Day #248 - Suceava, Romania

Humor, Romania (Moldova) - painted monastery

Detailed pictures

Relatively small buildings

Painted monasteries

Wednesday, November 17th

Last night I took the 11pm train out of Brasov, Romania - destination Suceava, Romania (on the northern border). It's really not that far - but travel is very slow in eastern Europe.

I actually got quite a bit of sleep on the train. No sleeper cars - but they had 3 seats together that I could put up the armrest and lay completely horizontal from head to toe. There were only 10 people or so on the whole train. I had a car to myself. I used my daybag with all my important stuff as a pillow. I tied a plastic bag from my duffel to my daybag. It would not have been easy to steal my gear without waking me.

I arrived into Suceava at 7:30am. I knew I wanted to take a bus across the border to Ukraine later in the day. Therefore, I found a city bus to transfer me to the central bus station to check times. Getting around was immensely difficult as few people spoke any English at all. The information I received was based on charades and single words only.

I found out the Ukraine bus left at 1pm. Kudos to my cousin Jonathon - as he laid out this route for me -- with safety and sites taken into consideration. (Note - anybody doing this journey - bus is the way to go over the border. Train takes much longer). I was left with about 5 hours to see some sites.

The northwest section of Romania is called Moldova - not to be confused with the actual country of Moldova, which is between Romania and the Ukraine. This is a very remote area. Pretty scenic - filled with forests and hills.

There is a number of small towns with monasteries that date back to the 15 & 16th centuries. Most of the monasteries are painted inside and out, top to bottom - with elaborate biblical scenes. These were said to have educated the illiterate faithful in the ways of Orthodox Christianity.

I went to the town of Humor and visited this monastery. Other towns with similar architecture include: Varonet, Sucevita, and Moldovita. I took a bus their and caught a "taxi" on the return. 'A little shaddy' -- that's the description of transportation in these parts.

The monastery was interesting. Very small. The paintings were detailed and well thought-out. It's amazing how these have withstood the test of time (some 500 years).

Back into Suceava, I took the 1pm bus to Chernivtsi, Ukraine. It was about a 3 hour journey (includes a 30 minute stop at the border). I had intentions a few days back to get to Kiev (capital of Ukraine) - but the travel times were just too lengthy to meet this goal. My cousin had mentioned the town of Chernivtsi - so I decided to stay here for a night.

On arrival, it was brutally difficult to get around. I did not have a hotel booked (bad move), but I had one written down that had spots open last night. I found a taxi to take me to the hotel. Rooms available - nice. I walked around the town a little - but just wasn't feeling it. Exhaustion was setting in.

About 7pm (no internet available) - I shut it down for the night. Lame - but it just wasn't meant to be. 11 hours later - I woke up with a chambermaid knocing at my door. (That was my wakeup call).

Strange day in Eastern Europe.