Traian Iasi

I finally got on the road from Lviv on my Istanbul trek. I took a bus from lviv to Chisinau, Moldolva, which has the breakaway communist province of Transnistria. Against all advice, I booked a bus that went thru this region, although I certainly didn't know it at the time. Communicating with anyone in Ukraine is almost impossible (outside of the hostel workers and guests), and was certainly beyond my ...

We arrange for Monica to give us a tour of the painted monasteries. She is trained as a tour guide. Public transportation to these remote sites is very limited and would take several days to see the top 4. We take a beautiful route through the hills. The monasteries are surrounded by farms. We visit Voronet, Moldovita, Suceavita, Humur. They were built around 1500 with their exterior walls decorated in extensive and ...

... me with the info on the one bus and calls to confirm that it will be running. Until this point, I was not even sure that it was possible (without backtracking way South to get around the mountains). Valerie, the only other person at the hostel, is on the same bus. The bus is an experience. It is a 7 hour trip and apparently such luxuries as shock absorbers are skipped. The music is awful, a mix of 50% Romanian folk, 30% urban, 20% euro-pop. The ride itself is beautiful. The ...

... Anyway, there’s nothing around the bus station- which IS a real bus station at least, not just a vacant parking lot, complete with onward transport to Moldova- so I finally grab a taxi to go find my hotel. It seems like a long way at first, but not so bad really. The taxi drivers here actually use their meters at least, unlike Bucharest, so that’s a relief. He’s so happy when I tell him to keep the change on a ...

It was time to leave Sighet and considering I had plans to cover quite a bit of ground, I headed out early on Sept. 15. As I mentioned before, Sighet is in the northern most reaches of Romania and my plan was to go to Iasi in the eastern part of the country and then continue on to Moldova. Northern Romania doesn't seem to be on any main rail lines and unless you're headed south towards Transylvania or Bucharest, travelling to other parts of the country means taking local trains ...

Iasi is one of the larger cities of Romania. We got here on the heels of an adventurous car road trip of about 400km, which took about 8 hours to do, due to the vagaries of driving on Romanian roads. It is prettier than Bucharest and has a certain provincial charm, though it does not feel at all like a small city. Tavi's godparents live here and it was a pleasure to visit them, as ...

... in frescos in the late 1500's (mainly). Last night walked out to an Italian/Romanian restaurant called "Latino". Now, from my Miami perspective, Latino is name of south or central American restaurant. Here, however, common word in an Italian one. Cold, cold walk. I asked at the hostel for closest restaurant. I just kept thinking "hot soup" on the walk over. I soon realized that maybe I should spend a little more time reading my Romanian language ...

... sheeting. St. Sava's is so tightly wrapped up that you can't even get on the grounds to view it (I wasn't even able to get a picture of it). Even Iasi's public buildings haven't escaped unscathed - the main train station, National Theater and former main post office are all in various states of repair work. So while I've had pretty nice weather and enjoyed taking in the city's fascinating historical vestiges, I can't say I chose the best time to visit. The one ...

... late in Iasi at 11pm after going through beautiful valley although it was dark. Cycled to recommended cheap hotel but it had been updated so not cheap. Went for a cycle round and spotted a hotel sign, went in and still a bit expensive so receptionist said there was a hostel round corner so went there. Put bike in lobby and went to late Italian restaurant, slightly smelly, for a couple of beers and spag bol and then to bed. Friday 20 July Had ...

... Provinz Moldawien, gesprochen: "Jasch") tatsaechlich auf Schienen, dann mit einem privaten Auto, so dass sie 7 Stunden zu frueh da war. Die Zeit hat sie sich auf frazorumaedeutsch mit einem netten Moldauer vertrieben - und sie hat fuer AVI einen riesigen antiken Monsterscanner mitgeschleppt, den ganzen Weg! Sofort im Camp erinnert mich Jessica an die kleine Claudi aus Dresden, die ich mein Leben lang platonisch lieben werde. Die - trotz Schweizerdeutsch - gleiche Art zu ...