We drove into Romania from Hungary and soon reached the 16th century. The region of Maramureș seems to have missed the 20th century and retained its rural and cultural lifestyle.
People still wear traditional dress and decorate their houses with majestic wooden gates.
In the town of Săpânţa we visited what is known as the merry cemetery. The graves are marked with drawings and poems to celebrate the lives of those buried.
Most pictures show how the deceased person spent their lives, however some show the accidental nature of their death.
The wooden churches of the region don't look like much from the outside but are stunningly covered from floor to ceiling with detailed paintings of the Old and New Testament. This one, in Deseşti, was painted in 1780.
The Barsana Monastery.
We also visited a few locals of the region, who shared with us some home-made pálinka (fruit brandy of 42%–86% alcohol).
This "Jacuzzi" is created by manipulating the flow of a stream. It's used for washing clothes.
The main town of Maramureș is Sighetu Marmației. There wasn't much to see but we did visit the childhood home of 1986 Nobel Prize winner, human rights activist, writer and holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel.
We headed east across the Carpathian Mountains along a glorious road.
Before long we reached Prislop Pass. At an altitude of only 1,416m it was -3°C and snowing already in October.
We arrived in Bukovina, famous for its painted monasteries.
The Voroneț Monastery is known as the Sistine Chapel of the East. First painted in 1547, the west wall shows the last judgement.
The main reason we've come to this part of the world is that Yasmin's maternal grandparents were born in Romania. Her grandfather grew up in the town of Gura Humora. We began our journey into the past, in the village of Stulpicani, which is where her grandfather's family originated.
Life in this village may not have changed that much since those days, so it was easy to envision the setting to his childhood stories.
Her great-grandparents moved to Gura Humora as at the time it had a thriving Jewish community and held greater opportunities for the future. In 1941, the town's 2,945 Jews were deported to Transnistria with less than 500 returning. The majority of survivors, including Chaim Wagner, immigrated to Israel between 1947 and 1951.
We were therefore, very surprised to find the synagogue of Gura Humora still standing. And even more surprised to find it effectively frozen in time. The building was locked, with smashed windows and covered in dust. There were even piles of books left in what seems to have been a classroom.
We also found the Jewish cemetery which was somewhat maintained. You can still admire the unique Baroque style carvings on the stones.
We also had a chance to see the birthplace of Yasmin's grandmother, Vaslui in Moldavia. The remnants of Jewish life were even harder to uncover here. With no tourist office and virtually no information online, we eventually came across the synagogue.
You may even struggle to find it in this photo, but it is indeed the abandoned one-story building in the middle of the car park.
The Jewish cemetery was huge, but today is gathering weeds and rubbish on the edge of town. It can be seen here on a hill behind some housing blocks.
To end on a positive note (and the journey has indeed been a positive one), Yaz got to try some of her Savta's traditional cooking, specifically mamaliga and papanash.
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