Romania - Beautiful Bucovina

Horses Waterfall, Leigh

After a lovely evening spent with the three young Romanians at the Borșa camp, we headed off next morning to Cascada Cailor (Horses Waterfall), high up in the mountains of Romania’s Piatra Rea Nature Reserve.

Arriving at the park entry, we caught a chairlift to take us most of the way up the mountain, then enjoyed a 20 minute, mostly uphill, walk to the base of the falls.

Cascada Cailor is the tallest waterfall in Romania, falling 80 m over several steps. 

It was lovely to see and we imagined how spectacular it would look after a lot of rain. It seemed pretty popular as there were lots of people there.

The Maramureş region that we were leaving and the Bucovina region that we were headed to, are very rural and mountainous areas – and very, very attractive.

Unfortunately the road between the two regions was appalling, and we had a very slow trip.

Bucovina decorative houses

Luckily, that gave us time to admire the beautifully decorated houses in the tiny villages that we drove through – very artistic and each a little different.

We also passed some highly populated and ghastly looking shanty towns during our drive.

Gypsy camp-Highway D18

We learned that they were gypsies in their ‘summer camp’. 

Gypsies, or Romany people, are often thought of as Romanians. 

But they apparently originated in India, from peoples who wandered into Eastern Europe around a thousand years ago.

We loved the scenery throughout these areas. 

The farms are smallish and everything is done by hand. 

Bucovina scenery

We did see one or two bigger farms with tractors and other machines but the majority appear to use very basic techniques.

It was potato harvesting time while we were there and this was all done by hand - digging up, cleaning and bagging. 

It looked like very hard back-breaking work.

Bucovina haystacking-a family affair

It seemed to us that every bit of grass, and everything that was green, was cut and dried on a variety of drying frames, obviously for winter feed for the animals.

There appeared to be regional differences in the way hay is stacked – all so different to New Zealand. 

Bucovina people and their tools

It was like going back in time and fascinating to see!

Horses and carts were everywhere and used for all types of transport and farm work.

There were a lot of cattle, sheep and goat herds on the road, shepherded along by people in local costumes.

Moldovita Painted Monastery, Marg

People walked or cycled to the fields, carrying scythes, traditional 3-pronged wooden pitchforks and/or rakes.

Driving on, we soon arrived at a camp run by a Dutch couple in Fundu Moldovei, a tiny village in the Bucovina area. 

We loved it there - very clean and well organised with a gorgeous view of the mountains and the hills.

Moldovita Painted Egg samples. Works in progress

We relaxed there for a few days and had a good break before heading off to Moldovita to visit an amazing monastery which has the most wonderful murals/frescoes on its outer and inner walls.

In Moldovita we also visited a museum that was full of the most incredible painted eggshells. 

These are done by a woman fulfilling a 150 year family tradition.

She had 5000 painted eggshells on display from around the world; each one of a totally different and amazingly intricate pattern. 

We were not allowed to take photos of her completed works, but we did see some in various stages of completion and were allowed to snap those.

Her original works are signed and we hope they will become a collector item so we bought a very small one - hope it makes it back to New Zealand in one piece!

We then visited the Sucevita painted monastery, also with beautiful coloured frescoes. 

Nearby was a factory where they make a local ‘black’ pottery. 

We bought an attractive small black jug there.

Driving a circuit of painted monasteries, we came to the Humor Monastery which again was quite impressive.

We had one more to see and it was the Voronet Monastery which was reached by a narrow road full of road works. 

Sucevita Painted Monastery,  Leigh

This was also beautiful but seemed to have a lot of tourists visiting.

Each monastery was truly amazing and we were glad we had made the trip.

Completing our circuit of painted monasteries, we headed back to the Fundu Moldovei camp.

Arriving back at camp, we discovered a whole new bunch of Dutch camper-vanners travelling in a group.

That night, the camp owners prepared a traditional meal for guests and we joined the Dutch and some German tourists for the dinner.

English was spoken enough to make good conversation, along with great food and wine – a lovely evening.

The next day we joined a German couple for a ride on a horse and cart to a local farmer’s spread.

Voronet Painted Monastery

The place was in the hills and because of the steepness of the hill, we needed to help the horse so we walked as often as we rode.

The track seemed to get steeper the further we went!

Eventually we made it to the top to have wonderful views of the hills, trees and valley. 

The local farmer and cart driver was Marcel.

Marcel made a batch of cheese while we were there. 

Fundu Moldovei farm trip, Marg

He hand-milked his cows in the field (as they do everywhere here), to produce a huge pot of milk.

He then put into a very large cauldron which was then heated in over an open fire.

At the right temperature he added rennet, stirred, and stirred some more.

Marcel making cheese

Then as it formed lumps he squeezed it all by hand into one large lump. 

He gave us a taste, warm and fresh from the pot – different but yummy. 

It is very white at this stage, but yellows with age.

While the cheese was brewing, Marcel’s wife prepared a traditional meal for us.

Fundu Moldovei lunch-Leigh, Marg,  the Germans & Marcel’s wife

This included a wonderfully tasty salad that was full of their home-grown vegetables, served with home-baked bread, and the home-made cheese.

We had both ‘white’ and ‘yellow’ cheese with our lunch, sprinkled with salt on warm crusty bread - it was great.

Watching the cheese-making was a highlight for us. 

After a great farmhouse meal, we had a bumpy cart ride back to camp after a wonderful day.

Marcel’s family kitchen

The next day, which was Sunday, the camp owner John, took us to the local Romanian Orthodox church to see their service in progress.

 It was an interesting sight with a whole range of ages there - older woman and younger ones, all in their head scarves; men of varying ages; teenagers and young children, all dressed up in their Sunday best. 

Botus Monastery

The church itself was full of colourful murals and was very attractive.

Everyone who had made a donation was mentioned in the service and we heard our own names in that list.

That was a very special moment.

Botus Monastery lunch

John then took us to the very tiny village of Botus to visit the interesting monastery there.

We were there to join the locals in a lunch served by the nuns. 

We arrived to find the service still in progress. 

Apparently, this day was a special holy day and was a much longer service than usual.

Botus Monastery art

This meant that we had to wait ages before everyone came out of the church – but when they did, their focus was on food!

There was soup, polenta, bread, pickles and a dessert made of a kind of tapioca. 

Everyone sat down at long tables and got stuck into their food very quickly. 

Then, just as quickly, they had finished and there was a mass exodus leaving us sitting there still eating. 

It was like a fire alarm had gone off but we didn’t hear it!

Amazing!

After thanking the nuns for their hospitality and delightful food, we went inside the little church which was full of colourful murals. 

These were of a more basic style of painting than some we had seen and had been done by a local teenager – very special.

Overall a great experience and we felt very welcomed by the people in both churches and villages. 

The Romanian people are delightful and we are really enjoying travelling here, especially up in the mountains which are so beautiful.

It is so remote and seemingly untouched up here. 

Almost in another earlier time.

After a week or so, we sadly said farewell to our hosts and their delightful mountain campsite and headed south again.