After my return from a recent family holiday in Transylvania I would like to share my fabulous travel stories and of course some delicious food experiences with you.
When I tell my friends that I was born in Transylvania, they start to smile and laugh. Of course they immediately suppose that I am a vampire. But Transylvania is much more than fearsome vampire stories and dark Hollywood movies. It is one of the most spectacular parts in the Carpathian Basin.
It never stops to amaze me how wonderful this almost unknown part of Europe really is. Therefore when I visit my family there I always try to plan day trips to somewhere special. This time our destination was the national heritage cemetery of Săpânța, known as “The Merry Cemetery.” This peculiar cemetery with its colourful, hand-painted gravestones brings the dead closer to the living. Scenes related to the person are depicted on the top of the headstones, all painted by hand, in cases even accompanied by a small poem recording the life and death of the deceased. Maybe you find this a bit morbid, but the intention is the opposite: to demolish the invisible wall between us, the living and the afterlife. After discovering these colourful and humorous gravestones death seems to be a natural part of life, somehow even funny.
And read here one of my favourite epitaphs — translated to English
Under this heavy cross
Lies my poor mother in-law
Three more days should she have lived
I would lie, and she would read (this cross).
You, who here are passing by
Not to wake her up please try
Cause' if she comes back home
She'll criticise me more.
But I will surely behave
So she'll not return from grave.
Stay here, my dear mother in-law!
Visiting the cemetery made us so hungry, that we started looking after a restaurant in the little romantic village of Săpânţa. Since we were close to the Ukrainian border, it was obvious we are going to eat something specific to the region. To our luck, a typical Romanian restaurant opened not too long ago close by. (Well, I somehow always have luck finding these little gems wherever I travel.) At the end of a narrow dirt road, we finally arrived to Restaurant Plai cu Peri. We couldn’t have been happier about our choice. The waitresses were dressed up in traditional Romanian costumes, and the whole place looked just like a page taken out of a fairytale.
The food was truly extraordinary, they had all the traditional Romanian specialties on their menu. I finally had the chance to eat my favourite Transylvanian dessert, papanasi (cottage cheese doughnuts).
We received — of course — a type of local, home-made brandy (called Țuică) as a small token of appreciation from the staff. This is what I call a perfect culinary experience.
But undoubtedly the best part of our visit just came right after lunch: we got to try on some of the most adorable Transylvanian traditional costumes. It was really fun and such a great experience for me. I simply loved it!
The Peri-Sapanta Monastery, one of the most spectacular monasteries in Transylvania is found In the immediate vicinity of the Plai cu Peri restaurant.With its officially tallest wooden tower in Europe, this monastery serves as a significant pilgrimage destination for the Romanian orthodox people.
It felt as though time had stopped in this place a long time ago — the silence has made the monastery a peaceful island. The building next to the church provides accommodation to the nuns; if you kindly ask them, they let you visit the wooden church and the hand-painted golden altar.
