100% ECOLOGIC

Some people say that it hasn't changed at all in the last century ... well they are not far from the truth when they describe Maramures!.

Located in the northern part of Romania, just in the border with Ukraine, Maramures has been our destination for the last few days after visiting the student city of Cluj-Napoca.

In this region, formed by a sum of small villages with names impossible to remember and pronounce, you can find traditional clothing , horse pulled carts, animal markets and curious graveyards with colourful painted crosses.

In the town of Sieu, no pension or anything like it to be found at this time of the year, so after asking some locals and not getting more than the expression in their faces of " who are you?" and " what the hell are you doing here when not even us leave the house because it is way to cold?", an old interesting couple took us in their home, offering a bed and traditional food... all just for a reasonable price of course.

We spent two days visiting many villages , enjoying their hospitality and the nice tradition to pick up hitchhikers.

Curiosity is a big thing in this people...some of them stop and ask where are you from, others just smile back when you say hello, and the most adventurous ones, invite you over their places for a hot milk or a shot of their home brewed "palinka" to warm you up!. They are just happy to tell you their stories in mixture of Romanian, french, German or even Spanish.

Feels really good to have "proper food" at least for two days. In the house of Gheorghe and Doca we happily enjoy part of their culture, a lot of palinka ( medicine, as Gheorghe calls it) and excellent food " 100% ecologic" as they laugh proudly letting us know that everything on the plate is home grown.

We learn that Gheorge has to buy a cow , so we decide to go with him to the animal market before catching our bus. Once in the market, the freezing cold, the mud everywhere, the wrinkled faces of the people and the noisy squealing pigs makes of it a memorable experience.

Our next stop is Suceva,in the Bucovina area, world known for their hand painted frescoes on their facades.

Definitely looking forward for it!!