Voronet: Painted Orthodox Monastery

After sleeping in a bit I got up to go see one of the painted monasteries in Voronet, but first I was hungry and I stopped to get some really good, inexpensive Romanian food. The hostel owner recommended a place nearby. The owner was an awesome guy, very nice, outgoing, and talkative. He suggested this Romanian Peasant Ciorba which was just a soup filled with goodness!


I also got this grilled pork with a mushroom sauce and a simple salad of cabbage. It all came with bread and mineral water, with a free refill, for all about 7 bucks. It was SO good and after feeding myself I was ready to go explore this monastery.


I noticed a local unique architecture style. These fancy tin gutters were all over the place in Northern Moldova and were unlike anything I have seen in the rest of Romania. Maybe some similarities with Gypsy buildings, but much less excessively ornate.


After taking a bus for an hour from Suceava to the small city of Gura Humorului (the mouth of the Humor [River]) a lady yelled at the bus driver to let me off at the turn off for the road up to the monastery of Voronet. Romanians are very helpful oftentimes, especially when they meet a lone American traveler who, shockingly, speaks Romanian. Romanians like getting involved in things oft times, which is a lot of fun...sometimes! :D


The walk up to Voronet from the main highway was about 5 kilometers. As I was walking I spotted some real life nomadic Gypsies. Using modern tents, and even a truck, these roaming Gypsies still live a semi-nomadic life on the outskirts of Romanian cities and villages.


As I past through the small village of Voronet on the way further up to the monastery I saw more and more examples of the local devotion to ornate roofs and gutters. These well covers were amazing examples of peasant culture.


I saw several of these roadside icons. It was interesting to see how much Christ and religion was still so evident in their society, even after 5 decades of Communism.


These houses were all very similar and had similar designs and decoration. Each on had a barn connected to it, wells, a small courtyard, and land behind it extending to the small river behind.


I finally got to the monastery. I was made to wear this tie on skirt thing to cover up my legs and shorts. Nuns ran the place, collecting the fees for entering and such. There was a bus load of Poles visiting too. It was a very interesting place.


Here on walls is the famous paint of this, and similar monasteries in the area. The blue color is called 'Voronet Blue' and is world famous for its unique properties and the fact that it has yet to be discovered how the Medieval builders succeeded in making this color.


So, after seeing the monastery I trekked back down to the main valley and towards the main highway.


I re-crossed a major river and I loved seeing this stereotypical scene of Romanian guys fishing. Romanians LOVE to fish and will do it ANYWHERE! I have seen people fishing in nasty ponds or even the Dambovita in the middle of Bucuresti that I would NEVER fish in, but they will do it. I think half of it is just getting away from the hustle and bustle and fishing, even if it isn't likely to be any fish or in some gross body of water.


I was walking and nearly trod on this lizard. Having just traveled with Peet I was keen on looking at lizards and such (he was trying to catch some in Croatia and Slovenia) so I stopped to get this picture and all the while it didn't move, but when I was bold enough to try to grab it, the lizard took off.


After getting back to the highway, I walked the extra bit into Gura Humorului to look for a bus back to Suceava. I saw this adorable young horse in someone's front yard on the main road.


I saw another, more ornate of these outside icon stops.

I found this VERY interesting. This was an old cemetery for the Russian dead from World War 2 who died fighting in Transylvania alongside their new allies, the Romanians, against the Hungarians and Germans. Romania had fought the Soviets for 3 years, but on August 1944 the Romanian 'Turning of the Arms' against their former Axis allies sent Romanian and Russians into Transylvania together. Along the way, impromptu cemeteries popped up that later became politically offensive to the locals. This cemetery looks like it has largely been emptied of its graves and the monument defaced. I don't know when, but even during the era of Romanian Communism, anti-Russian sentiments resurfaced, and after Romania's condemnation of the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 this, and other cemeteries, suffered from the political re-orientation.


After a good 4 hours of walking and seeing the monastery I found a bus stop in Gura Humorului and caught a bus back into Suceava for one more night before meeting back up with Mark and Brent and jumping over the border to the north into the Ukriane and the former Hapsburg city of Czernowitz.