Golden autumn on río Wang: “Lighting” in Maramureș and Renaissance towns in Southern Bohemia

We will have a long, warm autumn this year. Golden forests will receive us even in early November, on the last two tours of río Wang planned for this year. First we go to Maramureș, where we traditionally return every year, but now we visit it for the first time in the days from October 29 to November 1, which is the period of “lighting” all over Transylvania. During this time, the village cemeteries shine with a thousand candlelights from dusk to dawn, everyone goes out or comes home to the tombs of his or her beloved ones, and, according to Orthodox/Greek Catholic custom, passers-by are also invited for a piece of cake and a glass of plum brandy. In early afternoon we arrive in the medieval old town of Baia Mare, and during the four days we tour the painted wooden churches (World Heritage) in the valleys of Maramureș, visit on a market day the main square of the still multi-ethnic Sighet Marmației, we go on excursion to Munții Rodnei, and we inch up with the mocănița, the hundred-year-old locomotive, into the Hutsul mountains. These three nights we will stay in very special places: in the mountain village of Breb, where a British couple has transformed the wooden houses of an old farmyard into a family pension, conserving all the traditions, but also providing them with all the conveniences of modern comfort; and in Borșa, where a local family has rebuilt their house into a veritable Italian farm house with the best experiences gathered in Italy as guest workers. All three evenings we have local traditional dinner, with unlimited consumption of plum brandy. The participation fee, depending on the number of participants, is ca. 350-380 euro, which includes bus, accommodation (with breakfast and dinner), the locomotive and guide. Deadline of subscription: October 1, Saturday, at wang@studiolum.com. On the basis of the subscriptions coming in by the evening I will calculate the exact costs of travel, and will send out the detailed program. Here you can read a joint report on our earlier Maramureș tour.


Our last tour this year, between November 4 and 8, takes us through the Renaissance towns of Southern Bohemia, from Brno to as far as the castle of Rosenberg on the Austrian border. We will meet the dragon of Brno, visit the preserved Jewish quarters and cemeteries of Nikolsburg/Mikulov and Trebitsch/Třebíč (World Heritage), the Renaissance town of Telč in the middle of a lake (World Heritage), the knights’ castle of Jindřichův Hradec and the medieval fishing town of Třeboň in the Southern Bohemian Lake District, the little town of Slavonice tatooed with Renaissance sgraffiti, České Budějovice, known from Švejk and the Budweis beer, the stunning Český Krumlov (World Heritage) and other centers of the Rosenbergs, the most powerful landlords of Medieval and Renaissance Bohemia: the fortress of Rožmberk, the Gothic Cistercian monastery of Vysší Brod, the pilgrimage church of Kájov, and Prachatice, the wealthy Bohemian end station of the salt road leading from the Danube. We make excursions to the Vltava riverside castles, in the mountains of Böhmerwald, and along the Otter river, the only otter reserve of Europe. And, of course, we also taste the wonderful Czech cuisine, in the old town of Brno, on the island of Telč, in the fish restaurants of Třeboň, and in the traditional German Gasthäuser of the Böhmerwald. The participation fee, again depending on the number of participants, is ca. 380-400 euro, which includes bus, accommodation (with breakfast) and guide. Deadline of subscription: October 1, Saturday, at wang@studiolum.com. On the basis of the subscriptions coming in until evening I will calculate the exact costs of travel, and will send out the detailed program. Here you can browse among our earlier posts about the Czech lands.