Sighet

Still raining. Trying to decide what to do today. We are a day ahead of schedule thanks to the trip to Sapinta on Tuesday. There are things to do here in Sighet, if the weather were better. We thought about taking a different road back to Satu Mare, but the woman at the desk assured me that that road was worse than the one over the mountains, so it looks like we have another hair raising trip down the far side in the fog. And this time we have to drive.

We're thinking about a stop in Eger in Hungary. Another recreational area that Rick Steves recommended, but if it's going to keep raining, it will make it hard to take advantage.

OK, we're going to hang out in Sighet today. Do laundry and visit the Elie Wiesel Museum. Maybe check out the Jewish Cemetery, which we have been told is in rough shape. Michael has found a few other things we can do and detailed maps!

Here's a picture of the hotel - and the horses grazing on the front lawn.

We walked to the Jewish Cemetery, which is behind a wall and locked. A man across the street says to try the Synagogue, so we walk over there -also locked. Tried one of the phone numbers, but did not get connected. So we walk over to the Elie Wiesel Museum, figuring someone should be there who can maybe contact someone. The museum is in the home of the Wiesel family before the War. Although the furniture did not belong to the family, they have made a nice arrangement.

The young man who took us through the museum did tell us how to get to the Community Center where we can get access to the synagogue. We met the president of the Community and another man who has moved back to Sighet from Israel. He gives us a bit of history of the Jewish community in Sighet. Before WWII, the Jewish population was half the population of Sighet. There were 10 synagogues in town. One survives. It's a Sephardic design. One of the guys claimed it is the same design as the synagogue in Cordova, Spain. Maybe, maybe not.

Marcus lets us into the synagogue, which is very pretty. As in Budapest, they are using a small synagogue next door for services. They don't have a Rabbi, so one of the older men leads the service. We are invited to attend Shavout services tonight. I would have to sit behind the curtain. Not sure we are up for this.

Two of the men are willing to try to find any death records for Salomons, but unfortunately, these records are like the cemetery at Sapinta. First names only - and probably Hebrew names - Samuel son of Meyer. So if you don't already know the parent names, this is not going to help. One of them also assured us we would not be able to find this information in the cemetery, which he characterized as a "jungle" of tall grass and some stones are fallen. He says he is working to try to get the Community to start mowing, at least.

We also stroll through the open market - vegetables and live chicks. There are other markets around the town for animals and other, non edible produce (whatever that means). I get a few photos. Some of the women are in traditional dress. There are lots of horse-drawn carts in town as it is the country people who bring their produce in for the market.

Back to the hotel for lunch. We miss Dan's ability to translate the menu in the smaller cafes. Michael get's stuffed cabbage, which is good, evenif it is not like his mother's. I get polenta with cheese and sausage. Can you say cholesterol? It's good, but very rich. Maybe a salad for dinner.




The sun came out before our morning adventure and it's warmed up so we decide to head over to the outdoor cultural museum where they have collected a number of old houses from various towns in the Maramures district. Similar to our log cabins. Some date back 300 years. Most are probably 150 years old. Very high pitched roofs. Some have been restored.

One or two have plaster/stucco walls rather than the wood. It felt a bit like Plimoth Plantation. We wandered around for about an hour before kaboom! Thunderstorm and we headed back to the car. I knew a whole day without rain was too much to expect.

The woven fence is about 2.5 ft high and has either a wood, or a thatch "roof". Perhaps to keep the rain off the woven material.

Each of the houses has a gate with carved gate posts. All different.

I also took several shots of the wrought iron fences in the neighborhood near the hotel. Here's a sample. The second one is a concrete wall. See the grapes?

I like the "Kilroy" image in the third one.

And just to show I was not kidding about the horse carts. Here's one we were trying to get around on the way to the museum.

Oh, and dinner was very nice. Michael had a pan fried trout and I had chicken paillards coated with almonds. "Pancakes with fruit" for dessert - read crepes with oranges, kiwi, and apple filling. We've had the same waitress all day - she works 7 AM to 11 PM and have had fun chatting with her. She brings us each a small sample of the local plum aperitif. Potent stuff.