Goodbye Romania !

Our last full day in Romainia and what a day of contrasts! From last nights wild camp in a farmers field (with his kind permission) we headed into the nearby town of Botiza where, as it was Sunday everybody was heading to church in tradition costumes, and virtually all were very happy to photographed. Unfortunately the road we wanted turned out to be unsurfaced so we did a quick about turn for the road we had arrived on yesterday.  The road on which we were now riding appeared on the map to be quite a minor one, but it was incredibly built up all the way along it, with both new build and renovation projects. Other than the odd traditional old house and wooden church it was pretty awful. Yet again I was left wondering where all the money was coming from as there didn’t appear to be much in the way of industry in the area; EU?

Then we found Barsana Monastery, oh my god!, what a fabulous place, being Sunday of course helped as a service was in progress as we arrived, but the setting, the place, the incredible workmanship, all combined to make this one emotional visit. Lots of Romanians in traditional costumes, the open air service in the autumn sunshine, and the general ambiance of he place, it’s something I’ll always remember. Out of all the monasteries and churches we have seen in Romania, this one sure take the biscuit! Strangely, it hardly seems to feature in the guide books and yet Voronet and Sucevita can’y hold a candle to it. Perhaps it was the service which inspite of the language was just so emotional. As a confirmed heathen, I must confess to shedding a few tears.

Barsana Monatery

It was time to move on, heading loosely for the Hungarian border we continued westward through Sighetu Marmatiei, where we stopped for a coffee and WiFi, and on, very close to the Ukrainian border, over another mountain towards Camarzaine, and what a strange ride it was! As we dropped from the mountain to Huta-Certeze the building development became quite surreal. It was as though we had entered millionaires row, or the last hand out of Romanian mafia… take your pick, but the houses became ever more outlandish till we spotted this!

The new development of huge houses continued right along the road which our maps showed as a dead end, and we were starting to despair of ever finding a bit of rural, open space on which to camp, when at last the houses stopped and we were able to pull off along a track into a field. Hidden from the road by a dense thickets of trees we were happy, against the odds we had found a suitable place to camp once more. Tents were soon erected and dinner of Salad and fried sprats with Taz’s special dressing prepared and eaten. All in all a most interesting and emotional last full day in Romania!

Barsana Monastery