Each county of Romania is unique through its local history and legends, as well as through the traditions preserved from long ago.

We invite you to visit all the counties included in Attractive Romania, and for the experience to be complete, we present the stories and customs of each area, so that your trip is unforgettable!

Next, we stop in Vrancea County. Here you will meet 4 objectives included on the route of wooden churches, of the villages with authentic architecture, but also on the one dedicated to traditional gastronomy.

Archaic Vrancea, the one in the mountains, has kept unaltered the traditions and customs it inherited from its ancestors, but also the occupations that folk craftsmen, who have become "living human treasures", carry on. One such tradition is that of making the curd puppeteer, a necessary tool for smoking curd. The curd puppet is carved from sycamore maple wood, chosen for its strength and unique qualities.

Interesting is the use of the curd puppeteer in the girls' courting (the official proposal in traditional marriages). During the period of Sântilia, more precisely the celebration of St. Elijah on July 20, the young shepherds chose their future wives after descending from the mountains to the Valley of the Fairies. If the parents agreed on the dowry, among the wedding gifts brought by the boys were the curd dolls, made with the help of a craftsman, these representing a deep commitment between families.

Vrancea Land - The Land of Cheese Puppeteers »

Focșani, the county seat of Vrancea, is a city full of curiosities. Considered to be the city of the Unification of the Romanian Principalities of 1859, Focșani was proposed, at one point, to become the capital of Romania. Even if this was not accomplished, the first common institutions of the young Romanian state had their headquarters here.

The city of Focșani was for many years a border city, composed of two localities: Focșanii Moldoveni and Focșanii Munteni. The biggest curiosity is the fact that the entire old town is located on a complex network of tunnels, used by merchants to smuggle. But did you know that the revolutionaries of 1848 also used them to transport weapons from one country to another and to flee from the power of Voda Sturdza and the Russian troops?

However, the most interesting curiosity about Focșani remains its very foundation as a border town and has to do with Stephen the Great. Although the legends of the sons of Vrâncioaia and Stephen the Great are very well known by all Romanians, the historical reality reminds us of another fact. We know that the interests of the Romanian Principalities have not always been the same and there have often been conflicts, including military conflicts, between various voivodes. Stephen himself found himself several times in conflict with the Wallachians, and as a result of such a conflict, the great Moldavian voivode moved the border between the two countries from the Putna River to the Milcov River. This fact made the city of Focșani appear on the Milcov ford.


We propose you to discover more details about the secrets of the curd puppeteers, but also the traditional households and wooden churches in Vrancea County, by exploring the Attractive Romania platform.