The sun is finally showing its face a bit, life seems so much brighter,
last week's internet and website disasters are starting to fade from memory and the stressing all night in frustration over them stopping.
Unbelievable what we worry over these days, I am starting to get like my Great Grandmother being able to remember when they was no internet. As a kid, she would tell us stories of reading in the newspaper that Queen Victoria talked on a telephone for the first time.
That dates me, doesn't it??
Visiting Romania, especially as I headed north, I had a feeling of travelling back through time, the pace seemed to slow, summer was coming and long warm days meant lots of work for the farming community but also glorious sunshine and the opportunity to socialize.
Winters mean snow drifts way up high and days inside.
My mind is full of plots and plans and where to Ramble.... here is just a few glimpses of some of the many things I fell in love with.
Truly a very special corner of the world,
full of relaxed pace, hard working rural people, stunning landscapes and amazing built environments- churches, little houses, well covers... long winters give the opportunity to create stunning textiles, woven rugs and embroidery so fine and intricate.
Muramures is famed for its beautiful carved wooden gates.... what a welcome coming through one of them.
You might think for a moment I made a detour to outer-space, this is deep under ground and a stunning [oops getting a bit heavy on that word] space. An old Salt mine has become an attraction and the opportunity to just be in there and feel the chill air and the glowing spaces will long stay with me.
Romania is full of quirky, sometimes even kitsch statues and garden ornaments....
The textiles is what a mate mentioned, and every Sunday in the north you just need to wander down the lane to the village church and drool.
What I loved, loved, loved was to meet a group of women in Bucharest who by day might inhabit the business world and then in the evening, each week gather together to keep Romanian embroidery alive in their hands.
Oana was telling me how her Grandmother used to make all the family clothes by necessity but she grew up in an era where she did not learn to stitch, she studied instead.... and now for the last 6 years she has been meeting with her mates each week to help each other and learn. They have contact with one or two people who still weave cloth, they have invited skilled embroiderers from across the country to teach them skills. We hope to have a social day with the group during our tour. The women really look forward to seeing what our visitors like to do back home and share what they have learned of The Romanian Blouse.
Oana was telling me how her Grandmother used to make all the family clothes by necessity but she grew up in an era where she did not learn to stitch, she studied instead.... and now for the last 6 years she has been meeting with her mates each week to help each other and learn. They have contact with one or two people who still weave cloth, they have invited skilled embroiderers from across the country to teach them skills. We hope to have a social day with the group during our tour. The women really look forward to seeing what our visitors like to do back home and share what they have learned of The Romanian Blouse.
Such a vibrant energy when they speak of their learning and keeping Romanian Tradition alive.
A very common site- horse and cart.
Oh my gosh, the food is great.... bakeries abound and are brilliant. Typical Romanian food is robust and so comforting and yummy. If I had a lunch though, it was impossible to have a dinner as well, just cheese and bread for one of those meals or I would have burst.
Cheese is great, wines very nice, fresh fruit literally falling off the trees along the way. Cherry season whilst I was there.
Thinkers form 5000 BC, part of the National Treasure Hoard. Romania has a long and complex history, rich country at a crossroads between Europe and the Orient. Layers of history and stories to uncover. I have found a few great story tellers to start the process during our first days in Bucharest.
Simple Cemetery... somewhere. I said it felt like we stepped back in time EVEN Mrs Google did not know where we were some days. I was poking along a back way heading to Suceava and she could not line up with where we were at all. I had to go to pre-GPS times and stop and ask someone directions!! Haha
Textiles- oohhhh just wonderful.
Traditional Dolls everyone used to make for the kids during the long winter.... I plan for us to do a workshop.
My first of the Wooden Churches the north of famed for and my favourite. Small and intimate inside and completely covered with murals. The most wonderful space imaginable.
World Heritage listed and a World Treasure for sure
OK ... flights of fantasy or what? many times I thought I could be in Middle Earth.
Met up with some mates and poked around village markets, old textiles are hard to come by because they tend to be handed down through families but we were lucky and played dress-ups.
The lace on the sleeves and bodice is all hand stitched.
That cute little hat is actually a man's hat.... seen old fellows walking down the road in them, Very suave.
Only a small taste of the delights I found.... stay tuned we will be able to offer you a full itinerary very soon.
It is high summer in Romania now and the whole country goes on holidays or back to the family farm to help with harvest or preserves making or soon wine making and so I am waiting on a few confirmations.
More pictures on our site
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