Romania (Suceava, Brasov, Bran & Sinaia)

Originally, this trip in the week I was in Europe before I head onto the grand Tran-Siberian adventure was scheduled to help a friend/colleague, Tracy, drive a car back from Romania to Rome.  Italian bureaucracy being what it is, it is easier to buy a car in Romania and simply keep it registered there.  However, as luck would have it, Tracy was offered a car to buy here in Italy and she took it!  But, we still had plane tickets to Bucharest, so we decided to make a trip of it.  So.....off to Romania.  Now, I've always had a fascination with Eastern Europe and I've always wanted to see it, so here was my chance.

Tracy and I decided to spend as little time in the Bucharest metro area as possible, so we immediately got on the roads to drive up into the northern part of the country.  She claimed the roads were tough to drive, she wasn't kidding.  The conditions weren't great, but having to deal with horse drawn carriages in the road...that was new.

Look up Suceava County in Romania.  See how close we were to the Ukraine and the country of Moldova?  One of the highlights of Romania is these series of painted churches inside monasteries, such as this one in Humor.

These were from the late 1400's......just as the Renaissance was coming to Italy.  These "Byzantine" looking paintings seem to be a bit "behind".

The monastery at Voronet

I learned my lesson....from this moment forward, it was pants!!!

Here's a look at the monastery complex at Sucevita.  Most monasteries were fortified with a wall, had towers and inside had residences for the monks as well as the painted church itself.  These as well as hundreds of other Romanian Orthodox monasteries are still active.

Sucevita

Sucevita with the monks residences in the background.

Here inside, you can see that the insides are painted as well.

The mountains of Northern Romania

The monastery at Moldovita

Suceava up in the north of Romania was one of many towns that were described in the Lonely Planet as "this town is dominated by the industry and factories and totally without touristic value" but Brasov, in the center of the country was a breath of fresh air.

It has a wonderful piazza that was full of life.

Brasov is about 20km from, Bran Castle, also known as Dracula's Castle.

Here I am at the entrance.

Bran Castle was actually very little about Dracula, but more about the life of the Romanian's beloved Queen Marie

 

These breads....I loved.

Just down the road, we took a cable car (at a ski area) to get up in the mountain air and sit in the sun and take in the view.

This is the dog I want!

Another monastery!

One highlight of the trip was visiting with Tracy's former colleague at her summer home in Moreni.

Corinna grew up in the Communist era and it was a treat to hear her perspective on that life that she had before 1989 and the killing of Ceausescu.  She didn't question that life didn't have much choice.  Growing up in Bucharest, her family simply lived on what was rationed.  She went to school, became and engineer and was guaranteed a job upon graduation.  It didn't cross her mind that life was any different.

Here are her boys with Tracy in the treehouse they built on their property.