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The zone of Zapodi is a twenty minute walk above the village of Breb. The Zapodi house is originally from Calanesti It has an old Oak part and a new 'extension' made of round pine beams, very north american log cabin style. We estimate the original oak part of the house to be over 100 years old. The man we bought it off when asked how old it was said his father grew up in it. "It's been there for ever" was his exact words ( in romanian). It will sleep six people comfortably and up to 10 at a squeeze but there will only be cutlery and plates etc for six. So if you have more people you'll need to let us know in advance. As you can see from the pictures below the cabana is not finished. We are hoping to finish it in the summer of 2011 or 2012 depending on which cabana we finish the restring of this summer. So it's not finished but it is water tight and so if you want to camp out in Zapodi when your staying in the Casa Mic, be our guests. We can get you some blankets and some wood for a fire and you can sleep out under the stars. It's completely private up here so you can get up to what ever you want and you will not be disturbed. The big difference in staying in Zapodi to compared to staying in one of the villas in the village, is you will be able to enjoy the mountain life and not have to leave thee mountain in the evening, sitting out under the stars around an open fire. It's like going to the beach for the day and then having to leave. Zapodi is like a beach hut and lets you enjoy the location all day and night.
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The pics above where taken on the day we started to take it down so the old roof was already off before we arrived.
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The interior of the house was exactly how it was the day the old woman who lived in it all her life died. The owners mother. I had the task of going in and clearing up all her personal belongings and so I put them all in a box neatly packed away with her identity card on the top. The spoon was still welded into the last meal she made on the stove. I felt bad taking all her stuff out but when the seller came in to the house to see what I had done the relief on his face made me feel I had done a good deed for the day. He was so relieved it was all done for him. He said something like " Finally I can let her rest and get on with my life" I'll never forget that moment. I realised then that it's very hard for people to go through someone's private things. Especially if your mothers. Her picture on the wall is now safely hanging where it should be, in her sons house and all her personal belongings are in a box in the loft.
So the pics above is how it looked like after it was cleaned up, The tables bed and seats are all in the Zapodi cabana. The seller told me he had nothing but happy memories of the house as he grew up in it but was happy for it to start a new life now his mothers had been dead for a few years. It's important for us to understand the houses we are renovating and to try and keep as much of the original feel about the place. We're getting there/
 Lego by numbers. Its the same with anything, once you know how to do something it's easy. It was the finding out how to do it was the hard part as no one wanted to tell us how to do it, they wanted to charge us 20,000 euro and do it for us or "fac eu" as "I do it" is said in Romanian. "20k to put a house up?" I think you can work out what the reply was " I do it"... in Romanian! And that's what we did, we built it with our bare hands along with the boys from the village.
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The view at Zapodi works both ways, so if your looking up the mountain or down you get a great 360 degree view of Maramures.
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The picture about is Penny's favorite spot in all of breb she say's. That's because Penny grew up on a farm in Hampshire that has a great view. When ever we have looked at buying a property in the last 21 years of being together her no.1 priority has always been the view. "If I can't see the sun set, the moon rise and the stars, I'm not interested" is her usual patter. That's why all our villas and cabanas have great views. As you can see from the pic to the left taken from inside the cabana looking out to what penny can see above.
In the summer you will see locals cutting their hay all by hand with a scythe and love guests to join in and get involved. There is always loads going on up in the Zapodi meadows as it is not far from the village. We have around 2.5 hectares of land with the Cabana but after sunset the whole mountain is yours.
Penny and me are dreamers, and we have a dream for this cabana we see it as a bit of a party house, loads of people all crammed in on the open futon style beds in the loft and sleeping out under the stars in the summer and cuddling up around the wood burning in the main room in the winter. It's going to be the good time cabana, well, it already is, it's just not finished yet. |
IN 2011 or 2012 depending on which cabana we decide to renovate first, we will finish Zapodi. It will have a well to the right of the house in the picture below. The water will be pumped into a water tank in the loft by bicycle power. The water in the shower will be heated by wood from our 20+ hectare of land we have in Breb insuring the the amount of wood burnt every year is re grown. Local labor is employed to cut the wood, like they have done for centuries. It's all part of keeping the local eco system alive and well. Everything on Zapodi will be done in the old, keeping the traditions alive and profitable. By booking to stay in the cabana you keep our forests maintained, the old way, you keep our organic gardner employed so he can provide you with vegetables and fruit grown in the village... I think you get the idea.
We have seen so many 'eco' projects around the world and the only bit that is eco about them is the marketing. We don't claim to be an eco retreat... but hell where working on it and will look forward to the day we can sell the tractor and replace it with a pair of horses to do the work instead. A lot of that is up to you, our guests. If you think what where doing is interesting and you'd like to be apart of helping it all along it's easy, go to the Transylvania Tours booking page and help us make it happen! Did i just use the word eco as part of my marketing... I did didn't I - sorry guilty. Seriously our goal is to be 100% self sufficient on everything we do and produce from the village, just like it was and still can be; if we show the locals the real value of what they have, and are throwing away.
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