlaștinilor (stuf, papură, rogoz, în amestec cu salcie pitică) şi ocupă 78% din totalul suprafeţei. Zăvoaiele ocupă 6% din suprafaţa deltei, fiind păduri de salcie, frasin, arin, plop, care cresc pe grindurile fluviatile. Ochiurile de apă sunt acoperite de o vegetaţie acvatică şi plutitoare, ocupând 2% din suprafața deltei. De asemenea, există păduri pe câmpurile Letea şi Caraorman şi sunt alcătuite din stejar brumăriu, stejar pedunculat, frasin, plop tremurător, ulm, plante agăţătoare. În deltă există 320 de specii de păsări și 45 de specii de peşte de apă dulce. Acesta este locul unde milioane de păsări din diferite colţuri ale Terrei vin să cuibărească. Speciile majore de peşti în cadrul Deltei Dunării sunt ştiuca şi somnul. Din 1991 este înscrisă în Patrimoniul UNESCO.

They Shall Not Pass

The most important sightseeing monument in my county Vrancea is Mausoleum of Mărăşeşti, a memorial site in Romania containing remains of 5,073 Romanian soldiers and officers killed in the First World War and dedicated to the commemoration of the Battle of Mărăşeşti and Romanian Army members who were killed during World War I. The motto of the Romanian Army during the battle was "Pe aici nu se trece" (English: "They shall not pass"), probably inspired from the famous slogan of General Nivelle during the Battle of Verdun. This was the last major battle on the Romanian front. In May 1918, after the German advance in Ukraine and Russia signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Romania, surrounded by the Central Powers forces, had no other choice but to sue for peace. In 1917, during the Romanian Campaign, Grigorescu was the commander of the Romanian armies in the Battle of Mărăşeşti. It was there that he achieved his greatest success, managing to defeat Imperial German troops led by General August von Mackensen. After the battle, Grigorescu was nicknamed the "hero of Mărăşeşti". His victory was praised in Entente countries, and earned the general a sword sent to him by Taishō, the Emperor of Japan. The sward was engraved with the motto "Pe aici nu se trece". He is buried in the central part of the Mausoleum. It is said that even Adolf Hitler respected that site and in the WWII he asked marshal Antonescu to protect the monument.

45.872202,27.207985 Click for Google Maps or use numbers on your GPS to navigate.

Wikipedia For more information, links, pictures and many more Wikipedia is the perfect site to be informed.

Official Site For visiting information (like fees and open days and times) use the official site.
Romania For travel information, the official site of the National Tourist Board, is the perfect location.

Cel mai important monument din judeţul meu Vrancea, este Mausoleul de la Mărăşeşti. Sunt convins că dacă ar fi promovat cum trebuie ar fi şi vizitat. Sunt o groază de turişti străini care sunt interesaţi de muzeele, vestigiile şi tot ceea ce are legătură cu războaiele mondiale şi chiar nu se profită de acest lucru. La Mărăşeşti, în primul război mondial a avut loc una din cele mai mari bătălii. Celebră a rămas în istoria deviza armatei române, lăsată singură de cea rusă, „Pe aici nu se trece”. Armata germano-austro-ungară a plasat în luptele de la Mărăşti-Mărăşeşti-Oituz cea mai mare densitate de artilerie. Cotidianul "Times" scria că "Apărarea frontului la Mărășești a fost cea mai strălucită faptă de arme săvârșită vreodată de români ...". A fost ultima mare bătălie de pe frontul românesc. În mai 1918, armatele germane au avansat în Ucraina şi Rusia şi au semnat Tratatul de la Brest-Litovsk prin care România, înconjurată de Puterile Centrale, nu a avut altă alegere decât să semne Tratatul de Pace de la Bucureşti. Se estimează că peste 21000 de soldaţi români şi-au pierdut viaţa la Mărăşeşti, dintre care 5073 de soldați și ofițeri sunt înmormântaţi în mausoleu în 154 de cripte individuale şi 9 cripte comune de pe 18 culoare. Generalul Eremia Grigorescu este înmormântat într-un sicriu special aşezat în partea centrală a monumentului. A fost decorat cu ordinul Mihai Viteazul, Steaua României şi Ordinul Sfântul Gheorghe şi Sfânta Ana acordat de ultimul ţar al Rusiei, de asemenea a fost Cavaler al Legiunii de Onoare şi a primit o sabie de samurai având gravate celebrele cuvinte Pe aici nu se trece. Se spune că însuşi Adolf Hitler a respectat acest loc, astfel încât în bătăliile din Cel de al Doilea Război Mondial, i-a cerut mareşalului Antonescu să trimită subunităţi de luptă antiaeriană ca să apere acest loc.