The Beauty of Romania

The Beauty of Romania

It is probably my nature, but I think even Nancy agrees with me on this, that the true beauty of Romania is in its countryside. I know that I’ve written of the charms of the rural settings before, but I was reminded of it twice in the last few days.

On Sunday we drove about 60 kilometers north on the road to Baia Mare to visit the small village of Capalni. We were hosted by our good friend Simona’s family and enjoyed walking over their land and explaining the possibilities of my walnut tree project with them. Whether walnut trees are ever grown commercially on the property or not is undetermined now, but the trip was worthwhile in itself.

And on Monday, Otto, my program director’s son, and I packed up the station wagon with the pamphlets, maps and post cards that I’ve been working on the past 6 months to stimulate tourist development in the region west of Cluj. We have five villages on our list, two of which I’d never visited. Unfortunately I did not have camera with me, and so did not record the day’s travels, but it sticks in my memory. This was country with a higher elevation than Sunday’s trip and the tallest hills still had patches of snow. Spring was well advanced in the towns themselves, though, and the lilacs in various shades of purple and white were in full bloom.

Romanians don’t live on farms as we know them in the eastern United States. They live in communities and travel out to their fields to work. That leaves unbroken stretches of pasture and meadow and wheat field without fence or house to break the view. The picture included in this week’s entry looks like a farm house, but it is really the last house of the village in Capalni. The scene was taken looking down on the house and garden from the hillside.

These small Romanian villages are rapidly diminishing in population as young people look elsewhere for opportunity. While many of the houses have been updated with plumbing, gas lines and electricity it is still a remote existence and there are not many jobs. Only the very basic items are available in the town store. The roads throughout Romanian are terrible and the drivers are worse than the roads. As hitchhiking is a common means of getting around, the lure of the city, a job and a car attracts nearly everyone infused with the capitalist idea of improving position in life.

Perhaps in a small way, both my project promoting tourism and my brainstorm about the walnut trees may allow one or two or three of those young people who, for some reason, prefer the country to the city, to stay close to home. I’ll report if there is such a success in the future.