Our last two weeks were spent in Romania and after a very early bus to Ruse, Bulgaria and a very long layover at the Ruse bus station, we arrived in Bucharest. After an evening wandering around Old Town and we caught the train the next day for Suceava in northern Romania. We spent three days touring Bucovina and Maramures - this was the only part of the trip that was a structured tour. Andre was our wonderful guide/driver and because we stayed at one of the tour company's apartments, he picked us up at the train station (getting from train or bus stations to hotels is not always easy so this was a real treat).
Bucovina is famous for its painted monasteries, each distinguished by a representative color. We visited four and they were incredible. The frescoes were painted to teach bible stories to the illiterate peasants and Andre was a wonderful guide - by the time we left, we could interpret the frescoes all by ourselves.
 |
| Sucevita Monastery - representative color is green |
 |
| Voronet Monastery - detail from the Last Judgement |
 |
Voronet Monastery - look carefully and you will see
a soul leaving the body. Representative color is blue. |
 |
Moldovita Monastery - look carefully and
you will see Moses receiving the Ten
Commandments. I am in the picture too.
Representative color is yellow. |
We had a wonderful two days in Maramures which is known for its wooden churches and according to Lonely Planet, this part of Romania is the home of the last peasant culture in Europe. We arrived towards the end of the peak fall color season and the scenery was amazing.
 |
| Making palinka (brandy) |
 |
| Wooden church |
 |
| Washing a rug in a river with a stick |
We also visited
 |
The Merry Cemetery - famous for colorful tombstones with
illustrated life stories of the deceased, Sapanta
|
 |
Home of Elie Wiesel, which has been
turned into a museum of
Jewish culture, Sighetu Marmatiei |
Things I Learned:
- This dessert is really good
 |
| Chestnut puree from Cafe Bulgakov, Cluj-Napoca |
- This dessert is really good
 |
| Papanasi- fried pastry with sweetened cheese and cherries |
- This is an idea for my tombstone
No comments:
Post a Comment