In the mountain village of Măgura , Transilvania, Romania

  “Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” -- John Muir

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(in central Romania) Transylvania’s forested valleys and Gothic castles are forever embedded in the popular imagination. Even before arriving here, most visitors can picture this land of dark fairy-tales, where fog drapes like cobwebs over the Carpathian Mountains. Explore these stirring landscapes on hikes through Piatra Craiului National Park, or the Bucegi Mountains -- or see them frozen over at winter sports centers Poiana, Braşov, and Predeal. Rural Transylvania's tapestry of cultures in vibrant, secretive Roma communities, Székely Land hamlets where only Hungarian is spoken, and Saxon villages with crumbling citadels. Here, standstill traffic means horses and carts waiting patiently for herds of goats to scatter. And yes, Transylvania will still appeal to hosts of vampire tourists -- and enthral them with its jumble of edgy cities and villages that time forgot.

+ Featured here is Magura -- one of several mountain villages known as the Kalibash villages -- which is found in the at an altitude of 1,000 meters above sea level (on a plateau between the mountains Piatra Craiului and Bucegi) in the middle of Piatra Craiului National Park. The Kalibash once fled Walachia to this remote area which, at the time, was under Austro-Hungarian rule. (Here houses stretch along hilltops like pearls on a string.) Due to the secluded location of these villages they still preserve traditional rural life, as it can no longer be experienced in Western Europe. People live mostly on what their sheep produce, though everyone has a cow in the barn, and a few chickens scratching (and hatching) about the yard. Until 50 years ago Magura could only be reached by foot or horse-cart. Livestock breeding is the basis of the local income; in summer the domestic animals graze in the alpine meadows cared for by shepherds and dogs as protection against wolves and bears. The hay meadows in the village are scythed and there are still more horse-drawn carts than cars on the road. Vegetables and salads for the kitchen are grown in the gardens. Meat, milk, and eggs are exchanged among the village's farming families. The famous Dracula-Castle in Bran is just six kilometers (~4 miles) from here, and the distance to Brasov is about 25 km). The nearest town, with a bank, post office and shops, is some three kilometers away.