And it’s not at all what you think.
This is a photo essay from the time I ended up eating dinner and staying the night with a gypsy family in Valeni in Mures County, Romania.
How this even happened in the first place is actually a pretty random story that you can read over on Stop Having a Boring Life; here I just want to share some visuals from the occasion and introduce you to some of the characters involved. Meet the Gabor Family!
The Gabors are traditionalists, the leading caste in the Roma hierarchy, which is the reason they have been able to integrate more and change with the times. The closest thing to compare this to is the caste system in India – the Gabors would be seen as Brahmins and the shady ones you find begging and stealing in streets as Untouchables.
Work being done in the garage. The patriarch, Gaby Gabor, has also established a successful roofing company – a trade that has been handed down from previous generations.
Cruising around the village and meeting neighbors.
Traditional Roma skirts…these things weighed like 10 pounds, seriously.
Grandma Gabor was awesome.
One of their distant relatives – a real blonde gypsy!
Best souvenir ever! A gypsy heart made for just me by the littlest lady in the family, Margaret.
Truthfully, this was a cool experience but I think that’s because I made it a cool experience. It was off-season and I went solo rather than with a group so I was able to spend my time however I wanted, quality time. Not only did I meet and hang out with one of the nicest families ever, but I turned the 15 hours I spent there into a total crash course in gypsy history and culture. Something essential for anyone without Roma in their blood wanting to call themselves a “gypsy”…
Tours like this aren’t for everyone and I will admit there were aspects of it that even bordered on tacky, but that comes with tourism territory. All the activities were also nonobligatory if it’s just a cultural education you are after.
If you interested in doing a homestay like this with the Gabor Family, get in touch with Chuck Todaro via email tziganiatours@tzigania.com
just came over from the link on Stop Having a Boring Life – great photos!
Thank you, glad that you did :)
What a cool experience. Wish I had of known about this when I was in Romania! Nice one, L.
Nate recently posted..A Dangerous Method for Planning Long Term Travel
Hey thanks, N! It was very cool/educational and I probably would have never known either if Chuck didn’t get in touch with me. I think I read on another blog someone who went to Romania said they saw people advertising for these kinds trips at the train station but I never saw that. If you make it back that way in the fall you should give it a go!
I am headed to Valeni in August to a photography workshop. I understand that the best way to get there is from Budapest to Baia Mare by train then a bus from Baia Mere to Valeni, but have not been able to locate a bus schedule. Looks like you took a small bus. I will be staying with a family in a “home stay” for a week and am curious what that entails, what to expect, etc. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I will be 70 in Sept so seeing some of the out of the way places in the world with my cameras.
Well that certainly sounds like an interesting workshop! It turns out there are at least 3 different Valenis in Romania and I have a feeling you are headed to a different one than where I was. The one I visited was in Mures County, not far from Targu Mures and Sighisoara. I don’t know if you would be able to find a bus schedule online but my experience was that there tends to be small buses like that going every hour or two throughout the day out to the different villages. I wouldn’t think it would be that different in other parts of the country.
As for the homestay, I don’t know who it is organized through but I’d imagine it just entails having a room at a family’s home rather than in a hotel. Really I think it is up to you what kind of experience you want to make it – join them for meals, take the opportunity to chat with them about their life and culture (assuming they speak English), etc. But if you are doing a workshop maybe you won’t be at home very often. My biggest suggestion would be to just embrace it all, whatever it turns out to be. It’s a part of the world where you really never know until you get there. It definitely will not be on par with a Marriott but that’s what is going to make it so much more of a unique experience for you.
I think that is great you are out exploring the world with your camera at 70 – hope I will be doing the same until :) Wish you a wonderful time and don’t hestitate to ask if you have anymore questions.
Thanks. I will get back to you with which Valeni it is. It is in Maramures if that helps identify it.
I love these kinds of unique travel experiences. Out of curiosity, which aspect did you feel was tacky?
The longer it has been, the more I am realizing how unique it truly was. The only time I felt it could get real tacky was when they insisted on dressing me up in the skirt and braiding my hair with ribbon (you can see the last photo). I mean, it was kind of cool, especially since I left my leather jacket on, but I could see it getting weird with a tour group of 10 or so (experienced something like that on the Uros Islands in Peru and it just felt totally staged).