Two months have already passed sine this post and I still feel everything so close like it has been yesterday.
I'm not speaking about the trip itself as this one has actually taken place one year ago. But about the fortress presented in that post which is just a couple minutes away from what I'll show you in today's post. Yet a great parallel between history and culture, two important things of Romania that more tourists visiting this country should know about.
In fact, I'd lie saying that I knew about the existence of any of the three: The Water Mill, The Whirlpool and Bologa Museum way before reaching the village, because we made our way all the way to Bologa for the fortress only. But as we don't really believe in coincidences, when we saw down the street the road signs mentioning all the three names, we already knew that we will have a stop there once we finish visiting the fotress.
Without any further introduction, as soon as we finished visiting Fortress of Bologa, we only made our way towards the opposite direction, which was following an unpaved path between locals' houses.
At first, we were a bit confused as the road seemed to end suddenly because of a large courier vehicle that didn't allow us to either drive further or see what was behind his car, but the luck came from a random person who was crossing the street in parallel with our car heard us speaking confused about our destination and asked the other man to move his car which presented in front of us a new path to follow.
Even if it sounds like a long path to chase, in reality this wouldn't take longer than 3 minutes of driving if you don't face any obstacles as we did.
And while the whole scenery doesn't seem too promising at first, you will know that you reached your destination when reaching a very beautiful house, freshly painted, with Romanian flags, some cats and an old lady waiting on the bench in front of the house for new people to meet and share stories with.
This old lady is, actually, the one who wanted to fight against modernism and keep alive the authenticity of the past, gathering lots of objects that belonged to the previous generations from her family, but which now are so important for a traditional museum to improve the knowledge of those who are still interested on the culture of Romania.
There is, also, her daughter who is helping her from time to time, but in most of the cases you will find this old lady which is amongst the most friendly persons I and my family met, along the hundreds of trips we had in Romania. So even if you are not really passionate about these things, I still consider it worth the visit just for the sake of meeting this lady who's passion and dedication can be felt through every single word that comes out of her mouth.
The door that was kept original despite the rest of the house facade comes with a poetry and a short, but meaningful message which can be translated into English as "Eternity was born in a village".
There is not really a plan that you should follow in order to see all three of The Water Mill, The Whirlpool and Bologa Museum because sooner or later the old lady will lead you to all three of them even if you can see the water mill and the whirlpool from the front of the house.
Muzeul de la Bologa (Bologa Museum)
However, the actual treasure rests within the house that now is recognized as the most valuable Museum of Bologa where time is your single enemy, as the old lady will find enough stories to share with every single one who crosses her house threshold.
Traditional fabrics, blankets, towels skillfully made on the old loom, famous albums, traditional tableware, original images, and hundreds of years old tools used in and around household, are just some of the things you will be able to observe once you are inside.
At first, things might seem like being way too many for such a tiny house, but somehow you will find every single item belonging perfectly to where it was placed by the old lady, without even being bothered by how many things will catch your attention at the same time.
Not even the two hundreds old traditional clothing known in Romania as ie won't seem too impressive anymore, in comparison to all the stories your ears will be blessed to hear without being needed to pay anything in return. Because yes, you can visit the museum free of charge.
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However, if you feel like offering something in return, just next to the door used to enter the 'museum' there are very few Fridge Magnets where one costs around 1 EUR. On the wall above these, there is a tiny mailbox that is not meant to gather too much attention, but which serves as a box where you can offer donations if you want.
Neither I or my family were ever fans of Fridge Magnets but we really wanted to offer something in return of the tens of stories we heard in a short amount of time while speaking with the old lady, so we donated a bit from what we had there. The funny thing came when the old lady came running after us when we were about to enter the car and leave, with many Fridge Magnets in her hands asking us to pick one or two in return to what we donated because she felt like it is not fair to just offer money and not buy something with them. So we picked one that is a lot more important than anything we return with from our trips along this life.
Moara de Apa (The Water Mill)
Still from the front of the museum, you will have this view which is towards the Water Mill and Whirlpool.
If you thought you already had your heart forever conquered by the museum, then keep in mind that this one was born only after figuring out that the water mill placed right next to it was already over 700 hundred old and it remained amongst the very few still working in this part of the country.
And if Romanians are known for lots of things (both good and bed), then keep in mind that they are also well known for building impressive businesses from the bare minimum, the whole project that includes The Water Mill, The Whirlpool and Bologa Museum being a very good example to that.
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Vâltoarea (The Whirlpool)
Last but not least interesting, there is the whirlpool which perhaps you have already spotted in the previous images. However, you can get a better view on it by entering the museum and using the back door that will take you on the improvised balcony which is above the water mill.
While I've seen water mills before, seeing a proper whirlpool was a first thing for me, being aware of these only from my grandparents' stories or old magazines. They were basically used as places where locals could gather to wash their clothes because the swirl created in the middle of the water was very powerful and close to what our washing machines are doing in the 21st century.
What our washing machines are not able to do though, is to clean large jackets, rugs or various clothing items made of wool, all of them not raising any challenge for the whirlpool.
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Moara de Apă, Vâltoarea and Muzeul de la Bologa are located all on the same address which is str. Principală nr. 167, Bologa 407471 and you can reach it by driving on the European Road E60 crossing through Huedin if you are coming from Cluj Napoca, or crossing through Borod if you are coming from Oradea.
The museum is free for visiting and it is open between 10 AM and 7 PM daily.
Other articles from my Romania Tour 2023:
- The Blue Lagoon of Cluj (Laguna Albastră)
- Ciucaș Waterfall... or beer? (Cascada Ciucaș)
- The Sequoia Tree from Romania
- Șapte culori ale Pământului (The 7 Colors of the Earth, Romania)
- The Gypsy Palaces of Huedin, Romania
- Lacul Tarzan (Tarzan Lake of Romania)
- Gresiile de pe Stânca Dracului (The Devil's Rock)
- Cetatea Trascăului (Trascău Fortress)
- Grădina Zmeilor (The Garden of Kites)
- Tarnița Lake and Tarnița Dam
- Piatra Corbilor (The Raven Stone)
- Mihai Vodă Monastery and His Graveyard
- Fortress of Bologa (Cetatea Bologa)
- Pădurea Hoia-Baciu (World's Most Haunted Forest)
- Cheile Tureniului (Tureni Gorges)
- The Water Mill, The Whirlpool and Bologa Museum (Moara de Apă, Vâltoarea, Muzeul de la Bologa)
more coming soon...
Gabriela Travels is the FOUNDER of "Festival Mania" who started this community from the passion of attending various festivals and with the purpose of encouraging more people to explore festivals all around the world and share their experiences. At the same time, Gabriela is an independent Graphic Design Freelancer since 2019 completing over 600+ orders in this time and collaborating with various businesses and people from all over the globe. Additionally, Gabriela has her own corner on the internet since 2017 where she writes various articles for her blog, the most popular being the travel ones (300+ articles written on this field), but also approaching other topics as well, like game reviews, lets plays, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 750+ blog posts. Gabriela is also a gamer since she was 11 years old and gaming remains one of her biggest passions along with traveling, owning a YouTube channel for each of the two.
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[//]:# ([//]:# (!worldmappin 46.87493 lat 22.88247 long Best place to learn more about the culture and traditions of Romania in a couple of minutes only d3scr))
