Easter Offers in Romania
This year a few extra days were added to the Romanians May 1st holiday, the international Labor Day, as it fell in mid-week and precedes the Christian Orthodox Easter celebrated on May 5th.
Ana-Maria Cononovici, 02.05.2013, 13:45
Tour operators were quick to prep highly diversified travel packages for those who want to link a few days of holiday. So, Romanians could opt either for the seacoast or the mountains, for spa resorts or guesthouses in the rural areas. People all across Romania are putting on their festive clothes and are preparing the traditional Easter meal. This has to include the lamb steak, lamb meatloaf, the sweet cream cheese cake called “pasca” and painted eggs. Adding to these are the traditional poundcakes and “sarmale”- mincemeat rolled in sour cabbage leaves, and other local staples.
Iuliana Ungureanu, an inspector with the Campulung Muscel Town Hall, whetted our appetite: “We have specific local products, such as the egg pretzel. We also have a festival devoted to this product, taking place around Easter. The egg pretzel is specific to the Campulung area, as it is only baked here. It is called the egg pretzel because egg is the main ingredient, as it is used in the proportion of 10 eggs to one kilo of flower. We also have the salty cheese called “branza de burduf”, which the locals store in fir tree barks. The menus of all local guesthouses here are made up of traditional food only”.
If you ever get to Campulung Muscel, you are in for a journey back in time. You can visit the Jidava Roman Castrum built in approximately 200 AD, or you can spend the Easter holidays at Campulung Monastery, recently known as the “Negru Voda” Monastery, rebuilt by Wallachian ruler Matei Basarab, or at the Princely Church, built by Lady Chiajna in 1567.
People clean and decorate their houses around Easter. And since people still observe the custom of painting the eggs they eat at Easter, many local craftsmen have carried over the tradition of painting and decorating eggs. Egg-painting techniques vary from region to region. Bukovina and Maramures are two areas best known for keeping tradition alive, and tourists flock to these regions around Easter. If you haven’t yet booked a ticket, we could recommend a more isolated area. If you want to see the craftsmen’s workshops, to see how eggs are painted first-hand or learn the steps of a popular dance, you should definitely visit Rasnov.
Nicolae Pepene, the director of the Rasnov Culture department says that Rasnov is the ideal spot for a lazy holiday: “On May 1st and Easter, we have an egg painting and decorating festival, and tourists may take part in workshops, they may become familiar with and learn from the traditions of this region. There are accommodation options for all budgets. Rasnov is an oasis of authenticity, peace and comfort.”
Since May Day means, for many Romanians, the first trip to the seaside, this year’s offers were broadened to include options both for fun lovers, and for those who want to spend a traditional Easter holiday. Here is Mihaela Lazareanu, a travel adviser with the Seaside and Danube Delta Tourism Promotion Association:
Mihaela Lazareanu: “For this year’s May 1 — Easter holiday period, hotels and travel agencies have prepared special packages, which include traditional lunches, barbecues, egg hunting parties, transfer from the hotel to church for the Resurrection Mass. There are also hotels that provide spa facilities and services. Prices differ, for instance in the northern seaside resorts accommodation prices range from 70 lei per person in three-star hotels, to 100 lei in four-star hotels and reach 200 lei in five-star hotels. The good news is that the weather will be great for sunbathing.”
