Sighetu

This afternoon we strolled through Sighetu. It isn't a very big town, but it has some pretty churches and wide sidewalks. We stumbled upon a market selling local goods so we wandered through it too. The girls saw little baby chicks so we we stopped to admire them for a bit.


We had read about the Muzeul Satului (village museum) which has many old, wooden houses, barns, etc. dating back a few hundred years. Our guide book said it was closed on Mondays, but we stopped by anyway and found that it was open!

We were the only tourists on site, and had a guided tour through the mock village. The houses were donated from different parts of Muramures, disassembled and transported to the museum and then reconstructed here. Our guide explained the houses which all had storage rooms along the north wall, and living quarters on the other side. He talked about how they would salt and smoke pork, how they stored corn, and even how a press worked to get oil from seeds.

The church was like none other I've seen. Our guide explained how it would have been situated in the centre of town and how the tower would be used to keep watch over the town.

After the explanations, we walked around and explored on our own a bit. Our guide came back to join us and we chatted a bit about the history of the region and politics. He seemed to like the idea of communism, if the ruler was a smart one. Then the people had food, jobs, and homes, but if the ruler wasn't good, it could be devastating. He explained how Romanians had been forced from their village homes and into apartment blocks that didn't even have the basics of modern bathrooms in the 1980's. Needless to say, he wasn't a fan of Ceausescu and his 'systemisation' of agriculture.

CM