In 1780 a painter named Radu Munteanu covered the inside of the wooden church at Desești with scenes that still shock and delight: a Last Judgment in which sinners are marched off to a hell full of grinning devils, alongside saints, prophets and lively village figures. The church, dedicated to the Holy Paraskeva and built in 1770 from oak logs, rises above the village with a tall, slender tower and a steep double roof of shingles. It is one of the eight wooden churches of Maramureș inscribed by UNESCO in 1999, and its paintings are among the best preserved of them all.
Maramureș is a land apart, cut off from the rest of Romania by mountains and long isolated, so that traditions survived here that have vanished elsewhere. Carved wooden gates stand in front of houses, women still wear traditional dress on Sundays, and haystacks dot the meadows in summer. The Mara valley, where Desești lies, is one of the most beautiful parts of the region, with villages strung along the river, orchards and hay meadows. Nearby are the salt lakes of Ocna Șugatag, popular for bathing, and the village of Breb, famous for its traditional way of life.
The road over the Gutâi pass, from Baia Mare into Maramureș, is a superb ride, with a long series of hairpins climbing through beech forests to the top and then descending into the Mara valley. The surface is generally good, though trucks and buses use the road, and the corners need care. In the valley, the roads are quieter, winding along the river through villages, with carts and livestock to watch out for. Summer brings village festivals and fairs, and in October the beech woods on the Gutâi glow like embers.
Cavnic, a small ski town about twelve kilometres away, has fuel, and Baia Mare and Sighetu Marmației have everything. The villages have small shops and guesthouses offering home-cooked food. The church at Desești is usually open, or the key can be obtained from the priest or a caretaker; dress respectfully and leave a donation if you can.