Count Kálnoky’s Estate, Miklósvár, Romania

On our trip to ROMANIA in August ’07, my wife, Margi, and I flew into Bucharest, were met at the airport and were driven to Count Kálnoky’s Estate (Miklósvár, Romania; phone 0040 742 202586, fax 0040 267 314088, www.transylvanian castle.com).

The Kálnoky family had owned a hunting manor and a residential manor and relied on two villages for food and workers but fled after the Communist takeover. Now some of the family has returned and begun to either repurchase or lease the lodge, the manor and some of the village properties.

The intent is to buy all food from the local farmers and engage some of the villagers as employees of the estate. They help in running the tourist operation and restoring and repairing the buildings. We do hope it works out, because this is a historical throwback set in a gentle, rolling pastoral landscape.

The count’s guest houses take only 20 guests, and during our visit they were a most interesting and congenial group — several world travelers and a few young couples exploring Romania. The guests all ate together at one long table in a wine cellar or, when it was warm, under a grape arbor. The meals were excellent.

Excursions were planned to the countryside every day. One day we were out looking for fossils but stumbled on an encampment of archaeologists doing a dig on a Dacian fort. Our guide got permission for us to observe the work — one of those serendipitous events we cherish. The professor in charge showed us an exquisite Roman dagger, scabbard and hook for the belt. The decorations could clearly be seen.

These small villages are much as they were in the late 19th century. In the morning we would hear the cows and horses going out into the fields, and in the evenings the cows, their bells jingling, would come back driven by a cowherd. As they ambled down the main street, they would stop at the various homes at which they were stabled and each would, with a moo, be let in.

We stayed for four nights and paid €1,075 ($1,695), including room and full board, guides and excursions, wine and round-trip transfer by private car from Bucharest to Miklósvár (about a 5-hour drive).

(2008 rates start at €145 [near $226] per person per night, including full board with wine, all tours and activities, entry fees and taxes. The transfer from the airport costs €70 per person, one way.)

The Kálnoky estate is a wonderful little pocket of comfort and charm to be visited soon!

DUSTY MILLER

Worcester, MA