Suceava, Romania

When we arrived in Bucharest on Sunday evening, we decided to walk to a hotel. We spent 30 minutes wandering the streets, looking for accommodations. It was dark and cold, and we were surrounded by depressing communist style concrete apartment buildings and abandoned factories. Randi and I enjoy pretty cities, skyscrapers, pleasant architecture, or even quaint villages. From our small first glimpse of Bucharest, we weren’t all that impressed. Thus, we decided to hop on another night train and head north to Suceava. Back to the train station we went. After our glimpse of Bucharest, I was a bit dumbfounded by the lovely, colorful city landscape inside of the McDonalds at the train station. The city of Bucharest should take note.

Upon our early morning arrival in Suceava, we walked down the street and checked into the first hotel we saw. Eventually, in the early afternoon, we ventured outside and stumbled upon a hostel offering tours to the nearby UNESCO World Heritage Monasteries.  We spent the day visiting the Voronet, Humorului, & Moldovitei Monasteries. The lovely frescoes on the interior and exterior were painted in the 16^th century under the threat of Turkish invaders. They were most likely painted for aesthetics, as bible illustrations for illiterate congregation members, and in reaction to encroaching Protestantism. The frescoes were beautiful and well preserved. At the last monastery we visited, we enjoyed a guided tour led by a friendly, Orthodox nun. Randi and I enjoyed getting in touch with our spiritual sides and gaining an appreciation of 16^th century art.

 

On a side note, I would like to add that both Randi and I were surprised to discover that many of the local Romanians had Randi’s nose! Despite the locals lack of English, I’m convinced that we received such a warm welcome due to Randi’s nostrils.

~ Stacy