Following the tour in the Maramureș area, continuing through Sighet allows you to observe Romania from its origins and also it’s most current history, combining both in the same region.
Mainly visit Muzeul Satului Maramureșean, a museum that represents the main history of the area, with the ethnological domain, with an exhibition of pavilions, and open-air museum, but also with sections of history-archaeology, history of culture and memorial, natural sciences. Here you don’t only observe what it was like to live in the 16th century but it leads you to live the experience of observing how everything was at that time.
This museum shows from the houses to the utensils that were used in past centuries to cultivate, hunt, and make their daily lives, as well as how important the church and its religious ideals were to them. In a long extension of the territory, you get the idea of travelling back in time and you move to the sixteenth century touring this recreated village to know that time.
On the other hand, in the same area of Sighet to get a little to the most recent history of Romania, it is important to visit the "Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance" museum, located in the old and famous Sighet Prison, where political prisoners were condemned during the communist era. The museum tells the story of the poor conditions detainees faced and the horrors they had to face to survive in communist times in Romania.
The set of these two important places in culture is undoubtedly incredible since it represents the oldest and most modern history in which you know what it represents and the why of what Romania is today.
Finally of this trip visiting Maramureș, without a doubt the best thing is to know the gastronomy of this region, where the pork appears in each dish and where the vegetables that are produced in this same area stand out. I also try the typical homemade drinks such as afinată (very strong liquor) or suc de soc (elderberry juice).
The atmosphere of the most typical places and their gastronomy are my favourites not only for the food but for the colour and what they represent and continue to represent today in Romanian culture.