Discover Romania. Bukovina

We are continuing our adventure in Bukovina today. We’ve already told you about the famous monasteries and now we’ll continue with the other sights that we managed to visit on our short trip. We stayed in Manastirea Gura Humorului village and we had discovered a very nice place, Grandparents’ House, which unfortunately didn’t have available rooms. We still went there to eat and relax. We were welcomed by a pony, we took pictures in an old chalet, we relaxed in the hammocks hanging by the trees in the middle of the little forest and we tried the traditional food. We recommend going there, especially if you have kids.

On our way to Sucevita and Moldovita monasteries we stopped by Palma, The Road Workers Monument. It’s almost 7 meters high, representing a palm, the symbol for work and also strength, reaching towards the sky and around the hand is a road with a bridge at the end.

The egg museum in Vama, owned by Letitiei Orsivschi, decorative and textile art professor that gathered in 2 rooms over 3000 collectible eggs. You’ll find here eggs painted with different techniques from all aver the world, wooden eggs, ostrich eggs, rare eggs, very small ones, the story of each one of them being told by the owner herself in an audio guide. The painted eggs of Bukovina are also on display, some created by Mrs. Orsivschi and others being family heirlooms. At the end of your visit you can buy such creations and leave with a beautiful souvenir.

Mihai Eminescu, Romania’s national poet memorial house in Ipotesti village near Botosani. There’s a small church here and the graves of his parents and siblings. You can visit the house where he grew up in where a guide tells you stories about his life and shows you pieces of furniture, some of the being the original ones.

The Seat Fortress of Suceava or Suceava Citadel is a medieval castle that was part of the fortification system built in Moldavia in the late 14th century, because of the emergence of the Ottoman danger.  It was built at the end of 14th century by Petru II of Moldavia and then expanded and strengthened during the reign of Stephen the Great in 15th century. We arrived on the City’s Days and everything was very festive. The citadel itself is still in rehabilitation and you can only visit a part of it. Since there were events happening there, we saw knights, archery demonstrations, torture instruments, armors and all kind of things relevant to the medieval era. An interesting idea that can be used more often seeing that the people had fun trying the heavy armors and recreating battle scenes.

Ion Creanga, one of Romania’s famous writers memorial house and theme park in Humulesti village. The house where he was born and grew up is a museum, kept the same as it was 180 years ago. On the inside walls you’ll find stories about his life and also authentic objects from that era. Next to the memorial house is the theme park where you’ll find all the characters created by the writer and not only the kids will want to take pictures with them.

Our last stop was Neamt Citadel in Targu Neamt. It was built in 14th century by Petru I of Moldavia, fortified in 15th century by Stephen the Great and destroyed in 18th century. The citadel is rehabilitated and you can visit it, the entrance being on a suspended bridge offering a great view to the mountains and forests that surround it. You can visit the prison, the money room, the supply room and kitchen, the armory and in each one of these rooms you’ll find facts about the history of the citadel and interesting stories about it.

And since no vacation is memorable without an adventure, on our way back home, when it was getting dark and started to rain, one of our cars suddenly died. Our luck was that we were 8 km away from Targu Secuiesc in the heart of Transylvania and we stayed there overnight. Next day, while the car was being fixed, we went to discover the little town and also went to Sovata, a spa resort town nearby and tried the local traditional food.