The monastery archipelago of the old Romanian
principality Moldavia is one of the most unique cultural landscapes
in Europe. Nowhere else – besides the monasteries of Mount Athos –
Byzantine art, architecture and liturgy is preserved in such a
variety and beauty. As part of the Unesco World Heritage they are
famous and unique by its architecture and outside mural paintings.
Its pictorial texts combine Byzantine forms and Western book
miniature painting with Romanian folk tradition. Its architecture
and paintings would be unthinkable and impossible without the
beautiful landscape of the “Sweet Land of the Bukovina”. You will
have the opportunity to attend the Holy Liturgies and festivities of
the orthodox calendar.
ZZ-HKRM01
Rates
include
7 nights in carefully selected
accommodations (all with private facilities), 6 three-course evening
meals. Good description of monasteries, route description, maps (
1:50 000), telephone hotline, transfers in the Bukowina, luggage
transfer during walks, train (Rapid or Intercity) Bucharest –
Suceava – Bucharest .
8 Days/ 7 Nights $ 995
Single +250
-- based on Euro 645 / 165
2008 DATES : Every Saturday from
May to September - with a minimum of 2 people
Airport:
Bucarest
Meeting: Bucarest
Accommodation:
(***Hotel/ pensions in Bucharest, Humor, Sucevita and Moldovita,
good
**hotel in Solca,
****hotel/pension in Voronet and new accommodation in Putna
monastery.
Not included: Entrance and
photo fees, taxi transfers in Bucharest, excursion to Moldovita (ca.
20 Euro per person)
Itinerary
Day 1: Transfer to hotel in Bucharest. Overnight in Bucharest
(***hotel)
Day 2: Short walk to train
station (3 min.). Pleasant train journey to Suceava.
Transfer to Putna monastery. You
will be welcomed by Father Dosoftei, who speaks English and you will
enjoy this beautiful monastery with its Arcadian setting, and above
all, the great hospitality of the monastery. Two nights in the
****guesthouse of the monastery.
Day 3: Round walk Putna
Visit the monastery, a foundation of Stefan the Great. It is the
most important spiritual center of Romanian Orthodoxy and played a
significant role in the Romanian history. Worthwhile visiting is the
museum with priceless artifacts and treasures. During a round walk,
you will visit Sihastria monastery and you will have a beautiful
birds’ eye view from one of the hills of the impressive Putna
monastery. 4 h (can be shortened to 3 h or 1 h)
Day 4: Putna - Sucevita
From Putna you take the old monastery path to Sucevita monastery. In
summer, the forest is full of berries and wild mushrooms. The
undercoat of emerald green on which the superb frescoes are painted
(1596) gave the monastery the name ‘a Poem in Green and Light’. The
iconostasis is supposed to be the most beautiful one in the country.
Sacherverell Sitwell wrote in 1938: “The first view of the painted
church of Sucevita is among the most impressive revelations of the
Byzantine world”. The little museum house the most precious
collection of medieval art in Moldovia. Including medieval
embroidered portraits and an epitaph with 1000 pearls. Two nights in
Sucevita. 5 h
Day 5: Moldovita and round
walk Sucevita
A car takes you over the Ciumirna pass with astounding panoramic
mountain views. Visit Moldovita monastery,
famous for its warmth and brilliance
of its frescoes. The blue undercoat for its tree of Jesse gave the
monastery the name ‘a parchment dipped in blue color’. Very
beautiful is the Ladder of Paradise, which has the ascetical mystic
of John Klimakos as a theme and the depiction of the ancient
philosophers. Maybe you meet Sister Tatiana (she speaks some
English) who will show you around. The little museum contains,
besides a priceless silver-cased Evangelistary presented by
Catherine the Great of Russia, valuable icons and miniatures. Back
in Sucevita you may have a round walk and enjoy the birds eye view
upon the impressive, fortified monastery. 2 ˝ h (or 1 ˝ h)
Day 6: Sucevita - Humor
Short transfer to Solca village, then
walk through pastoral scenery passing
friendly Polish villages founded during Austrian-Habsburg times to
Humor. You will meet horse wagons loaded with hay. People are still
working with sickles and scythes on the fields. The 16th
C Humor monastery, which exudes friendliness and tranquil charm, is
painted in warm blues, greens and reddish browns (from oriental
madder pigment). Two nights in a very pleasant ***guesthouse
(English speaking) in Humor. 4 ˝ h (or 3 ˝ h)
Day 7: Humor – Voronet - Humor
Visit Voronet monastery. “Voronet-Blue” is the key word. Its superb
frescoes gave it the name ‘the Sistine Chapel of the East’.
Architecturally it combines Gothic and Byzantine features. Petru
Comanescu still holds its truth: ”…here in the clear mellow light of
those parts of the walls of the church seem to have stolen the
sparking blue of the sky, the green of the trees and the pastures,
the gold of the sun and the red of the flowers growing in the
peasants gardens”. Walk up to the Objina with good views over a
valley and villages scattered around till you reach Humor. 4 ˝ h
Day 8: Transfer to
Suceava. Early train to Bucharest and departure.
see
