Romanian Vacation PART 1

This past August we spent 3 weeks visiting friends and family in Romania (where I was born and lived until I was 14).

As a photographer, you can imagine how decadent it is for me to return to this lush green place I used to call home, to photograph the country roads, the villages tucked into green valleys, the worn down street signs and cottages, the animals grazing on the side of the dirt roads, and all the beauty the Romanian countryside has to offer.

Our first stop was in a little tiny village outside of Zalau, called Pet, where Ionut (Dani’s dad) grew up. The first time I visited, this village had no paved road access, and we had to hike over the hill to get there; there is no cell reception and I won’t waste my breath about internet. Here, tucked in between hills of wildflowers, Dani’s grandmother still lives, caring for her country farm, the chickens she raises and the most lush, impressive vegetable patch. There are no traffic sounds, no car horns, or trains, no shouts or alarms. Here, there is just the buzzing of insects and the breeze of the mountain.

Dani’s grandmother, Maicuta (which roughly translated means “sweet little mother”) awaited for our visit with boiled corn cob, sheep’s cheese fried pastries (placinte cu branza) and Ionut’s favorite childhood chicken stew (that Dani was mortified to hear was made from one of the chickens out front and not the freezer section at the local grocery store). Despite several attempts towards vegetarianism in the last few years, Dani did in fact taste the stew and eventually had to concede, it was in fact, incredible.

Here is a tiny glimpse into our time there and all the things that tugged at my heart and demanded to be remembered. May you fall in love with these places, just as we did.

If you want to see videos from my travels and various cities we visited, you can also follow me along on my tiktok account. This video in particular is exactly the moment we enjoyed the chicken stew I was mentioning earlier! 🙂

XOXO,

Irina

Irina is an award winning portrait and wedding photographer based out of Vancouver, WA. She is an avid reader and a lover of traveling, gelato and pasta. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her friends and hilarious loud Romanian family. To learn more about Irina or to schedule a photoshoot, feel free to click here.