In order to get to Ursici, you have to travel on an unpaved, long and tedious road. The most difficult thing is to keep your attention on the road, because the landscape is stealing your gaze all the time. At some point you leave the forest and reach a hilltop from where you can see the entire village. A village scattered over several hills with large distances between the dwellings. Once there, I could not help wondering how Ursici looked like in the past, when all its dozens of houses were inhabited, the roads and the land wandered by villagers and their animals. There are only 14 houses inhabited nowadays. Therefore the wild animals feel at home in this area. I have seen foxes and deer and I have listened to recent stories about wolves coming to sheepfold and bears that have killed pigs near households. All the people I have met were glad to welcome us in their homes and talk to us. I have eaten a lot, as they say in this area: “If you really want to welcome a man in your home, you do not serve him only coffee. Invite him to eat, because you do not know where he comes from or how hungry he is.” 🙂
