Visiting Romania
I have always been interested in Archaeology. Not enough to take courses, but I do love digging in the dirt, unearthing little things from the ground. Looking for a dig that would accept a neophyte and wasn't too expensive, I surfed the Archaeological Institute of American website and found a listing that interested me. A three-week dig in Mosna, Romania (in the Transylvanian area) that needed interested volunteers, no experience necessary. That was good but the cost was even better...$850 per person for the entire three weeks which included room and board.
Andre Gonciar (a Romanian) was the Field Director for Archaeotek-Canada, and doing research into the Petresti People, a Neolithic culture, dating from around 4000 BC. It really didn't matter to me if it was Roman, Greek or Neolithic, I just wanted to experience a dig without spending a fortune and this fit the bill.
Packets of information arrived from Andre detailing everything involved. Mosna is a tiny village in Transylvania (Dracula's homeland) and the volunteers would be housed with villagers, start the day with breakfast at 5:15am, end around 3:00pm, and have two weekend breaks with an opportunity to travel through two different areas of Romania for an additional $150.
ex-Marine (husband, Steve) wasn't adverse to trying a dig other than being a little leary about a home stay but I thought a total immersion into a Romanian household would be interesting and informative. What I knew about Romania other than Nicolae Ceausescu's regime and Bela Legosi in Dracula would fill a little drop of water. Actually, I knew more about Dracula than Ceausescu but didn't want to appear completely ignorant to our Romanian hosts and did a little reading. In a nutshell, Ceausescu was the leader of Communist Romania, and executed in 1989 for crimes against the state, genocide, and imposing policies that impoverished the Romanians.
Medias, the city closest to Mosna, has one of the best preserved historical centers and medieval fortifications in Romania. The entire area was inhabited by Transylvanian Saxons who built dozens of fortified churches, two of them UNESCO World heritage sites. A few other World Heritage Sites that we would visit was the citadel of Sighisoara and a Dacian Fortress.
This working vacation would be something new and different and it was exciting to start the planning... Book your rail tickets with the European Rail Experts!
