Romania Autumn Photography Tour II

Itinerary

Monday, October 20

Travel from US/Canada to Romania.

Tuesday, October 21

Welcome to Eastern Europe! Today we arrive in Bucharest and check into the JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel. Private transfers from the airport to the hotel provided.

Depending on arrival time, there is a lot to do and see in Romania’s capital. You may want to take a Hop On/Hop Off sightseeing bus tour to check out the wide, tree-lined boulevards, glorious Belle Époque buildings, and other highlights of the city known as “Little Paris” in the 1900s. You’ll get familiar with the city’s central neighborhoods and places of interest.

Bucharest is packed with museums such as the National Art Museum, Bucharest History & Arts Museum, Natural History Museum, Cotroceni Palace and Museum, and Museum of the Romanian Peasant, featuring the richest folk art collection in the country.

Stroll through Cismigiu Park, Bucharest’s oldest park, or Herastrau Park, spread over 400 acres, from the Arc de Triumph to the Baneasa Bridge.

Wednesday, October 22 (B, L, D)

We’ll spend a day exploring fascinating Bucharest with our guide and shooting photos of some of its most interesting architecture and landmarks. We’ll drop by the Palace of Parliament (the second largest administrative building in the world, after the Pentagon, built by Communist Party leader Nicolae Ceausescu), Pasajul Macca-Vilacrosse (a fork-shaped, yellow, glass-covered arcaded street), the Arc de Triumph, and historic buildings and churches in the old part of town.  

Lunch and dinner in the city give us an opportunity to sample some of Romania’s Balkan cuisine. After dinner, we depart for the airport and fly to Maramures.

In Maramures we step back in time to experience the rural heritage of Romania’s past. Chickens cluck, cows roam unspoiled pastures, and hillsides abound in poplar, beech, and flowering ash. Overnight stay at the Gothic-style Hotel Diafan

Thursday, October 23 (B, L, D)

Go back in time…We’ll wander the historic region of Maramures this morning, photographing and enjoying the many traditional wooden houses, brandy distilleries (the distilling takes place in October!), and people who have preserved the rural culture and crafts of their Dacian ancestors.

Maramures villages are distinguished by their unique wooden churches with tall spires and shingled roofs. Many locals still use horse-drawn carts and cut their hay by hand.

Lunch at a family run guesthouse will give us a literal taste of the culture. For those who like to drink their culture, too, we can taste the local plum and apple brandies.

After lunch we’ll tour the Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance in Sighetu Marmatiei. The restoration of the prison building was completed in 2000. Each prison cell became a museum room, which together presents the chronology of the totalitarian system in Communist Romania.

Wine tasting in the hotel’s 600-year-old wine cellar 🙂 Overnight Hotel Diafan

Friday, October 24 (B, L, D)

The day starts with a visit to a local potter who specializes in Dacian pottery. We’ll get to watch him work and even have the chance to make our own pottery objects.

From Maramures we drive five or six hours through the pastoral countryside to Bucovina and have lunch along the way. Overnight at Bucovina Lodge for three nights

Saturday, October 25 (B, L, D)

Exploring Bucovina is on the agenda for today. We’ll take in the picturesque painted monasteries: Sucevița, Moldovița, and Voroneț. Their painted exterior walls are decorated with elaborate 15th and 16th century frescoes featuring portraits of saints and prophets, scenes from the life of Jesus, images of angels and demons, and heaven and hell. We’ll also see painting in progress when we check in with local women elaborately painting eggs.

We’ll have lunch at a family run guesthouse and visit the Lucina Horse Farm, one of Romania’s twelve national stud farms.

At dinner we’ll enjoy traditional music and traditional dishes at Inima Bucovinei. For an authentic taste of Bucovina culture, we’ll dine on lamb, polenta, pickles, and a local dessert. There is also a chicken option for those who don’t eat lamb.

Sunday, October 26 (B, L, D)

Early morning departure for a day trip to Ukraine takes us to the cultural capital of Chernivtsi.  As western Ukraine’s center of culture, education, and architecture, Chernivtsi has been dubbed both “Little Vienna” and “Jerusalem on the Prut.” The Residence of Bukovinian and Dalmatian Metropolitans was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011.

We’ll take a city tour to get to know this photogenic and historical city better.

After a traditional Ukranian lunch we’ll explore more of Chernivtsi before heading back to our hotel in Bucovina.

Monday, October 27 (B, L, D)

We say goodbye to Bucovina today and take a picturesque drive to Sighisoara. One of the most spectacular drives in the country, the road runs through the Bicaz Gorge with steep cliffs on one side of the road and deep drops on the other. We’ll keep an eye out for the wallcreeper, an uncommon cliff-dwelling bird, on this five to six hour trip.

There will be time to look around the medieval town of Sighisoara in the historic region of Transylvania. The city played an important strategic and commercial role at the edges of Central Europe for several centuries. Sighiṣoara became one of the most important cities of Transylvania, with artisans from throughout the Holy Roman Empire visiting the settlement.

Tonight we stay at Casa Georgius Krauss. We’ll dine under the arches of stone and brick in the hotel’s fine restaurant and taste Romanian wines certified by the Sommeliers Association of Romania.

Tuesday, October 28 (B, L, D)

It’s an early morning as we rise in time to shoot the sunrise at the fortified church in Biertan. We’ll snap away as the sun illuminates the Gothic-style building sitting on a low hill. This Saxon village has one of the most important fortified churches in Transylvania, which was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993. It was the seat of the Lutheran Evangelical Bishop in Transylvania between 1572 and 1867.

With the sun high in the sky, we’ll move on to visit a charcoal maker and a blacksmith. As we learn about these age-old crafts, we’ll have an opportunity to take interesting cultural photos.

From Biertan, we drive to Bran to see Bran Castle. This fortress is most associated with Dracula. He was imprisoned here and it is where the vampire stories were spawned, but it’s really a cozy fairytale castle decorated by Queen Marie 90 years ago.

We’ll spend two nights in Bran at the Inn on Balaban where we’ll discover Transylvania’s dramatic and calming mountainscape beauty.

Wednesday, October 29 (B, L, D)

A full day of photography is on tap in a landscape dominated by mountains, forests, quaint villages, and flocks of sheep. We’ll see the terrain and towns where Vlad the Impaler, better known as Dracula, lived, fought battles, and inspired the vampire legend.

We’ll enjoy our Romanian dinner while appreciating the locals in traditional clothing and indigenous music. Overnight at Inn on Balaban

Thursday, October 30 (B, L, D)

We’ll take a morning drive from Bran to Bucharest, stopping along the way to photograph the sights. The drive takes about three hours not including any stops. Then it’s time to head home; our flights leave in the evening.

Friday, October 31

We arrive home today. Happy Halloween! You can tell your friends and family all about visiting Dracula’s castle.