A Virgin No More
Trip Start
Jan 08, 2005
1
23
135
Trip End
Ongoing
Bukovina,
Romania
Monday, July 25, 2005
Another granny nabbed us at the station in Gura so we stayed at her place. We had a huge room with a view of the mountains. There was a book that other travellers had written in giving lots of information about the monasteries that the rabid japanese/english man had been getting so excited about. It was too late to start that day so we explored Gura - in about half an hour. The churches were nice.
Voronet
Next morning we set off for the 6km walk to Voronet the first of the 4 monasteries we wanted to visit. About 15 mins down the country road a car stopped and an old man waved us over. He drove us all the way to the monastery! What a bonus! We offered him some cash but he refused. Inside the massive wooden gates the manicured gardens looked lovely against the mountain setting of the painted chapel. Neatly dressed nuns were still there and looked after everything. Apparently the vibrant blue paint used is unique to the area and is known worldwide as Voronet blue. Three of the four exterior walls of the chapel were covered with frescos. The 4th had been badly damaged by weather over the centuries. The church was built in about 1470 but the frescos date back to about 1547. I had to refer to the Lonely Planet for explanations of the scenes as my biblical knowledge is extremely limited! We were able to pick out the Last Judgement, St Peter & Moses in the Predjudices of Time, the Resurrection and lots more. The inside is completely covered with frescos too and was being restored. There were lots of pictures of people getting the their heads chopped off and other bits and pieces. Not so sure what that was all about but it looked great!! We found the picture of Stefan the Great offering the church to Christ so I felt I had achieved something. Amazing to think that all these frescos are still here from the 1500's. The houses in the village were really pretty too. Nobody picked us up on the hot walk back to town. What little traffic there was (horses an carts), was going the other way.
Humor
We had about another 8km to the next monastery at a place called Humor. The countryside was lovely. Good thing too because no one picked us up. A horse and cart walked next to us for ages but the fat guy didn't offer us a lift. He just sat on his cart being fat. No wonder we overtook them! We made it and again there were nuns tending everything. They all have little shops too where you can buy your candles, pictures of various saints, or Jesus, rosaries, pendants in the shape of crosses or whatever religious item tickles your fancy. As at Voronet, three of the exterior walls had survived and the inside was completely covered with frescos from the same period. The original tomb of Toader Bubuiog is inside who ordered the church to be built and we found the picture of him offering it to Christ. There was a tower to climb too with beautiful views. The stairs were so small that David scraped his shoulders climbing up and down them! We shared a cab back with an older American couple that we had met. It was really expensive, all of 0.70 cents!!!
Moldovita
Next day we got an early train to Vatra Moldovita. The monastery was really close to the station this time. It was inside huge fortifications and once again run by nuns. It was bigger than the two we'd seen yesterday and the external frescos were not so well preserved. But it was still fantastic. The internal frescos had not been restored so it was alot darker and more difficult to identify the pictures. But we still managed to find the picture of Prince Petru Rares, Moldovita's founder, offering the church to Christ. There was also a very small museum with the Prince's original throne. Oh, and the gardens were pretty.
Sucevita
Getting to the next monastery at Sucevita was going to be a bit more of a challenge. It was 38km away. The notes at the house had said to hitch. I was a little hesitant but when the priest told me it was the best way to get there, I thought I'd give it a go. They say it doesn't hurt the first time anyway. We walked out to the main road and waited. About 10 minutes later we were on the way! My hitching virginity had been broken! It felt great! The drive took us through some beautiful, winding mountain roads. Dense pine forests everywhere. The guy took us right through the town and dropped us at the gates. The fortifications here were massive! Much bigger than at Moldovita. This was the biggest of the others we'd seen so far. The frescos were really detailed and covered all exterior walls. There was the very impressive Virtuous Ladder. They were the 30 steps from hell to heaven. One for each year of Christ's life. There was also the Tree of Jesse or something. It looked good, but I don't know what it meant. Also a painting of Mary dressed an a princess. She looked very pretty. We couldn't take pics inside but it was dark anyway. It was a really impressive building. I liked the pictures of all the devils and blood. Nothing like a bit of gore.
I was confident now that we would get a lift back no problem. So we started our hike back. It was bloody hot so we stopped and decided to wait in one spot for a ride. We were getting worried. We'd been waiting for ages and cars were just speeding past. Perhaps we just looked dodgy. Eventually a young guy pulled over. Turns out he has a guest house in Moldovita and had grown up in the area. He could speak a mix of German and English so we understood him. He told us there are still bears in the woods!! He dropped us at the train station and we bid him goodbye. We still had about 3 hours to wait for the train all the way back to Gura. David was sure we would get a lift faster so we marched out to the main road and stuck our hands out. First car pulled over and we were back in no time!!!!
The Bukovina area is really stunning and the monasteries like none I've seen so far. The rabid japanese/english weirdo had been right. But we were off to find Dracula next.
