Rural Romania

Romania is very proud of being accepted into the EU, although they have much to accomplish before it is an actuality. Hungary is much farther along in the process and is certainly about fifty years ahead of Romania. Tom and I visited primarily the northern part of Romania, which is more rural and undeveloped than the southern part. The roads are flat out terrible—filled with potholes and very narrow. For this reason Tom and I hired a guide/driver to take us on our week long trip for Easter break. Adrian, our guide, was a great ambassador for his country and very knowledgeable. He was a retired captain from the Romanian military and knew about five languages. Fortunately, he knew the roads very well. If no oncoming cars were insight, he drove down the middle of the road most of the time to avoid the holes in the road. This tactic didn’t help when we came upon the numerous horse-drawn wagons.



We seldom saw a tractor; the people tended the field themselves with their horses and homemade tools. The land looked rich and fertile.

Adrian took us to a local market where we got to see the locals firsthand. The older women wear the same black kerchiefs and skirts. They could not have been friendlier and liked having their picture taken. We felt completely comfortable in the market and not like onlookers. They wanted to show us what they had made and produced. One man opened up a jar of horseradish for me to taste. He wanted me to take a full-finger dip right from the jar, an invitation I accepted. It was fabulous!


All of the food is so fresh. The cheese is homemade and the fruit jam was incredible. It was like eating fresh blueberries—unbelievable. I bought a jar to bring back as well as some sheep’s cheese. We will have a feast of fresh bread, cheese, and jam here in Pecs.



Another unusual thing is that the people paint all the tree trunks white. I grew up seeing this in the South on occasion, but this phenomenon was ubiquitous. Adrian said that they did it first to keep the rabbits from eating the tree bark. I have never heard of rabbits craving tree bark. The second reason is that the folks like the way it looks. We saw them touching up the white bases of trees.

I have also never seen so many churches—and that includes Bhutan and its countless temples. Every little village has its Orthodox church and its Catholic church. Several have Lutheran churches. In one town we saw a huge Baptist church. Many churches are under construction; they aren’t old. Adrian said he thought possibly the Romanian people were too religious.



Tom and I knew nothing about the Orthodox church. It is similar to the Catholic church but no belief in the Pope, a different calendar, and a different cathedral layout. We were in Romania for our Easter but the Orthodox Easter was a week later. We witnessed many of their rituals, but never attended a mass. We saw believers kiss religious icons and then kneel underneath and pass below three times. We remembered how the Bhutanese walked around their Buddhist temples spinning prayer wheels and marveled at the power of religion. On the Orthodox Palm Sunday, the churches were so crowded, people stood outside and listened on the intercom. The churches and local farm people will be a lasting memory of Romania.