Sapanta

The "Merry Cemetry" in Sapanta has been on my wishlist of places to visit in Romania since my very first trip to the country in 2001. Finally, we ticked it off. It is a very strange place - almost every grave marker is painted a cheerful blue, and bears a picture and little rhyme about the person buried there and how they met their death. My Romanian skills aren't good enough to understand most of what's written, but my husband and inlaws assured me that it no punches were pulled and no blushes were spared...

You can read more about it here.

We also spent an hour or so exploring the tallest wooden church in Europe, and the collection of old-fashioned wooden houses at the village museum. After another amazing lunch at the hotel, the grown ups took it in turns to visit the museum in Sighetu Marmatiei dedicated to the victims of the communist regime, housed in the former prison, while the others minded the children at the hotel. It was a very well-done museum, and provided much food for reflection (and was most definitely not a place to take the kids).

For a little flavour of the place, you can find out more here.