I’ve told you some days ago about Ramnicu Valcea city from Romania, but now you really have to see the City Hall by night. It turns blue and red, pink and yellow, green and white Pretty unusual for a city hall, isn’t it?

Ramnicu Valcea City Hall blue

Ramnicu Valcea City Hall green

Ramnicu Valcea City Hall pink

Ramnicu Valcea City Hall yellow

Ramnicu Valcea City Hall statue

The Romanian Traditional Costume Museum  is a new museum that I’ve discovered in Bucharest, with a rich collection of textiles, especially costumes  belonging to the Romanian peasants.

Located in the House of Parliament via The People’s House – one of the biggest buildings in the world –the museum falls under the patronage of “Dimitrie Gusti” National Village Museum. Its collection includes costumes of the women and men from different Romanian areas as: Muscel, Arges, Dambovita, Valcea and Teleorman, the best represented being Muscel, Arges.

Founded in 2004, the museum shows the evolution of Romanian traditional costumes in the last hundred years. I’ve discovered with pleasure ones sewn with silver and gold thread that belonged to the wealthiest people from the village.

Unfortunately, I’ve found out that the museum is under pressure to be evacuated and the lack of tourists  does not help the situation

Although the pictures speak for themselves, I must emphasize that the museum is very friendly and modern. The ticket price is 6 RON for adults or 3 RON for students. It is open from Tuesday to Sunday, 9.00 - 17.00, but I wanted to visit it in the weekend and it was closed. Perhaps you should call ahead (phone: 021.311.49.90/021.311.49.91. If you call from abroad, please insert the country code).

I simply can’t find a real reason for why you shouldn’t visit this beautiful piece of history if you come to Romania!

Romanian Traditional Costume Museum entrance

Romanian Traditional Costume Museum 01

Romanian Traditional Costume Museum 02

Romanian Traditional Costume Museum 03

Romanian Traditional Costume Museum 04

Romanian Traditional Costume Museum 05

Romanian Traditional Costume for bride and groom

Romanian Traditional Costume for bride - detail

Romanian Traditional Costume painting

Romanian Traditional tablecloth

Patrimony Romanian Carpets Album

As I mentioned here, on December 31st we went visiting some places, including Hurezi Monastery. I told you in the post that I’ll dedicate a special article to this monastery – for we’ve discovered a very-very interesting thing! So here’s the article

First of all, I have to tell you that this monastery is a fortified one. It is a convent for nuns, and it was built between 1690 and 1697 by Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu. Situated near the town of Horezu, this monastery is considered a masterpiece of Romanian “Brancoveanu art”. The Hurezi Monastery is part of UNESCO World Heritage. It is said that the name of the monastery comes from “huhurezi” (eagle owls), a species of night birds with coloured plumage.

As mentioned in the post, when we got there the monastery was closed – so we don’t have interior photos. However, we have some interesting findings.

This is the monastery from the road

Hurezi Monastery - entrance

This is the monastery after the “first entrance”.

Hurezi Monastery towards entry

Hurezi Monastery towards entry 2

We parked the car and entered.

Hurezi Monastery

Hurezi Monastery side

Hurezi Monastery interior garden

And now the curiosity: at the entrance, in the paintings, there are palm trees! and we don’t have palm trees in Romania… (growing naturally here). It is not a specific tree for us – and as we found out in other churches (from Moldavia), the paintings are always adapted to the area, showing specific vegetation, animals, occupations of people… So how come there are palm trees here?!? See it for yourself.

Hurezi Monastery entrance general

Hurezi Monastery entrance detail palm trees

Hurezi Monastery entrance detail 2

We also photographed the paintings on the right wall

Hurezi Monastery painting right wall

and a detail from one of the columns from the entrance:

Hurezi Monastery entrance column detail

What do you think about that?

Ramnicu Valcea is the capital city of Valcea County, located in central-south area of Romania.

The area has been inhabited since Roman times and was the site of a castrum. It was first attested during the rule of Reigning Prince Mircea cel Bătrân, as “the princely town of Râmnic“, but if you are passionate about astrology you may know the city as the center and peak point of the path of total darkness of the Solar Eclipse that took place in 1999.

Also, here you can visit one of the most important and popular touristic attractions and cultural landmarks of the city:  The Anton Pann Memorial House. Anton Pann was a Wallachian poet, musicologist, an influential folklorist and collector of proverbs. The building is a beautiful example of 18th century traditional urban architecture and it still is well preserved. It hosts the exhibition dedicated to the life, work and times of Anton Pann.

Ramnicu Valcea was a very picturesque city, but in the 1980s it was completely rebuilt in a socialist architectural style. It still keeps the communist feeling as you may see in some of the photos I’ve took. How do you like them?

1989 Revolution Monument

Ramnicu Valcea city

Ramnicu Valcea city clock

Ramnicu Valcea city hall

Palace of Justice

Ramnicu Valcea market

Ramnicu Valcea Police headquarters by night

Romanian War of Independence monument built in 1915

Trinity Monument

There are days in which you simply don’t want to stay in the city. You want to go somewhere and see something.

My husband and I, we have some days like that. We choose sometimes to go somewhere with the dog and our son. Usually it’s a trip at the airfield – where Andrei flies his RC airplane. But we weren’t in the mood for such a trip this day.

It was December 31st. The final day of the year. I wanted to go somewhere I’ve never been before. A one day trip somewhere relatively close to Bucharest – for in the evening we should get back, pick Eric from my mom’s and spend New Year’s Eve together. So Andrei suggested to go see the church made of one tree, than to visit a cave and then Hurezi Monastery.

Giving that the route involved passing through (or near) Ramnicu Valcea, a city where we have some friends, we gave them a call on December 30th to see if they are in Ramnic in the morning of the final day of the year. And they were. So we planned to visit them too

6 o’clock in the morning. 31st December. We got up:D. We eat, took a shower, walked the dog – and left home (we left Maxie, the dog, at home this time).

The first thing we noticed on the road?
The fog. And I really mean fog! Look:

morning fog

The car’s mirrors had some frost on them.

frost - car mirror

But we kept going and had some amazing views:

amazing sky

forrest

through village

forrest 2

sky 2

road

top of mountain with snow

top of mountain with snow 2

road 2

sky 3

fog again

houses near Ramnicu Valcea

One tree church entrance

The first objective for the day: The Church Made Of One Tree. I was happy. Giving the fact that this church has a special story – and some very interesting curiosities – I choose to dedicate it a special article here on the blog. So for now I’ll only show you the entrance – but soon the whole story!

After visiting the monastery, we were back on the road. The first thing we saw was a small railroad – for small trains

small railroad

and then many lovely places and landscapes:

through village 2

Horezu entrance

souvenir ceramic shops

landscape

landscape 2

Gorj

road 3

road sky

road sheep

road 4

And we’ve arrived at the second touristic objective of the day. Peştera Muierii – Womans’s Cave. We knew that the final entry was at 4 P.M. And we arrived there at 2.30 P.M. But guess what: it was the last day of the year, so the cave was closed at 2 P.M. It will be open on January 1st – but we won’t get back. We’ll definitely see it however on another occasion.

We took a photo of the mountain where the cave is:

Pestera muierii

and then we got on the road again.

We reached Hurezi Monastery – there were nuns there, and a priest, but the actually monastery was closed But we discovered also an interesting thing – I’ll also present it in a special post dedicated to the monastery. For now here’s a photo with a general view of this monastery:

Hurezi Monastery - entrance

After this we got back home – reached Bucharest in the evening:

road back - Bucharest - night

picked up Eric and then enjoyed the New Year’s together. You can see here some photos with Eric and his first fireworks

I wanted a day to remember – and I definitely got one What did you do on December 31st?

I didn’t believe my eyes yesterday when I saw this car in the middle of an European capital. It is so full that it almost touches the ground. You almost can’t see the wheels!

And let me repeat: it is in the middle of the Bucharest – on the Victoriei Avenue, intersection with the Athenaeum and the National Museum of Art of Romania – as points for Romanians and foreigners.

Unbelievably, such a car – over 12 years old – is still running! Look:

I have to say that I didn’t go (yet!) to those big museums hosting wax figures of famous people or characters exhibitions. So yes, I was delighted to hear that there was a temporary such exhibition in Bucharest with figures from the famous dedicated museum in Sankt Petersburg, and, consequently, I went to see it. I went today – in a very rainy day

The exhibition “Myth, Fiction and Reality” is hosted by the National Geology Museum in Bucharest and it can be visited until February 8th 2012. The ticket price is 15 lei (~4,5 euro) for an adult and 7 lei (a little over 2 euros) for a child.. For photographing there is a supplementary tax  of 10 lei (2,5 euro).The exhibition is open from Tuesday to Sunday between 10.00 – 17.00.

The exhibition will be closed for maintenance between 19th-23rd January. Find the details here.

I “met” some famous people like Shakespeare, but also Gioconda, Zeus, Aphrodite, Shreck and some others Here are photos with almost all of the figures exhibited in the museum.

Leonardo da Vinci

Harry Potter - movie

Shreck

Gioconda

William Shakespeare

Man with biggest foot in the world

smallest twins

John Eckhart

Wolf man

Aristotle

Socrates

Aphrodites

Salomee

Hercules

Zeus

Venus

longest survivor sisters in one body

This soldier was placed at the exit – and you have to admit that it is an inspired place – look at his face!

soldier's face expression

What do you think? Do they look like the real people/characters?

Ocnele Mari salt mine is located in Valcea county, in central-southern part of Romania. The exploitation has developed a strong community, starting from ancient times until today, when much of the county’s economy depends on the operation of salt from Ocnele Mari.

So, Ocnele Mari salt mine is arranged at 225 meters above sea level, lies on an area of 10,000 square meters and it includes recreational areas, playgrounds, a museum and the largest underground church in Romania.

I really think that things could go better in the salt’s events management, guidance and exibitions. The authorities promised some specific investments in the following years, so we will live to see if Ocnele Mari will become one of the biggest salt targets in Europe. It surely deserves this name if the investments will work properly.

Diseases that can be treated in salt (via http://www.salinaocnelemari.ro/therapy.html) are:

- Bronchial asthma
- Respiratory infections
- Bronchitis asthmatiform
- Bronsiectazie
- Pneumoconiosis
- Chronic tracheo
- Chronic Rhinitis
- Maxillary sinusitis / chronic
- Bisinoza
- Silicosis gr I and gr II
- Throat polyps
- Chronic tonsillitis
- Restrictive respiratory failure
- Pulmonary emphysema
- Various types of allergies
- Neurosis
- Chronic fatigue
- Allergies

I must apologize for the low quality of the pictures I’ve took, but my camera was feeling a little bit “ill” in that day

Ocnele Mari Salt Mine exterior

Ocnele Mari Salt Mine Welcome

Ocnele Mari Salt Mine Cinema

Ocnele Mari Salt Mine Karting

Ocnele Mari Salt Mine kids area

Ocnele Mari Salt Mine lovers area

Ocnele Mari Salt Mine Massage

Ocnele Mari Salt Mine Restaurant

Souvenirs and good luck

I saw today a long presentation of the Carpathians, Transylvania, mountains and so on. Wild is another word perfect to characterize the area.

I really liked this reportage, so I really recommend it to you – it is in English. It is an amazing area, a must visit one in Europe. Lots of things to see, wonderful sights, lovely people, fresh air and beautiful mountains.

Here is the complete version:

Documentarul Wild Carpathia in versiune intreaga from jijibau on Vimeo.

The River Olt is the longest river flowing exclusively through Romania and I’ve tried to capture his autumn colors for you. How do you like the photos?

River Olt, Romania

River Olt 2, Romania

River Olt 4, Romania

River Olt 5, Romania