Personal and Continental Redemption on Day 3

The obvious highlight on Day 3 of our Tour of Romania is the opulent yet intimate royal palace of Peles. I’ve written about it before and there is much more to say, but this year a surprise underdog snuck past the headliner.

It could have been a disaster.

Any first day on the bus feels long, and when we arrived in Sighișoara our thoughts were on cold showers and colder beer. Which is when we discovered a festival blocking the road to our hotel.

Two factors saved us. First, our generous hoteliers came to collect our luggage, which let us walk light and easy into the medieval walled city center, where second: the market square was boisterous with folk music and dancers. You can’t see that and not smile, but the more you know the more you appreciate, and in the lineup from around the country I saw something even more beautiful than the hand embroidery and choreographed steps.

Romania’s position on the edge of so many empires has gifted the country an incredible density of diverse cultures. This makes for outstanding travel but difficult history, as ethnic tensions have long bedeviled the continent. Remarkably (for Europe and for humans) these rivalries rarely came to violence (with the exception of Europe’s endemic moral failures: antisemitism and anti-Roma). But a festival like this would have been impossible for most of history. But not today.

As a group from Dobrogea gave way to another from Maramures, I swear the youngsters were sharing heated glances, pure Romeo and Juliet, but without all the swords and poison parts. Just flirting. It might not make for as dramatic of a play, but it’s a much better world in which to live.

We dropped our bags in 400 year old rooms and soon I was leaning back with a nice cold mint lemonade. Romania makes the best lemonade, nice and fresh, not too much sugar. Between long pulls of citrus goodness I felt a more personal vindication of the moment.

My first brush with tour guiding came 15 years ago when a cynical guide told me his group was at a “folk dance.” He made air quotes with his fingers and confessed that there was nothing authentic about it, just an excuse to charge people for an hour in folding chairs. But that was a well beaten Tourist Track, and this was Romania.

This performance was by and for Romanians, young faces shining with nervous pride, families clapping their hands numb, and toes all over the square tapping along to the rollicking rhythms. That poor guy had sold his group’s time for a commission, and clearly felt bad about it. I brought my people to Romania because it’s a beautiful, interesting, and relevant country that travelers who want to understand Europe need to see. No event commission, no ulterior motive, just travel goodness in a great land with great people.

I raised my glass and toasted to that. Dance on, my friends.