Exotic, beautiful, untamed and still carrying an ancient bliss. This is the Danube Delta: a warm, welcoming place in the wilderness, not far from the Romanian shore of the Black Sea. An enchanted paradise. Romania is an exotic location not for some luxuriant beauty. It doesn’t even have luxurious resorts for you to spend a fortune and even tell your kids “I’ve been there.” What Romania does have is Transylvania, the Mud Volcanoes, a great deal of natural beauties, some UNESCO World Heritage Centers (Sighisoara, to name one of the many), Dracula (yes, you read that right) and the Danube Delta.

As Dracula was merely a fisherman of souls and his fly rod is beyond reach, we invite you to explore a less known location: the Danube Delta.

Of course you will need the typical fishing gear for carp, perch, pike and zander – and even cat fish, which is the biggest fish in the Danube Delta with captures that reached 400 kg – but you’ll also need a few “extras.” And this has nothing to do with your typical fishing equipment.

You’ll need a few bottles of fine vodka – to open the hearts… as many as you can carry. This is the best coin there, because… there are almost no possibilities for the locals to produce their own schnapps. The Delta leaves little to no room for domestic crops. There is water everywhere and people live from the fruits of the little lots they can actually cultivate, and of course from the gifts of the canal. And no one, literally no one, would waste the crop on schnapps. So, because it is rare, it is valuable. And this is an “insider tip” you will not find on other websites.

You’ll need an OFF spray

42nd Street movie full

to keep pesky insects away. In the Danube Delta mosquitoes found a second home. They come in packs, early in the morning and at dusk, but they are not the only intruders OFF can keep away. Various species of flies and many other biting insects will stay away. Do not visit the Delta without OFF!

Stay away if you are afraid of snakes. As a rule, where there is water, snakes have a natural habitat. There are no records of poisonous snakes, but water snakes (4 species) swim and crawl free, wherever you expect them less. If you dare to catch them, they are the main dish for exquisite cuisine.

Take your binoculars. Fishing is fin, but till that fish bites, watch the birds. Unique species, some endangered, still live here, among which the great white pelican. Endangered fish? Two species of sturgeons. So take care what you catch. Some other endangered species include the European pond turtle, the European kingfisher (a bird) and the beaver.

The Danube Delta is a “lost paradise” and words often fail to describe it. But, if you can afford the flight, there is nothing else you need to worry about. You’ll find in Romania people with warm, open hearts, who will welcome you and treat you as royalty.

Exotic Locations: The Danube Delta [Photos] is a post from: Rounite

One of my favorite destinations during the summer are the Western Carpathians (Romanian: Munţii Apuseni), an area with splendid landscapes, where the nature is green and unspoiled, the forested hills change with colorful open meadows. Numerous rivers have cut spectacular canyons and created the most fascinating caves.

Because of the difficult access roads, many of the mountain villages remained unchanged. It is one of the most interesting ethnographic regions with old watermills, typical farm buildings with straw roofs, wooden ox wagons.

The highlanders are called “moti” and they live mainly from agriculture, the wood processing, and are masters in woodcarving. In spring time, farmers are leading their herds of cows and flocks of sheep in the high mountain, where they rest until the first snowfall.

You may admire on the high pastures the “hodăi”, summer houses used by local people, while being with their herds in the mountains; these villages are the highest settlements of Romania. Everyone can experience here the very warmhearted hospitality in a region where tourism is still relatively new and every guest is welcomed as a friend of the family.

Some years ago, during a trekking session in Trascăului Mountains, I’ve discovered here a strange village. Strange because most of the inhabitants are Hungarian ethnic in a large Romanian area, and strange because it looks like it probably looked two centuries ago.

Rimetea (Hungarian: Torockó, German: Eisenburg) is unique. During the antiquity and middle ages, it was the center of iron mining for the region. In the 14th century, settled here colonists from Austria and Germany, to work in the iron mines. Once a town (17th century), now it is a quiet village resting on the foot of the impressive Piatra Secuiului Mountain (1171m).

The rich past of the village can be seen in the local ethnographic museum (since 1952) and some mine galleries still remained in the mountains.

The folk costumes keep Hungarian, German, Austrian and even Flemish influences, with the famous red boots and delicate lace, or the brides’ diadems made of gold threads.

About a half of the houses are registered in an Europe Union program for keeping the patrimonial buildings and the village was awarded with “Europa Nostra” Silver Medal for the way that traditional architecture is preserved, medal awarded by the Prince of Denmark.

Secuiului Rock is climbed by many tourists, for paragliding or to see the remains of Colţesti fortress.

Rimetea – One of the Most Beautiful Villages in Romania is a post from: Rounite

Related to Mihaela’s post, “Epiphany and Saint John Day“, I want to tell you about some ancient traditions, banned by the communist authorities, traditions that have rebirth and know today a new life.

“The baptism of the horses” – this practice is spread in many rural communities in the Southern part of Romania (Wallachia and Dobrudja) and happens in Epiphany Day.

The peasants who come to the Epiphany religious service bring their horses, rich decorated, to the churchyard and the priest blesses the horses with a bunch of basil and the holy water. The legend says that the one who “baptizes” his horse will have a good health and a rich harvest in the year to come, and the horse will be healthy, too.

After the religious service, all the horses participates to a race where is not allowed the use of whip or spurs, and the fastest and the nicest horses are awarded. I’ve heard about a similar custom (the blessing of domestic animals) in Sweden, but I don’t know details.

“The ice cross” – another interesting custom is the rise of ice crosses, 2-3 m high, in the churchyard, crosses who stand until they melt.

In Northern Moldavia the crosses are built by the volunteer firefighters brigade, wearing their specific uniforms and leading their flag; after that, the priest, the church choir and the fire brigade go to every village institution, the priest blesses them and the others say three times “Kyrie Eleison” (an expression in Greek meaning “Lord, have mercy”).

“The baptism of all young John” – in Talmacel, near Sibiu, I saw a very interesting custom: after the religious service for Saint John’s Day, the participants dance “hora” (a dance in circle specific to all Romanian regions) and then go to the village’s river, the young boys by foot, the young girls in chariots, following an allegoric chariot; all have rich decorated folk costumes.

At river’s banks, all the young named John are symbolically “baptized” in the river’s waters, a ritual for purification and prosperity. In the villages where this custom is kept, most of the people are named “Ion” or “Ioana”. The locals told me that this tradition is unique in Romania and every Ion or Ioana swear to continue it.

Boboteaza Traditions Come Back to Life is a post from: Rounite

In Romania, the sound of an angel’s song is absolutely unique, something you will never ever hear some place else. That’s because angels use the tulnic or bucium to deliver their musical messages.

The term “bucium”, derived from the Latin word “bucinum” (meaning curved horn or trumpet blast) is used n the Muntenian Carpathians of Arges and Prahova, and in the Moldavian Carpathians of Vrancea and Neamt. In Romania’s northern regions the name might be linked to the Slavic “trambica”, and may have been taken over from the Huţul populations. Other names of the same instrument are “trambita” in Bucovina and “trambita” or “tranghita” in Oas and Maramures.

Photo credit – Gandul

The tulnic is an instrument with origins lost in our Dacian roots, somewhere at the dawn of civilization. It resembles the Alpenhorn but the sounds of the two instruments are quite different. Their usage however is sometimes similar. Specific to mountain dwellers in particular, it is mostly used by shepherds for signaling and communication in the forested mountains, as well as for guiding sheep and dogs, and it also used to be way to signal military conflicts in the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. Although it’s a huge instrument, ranging from 1.5 to 3 meters, women in the Apuseni mountains are using it frequently, sometimes to call their loved ones, other times for more practical purposes.

Depending on the region of the country, communications through the bucium song happen in different times of the day and have different meaning. While the shepherds are those who mostly use it (in the evening to call their sheep and dogs, or in the morning to take the sheep out), it is also an instrument leading funeral processions in Oas, Maramures and other villages in the north of Neamt. In the Apuseni, where women are the patrons of the tulnic, it’s mainly a communication device for those living in the highlands, similar to how Scandinavians use their luur.

The tube is made of well-seasoned deal, maple, ash, lime or hazel wood which is conical or cylindrical bored, slit length ways, hollowed out and then glued together. In northern Romania, metals are added to the tube: it can be made of galvanized iron and folded like a trombone. As it does not have valves or finger holes it can only play the pitches in the natural harmonic series.

My memories of the tulnic involve groups of women from the Apuseni mountains being brought to Bucharest to play these marvelous instruments on folk shows aired every Sunday. They came with their folk costumes and where in a complete contrast with the show host or the popular singers using makeup and modern jewelries. They were simple women, extremely modest, and you could easily tell they would have preferred not to be asked so many questions. They were there to sing, nothing more and definitely nothing less.

On those shows I found out of all the love stories behind the tulnic. The sounds of this instrument still seem to me the best to express lost love, missing the one you’ve lost or who is far away. When those women started singing, everything else just stopped, no one could think of anything else, except the song and the eyes of the musicians. There was a special glow, one seeming to hide secrets from long ago. No doubt angels chose this instrument to announce the Judgment Day!

Voices of Angels Resounding from Bucium Tunes is a post from: Rounite