The northwestern Romanian region of Maramureş is home to many villages where century-old traditions are still part of daily life. The inhabitants of this area have preserved, to an amazing extent, the rural culture and crafts of their Dacian ancestors. Maramureş villages are distinguished by their unique wooden churches with tall spires and shingled roofs. We drove the whole day through a landscape of mountains and rolling Mara and Iza Valleys. From Vişeu de Sus we drove first to the famous church in Poienile Izei, and then we took super narrow serpentine roads through villages Bârsana and Budești up to Săpânța, and late in the afternoon through the mountains to Dej (trucks over 7,5t are not allowed to enter, because the road is extremely narrow and can’t turn easily in serpentines, but as you can see, it can be done 😊).
