Dr. Mark Welford

 

     In addition, to running many bird trips with Ventures Birding, Mark has also run expeditions and university study abroad trips to Africa, South America and Europe. In 1986 Mark was a leader on a Duke of Edinburgh's Gold Award Expedition to Morocco that climbed Toubkal (13,671 ft). Following this successful trip, Mark participated as a leader, food and scientific officer for the British School's Exploring Society 5-week expedition to Northern Kenya that retraced the footsteps of Richard Leakey's 1969 expedition that first discovered fossils hominds at Koobi Fora on the shores of Lake Turkana. After completing a masters and Phd in geography here in the US, Mark returned to running trips and taught in a Study Abroad trips to London in 2003, 2004 and 2005. Thereafter, Mark directed and taught in Study Abroad trips to the Czech Republic (2006) which included trips to Poland and Austria, to Poland in 2008 which included a 3-day trip to L'viv, Ukraine, and in 2008 and 2011 led a Study Abroad with Dr. Robert Yarbrough to Ecuador. In addition to these trips, Mark ran a Georgia Southern University Travel with Scholars program to Romania in 2005 that is very similar to the trip advertized below.

 

     

- Dracula: the novel, the man, the myth -

August 3- 15 2012

 

 

Reservations and prepayment are required on all Ventures. Your place on this Venture will be reserved when your deposit of $300 has been received. Please make your check payable to VENTURES and send it to
Ventures

PO Box 1095

Skyland, NC 28776

or call the office on 828.253.4247

with your VISA or MasterCard #. 

Limited to 10 participants.

 

Ventures Travel with Scholars Description

 

Transylvania and Maramures, Romania. Thanks to Bram Stoker, Transylvania is famous throughout the world as the home of Dracula, but it is also a mountainous place where medieval hamlets, fortified churches, and Gothic castles are surrounded by immense forests where even today, wolves and bears still roam free. Transylvania, and Bran - the fictitious center of a thriving Dracula cult industry - is 2 hours north-west of Bucharest, the capital of modern Romania. Another 31/2 hours north of Sighisoara, the birthplace of Vlad Tepes "Dracula", is the district of Maramures. Here thickly forested mountains and rough roads maintain scores of villages in a state of almost medieval isolation - here the cult of the dead, central to Romanian culture, is particularly well developed, where the rituals to be observed after a death are fixed and elaborate; if anything is omitted, it is believed that the soul will return as a ghost or even a vampire.

We plan to explore Transylvania and Maramures and deconstruct the myths surrounding Dracula and examine the folklore that incorporate werewolves and vampires into traditional Christian concepts of death.

 

Leaders: Dr. Mark Welford and Dr. Robert Yarbrough

Cost of the Venture

 

$3199 per person from Bucharest, based on double occupancy (Single supplement $455) Price includes: All accommodations, van, all meals, service charges, entrance fees, information packet & reading-list, leader/guide service. Not included: Air travel to Bucharest, Romania, airport departure tax, gratuities, alcoholic beverages, laundry, and any other items of a personal nature.

 

Itinerary

Please plan to leave the US on August 2nd for your flight to Europe.

 

Day 1 (August 3) Bucharest-Bran
We will meet and greet all participants at Bucharest airport and transfer to Bran. At Bran we will have a dinner and overnight in Bran in a rural guesthouse.

 

Day 2 (August 4) Bran - Brasov - Rasnov - Bran
After an early breakfast we will visit the 13th century Bran Castle, also known as Dracula's Castle, even though he had never set foot there. After the Great Union of 1918, the castle was donated by Brasov Council to Queen Maria of Romania as a token gesture for her contribution to the Union. It was later turned into a beautiful summer residence for the Queen. Its irregular shape is due to the raw material it was built of: river rocks, wood, bricks. We will then drive to Brasov, the "Crown City" of Transylvania, named Kronstadt by the German colonists. Here we will visit the Black Church, the greatest Gothic church between Vienna and Istanbul. The name comes from the damage sustained in the Big Fire in the town (1689), when the flames and smoke blackened its walls but fortunately failed to destroy the grandeur of this noble edifice. It shelters a great collection of Oriental carpets donated by the Transylvanian and Wallachian merchants as a humble gesture of gratitude towards God. Moreover, its organ is built by C.A. Buchholz of Berlin in 1839 and is among the largest in south-eastern Europe, being considered to be the only Buchholz organ preserved in its original. After lunch at a restaurant in Brasov we will return to Bran via Rasnov stopping to visit the fortified peasant fortress. Dinner and overnight in Bran in a rural guesthouse.

 

Day 3 (August 5) Bran - Prejmer - Sighisoara
Following breakfast we depart to Sighisoara (see image above) with a stop in Prejmer to visit the 14th century peasant fortress, the biggest in Southeastern Europe. Lunch will be in Sighisoara. In the afternoon, we will discover the birth place of Prince Vlad Tepes (Dracula), a well preserved German medieval town which is still inhabited. We will explore the Clock Tower - the 1648 clock still keeps time; it shelters The History Museum with a rich collection of medical and pharmaceutical objects and instruments; a small Dracula exhibition; the Torture Room under the tower; and the Museum's with antique firearms collection. Dinner and overnight in Sighisoara in a newly refurbished German house.

 

Day 4 (August 6) Sighisoara - Biertan
We will spend the morning exploring Dracula's city - Sighisoara is considered to be the most beautiful and best preserved inhabited citadels in Europe - it is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. While in the afternoon we will explore Biertan. Biertan is one of the most important Saxon villages with a fortified church in Transylvania, having been on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1993. It was the see of the Lutheran Evangelical Bishop in Transylvania between 1572 and 1867.

 

Day 5 (August 7) Sighisoara - Tg Mures - Bistrita - Vatra Dornei - Vama
Today we depart for Bucovina while crossing the Borgo Pass, the mountain location that Bram Stocker chose for his novel. We will stop for lunch in the hotel's restaurant and then continue into the heart of Bucovina, via Tara Dornelor, known for its well preserved traditions and the natural richness of mineral waters. Dinner and overnight in Vama or Manastirea Humor in a rural guesthouse, close to Gura Humorului.

 

Day 6 (August 8) Bucovina tour: Vama - Voronet - Humor - Radauti - Putna - Sucevita - Vama.
Today we discover the world-renown painted monasteries. We'll visit Voronet Monastery, UNESCO Patrimony, the "Sistine Chapel of the East", highlighted by its unique blue colour. The scene of the Last Judgement, painted on the Western wall is very, very impressive! We'll continue onto Manastirea Humorului to visit the monastery renowned for its exterior frescoes. The composition "Siege of Constantinople" is a purposeful historical error, conveying the anti-Ottoman massage specific of the time. From there we'll drive to Radauti to have lunch at restaurant. In the afternoon, we'll drive to Marginea, a village famous for its black pottery and then onto Putna to visit the 15th century monastery, place of eternal rest for Steven the Great. From there onto the 16th century Sucevita monastery, founded by the Movila family, whose exterior painting are are considered "the testament of the old Moldavian art". Dinner and overnight in Vama or Manastirea Humor in a rural guesthouse.

 

Day 7 (August 9) Vama - Ciocanesti - Botiza
Today we'll drive to Maramures, across the Prislop Pass at an altitude of 1416m. We'll stop for lunch in Borsa, a mountain resort, attracting tourists both in winter for skiing and in summer due to its strong fresh mountain air. Afterwards, we will visit some wooden churches, typical of Maramures region, along Iza Valley: Dragomiresti, Bogdan Voda, Ieud.
Dinner and overnight in Botiza or Poienile Izei in a rural guesthouse.

 

Day 8 (August 10) Maramures tour: Botiza - Barsana - Calinesti - Budesti - Hoteni - Sighet (memorial) - Sapinta
Today we will tour the Maramures region. After an early breakfast, we'll go along Iza Valley up to Barsana and take in the new monastic complex erected on a beautiful hill. We will cross to Cosau Valley where we will visit Budesti church. And then onto the Mara Valley and go down to Sighet, visiting the beautiful villages of Hoteni, Harnicesti and Giulesti along the way. At about noon we will be in Sighet to have lunch and visit the Memorial Museum of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance. We will also stop by the house where Elie Wiesel was born. He wrote Night after his experiences in Auschwitz and Buchenwald during the Holocaust. In the afternoon, we'll depart for Sapanta to visit the Merry Cemetery, unique in the world, it displays painted crosses and a short funny poem above each tomb. Dinner with folk programme and ceterasi (local violin players) and overnight in Botiza or Poienile Izei in a rural guesthouse.

 

Day 9 (August 11) Botiza - Cluj
After breakfast we'll drive to Cluj. After a lunch at restaurant in Cluj we'll do a city tour in the afternoon visiting: the Gothic 14thC St.Michael Church, standing imposingly in the Unirii Square; Matias Rex Statue; the Pharmacy Museum located in Hintz's house, the first apoticary in Cluj; and the Orthodox Cathedral and the Reformed Church flanked by the statue of St. George killing the dragon. Dinner and overnight at hotel in Cluj.

 

Day 10 (August 12) Cluj - Sibiu
We'll depart early for Sibiu. Once at Sibiel we'll visit the Glass Painted Icons Museum, unique in Europe, where over 700 naive icons from different regions of Romania have been gathered. While in Sibiu we'll also take in the old centre (Evangelical Cathedral, where Dracula's son, Prince Mihnea the Bad was killed after a service in 1510) and visit the Liars' Bridge. In the afternoon, we'll visit the open-air ASTRA museum, offering an impressive collection of all rural techniques (wooden grape presses, wind and water mills) Dinner and overnight in Irinia's guesthouse in Tilisca.

 

Day 11 (August 13) Sibiu - Horezu - Arefu (Poienari) - Curtea de Arges
Again after an early breakfast we drive to Horezu down the spectacular Olt Valley. We'll visit the Horezu monastery and a potter's workshop. In Horezu, potters are still using traditional methods of pottery: mixing clay with their legs, turning a wooden potter's wheel by legs and decorating sophisticated models using a cow horn. We'll eat lunch in Ramnicu Valcea and in the afternoon, visit Poienari fortress (Arefu) - Vlad Impaler's fortress is in Poienari, about 6km off the Arefu village. You have to climb about 1490 stairs on a hill to access it, but it is worthwhile, as the landscape is amazing. Dinner and overnight in Curtea de Arges.

 

Day 12 (August 14) Curtea de Arges - Bucuresti
After breakfast we'll tour the monastery at Curtea de Arges and then drive onto Bucharest via Targoviste. We'll eat lunch in Targoviste and visit the Princely Court built in the 15th century during the reign of Mircea the Old and developed in size under Vlad Tepes. We'll visit the princely church, perfectly preserved until today, the Sunset Tower, the emblem of Targoviste, built under the reign of Vlad Tepes over the verandah of the chapel church. From here we'll continue onto Bucharest. If time permits, we'll do a short city tour in our coach and visit the Palace of the Parliament, the University Square, and the Arch of the Triumph. We'll do a farewell dinner at Bistro Ateneu. Overnight at hotel in the downtown.

 

Day 13 (August 15) Departure to the US

 

 

 

Mark is far right with students during

the 2008 Study Abroad to Ecuador.