A place to be

Romania is a great country, you will be amazed by the natural beauty and by the people hospitality and inner peace. IF you visit Romania exit the cities and go discover the villages, the nature and the gorgeous landscapes. Please, respect them and do your best to conserve them.

Photo: Pure Romania

Article: Pure Romania

Ciucas by bike

This weekend (9th-10th of August) we had a great adventure trip in Ciucas Mountains. We went by car to Cheia and from there we went by bike to Muntele Rosu, Ciucas Cottage (on the road) and we came back by traversing the mountains. The trail was difficult but the view from the top of the mountains was gorgeous.

PS If you will visit Ciucas Cottage don’t forget to ask for onion, is delicious with cheese or soup.

Bike adventures in Romania – Ciucas Mountains – photo gallery

Photo: Pure Romania

Article: Pure Romania

Sanziene La Corbi 2015 – #SanzieneLaCorbi2015

The Organization of #SanzieneLaCorbi2015

        In May we completed the concept and began the promotion. We inspired ourselves from the experience gained in September 2014 – the wedding of the Korean couple settled in New York. We have chosen the same place – the traditional village Corbi on Doamnei Valley and the same guesthouse lost in the fir tree forest somewhere a few miles upstream Corbi village.

The Event

Where, when, who?

        We have celebrated Ia’s Day and Sanziene a little bit earlier. Because we relied on people coming from Bucharest, we organized the event in the first weekend before 24th of June.

Curtea de Arges

        We gathered 22 people from Bucharest. Among us three tots who didn’t wear for the first time the traditional costume. We began the story with a visit in Curtea de Arges, the first capital city of Wallachia. We visited the Royal Court, the Royal Church and Curtea de Arges Monastery.

Corbi, flowers, traditional meal

        We continued our way to Corbi. A fierce rain accompanied us from Domnesti to the guesthouse. We have reached our destination with good weather. The summer rain quickly stopped and over the lake in front of the guesthouse rose the sun. We had a traditional rich lunch.  The cheese, the ham, the eggplants, the beans paste, the spawn and the vegetables were served for starter. Then we ate tripe soup and pies cooked by recipes from Arges.

Enjoying the good weather we went to the meadows in the area to pick flowers. Tradition says that the flowers picked before Sanziene have magical powers. But they can be used for teas or cures only if they are picked before the 25th of June.

Ia, Corbi Monastery, Mother Uta’s house

        Without exception we dressed the traditional costume and we visited Corbii de Piatra Monastery (Stone Ravens Monastery) and the blue house of mother Uta. It was exciting to visit this part of Corbi. First of all wearing the traditional costume brings you a feeling of peace and harmony with everything that surrounds you. Then, many of the costumes that we had were old, were costumes with which our grandparents got married, with which they or their children have lived important moments in their life – high school graduation, college graduation etc.

It was beautiful especially because we have built a moment of harmony, of communion of the present with the past. The villagers admired us in that fairytale context – young people dressed in traditional costumes at Corbii de Piatra Monastery.

The fairytale evening

We returned in the evening to the guesthouse to receive the guests. About 20 villagers joined us and celebrated with us Ia’s Day and Sanziene. All wearing their traditional costumes danced and sang in the spirit of the event. We were amazed by the mastery with which they played hore, sarbe and many other dances, some of which were specific to that area. They also impressed us with their talent for singing. A young music band played at old (from which we remember the flute and the panpipe) and new instruments a series of traditional songs.

We enjoyed the traditional dishes cooked in cast-iron kettle with wood fire: forcemeat rolls of cabbage cooked in tuci (cast-iron kettle), grilled trout, pork, desserts made after recipes from Arges. The morning almost caught us dancing and singing.

“This opportunity to wear once again the ia, to dance and sing, to eat and drink traditional drinks and dishes, brought a sincere happiness both on the blushing faces of the young people who were like teleported in a chapter from their grandparent’s life and the serene villagers faces wreathed by this returning in time” Diana Nicula, participant.

What’s next?

We want to return to Corbi to amplify this magic of the Romanian authentic and to take it into the urban areas.

“We, at Pure Romania believe in the idea of making moments capable to inspire. We hope that we manage that by Sanziene at Corbi event” Alexandru, organizer.

#SanzieneLaCorbi – an authentic story in Romania every year!

#SanzieneLaCorbi2015 – video

#SanzieneLaCorbi – photo gallery

Photo: Stefan Radu

Article: Pure Romania

Bike adventures in Romania – adventure trips

I got for the first time in Piatra Craiului five years ago. This mountain fascinated me. There is something special like from fairy tales. But more than the massif itself I was impressed by what I could see from up there – Rucar Bran area. It is different when you look at it from above – an infinity of hills and hillocks cram under your sight covered with meadows, forest and from place to place with a village. To me it seemed the most fairy tale place ever and since then I’ve wanted to walk through this large garden (Rucar-Bran) by bike. Yes, bike adventures in Rucar Bran passage. This must be quite an adventure.

Bike adventures in Rucar Bran area

We started early at the beginning of June in a Saturday morning from Bucharest. We got in Magura village after more than 3 hours. It is a village bravely settled on the hillocks of Bran. It is a fairytale place bordered on two sides by two big groups of mountains: Bucegi and Piatra Craiului. It is a perfect place for bike adventures due to its specific relief and majestic landscape.

We started quickly. The eagerness to start our bike adventures was big. We descended from Magura to Zarnesti Steeps. The road is very beautiful. A wide path goes through people’s households. The place is of an authentic picturesque. The descending is quite long and has technical portions. The road ends with a steep descend through the forest. It was a brave debut in our bike adventure.

Then we climbed for about two hours to Curmatura chalet. Although very beautiful the road was difficult. We saw Zarnesti Steeps, a number of other rock formations, the thick forest which surrounds Piatra Craiului foothills and climbed some very steep slopes. It was worth the effort. At Curmatura chalet we met beautiful people, we saw a landscape like those you believe you can see only in the Alps and more than that we ate again the best pie in the world. Yes, in Romania, at Curmatura chalet you can eat urda (soft cow or sheep cheese) pie and yes is the best pie in the world.

We continued our bike adventure to the place named “La Table”. We cycled about an hour on a forestry road and then we entered on a very technical steep route with boulders and with paths which descended bravely through thick coniferous woods. There we were in the closest point to the steep ridges of Piatra Craiului Mountains. From the place named “La Table” we descended again on the forestry road to Dambovicioara Cave. We descended a lot. Like about 40 minutes.

The road took our bike adventure to Sirnea village on a steep climb. We got again into the area full of hillocks from where we could see both mountain groups – Piatra Craiului and Bucegi. We met in our bike adventure old and well preserved houses, simple people but full of mystery and happy in their souls and a clean and energy-giving nature.

Our bike adventure took us through Sirnea, Pestera and back to Magura villages. We cycled more than 8 hours and the whole trip took us more than 10 hours. We enjoyed every corner of the nature and the authentic.

The film made on this occasion is the most eloquent about the joy we have experienced. We prepare other escapes as daring!

Pure Romania – a fairytale realm and a place where you find your inner peace.

 Bike adventures in Romania – adventure trips

Bike adventures in Romania – Rucar Bran area – video

Bike adventures in Romania – Rucar Bran area – photo gallery

Photo: Pure Romania

Article: Pure Romania

A little bit of inspiration . . . 7 places to visit in Romania

7 wonders of Romania

The seven wonders of Romania – this is not a top, we don’t believe that someone could create a top with travel places because is always a matter of taste, of feelings and of inner world of the tourist. This is just a little part of a long list of Places to visit in Romania. 

Below you will see  some of the most interesting and the most spectacular places to visit in Romania, a part of the wonders of this fairy tale country. We chose for the instant 7 places but we will present others in the next articles.

1. Places to visit in Romania – The Happy Graveyard from Sapanta

The Happy Graveyard from Sapanta: it is famous for the colored crosses that are adorned with naif representations of the life and occupation of the deceased people buried there. On every cross there is also a simple poem with humoristic accents about the life of those people. It is believed that this graveyard has its origins in Dacian times. Nowadays there are over 800 crosses carved in oak wood, painted on both sides The Happy Graveyard from Sapanta is a unique outdoor museum in Europe.

Photo: Adrian Petrisor

2. Places to visit in Romania – Voronet Blue

Voronet Blue: Voronet Monastery is a medieval monastery in Romania built by Stephan the Great in 1488. Its frescoes are very interesting due to their shades of blue also known as “Voronet blue”. The Moldavian monastery it is also known as “the Sistine Chapel of the East”. The color was made after a secret recipe based on azurite. This specific color is also important because of the resistance that it confers to the frescoes against the weather influences. It is said that this shade of blue is identical to the color of the area’s sky during the grapes harvesting.

Photo:  Jordi Joan Fabrega

3. Places to visit in Romania – The Danube Delta

The Danube Delta: is the second largest river delta in Europe and the best preserved delta on the continent. It is part of UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1991 and in 1998 it became a biosphere reserve. This Danube Delta is noted for the great variety as well as for the large populations of birds. Some of them are very rare. Many of those birds are migratory The Danube Delta hosts over 300 species of birds and 45 freshwater fish species in its lakes and marshes.

Photo:  fotografultau.ro

4. Places to visit in Romania – The Palace of Parliament

The Palace of Parliament: According to the World records Academy it is the world’s largest civilian building and the second largest building in the world after the Pentagon in America.  It is also named People’s House. Built in neoclassical style the Palace of the Parliament is the most expensive administrative building. In 2008 it hosted the 20th NATO Summit. It presently houses Romania’s Chamber of Deputies and Romania’s Senate.

Photo: George Ploaie

5. Places to visit in Romania – The Wind Cave

The Wind Cave: it is the largest cave in Romania with a length of 52 km. That makes it the longest limestone reservation labyrinths in South-Eastern Europe. It seems that the cave is not entirely discovered and explored because of its complex multi-leveled system. There are many passages that have never been discovered. Because there have not been made a proper mapping of the cave it is believed that its actual length reaches 70 km. The cave got its name because of the powerful draft that can be sensed at the entrance and the far corners of the cave. The average temperature in Wind Cave is 11.8 degrees Celsius. Nowadays only a small part of the cave can be visited and only with special equipment.

Photo: Szilágyi Palkó Pál

6. Places to visit in Romania – Scarisoara Cave

Scarisoara Cave: is the biggest ice cave in Romania. The cave is located at an altitude of 1165 meters. It is 105 meters deep and 720 meters long and a big part of it is open for visitation. The other part is a speleological reservation and is open only for scientists. The cave houses the oldest underground glacier in the world. The glacier is older than 4000 years. Some of the glacial formations melt during the summer, but they reappear during the winter. The flora of the cave is poor, but very interesting and rare due to its origins.

Photo: Adrian Parfenie

7. Places to visit in Romania – Sighisoara Citadel

Sighisoara Citadel: it is the oldest citadel still inhabited in Europe. “Transylvania’s Pearl” dates back since 1191. It was first mentioned in 1280 under the name Castrum Sex and then in 1598 under the German name Schespurch. The citadel’s walls protect the 164 houses first mentioned more than 300 years ago. Nowadays they are declared historical monuments. Here were found traces of habitations from Iron Age. The first settlement was meant to be a place of refuge. As a town it was a settlement of craftsmen organized in guilds. In the citadel is the Clock Tower, a tower that has on the top a golden globe which it is believed to be placed there by a giant.

Photo: Adrian Petrisor

Article: Andreea Andrei

In order to get far you must have the courage to begin the journey and the courage to keep going no matter what. I think that it goes the same way with happiness, the long lasting happiness. In order to get to it you must have the courage to start looking for it and really want to find it.

We, Pure Romania team and they, two young people from New York, both born in South Korea, have met with this thought about the happiness that lasts. They wanted a different wedding, a wedding organized in a special place, a wedding that could give them the chance to show their status of global citizens. In their opinion globalization should cancel the borders amplifying the cultural identity, the local atmosphere and the authentic magic of places. We wanted to relive authentic Romanian stories and succeed to bring through them inspiration. Actually, we all wanted a story. This is the reason why we have met – the desire of living an authentic story. And the desire was so great that helped us to find each other even though there were a few thousand kilometers between us.

In May 2014 we started to discuss about the possibility of organizing a traditional authentic wedding as was made long time ago in Romania. We chose a traditional village with beautiful people and a lot of stories. Furthermore this village from Arges named Corbi has a wonder – a church carved in a rock, old since Dacian times, Corbii de Piatra Church. We chose the costumes, we thought about the space design, we set the dishes that were to be served, we chose the music and we tried not to miss any detail.

On 2nd of September we organized the wedding. It was an exciting event for all those involved. Traditions old for hundreds of years were brought back to life in Corbi village. The villagers wore traditional costumes after more than 20 years, old songs resounded again, folk dances of the place were brought back to life and a suite of beautiful people dressed in traditional clothes climbed the path to Corbii din Piatra Church. We all lived a story, one that brought us closer to the essence of the Romanian people, actually closer to the essence of human nature, closer to the authentic things and their purpose in our life.

You can see the whole story and a series of videos here: http://www.pure-romania.com/south-korean-couple-living-new-york-traditional-wedding-romania/

When you believe in stories you get to live them and it is wonderful. You smile, you vibrate strongly, understand the things around you, all becomes mysterious, authentic, time stops and social values change.

We, Pure Romania team had the chance to organize a traditional wedding in order to realize who we are, which is the legacy that we, Romanians have from the people who gathered it on these blessed places (I cannot stop thinking that these places are often called “The Gardens of Virgin Mary”) and how big is the peace when you anchor yourself in the authentic.

There is also a sad part about the stories. They are quickly forgotten and the return to the daily noise is too sudden. We try to keep building stories. We want so much to keep alive the emotion in order to pass it on.

In the end I would like to highlight the idea that in this world each one of us has the duty to give and that the long lasting happiness exists when we get to give to others, when we are not alone. The traditional wedding from Corbi showed us clearly this aspect. All those involved, the villagers, the grooms and their families, the organizers were totally present and gave from their hearts creating an authentic story.

Put heart and soul into everything you do and that will take you further and above!

Article by  Alexandru Grigorescu

Photographer: fotografultau.ro

Organizer: Pure Romania