Iasi - our last day in Romania

Our last destination of these great Romanian holidays was Iasi - the most important political, economic and cultural center of the region of Moldova. It is also one of the oldest Romanian cities.

On the way to Iasi, it did not stop raining. The rain was really very strong and I was wondering, whether we would at all able to visit anything in Iasi... And indeed we could not as it kept on raining. We were then enjoying a moment of rest... The last days were super intense, so it wasn't that bad to just do nothing. We left the apartment only for dinner - we ate in the seafood restaurant.

The next morning the weather was not any better. We then continued relaxing. But when the sun finally appeared, we immediately left for the sightseeing. Our apartment was located just a few meters away from Iasi's main attraction - the Palace of Culture - so this was the place where we headed to.

The most remarkable building and a symbol of Iasi, was built between 1925 and its construction took 19 years. Today it hosts a Library and four museums.

 

 
We spent the entire afternoon and a bit of an evening next to the Palace. We were wandering around the building, but the sun was very strong, so we found a bar nearby, where under an umbrella, with drinks in our hands, we could admire the stunning Palace of Culture :) We did not want to visit anymore. We visited so many amazing sites in Romania that we only wanted to rest and get ready for tomorrow's big drive to Bucharest.

Painted monasteries of Bucovina

The way from Maramures to Bucovina was supposed to last a few hours and as a matter of fact we did not know where we were heading to. The plan was to get as possible to the area where the painted monasteries were located, but we did not really knew where it was. In addition, because of Nina, we could not drive in infinity. When it was becoming really late and Nina was becoming really tired, we booked some hotel, which was shown as "nearby". However when we got an exact address it turned out that we would need to drive back for 1,5h! It was just impossible, we booked then another place bearing in mind that maybe we would need to pay for both.

When we arrived to our new place - Casa Elvira - it was already very late. Luckily the lovely owner prepared a small dinner for us. The place was lovely, room was spacious and we had beautiful views when we woke up. We booked this place only for one night, however the reason behind was that we were already very late, we were tired, we did not really have a plan for the next days. But we made a plan in the morning and we concluded this guesthouse was in the middle of everything and we very much wanted to stay at least one more night in this beautiful setting. Unfortunately our room was already booked for the next night, but the owner found another - last one free. Smaller, but it did not matter. After we moved our luggage, we could finally start sightseeing.

Bucovina is famous worldwide for beautiful and unique in the world painted monasteries being also considered masterpieces of Byzantine art. Eight of them are on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The exterior walls of these Orthodox monasteries were decorated mostly around 15 and 16 century with frescoes depicting portraits of saints and scenes from the Bible. Through these frescoes the illiterate peasants could learn about God. Today thousands of pilgrims - mostly from Romania, as well as tourists from all over the world, come to visit this one of a kind monasteries.

 The first monastery we visited was Moldovita. It was first built in the 15th century and then rebuilt in the 16th. I was amazed from the first moment I saw it. It was totally extraordinary and breathtaking. It was incredible to believe that a few centuries ago, such distinctive and exquisite decorations were made. There were indeed several tourists visiting this place, many of them from outside Romania. The monasteries had beautiful paintings on its external walls, but also inside.

Next monastery on our list was Sucevita, which was founded at the end of the sixteenth century and which frescoes were painted by local artist at the beginning of the seventeenth. Surrounded by high, defensive walls, unfortunately for us some restorative works were ongoing and thus we couldn't fully admire the frescoes. It was a shame as this monastery has the largest number of painted images, among which the most famous - the Ladder to Paradise - a masterpiece of the Romanian medieval painting.

Another place we visited was Arbore Monastery. It was built in 1503 by a nobleman Luca Arbore, it was meant to be a family chapel. The paintings were completed forty years later and Luca Arbore never saw it, as he was killed in the meantime. Unlike other places it had no belfry towers, because it was not built by a prince. Also unlike other places it was completely empty at that time, but also the frescoes were much less visible.

 

On the way between monasteries we drive a lot through the Bucovina mountains admiring picturesque views.

We made a short stop over at the Humor Monastery. It was rather small, but with well kept frescoes.

The last place we headed to on that day was Voronet Monastery. Many consider it the most famous of all the painted monasteries. Some even call it "the Sistine Chapel of the Easte". It was constructed at the end of the 15th century by Stephen the Great to celebrate a victory over the Ottoman army. Although I spent the entire day admiring the monasteries and their frescoes, I have to admit this one was really special. The frescoes were in the great condition (probably also because it was renovated in 2011), colors were vivid, but the predominant color was blue, which even got a special name "Voronet blue". The most famous fresco is the Last Judgement, which by many is considered the most exquisite of all the Bucovina frescoes. Other frescoes depict Genesis scenes and the Tree of Jesus. As it was our last place to see on that, we did not rush home. We were admiring the frescoes in the light of setting sun.

 

We spent the evening in our guesthouse. It had great infrastructure for children. On that morning we also ordered a dinner for the evening.

In the morning we enjoyed a great view from our balcony. We loved Bucovina very much, we did not want to leave it. Beautiful views, spectacular monasteries and a great guesthouse in which we spent a very good time. In fact, we regretted we already booked a place in Iasi - we would have loved to stay one more day in this magical land, which Bucovina is. But since an apartment was already awaiting us in Iasi, we did not have much choice but leave.
 

On the way to Iasi, we visited last monasteries. In Suceava we visited Saint George's Churcg/Saint John the New Monastery. The exterior frescoes were not very well visible. Unfortunately majority of them lost their colors with time and rain. The Saint Geroge's Church hosts the relics of Saint John the New, brought to Moldavia at the beginning of the 15th century.

 

 

The very last place we were about to visit was Probota Monastery. It was the first monastery in Moldavia to have external frescoes painted. Upon arrival we noticed that this place was in a total renovation. The entire monastery was covered with scaffoldings. We could see zero of apparently beautiful paintings. But once we were here, we wanted at least to see the interiors. Once we were inside, it started to rain very badly. It was impossible to go out. We were trying then to have a conversation with a nun. She had to feel very lonely here. Not only the place was quite remote and rather far from all other monasteries, but I imagine not many tourist come here since the renovation was ongoing. After around 20 minutes, we could slowly head to the car, but before we still lighted a candle for a happiness.

 
 

Wooden churches of Maramures (and some more!)

I discovered Maramures while reading about most popular touristic attractions of Romania. I've never heard of this place before. It is famous of the wooden churches, which are on the UNESCO World Heritage Site. I thought that it would be not only a great stop-over on the way to Bucovina, but also a big attraction as such.

After trying to figure out where it would be best to stay for the night, I concluded that Baia Mare seemed to be quite in the middle of everything. On our way we booked a room in Camelia's Cozy Place. The place was indeed cosy and its owner recommended us a dinner place. She was even more helpful, as next morning she prepared for us the entire plan on what we were supposed to visit on the way to Bucovina. The list contained several wooden churches, a museum, a restaurant where we could have a lunch and a Merry Cemetery. Since it was already 11AM and the list was quite long, I had my doubts whether it would be feasible to see it all in one day, but Camelia was convinced that indeed it was possible. 

So we hit the road and headed towards the first wooden church in Surdesti. There are around 100 wooden churches in Maramures and 8 of them being on the UNESCO list. Surdesti was one of them. It was built in 1721 and it is typical Maramuresean church. With its 72 meters it is among the tallest wooden churches in Romania and actually in Europe. Camelia instructed us that if the church would be closed, there should be a phone number under which we could call and someone would open it for us. There was no such need, as luckily the church was open. When I entered it, I was totally amazed. I somehow imagined that it would be only interesting from the outside, but it was absolutely spectacular from the inside. Beautiful altar with golden-framed images of the Saints, beautiful paintings on the ceiling and traditional textiles of Maramures. It was absolutely exceptional place.

 

We then headed to the next place on our list - Budesti. While Surdesti was located a bit aside, Budesti was established in the center of the village and surrounded by a cemetery. To our big disappointment it was closed and there was no phone number to call. We could only admire it from the outside.

  

The time was running very quickly, so we did not want to loose it and headed to the next place - Barsana. On the way we admired typical local architecture - not only churches were wooden in this region, but also houses. We also stopped in Călinești as we saw the signs that there was another church to visit. The Călinești Susani church was built at the end of the eighteenth century. It was being renovated from the outside, however we could admire its amazing interiors.

After a short visit, we headed towards Barsana. Unfortunately - what I will find out only later - we missed the UNESCO World Heritage wooden church and instead we visited the Barsana Monastery. It was a complex of several wooden buildings including church, museum, nuns' houses - all of them established in beautiful settings. It was still very impressive, but contemporary... I don't know why we missed the main church, until today I don't know where exactly it was located. Somehow all the signs, as well as gps were leading us to this place....

As suggested by Camelia - we had a late lunch (or actually early dinner) in Casa Iurca de Calinesti in Sighetu Marmatiei. Food was great and typical Romanian.

 

We concluded it was not possible anymore to visit on that day. It was already a very later afternoon - we were tired and so was our daughter. We decided to look for a place to stay and rest. While searching on booking.com we found a very interesting Cabana Floare de Maramures. It was interesting, because it was different. Not a hotel, not really a guesthouse. Located in the middle of nowhere, at the border with Ukraine. It turned to be even more remote when we arrived there. Surrounded by woods with no phone reception. The owners were an old couple who did not speak any English. I was really wondering how come they managed to run their account on booking.com... The rooms were made of wood and decorated with textiles coming from Maramures. This place was really unique...

 

The next morning we continued the attractions from the list. We came back to the Sighetu Marmattei as there were two places to visit. The first one was much closer to our times - the Sighet Memorial, the former prison where the Romanians were being held and executed in the times of communism. Former elite - intellectuals, writers, politicians, priests, doctors etc. - were enemies of the communist system and thus had to be exterminated. Even though I come from a former communist country and I know that also in Poland many innocent people lost their lives and intellectuals were being often persecuted, it never reached such an incredible level as in Romania. The museum was telling the story of this sad period in Romanian history - I'm glad we visited it.

Next place was the open-air Village Museum of Maramures displaying wooden houses, wooden churches and in general all the wooden architecture of this region. We saw houses from different centuries and we could admire how much they were changing within times.

 

Last attraction from the list was the Merry Cemetery of Săpânţa. I learned of this place many years ago, when my brother was visiting Romania. It seemed so unique, that I did not want to miss it. Located just a few kilometers from Ukraine, it has its beginnings in 70s when the local artist decided to depict the lives of those who died in a bit unconventional way. Today, over 800 graves tell the life stories, dirty details and final moments oft those who died and whose cheery pictures can be found on wooden crosses. I guess it's more interesting for Romanians, who can understand what is written on the graves, however the place is highly interesting also for foreigners.

 

It was already afternoon when we left the Cemetery and started heading towards Bucovina. I seriously don't know how could we see all those places on the previous day! Luckily we were quite flexible, had time, so gladly we managed to see all attractions from our list. But it was just a glimpse of what Maramures can offer. Maybe I'll come back :)