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RASINARI AND
PALTINIS |
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RASINARI lies 12km from Sibiu on the road to Paltinis. It's a tight-packed
Romanian village with a painted Orthodox church built in 1752, and an
ethnographic museum (Tues-Sun 10am-5pm), showing the usual range of
local costumes and pottery. However, it's more noteworthy for the large
Gypsy encampment ( Tara ) on its southern outskirts, and the village's
annual Pastoral Album Folklore Festival , held on the third Sunday of
April. An hourly maxitaxi leaves from opposite Sibiu's Olympic-size
swimming pool on B-dul Victoriei and runs to the southern end of
Rasinari. Two kilometres east of the village along the road to Paltinis,
it's possible to stay at the Casa Mai (tel 069/572 693; $45-60) an
Austrian-style pension with nice rooms, a good restaurant and a swimming
pool. Rasinari is also connected to Paltinis by a path (marked with red
stripes) leading over the mountains in six to seven hours. About an hour
before Paltinis, near Mount Tomnaticu, a path marked with blue triangles
turns right to the Aanta Santa cabana (under $6), a few kilometres east
of the resort.
PALTINIS (Hohe Rinne; 1442m), 22km from Rasinari, is primarily a minor
ski resort , but also attracts summer hikers. It was founded in 1894 by
the Transylvanian Carpathian Association ( Siebenbürgischer
Karpatenverein ), the body which opened up the Romanian Carpathians to
tourism and built many of the original cabanas . Three or four buses a
day (#22) come here from the grey TurSib kiosk at the corner of Strada 9
Mai, near the train station in Sibiu. The Paltinis travel agency has an
office in Sibiu at Str. Tribuniei 3 (tel & fax 069/218 319) and can book
villa accommodation (under $6) in Paltinis. You should phone directly to
book a bed at the central Casa Turistilor cabana (tel 069/216 001; under
$6).
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