Romania. The morning is quiet in Breb. Fog hangs in the valley, and smoke rises from the chimneys of the timber-framed farmhouses. John, my host, proudly shows me his own distillery. In a shed resembling a cowshed, he produces traditional Țuică here. Like almost everyone here in Maramures, which is arguably one of the most remote regions in the country. Maramures is known for its UNESCO-listed wooden churches, the “Merry Cemetery,” and its traditional crafts. Most people visit the area in the fall, during harvest season. I, on the other hand, am drawn to experiencing Maramures in the winter.

Unassigned, unpaid advertising. The article contains affiliate links.

Surrounded by Mountains

Maramures is located in the far north of Romania and is surrounded by the Eastern Carpathians. From the Rodna Mountains in the southeast of Maramures, Pietrosul Rodnei—at 2,303 meters, the highest peak in the Eastern Carpathians—looks down upon the valley basin. To the north and northeast, along the border with Ukraine, stretch the sparsely populated Maramures Mountains. It is precisely this mountainous location that has allowed many old traditions, architectural styles, and customs to survive in Maramures to this day. Winters used to be long and harsh, with snowfalls sometimes cutting off roads and villages from the outside world for days on end. But climate change is making itself felt: In the winter of 2024/25, there was almost no snow at all.

The landscape itself is one of rugged beauty: Dense spruce, fir, and beech forests characterize large parts of the region; at higher elevations, alpine meadows are home to gentian, arnica, and wild berry bushes. In spring and summer, species-rich mountain meadows bloom, while winter creates a quiet expanse. The fauna is equally impressive: brown bears, wolves, and lynx roam the forests, red deer and roe deer graze at the forest edges, and golden eagles and other birds of prey circle above the valleys.

The wild heart of the region is the Maramures Mountain National Park, which, at over 150,000 hectares, is one of Romania’s largest national parks. But even here, the wilderness is not safe. In recent decades, Romania has repeatedly faced criticism for illegal logging. Entire slopes disappeared as logging companies used chainsaws to penetrate deeper into the forests than was permitted. The EU has issued multiple warnings to Romania because protected areas were not being consistently monitored.

Wooden Houses, wooden Gates, and wooden Churches in Maramures

Wood is the material that defines Maramures like nothing else. Houses, fences, gates, and entire churches here are carved, doweled, and assembled. The most famous examples are the wooden churches. Eight of them are officially designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Each one is unique. In winter, they look even more impressive: the tall, pointed towers pierce the gray sky like spears, and when you step inside, every beam creaks.

I visit the wooden church in Desești, a smaller but colorful place of worship. Frescoes dance across the walls, depicting the Last Judgment: angels guiding souls, devils devouring them. These churches are not only places of worship but also community centers and testaments to centuries-old craftsmanship. The Bârsana Monastery, in particular, remains etched in my memory. Its wooden church with its slender towers rises beautifully above the slopes. Pilgrims come here even in winter. It is a place of faith and a total work of art made of wood, stone, and landscape. Equally impressive is the Peri Monastery in Săpânța, whose 78-meter-tall wooden church is considered the tallest wooden church in the world.

The traditional wooden architecture of the villages in Maramureș is among the most impressive examples of rural building traditions in Europe and reflects a centuries-old tradition of craftsmanship. Characteristic features include houses built entirely of wood, with steep shingle roofs that slope deeply downward to withstand the harsh winters of the Carpathian region. Particularly striking are the artistically carved wooden gates, which not only serve as entrances to the courtyard but also symbolize the family’s social status and identity. The largest and most elaborate wooden gates can cost up to 20,000 euros. They often feature ornamental motifs such as ropes, sun wheels, or trees of life, which promise protection and fertility. The region’s famous wooden churches, several of which are UNESCO World Heritage sites, also bear witness to the masterful combination of functionality, spirituality, and aesthetic appeal—a living heritage that is preserved to this day in many villages.

The “Merry Cemetery” of Săpânța

Wood also plays a central role at the famous “Merry Cemetery”—the Cimitirul Vesel—in Săpânța. Instead of somber gravestones, there are blue wooden crosses here. The crosses are made of wood, mostly oak, and hand-carved. At the top, they feature a relief or an image: someone baking bread, a farmer plowing, a man in a hat, a woman spinning, scenes from everyday life, but also scenes such as someone being run over by a car or struck by lightning. Below the image is a saying, a short poem, often with a touch of humor or irony. The background color is a deep blue, “Săpânta Blue,” accented with borders and ornaments in red, yellow, green, and white, all of which are uniquely designed.

I walk among the graves, looking at images of the deceased. I stop in front of a cross. It shows a woman at her loom. My guide translates:

“Here I rest, a weaver,
My husband drank a lot, but I forgave him.
Now I finally have my peace,
And hopefully he does too—somewhere.”

A few steps further:

“Here I rest beneath this cross, Pop Ion,
I lived 50 years with my vice: schnapps.
And when you pass by, don’t laugh too hard —
It was a fine drink, I swear to you!”

These verses reflect the village community—honest and often crude. They show who someone was, not who they should have been.

The Man Who brought Color to Death

Across from the church lies the grave of Stan Ioan Pătraș (1908–1977). It is adorned with the same vibrant colors he once infused into his life’s work. Pătraș was born in Săpânța in 1908, grew up in a simple farming family, and began carving wooden crosses as a young man. At first, they were plain, but in the 1930s, he had the idea of bringing some color to death with blue, red, and yellow. He carved scenes from the lives of the deceased and composed verses. In doing so, he broke with all conventions and laid the foundation for a unique cultural monument. Stan Ioan Pătraș founded the cemetery in the 1930s.

His art began to gain international attention in the 1960s. After Pătraș’s death, his student Dumitu Pop Tincu continued the work. Today, there are around 1,300 crosses here, each a small work of art and a brief biography.

The Merry Cemetery is a national monument and part of Romania’s UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. Around 150,000 people visit it annually—pilgrims, tourists, and art lovers alike. There are also plans for a small museum where old grave crosses, which have been replaced by restored ones, will be displayed.

The tradition lives on. Today, Dumitu Pop Tincu, Pătraș’s student and successor, carries on the work. It takes two to three weeks to make a cross, and it costs around 2,300 euros. That’s a lot of money, considering the average monthly wage in this region is about 780 euros.

Crafts and Domestic Life

The long winter evenings are devoted to handicrafts. The wood-burning stove warms the living room, and colorful fabrics for ornate traditional costumes are created on the loom. People embroider, spin, and sew. Clothing, rugs, blankets, and tablecloths are made right at home, whether for personal use, as commissioned work, or for sale in the summer.

In Sârbi, a neighboring village of Breb, I see a watermill. Here, raw wool is processed using water power, and laundry is washed in an open-air whirlpool in the stream. In winter, however, the mills stand still, for everything is frozen and waiting for spring.

Traditional Costumes

Traditional clothing is part of one’s identity. Women wear white blouses with delicate embroidery, woolen aprons, and colorful headscarves. Men, on the other hand, wear black hats and vests, and thick sheepskin coats in winter. This clothing is not merely folklore for tourists; it is worn as a matter of course at church festivals and weddings and is carefully stored the rest of the year in a separate room: the dowry room. Since the textiles stored here were of crucial importance for a young woman’s dowry, this room was a source of pride, where handmade blouses, vests, and skirts, among other items, were displayed. The patterns are not random. They tell stories, bear protective symbols, and commemorate the ancestors.

Woodworking

Traditional woodworking in Maramureș is deeply rooted in the region’s everyday culture and is regarded as an expression of artisanal mastery and symbolic imagery. For generations, woodcarvers have used simple tools and time-honored techniques to create artistic functional and decorative objects from oak, spruce, or fir. I see carving horses—wooden benches into which the workpieces are clamped—in almost every yard. The richly decorated farm gates are a particularly well-known example of woodcraft. But furniture, spoons, spinning wheels, and roof shingles are also crafted with great care and often individually decorated. Knowledge of these techniques is mostly passed down within families, ensuring that woodworking remains a vibrant part of the regional identity to this day.

SIDE NOTE: Building Your Own Carving Horse (Advertisement) (Werbung)

’m passionate about working with wood and built my own carving horse in early 2026. It can even be taken apart into individual pieces, making it easy to transport. It’s a fantastic piece of equipment. The build was guided and organized by Christoph Maretzek from the Guide Academy Europe (GAE). . If you’d like to build one yourself, I highly recommend reaching out to him.

Self-Sufficiency

Many families are self-sufficient. In the summer, they pickle vegetables, smoke bacon, and distill fruit into schnapps. Every household has supplies that are carefully preserved. The standard of living may seem modest by Western standards, and incomes are significantly lower than those in Western Europe. Yet self-sufficiency fosters a sense of independence that has long since been lost in cities.

Horse-drawn carts or ox-drawn teams are a common sight on the roads. They bring hay or firewood to the farms. Almost every villager keeps animals: chickens roam freely, goats, cows, and pigs stay in the barns during the winter, and the sheep also remain near the farms during the cold season. They are joined by large, shaggy herding dogs, the Carpatin or Mioritic. They have been bred in the Carpathians for centuries. Their mission is clear: to protect the herds from bears and wolves.

Closing Remarks

Maramures in winter is not a bustling tourist destination. There are no ski slopes, most restaurants are closed, and sometimes you’re the only visitor of the day at a museum. Amid the scent of wood smoke, creaking church beams, and frozen streams, I experienced a region that has not forgotten its roots and embodies heartwarming hospitality. It’s not staged—it’s simply the way it is. Maramures is not a place for those in a hurry, but for visitors willing to immerse themselves in the silence, the crafts, the nature, and the people who live here.

Book Recommendations for Romania

Would you like to learn more about wildlife observation? Then I have three book recommendations for you. You can order the books* from Amazon by clicking on the images. If you buy a book or another article via an affiliate link, I will receive a small commission, and you will help me to continue to fill Wanderlust Motifs with interesting articles. The product will not be more expensive for you.

Want to know when there are new articles on my blog? Then follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram. I am also very happy if you share my article with your friends.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Recommendations for further Reading

Do you enjoy winter in Maramures? Then you’ll surely be interested in the following two articles:

Der Beitrag Winter in Maramures – Reise in den abgeschiedenen Norden Rumäniens erschien zuerst auf Fernweh-Motive.

Romania. The Danube Delta is known to many nature lovers as a birdwatching paradise. Many birdwatchers come here during the migration season or to observe the summer breeding season. However, the Danube Delta is hardly known as a winter destination. But it is precisely at this time of year that the mighty Dalmatian pelicans and Pallas's gulls show off their beautiful breeding plumage. The sparse winter vegetation also makes the animals easy to spot on the riverbanks. In addition to the Dalmatian pelicans, it was the chance to see golden jackals, raccoon dogs, and wildcats that drew me to this remote region.

Unassigned, unpaid advertising. The article contains affiliate links.

The Water begins at the End of the Road

The evening in Tulcea feels like a transition between two worlds. From the city, also known as the “Gateway to the Danube Delta,” the only way to continue is by boat. We hoist our luggage into the small boat at the jetty. There is no one else at the harbor except us. It is raining. Everyone finds a place on the beanbags in the boat, pulls warm lambskin overshoes over their boots, and wraps themselves in the blankets provided. We get our cameras ready by the light of our headlamps. It is shortly before eight o'clock in the evening. Soon after we set off, all the lights of the city have disappeared, and only the red/green side lights of our boat bring some light into the darkness. Our guide scans the banks with night vision goggles for crepuscular and nocturnal animals. I, too, stare intently into the dark landscape and imagine I can make something out. After a while, I give up and just watch our guide, seeing which direction he points the night vision device and whether he raises his hand with the flashlight. Within the first hour of our boat trip to the village of Mila 23, we see two minks, two raccoon dogs, a tawny owl, and a deer.

There are only four of us, an unusually small group for a photography trip, accompanied by our guide from the nature tour operator Sakertours and our boatman. After about three hours on the boat, we reach our destination in Mila 23.

Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve

The Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve is a vast labyrinth of water and land on the border between Romania and Ukraine. The delta consists of countless lakes, canals, and islands at the end of the approximately 2,860 km long Danube River. Covering 5,800 square kilometers, it is the largest contiguous wetland and reed bed in Europe. The area is known as an Eldorado for birdwatchers, with 312 recorded bird species. Countless fish and mammal species find refuge in this mosaic of water and land, which has been designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and World Natural Heritage Site since 1991. The delta is also one of the last refuges for the European mink, the wildcat, the freshwater otter, and the globally endangered monk seal. Around 13,000 people live in small villages that can only be reached by boat. The main economic activities in the biosphere reserve are fishing, hunting, reed harvesting, livestock farming, subsistence farming, and tourism.

Mila 23 and Life in Winter in the Danube Delta

The small village of Mila 23 on the edge of one of the many canals looks more like a collection of boats than a settlement. There are no roads here, only wooden walkways, boats in front of the houses, and a few narrow paths. Many residents of the village, as well as the delta as a whole, belong to the Lipovan community, descendants of Russian Old Believers who found refuge here in the 18th century. Our guesthouse is family-run and impresses us over the following days with excellent local cuisine, which, as expected, offers plenty of fish from the waters on the doorstep.

In the weeks leading up to our trip, I had checked the weather forecast every day. What could I expect in winter in the Danube Delta? The forecast temperatures ranged from minus fourteen to plus fourteen degrees Celsius, with snow, ice, and true spring weather. Just the week before, there was snow on the ground, and the waterways were partially frozen. But now, at the beginning of February, the thermometer shows a few degrees above zero, the snow has disappeared, the ice has melted, and instead heavy clouds hang over the river and a fine drizzle alternates with heavy showers. Not the conditions photographers dream of, but perhaps exactly those that give a photo that certain atmosphere.

Winter is the off-season here in the Danube Delta. Most hotels and tourist attractions are closed, and visitors don't start arriving until April, when migratory birds stop over and the breeding season begins. But now the delta belongs almost exclusively to the locals and the animals. It is precisely this tranquility that makes it so appealing.

Golden Jackals from the Photo Hide

On two of the three days, our small photography group splits up. Two of us take the boat and search for water birds, while the other two move into a small photo hide at the edge of the reed belt. I can hardly wait to get into the hide and eagerly set up my camera. We are in luck: after just half an hour, two golden jackals appear, looking beautiful in their thick winter coats. They look like a cross between a fox and a small wolf. Golden jackals have spread rapidly in recent decades, as there is plenty of food and cover in the delta.

We are able to observe the five animals for over an hour. They are extremely shy in the open meadow and keep looking around in all directions, even up into the air. Probably not without reason. Two of the jackals have clearly visible old injuries, either from fights or traps: a partially severed tail, a partially missing front paw, an injured eye, and a bent ear testify to the enormous resilience and strength of these wild animals.

From our hiding place, we can observe other animals, including buzzards, a marsh harrier, gray herons, hooded crows, magpies, a gray woodpecker, and two pheasants.

Boat Trip in Rain and Fog

Our second day begins before sunrise again with strong coffee and a richly laid breakfast table. It is raining outside, and even after sunrise, it seems as if it will not get light today. We pull the tarpaulin over the boat and wrap ourselves in blankets. The further we go, the wider the river becomes, and then it divides into branches that branch out again until it seems impossible to find our way, and only walls of reeds pass by on the left and right. As the boat chugs slowly through the gray water, we keep an eye out for birds. First, we spot a little grebe, then pygmy cormorants, gray herons, coots, and great crested grebes. Later in the afternoon, the rain stops, and a veil of fog descends over the water.

Our return trip to our accommodation is a real blind flight in the fog. Sometimes we can barely see fifty meters ahead, and we can only move slowly. Great white egrets emerge like white ghosts from the gray soup, gray herons stand motionless on the shore, almost unnoticed, and great crested grebes disappear with a plop beneath the surface of the water. Although everything is damp and the light is dim, this is precisely when very atmospheric images emerge, with landscapes that resemble paintings rather than photographs.

Pelicans in their Breeding Plumage

Our last day is devoted entirely to the Dalmatian pelicans. Right at the start of the trip, we already see several young birds. After a short stop, we continue on our way, searching for the adult birds, whose shaggy head feathers and bright orange throat pouches look almost exotic in their breeding plumage. On a larger lake, we finally discover the silhouettes of several pelicans, huge birds with a wingspan of up to three meters.

With several thousand breeding pairs, the Danube Delta is home to one of the most important colonies in Europe, accounting for a significant proportion of the world's population. They remain in the area throughout the year. In spring, the Dalmatian pelicans are joined by pink pelicans, which breed in large colonies in the Danube Delta.

We brought the pelicans some fish, which gave us the opportunity to watch the animals feeding. The pelicans use their throat pouches as nets to scoop up fish and water. The water is then drained before the fish is swallowed. The throat pouch is extremely stretchy and can hold ten to twelve liters of water.

The Pallas's gull is named after the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas (1741–1811), who first described the species in 1773. It is the largest gull with a black head (in breeding plumage) and the third largest gull species worldwide. The species is mainly found in the steppe lakes of Central Asia and the coastal regions of the Caspian Sea. The population in the Danube Delta is the westernmost occurrence.

Nighttime in the Danube Delta

Wildcats

Every evening, we spend several hours searching for crepuscular and nocturnal animals. The European wildcat lives in the vast Danube Delta with its dense riparian forest and numerous refuges. The animals usually remain invisible to visitors because they are not only nocturnal but also extremely shy. Wildcats avoid open areas, preferring to stay in dense riparian forests and reed beds, where they use hiding places such as fallen tree trunks or hollow trunks to protect themselves from disturbance during the day. They only go hunting after dusk.

Three times, our guide spots a wildcat on the shore with his night vision goggles. But in the glow of the flashlight, it quickly disappears. I only see the animal balancing on a branch for a brief moment and can only photograph its rear end with my camera.

Raccoon Dogs

I have often heard of raccoon dogs, but never seen one. So I am all the more delighted when we spot two animals during an evening boat tour. The raccoon dog is native to East Asia. Between 1928 and the 1950s, thousands of animals were released in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. The aim was to establish a new fur animal species for the hunting and fur industry. The animals proved to be adaptable, fertile, and prolific. From these populations, the raccoon dog migrated independently.

Farewell to the Danube Delta

Our return trip from Mila23 to Tulcea is another night journey. After a sumptuous three-course dinner, we make ourselves comfortable in the boat again and keep our cameras at the ready. We see several nutrias in the water, tawny owls, and mice swimming in the water. During the trip, fog rolls in again, and we can only chug slowly through the canals. A typical winter in the Danube Delta. I lean back in my beanbag, listen to the water lapping against the hull, and think about how rare such places have become in Europe.

Book Recommendations for Nature Lovers

Would you like to learn more about wildlife observation? Then I have three book recommendations for you. You can order the books* from Amazon by clicking on the images. If you buy a book or another article via an affiliate link, I will receive a small commission, and you will help me to continue to fill Wanderlust Motifs with interesting articles. The product will not be more expensive for you.

Want to know when there are new articles on my blog? Then follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram. I am also very happy if you share my article with your friends.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Recommendations for further Reading

If you like the Danube Delta in winter, then you will certainly be interested in the following articles:

Der Beitrag Donaudelta im Winter – Auf Fototour zu Goldschakalen und Pelikanen erschien zuerst auf Fernweh-Motive.