Maramureș is a part of Romania where wooden building became an art. The county in the far north, tucked against the Ukrainian border and ringed by forested mountains, has hundreds of timber churches, and eight of them were listed by UNESCO in 1999. The one at Strâmbu, in the Băiuț area, belongs to the Nativity of the Virgin and dates from the eighteenth century, built of oak logs with a steep, double-tiered shingle roof and a tall slender spire. It looks like a church that has learned to float, with a roof that sheds the heavy snow and a tower that reaches for the sky.
The craft is Gothic in feeling, though the builders were village carpenters, and the interior is painted with scenes of judgement, saints and devils in a bold folk style. These churches were often built small and low because, as the usual explanation goes, the authorities in Habsburg times forbade Romanians from building in stone or raising their churches above a certain height, so the people turned to wood and went upwards with the steeple instead. The result is among the most graceful vernacular architecture in Europe.
Băiuț has about two and a half thousand people, Botiza nearly three thousand, and both have shops and cafes, with a pump likely in the larger villages. The bigger towns are Baia Mare to the west and Sighetu Marmației to the north, where fuel is certain. Villages in Maramureș are known for their carved wooden gates, big enough for a hay wagon, and for women in traditional skirts and scarves, who still work in the fields and sell cheese on the roadside.
The riding is a delight. Roads wind through meadows, plum orchards and low forested ridges, with gentle bends, modest gradients and a surface that is usually decent, though patches of gravel and potholes appear after winter. Over the Gutâi pass or the Prislop pass the views are long and the air is cool. Traffic is light, but horse carts and cattle are common, and the evening sees animals driven home along the road. May and June bring flowers, and September is warm and gold. Try the local plum brandy and a plate of smoked cheese and sausage, and take your time.