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Day 1: Bucharest - a cultural and religious contrast
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After a hopefully relaxing night, you start today a city tour of the Romanian capital which will take you to the most famous Jewish sites still standing in Bucharest but also to other interesting tourist attractions. You will visit the Jewish quarter, today surrounded by modern buildings of the communist era. The Jewish museum will offer you a nice dive into the history of this Romanian minority, back to the 14th century. Afterwards you will visit the Choral Temple, the largest synagogue in south-eastern Europe. Another point of attraction will be the State Jewish Theatre opened already in 1948. It is now time to discover also other attractions of the Romanian capital, among which you can count: the Arch of Triumph, the Revolution Square, the Athenaeum, the Old Quarter, the National Opera. An absolute must will be the visit to the People's Palace, the second largest building in the world after the pentagon, build in only 5 years by the former Romanian communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu. Your tour ends back at your hotel and you will have the rest of the afternoon at leisure.
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Day 2: Bucharest - Piatra Neamt
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Today you start your actual Romanian Jewish Heritage tour with a drive deep into the country, in the former Jewish Region of Moldova. You will pass several villages, smaller and bigger towns where you will have the opportunity to discover the daily Romanian life and the beauty of the countryside. You will also have the chance to eat lunch at a typical Romanian restaurant, somewhere on route. In the afternoon you will arrive in the city of Piatra Neamt, beautifully located between some hills. During the city tour of this former residence of the rulers of Moldavia, you will visit your first Romanian Orthodox church build in traditional Moldavian architectural style in 1499 as well as Stephen's tower build in the same year. But the highlight of this city tour will be the local synagogue which is unique in the world as it is build entirely out of wood. Unfortunately, from the 23 synagogues of Piatra Neamt, only two are standing today.
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Day 3: Piatra Neamt - Iasi
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We continue our journey towards the city of Iasi, which used to be the Jewish capital of Romania some decades ago. This is also the place where the largest pogrom of Romania took place during the WWII. Interesting enough, Iasi is the first city in the world where a professional Jewish Theatre was organized (1876, August 19th). Many of the former synagogues were demolished and the few that survived where transformed into houses or official buildings. The Great Synagogue in Iasi is one of the eldest standing synagogues on Romanian territory, and was build on an older one dating back already to the mid 14th century. But Iasi is also a city of great religious contrast. Besides the synagogue you will discover here Romanian Orthodox, Lutheran, Catholic and Armenian Churches, each and every church and tourist attraction having it's particular specific.
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Day 4: Iasi - Botosani - Suceava
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After having visited the city of Iasi, you will drive today towards Suceava, another center of Jewish culture of Romania and a former capital of the Principality of Moldova. The old strong fortification walls can be seen even today, along with some watch towers and some old churches and monasteries. Even emperor Franz Josef of the Austrian-Hungarian is mentioned on a plate as he used to occupy this region at the end of the 19th century. On route towards Suceava we will pass several villages where we can see remains of the former Jewish minority living there. In the afternoon you can discover the city of Suceava on your own.
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Day 5: Suceava - Vatra Dornei - Maramures
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Today we will leave the historical region of Moldova and drive towards another important region: Maramures. On route we will still have time to stop at two of the famous Romanian Orthodox monasteries with exterior paintings from the mid 16th century, which were included on Unesco's List of World Cultural Heritage: the monasteries of Humor and Voronet. They are a vivid picture of medieval Romanian religious life and culture and are unique in the world. The drive trough the mountains towards Maramures area will offer you some beautiful picturesque sights of the Romanian wildlife and you will not have to worry if for several miles we will not encounter any human being. Entering the Maramures area, we will drive along the Iza valley, well renown for the numerous Jewish minority which inhabited the region along with the Romanians. Very interesting and unique in the world are the wooden churches build already from 1356 along the river. Even today one can admire the old paintings on the wooden walls. Today's accommodation will be at a farmer's house in a typical Maramures village and you will have the chance to discover how a farmer lives in this area.
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Day 6: Maramures - Sighetu Marmatiei - Sapanta - Maramures
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This day is dedicated to the region of Maramures. During the city tour of the largest city in the region, Sighetu Marmatiei, you will discover the interesting social, cultural and religious consistency of the whole region. Synagogues stand besides Lutheran, Catholic, Romanian orthodox and Russian orthodox churches. The monument dedicated to the thousands of Jews which were deported from Sighet at the end of WWII, stands just across one of the most feared communist prisons, which houses today a memorial. Not very far away, you can visit Ellie Wiesel's birth place which was also transformed into a museum. Driving only a few miles towards the Ukrainian border we will arrive in the village of Sapanta where the unique Merry Cemetery is located. The colorful gravestones with funny inscriptions stand as proof of the ancient Romanian way of regarding death: not as an end, but as a new beginning.
In the late afternoon we return to our farmer's house for dinner and overnight.
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Day 7: Maramures - Cluj Napoca - Sighisoara
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From the far north of the country we start off today towards the heart of Romania, the city of Sighisoara. On route we will stop at Cluj-Napoca and visit this important former capital of Transilvania with it's imposing constructions located along the Somes river and between some picturesque hills. We will also see the house where one of the most important Hungarian Emperors was born: Matei Corvin (Matias Corvinus); and we will have time to discuss the issue of his Romanian or Hungarian descendency. In the late afternoon we arrive in the city of Sighisoara and check in into our hotel in the old city.
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Day 8: Sighisoara - Brasov
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The morning is reserved for a city tour of this impressive medieval city which was included by Unesco on it's World Cultural Heritage List, as one of the best preserved and continiously inhabited medieval towns of Europe. While visiting the famous Clock Tower and it's history museum, you will discover the long roots of the region once inhabited by roman legions, but also the prosperous medieval period as Sighisoara was well renown for it's medicine partitions. The whole old town looks almost exactly as in the middle ages. One of the most imposing houses is the one where Vlad the Impeller, the famous Dracula was born. Today, the house was transformed into a nice medieval restaurant with Dracula specific (we really recommend the Dracula soup). In the afternoon we continue our journey along the medieval trade route towards the city of Brasov. Each Saxon village we pass offers basically similar sights, but also different particularities. Once arrived in Brasov, we will visit the old part of the city with the Council Sqare and the imposing Black Church (the largest gothic construction in South eastern Europe) as well as the Rope Street, which was included in the Guinness Book of World Records as the narrowest street in the world. Interesting is also the synagogue build in 1901 within the city walls, which proves the power of the Jewish community at that time.
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Day 9: Brasov - Sinaia - Bucharest
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Today we drive towards the famous mountain resort of Sinaia where we will visit the Peles castle. Located within a deep and picturesque valley, the resort of Sinaia was chosen by the Romanian royal family to build it's summer residence. The magnificent Peles castle reminds the traveler of residences in western Europe, especially from the Rhein valley and the German descendency of the royal family. Our journey continues southwards to Bucharest, along the Prahova valley with it's modern constructions and residences.
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Your tour ends in Bucharest at your hotel (or at the airport).
