Continental Arcasul Suceava

... frescos. Each is surrounded by a fortification and flowers growing around its courtyard. In our last monastery, the nuns are beginning mass. They are chanting. It is only us as observers in the tiny interior. Pretty amazing.

Since the nuns get out rarely and transport costs are very high relative to local salaries, Monica turns out to be the transport provider for many of them as they send goods to/from their ...

... only other person at the hostel is a 60 year old Korean housewife, not what I had expected in a remote area of Romania. Suceava has virtually nothing in historical or cultural stuff to see and no nightlife. The reason to come here is as a launching pad for the painted monasteries.

We find an excellent restaurant just down the street from the hostel. In all, I would say that Romania has actually been the most consistently good food of any country so far. Another surprise.

... de Uniunea Europeană la :


- siguranta la seism (rezistenta statică si stabilitatea dinamică).


- siguranta la foc (minim F30 dar se ajunge si la F90).


- ambientul ecologic de viată.


- rezistenta termică si implicit emanatii reduse de CO2.



Case Lemn


Case de Lemn Suceava: Am sa vorbesc in continuare ...

... and where cows and horse-drawn carts are a very common cause of traffic jams on the road. Many of the young men of the region have gone to work in Western Europe and they send money back home which is used to built these new houses, but the old traditional culture is still very much alive in these parts. One wonders though what will happen to this culture when all the young men come back...

... with Voronet, then Humor, then Sucevita, before driving to Suceava for the night. The monasteries are Romanian Orthodox and the outside of all of them are completely covered with religious paintings. They were built in the 15th and 16th centuries and the paintings serve to tell the religious stories to the peasants who might not have been able to read. They're pretty amazing although the devil is portrayed as a woman at Humor - I'll let you make ...

... day, or a significant biblical event. Each of the scenes tended to identify the important person. It would help to read Cyrillic, since Romania didn't adopt Latin alphabet until more recently (mid to late 1800's I believe). At a specific place in each of the monasteries was a picture of the family of the person who had paid for the building/painting. The family was depicted presenting a an accurate miniature of the church to Jesus. I didn't see it in the monasteries I went ...

... All are high school and university students at the top schools in Romania. Very smart young people. Many are young ladies and they are so polite and very friendly. They all want to know if American girls are prettier that Romanian girls and they love to talk about trends and styles in America. Romanians are very European in style. No one here will wear shorts like we do. Westerners stand out here unless you were jeans, a shirt and nice shoes every day. All ...

... it seemed to get, and practically the entire center had been reconstructed in the shocking poor taste of 1980s Romanian Communism. Seems like I wasted time on a pointless trip. Well, in fact, there is a bit of the old city left. I poked around the center some more and managed to track down the uniquely picturesque town hall. Sure, it was bracketed by scaffolding and surrounded by horrendous public buildings from the 70s and 80s, but it still looked pretty nice. Not far away from ...

... The historic St. Dimitru's Church and UNESCO-listed St. John's Church are particularly impressive, the former of which having been expertly restored on the inside. St. John's itself is one of Moldavia's famed painted monasteries, but its frescoes have been almost completely deteriorated by pollution, the elements and other effects of time. Even still, it's a striking structure, with a roof composed of colorful tiles arranged in an attractive design. The one ...

... area of Romania is very traditional with lots of horse & carts, haystacks in the fields and wandering cows on the roads. All the locals wear traditional dress and its like being transported back to Medeival times every other person is carrying a pitchfork or a huge scythe (a la the grim reaper!) The people seem to have very little money and thats probably because they spend it all on their churches and monasteries which are ...