ELITE TRAVELER ITINERARIES: Romania
Three qualities distinguish AXIS MUNDI's travel itineraries in Romania:
- carefully selected out-of-the-way places
- privileged access to unique personalities
- comfortable lodgings and the best of local wines and foods
DISCOVERING A COUNTRY LONG HIDDEN FROM VIEW
Romania, once one of modern Europe's richest countries, is about to enter the EU in 2007. Yet, strangely, it remains largely unknown to the outside world and especially to the American traveler. How this could be for a country so rich in traditional cultural diversity, uniquely beautiful and diverse landscapes, and has contributed much to world culture is not evident. The most plausible explanation is the legacy of 40 years of totalitarian rule that devalued Romanian identity - and as far as foreigners were concerned - turned the country into a destination for cheap mass-market bulk tours, The discriminant, curious, travelers was thus turned away and infrastructure of comfortable, inviting lodgings or destinations never blossomed. In the same period, just the opposite was happening in West Europe. Rural Grand Relais estates (France), Landmark Trust historic sites (England) or Possadas (Spain), as well as numerous heritage sites carefully restored and aggressively marketed turned history and culture into a massive and successful business. All the while, Romania's beauty and culture remained cocooned from view. Today an estimated 150-200,000 foreign leisure visitors visit Romanian; this compares to 50-70 million that do the same annually in Spain.
EXPERIENCING TRADITIONAL CULTURE
The good news is that 'Unknown Romania' is there to be discovered. And this is just what Axis Mundi 'Elite Traveler Discovery Itineraries' offer: a chance to discover the roads less traveled in a culture rich with surprises. Though all modern amenities are there, modern luxuries are not the reason to visit. The real treasure is in traditional peasant village-life and its cultural riches: the village well, the unpaved street populated by geese, folk craftmanship, hand-cut hay, shepherds and their migratory herds, and millennia-old local rituals. This is the experience offered the Axis Mundi Elite Traveler.
INTERACTING WITH UNIQUE PERSONALITIES
While each discovery itinerary is carefully tailored to the Traveler's interests, Axis Mundi's privileged access to a spectrum of personalities and places will unlock access to Romania's long-hidden culture secrets: UNESCO protected Saxon villages settled in the 1200s whose restoration is mentored by HRH Prince Charles, the hard fought revival of Count Tibor Kalnoky's 700 year-old Hungary-Romania aristocratic family and his efforts to return dignity back to a ruined family estate, the work of the Dimancescu-Bastea's, a 500 year-old Romanian-Boyard family, returned after 50 years of communist-era induced exile, meeting Romania's UNESCO inspired Living Human Treasures and witnessing them at work in their craft workshops, encountering inspired local or foreign citizens laboring to bring life back to a culture whose traditions are measured in millennia, meeting an 80-year-old Byzantine fresco painter of Orthodox. In each case, the Elite Traveler will have the opportunity to encounter such individuals in their own environments - village homes, estates, or offices - no matter how modest or rustic.
RELAXING IN CALM COMFORT
In rural areas local foods are offered along with the best of Romanian wines. Elite Traveler evening dinners are an opportunity to relax in unique, well managed lodgings some remotely located with mountain and valley vistas. Experts are invited to share in conversation or traditional artists to entertain.
All along Axis Mundi offers the Elite Traveler the comfort of 4WD vehicles, attentive hosts, and the opportunity to engage in a memorable shared discovery.
For reservations or for further information please contact
at: sales@romaniandscovery,com
www.romaniandiscovery.com
