The Romanian little house of Vreugde

Writer and photographer: Heléne Katzman

It is said that “at home is where the heart is”. It may sound a bit like a cliché, but that’s true. Some people may never find one place to call home, not because they don’t try it, but simply because there are different types of beauty and magic in many places. Each of these can have a special place in our hearts.

For others, the place where they are born is the same as they live throughout their lives. The same place that will also be their last. But then there are people who are somewhere in between. Like Mariana.

A happy and exuberant teacher from Bucharest

The lucky and exuberant teacher from Bucharest loves traveling. Sometimes she even brought her dear mother Ioana, even known as Bounica (Grandma), on her international adventures. But her heart is and has always been, in her home country – Romania – where the roots go deep.

A comment in a Facebook group …

In 2024 I went through Europe between festivals. With some time to save and plan to forge, I wrote a message that the Facebook group organized a sister in the hope of a cultural exchange in Macedonia, Hungary, Greece, Albania or Romania. What didn’t matter.

Mariana was the first, and I think the only one who answered. After a few messages I stopped the night from Budapest, via Bulgaria to Romania. Although I rolled late at night, Mariana was waiting for me in the dark at Bucharest’s Bus Terminal. I didn’t know then. But it was the start of a new and fantastic friendship.

“The Little House of Joy”

After a few days in the family house in Bucharest, she shares with her mother, husband and their two children, I made my debut in the countryside. After a four -hour drive through lush landscapes framed by far -mounted, we arrived; I, Mariana and her girlfriends to the village of Cerniåoara and her harveststone – Cafsuţa Vesel. Romanian for “The Little House of Joy”. It wasn’t long to understand why Mariana calls her “happy place”.

Of course her husband, the geographical teacher Dragoș, who waited there, was a good reason to rejoice. But he wasn’t the only one. During the week that followed, I found daily small handicrafts of art and homemade board games that Mariana carefully painted. Her dedication to the house and the garden could not be denied.

I also could not stop wondering about the generosity and hospitality they showed me and all their guests during the long weekend that we were there. Even with a day and night with a full house, guests who slept in her and Dragoč bed – who, by the way, slept in the outdoor kitchen to make room for us – never stopped smiling.

The grill went continuously for several days and Dragoș culinary and back and cooking skills were put on test time and time again. It was served in abundance meat, bread, polenta, cheese. One day I ate three times. The Romanian hospitality is almost crazy.

And in the middle of everything is Mariana. Always happy, ready to share recipes and tell us about their travels or ask about mine, while I touch the gigantic pot with tomatoes or when we pick flowers in the meadow.

Time to smear again

Now, a year later that fate, we meet again. And just like the warm -hearted person I met last summer, Mariana opens her arms and at home again. No questions asked. It is her being.

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The same love and care that she shows her guests, if not even, she gives her summer house. Cicipţa Veselò is Mariana. The joy house of her heart. Since they bought it from a local family in 2021, it was empty for six years. But with passion and dedication, Mariana has slowly gave life life again. Maybe more than ever before. Her paintings of flowers in bright and lively colors require your attention and are everywhere – on and through the entire house. Nothing escapes her brush stroke.

– Painting makes me happy. It gives me a feeling of peace and I always feel good if I have been able to make something beautiful of something that has never been before, she says.

Now guests are welcome!

The cute small orange house with flowers on the walls, the garden with tomatoes, apricot trees and small yellow and black downy ducks and chickens that walk around freely – everything contributes to the picturesque and unique charm of Cassuţa Veselai.

On a star night you see the moon standing up from the silhouettes of the corn fields. Its beauty cannot be denied. And with a bit of luck, more people will be able to enjoy the peace in Cirona Veselema, while Mariana and Dragoș are building two new guests.

– Each house is 16 square meters and is fully equipped with double bed, shower and fridge. I can hardly wait until the construction workers are ready so that I can paint them!

Mariana’s goal is to start a Bed and Breakfast where she invites tourists to travel through or to Cernișoara, and to give them a real experience of Romanian country life. Something authentic. Something you can’t find in travel magazines. That is why she plans to offer painting workshops, day trips to a local sheep farm where you can milk sheep and make cheese. And if I know Mariana well, this is far from everything she will offer her guests.

If you want to lose yourself in nature in a place where time stands still – a visit during the hot summer evenings in Cicult’s Veselã is the perfect choice. And who knows? It can also be your “happy place”.

– I have placed all my heart and soul in this house. It is my love and my passion. It makes me happy. I feel an inner calm when I come here. To share my world with people from other countries – that would do everything for me, Mariana laughs.

Heléne is a globetrotter, backpacker, freelance journalist and writer. Since the student of the Hotel and Restaurant School has been moved abroad to Ireland and the Czech Republic with backpack and volunteer trips with everything, from pums in the Amazon jungle to dog stalls in India and Horse Farm in Italy. The challenge is to catch up with all the exciting world. Whether she shakes Piña Coladas in a bar in Brazil, struggling with tents on Cambodian islands, or dances in the sunrise at the Portuguese festival, she always finds hidden beads and the personal stories of local residents.