A Saxon Guest House

Guten Tag,

I thought I would put the photographs of the guest house and our meals on a separate page from the pictures of Malancrav because the house compromised an entire dimension to our trip separate from the church and town itself.

Entrance to Our Saxon Guest House in Malancrav Romania

Outside Our Saxon Guest House in Malancrav

It is worthy of a page to itself where I can provide all the details and display all my pictures. Immediately upon arrival, the caretaker, Mihaila, gave me a brief tour of the house, and I set about right away taking pictures.

 The house sat up above the ground, and was long and narrow. There was a front window that overlooked the road, and the entrance was inside the gate on the side of the house. The main part of the house contained two rooms---a main room with a bed, wardrobe, benches, and table and chairs; then a smaller bedroom containing a bed and a bookcase and a couple of tables and benches. The bathroom was in the main part of the house near the entrance. At the back of the dwelling, accessible by a separate entrance, was a kitchen and dining area. You had to walk outside the main part of the house and into this entrance separately. Then, at th every back of the house, was a covered patio that contained an outdoor stove and an outdoor dining area with a wooden table and benches.

Upon entering the house, you immediately walked up a few steps into an entry way, and in the entry way was a door leading to a modern bathroom. It was very simple but was all that was required. Stepping outside of the entry way into the main part of the house, you first entered the small back bedroom. Here are photographs of the bed and other furniture in that room.

Single Bed with Woven House Slippers

Built-In Bookcase

Wooden Table

Wooden Bench with Woven Coverlet

From the small bedroom you entered through a door into the large, main room, with its big window overlooking the road, and side windows overlooking the yard. It was furnished with a large trundle bed, a bench with a drawer that could be pulled out to make another trundle bed, a painted chest, a wooden wardrobe, a table and chairs, as well as a Saxon stove.

Main Village Road from Front Window of Guest House

Over the next two days we watched a lot of children playing and horse-drawn wagons going by through this window. Here is the trundle bed with its freshly laundered crisp white sheets and its down comforters. The rug on the floor is a hand-woven wool rug.

Saxon Handmade Trundle Bed with Top and Bottom "Bunks"

Apple Blossoms on Table

Handmade Wooden Bench with Trundle Bed Below

Antique Painted Chest

Wardrobe

Here is the side window that communicated with the yard.

Window Overlooking the Yard

And here is the Saxon stove, made from terra cotta tiles that are fired in Malancrav. It kept us warm on the cold nights.

Saxon Tile Stove

Woodbasket

Door Going from Front to Back Room

When Mihaila showed me the house she told me she had built a fire. It was rather warm outside and I was wondering what on earth we needed a fire for. Later than night, after it had started raining and the  temperature had dropped, we were pretty thankful for that fire, and actually added quite a few logs to it ourselves. We learned later that no gas lines have been run to Malancrav, so the entire town heats with wood. Indeed, there was a smell of burning wood in the town that permeated everything. It was very pleasant.

We really had a treat with Mihaila cooking for us. She was an excellent cook. Malancrav is well off the beaten path and it would not have been easy to run out for groceries or meals, so we were very glad we had chosen to pay a little extra to have our meals prepared for us. Plus, it gave us a chance to eat real Romanian home cookin'.

Wooden Bread Bowl in Kitchen Window

Drinking Water

The first night dinner was particularly welcome because it had been raining for several hours and had turned cold as a result. Jimmy and I had been sitting outside under the covered patio and when she called us to dinner it was nice to go into the snug little dining area attached to the kitchen and start our meal. There was a wood burning stove in the dining area and she had lit a fire in it for us.

Kitchen Cupboard

The first course was vegetable rice ciorba. Ciorba is a staple in Romania, and many people keep a stock pot full of vegetable matter going all the time to have stock for the ciorba. Then they put whatever meat or vegetables they have into it when it is prepared. Sometimes it is made with beef and vegetables, sometimes tripe, something rice, sometimes only vegetables.

There were also two pitchers on the table, one with a pink liquid and one with a clear liquid. Next to our plates were a small tumbler and a glass that was almost like a shot glass. We assumed the pink liquid was wine and was meant to be drunk out of the small glass. I poured us a tiny glass of wine, and a tumbler full of the clear liquid. I took a taste of the wine. It was sour, so I gulped the "water." It wasn't water, but was the local home-made moonshine! Yikes! I quickly grabbed Jimmy's glass and dumped it back in the pitcher before he could make the same mistake I had, then we poured the correct liquids into the appropriate glasses so Mihaila wouldn't think we were total alcoholics.

Jimmy at Dinner the First Night 

The Dinner Table

Jimmy Eating Ciorba

The entree was a type of lamb sausage, served with potatoes that had been cooked in bacon grease with sauteed onions, and a pickled cucumber mixture for the garnish. The potatoes were fabulous! I lost count of how many helpings I had. Everything was served with fresh white bread.

Fried Lamb Sausages

Potatoes and Pickles

Sausages and Potatoes

Our Plate the First Night

Corn is a staple in Romania, and dessert was what we in North Carolina would call grits. They had been prepared with cream and sugar, served with a raspberry jelly on top. Delicious! My mother likes grits with cream and sugar, but until that dessert, I never understood the appeal. Perhaps because I neve tried it myself.  :)

Corn Pudding

Jimmy Eating His Dessert

After this delicious meal we went inside to the main part of the house and snuggled up on the bed to stay warm from the cold. We ended up piling most of our logs on the fire too. That Saxon stove sure came in handy.

The next morning after a good night's sleep we had breakfast served to us by Mihaila. I could kick myself for forgetting to take pictures of breakfast both mornings, but let me describe as best I can what we had.

The table was set with a wooden egg cup and we each had one boiled egg. There was a plate of sheep's cheese, which is very popular in Hungary and Romania, and which is similar to a mild feta cheese. There was a plate of bread, as well as a plate of sliced fat meat which looked like fat back. There was a dish of paprika relish, and a dish of cherry preserves. Mihaila also set down a French press pot filled with steaming hot coffee, and towards the end of the meal brought in a pot of chamomile tea. There was also fresh milk for the coffee. It was lukewarm and skimming over on top. I'm not so sure it wasn't straight from the cow. Oh, and I almost forgot the fresh butter!

After lunch we remained in the house awhile because it was still damp and chilly outside, but it started to warm up, so we got ready to head out for a walk. We walked up to the church and took pictures in the sunshine, then strolled back through the village, speaking to all the dogs, children, and old ladies along the way.

We got back just in time for lunch, and Mihaila had outdone herself again. Jimmy said this was his favorite meal. We had lamb schnitzel with cabbage stew, pickled hot peppers, wine, bread, and coffee. I thought the cabbage stew was awesome. It was a big bowl of cabbage and tomatoes with little bits of meat it in. The pickled peppers were especially good on the schnitzel. I ate as much cabbage stew as I could hold. We didn't indulge in any wine but we sure did enjoy the rest of the meal. It was followed by sponge cake with powdered sugar on top. Here are some photos.

Lamb Schnitzel

Cabbage Stew

Pickled Peppers

Wine

Sponge Cake

Here it is all beautifully laid out.

Lunchtime Spread

I greatly regret not having pictures of supper. Why on earth I failed to take any I don't know. We had had a busy afternoon and we were very hungry, so maybe this is my excuse?

Here is what  we had. She started the meal off with a giant bowl of chicken dumpling soup. It was delicious, of course. It was filled with chicken, carrot, turnip bits, and big fluffy dumplings. I'm sure they had egg in them they were so big and puffy.

We then had some kind of little patties which I believe were pork. These were served with tomato gravy and a big bowl of buttery mashed potatoes. For dessert we had more sponge cake, this time topped with blackberry preserves. There was some kind of brown homemade liquor, and the pink wine.

The next morning breakfast was similar to the night before. We had boiled eggs, sheep's cheese, bread, paprika relish, blackberry and cherry preserves, fresh butter, hot coffee and milk, and this time, fried smoked pork sausages instead of fat smoked meat. It was a great start to a busy day, and a great send off meal.

What follows is pictures I took that provide details of some of the furniture and house itself. The carpentry of the house was amazing, and all throughout our stay I continued to find interesting little things to take notice of. Here are some details of the windows and doors. Each window had a little rose filial carved into it.

Window Detail

Each door post was cut and carved to look like a column, and the glass was a thick glass imprinted with a floral design.

Door Between Rooms

Door Post

This next shot is a detail of the bottom of a wooden table in the small bedroom. The bottom pieces were carved in the shape of birds.

Blue Bird Table

Here are some details of the hand-made Saxon trundle bed, with the top and bottom bunks. Guess who slept on the bottom?

Bottom Bunk

Top Bunk

Here are some photographs that were hanging on the wall. They depict people in Malancrav 40 or 50 years ago holding a Saxon festival, dressed in traditional Saxon clothing. The little girls look mighty serious!

Photograph of Saxon Girls in Costume

Photograph of Saxon Woman in Front of Saxon Stove

I really liked the light fixtures. These were oil lamps which have been converted to electrical lights.

Light Fixture

Here is another painted chest with a woven coverlet. There were two in the house.

Painted Antique Chest

Here is a three-legged wooden stool in the outdoor dining area.

Three-Legged Wooden Stool in Outdoor Kitchen

That just about does it. This particular adventure was probably one of the most memorable, and it will be a long time before I forget our two nights in the Saxon Guest House.

Das ist alle leute!