Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Train
Advance tickets are sold at the
Agenţia de Voiaj CFR
( 0262-312 666; Piaţa Libertăţii
25; 7am-8pm Mon-Fri)
. There's one daily fast train to Timişoara (93 lei, 12 hours),
Bucharest (90 lei, 12 hours), Cluj-Napoca (60 lei, six hours) and Braşov (77 lei, eight
hours). A sleeper train here costs 121 lei.
BORDER CROSSING: TO UKRAINE
There's a small car/foot bridge from Sighet to Ukraine about 2km outside the centre, making an excursion into
Ukraine a snap. EU and US citizens need only fill out some forms and show a passport; nationals from other coun-
tries may need to secure a visa beforehand. Formalities on the Romanian side are fast and hassle-free: go straight to
the front of the queue with your passport. To find the crossing point, from the centre of Sighet follow Str Titelescu
north about 2km. The border is open 24 hours. The Ukrainian town on the other side is called Slatina and has a
number of hotels.
Mara Valley
The Mara Valley (Valea Marei), with its beautiful rolling hills, is the heart of Maramureş.
Villages here are famed for their spectacular churches and carved gateways. Private rooms
and homestays are fairly plentiful; the website
www.pensiuni.info.ro
has a good selection
of
pensiunes
(pensions) in this valley.
GIULEŞTI & AROUND
Heading south from Sighetu Marmaţiei, you reach the tiny village of
Berbeşti
, famed for
the 300-year-old
troiţă
(crucifix), a large Renaissance-style cross carved with solar em-
blems, which stands by the roadside at the village's northern end. Traditionally, travellers
prayed by the cross to ensure a safe journey.
Continuing south you'll find
Giuleşti
, the main village in the Mara Valley, notable for
its crumbling wooden cottages with 'pot trees' in their front yards, on which a colourful
array of pots and pans are hung to dry. It was here in 1918 that the revolutionary Ilie Lazăr
summoned delegates from all over Maramureş prior to their signing of Transylvania's uni-
on agreement with Romania. Ilie Lazăr's house is preserved and open to tourists as a me-
morial museum. During the communist crackdown in the early 1950s, Ilie Lazăr was ar-
rested and imprisoned at Sighet prison.
