Why Bucovina - High Class Hostel

Bucovina's Painted Monasteries - an UNESCO World Heritage since 1993

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Michael Palin from BBC Prominent TV www.palinstravels.co.uk decided to take up a visit to Romania. He was around Bucovina on 20th of October 2006 and had MONICA (owner and manager of High Class Hostel) as his tour guide into Moldovita Monastery. The Romania & Moldova documentary was on BBC on September 30th, 2007!!! The book was also published in 2008!

As you might remember Prince Charles was in Bucovina back in April 2003. He walked 20 km through the forest between Putna and Sucevita monasteries. This is called "Prince Charles Trail" since he walked it then.You can do it, too!!!

King and Queen of Sweden were here as well also in 2003. I was not their tour guide on that occasion but I had the chance to shake hands with them. They were visiting University of Bucharest and there was a meeting with all the Romanian students in Swedish. They have also visited Bucovina and its unique-in-the-world painted monasteries.

Tim Cope - you might not have heard of this Australian guy yet, but you will soon - he is one of the most interesting recent guests of High Class Hostel (October 2007). Have a look at his website: www.timcopejourneys.com and you'll see what he has achieved at 28 year old.

Why taking a guided trip to the painted monasteries of Southern Bucovina, Romania?

Dragomirna Monastery - Lake view Yeah, you are a traveller deep down to your heart, not a tourist. So why go on a guided trip when you can hitch hike, take a bus, take a taxi, walk and you can get there. My answer is simply related to the fact that you might need somebody to tell you some of the stories behind those 500 year old frescoes on the monasteries. During my experience as a tour guide for 6 years now, many of my guests agreed to the fact that by not having a tour guide, they would have missed a lot of the details. You could tell me you have Lonely Planet to tell you some of the details in the paintings. My con to that is that 2007 edition of LP Romania and Moldova says that the monasteries were painted to teach the soldiers about the biblical stories in between the battles! Does this sound fair to you? I can tell you it's rubbish! This is not the reason they were painted. I mean, the poor soldiers - they had nothing to do between the battles to the Turks, but sitting around the church and learn about the biblical stories... The truth is that we don't know what exactly drove them to paint frescoes all over the outside of the church... Myself I could put together some 5 reasons and of course that soldiers thing is not one of them.

Much of Romania seems lost in a time warp. Fir-covered mountains shelter picturesque villages. Women, often in traditional garb, coax wool onto spindels while read tasseled horses pull wagons loaded with hay. Fortresses and palaces span the centuries, as do more than 2,000 monasteries, included the famed painted monasteries of Bucovina. In the east, the Black Sea coastline stretches north to the Danube Delta, home to 300+ species of birds. Transylvanian cities such as Sibiu, Sighisoara and Brasov have intriguing medieval districts, while Bucharest's wide avenues and mansions suggest why it was once hailed as the "Paris of the East."

Marvellous Voronet blue - unique in the world THE PAINTED MONASTERIES: Suceava belongs to the Southern Bucovina region. Northern Bucovina belongs to Ukraine today. Suceava is also your best hub for seeing some of the monasteries. The 500-years old painted churches of southern Bucovina are among the great artistic monuments of Europe. Places like Voronet, Humor, Moldovita, Sucevita have also been recognized to be unique in the world since 1975. In 1993 they were collectively designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Visiting these places on your own, you might have the feeling that they are too similar one to another, but having a tour guide by your side, you'll be able to see and understand the difference, the stories behind the colors, the reasons for the painting and you'll get a grasp of the traditions in this area.

Saint George on the wheel of Saint Catherine Have a look at the picture to the left here! It's Saint George, the protector of England, Barcelona, Moscow and many other cities. Everybody knows he killed a dragon and saved a princess. But what happened after that? Some think that he married the princess and lived a wonderful life. And he became a saint? How come? Just by marrying a princess?! Not really!... He saved a princess indeed and she was the daughter of Roman Emperor Diocletian. The emperor was very happy and wanted everybody to bring offers to the Roman gods. George was a Christian and he refused to "pray" to other gods than the only (Christian) God. So he was tortured: grilled, boiled alive, speared, on a wheel with hatchets (as the image here is showing) and in the end they decided to kill him by sawing him alive. Saint George is a military saint, because he was a soldier during his lifetime and he is the saint who has suffered the most among all saints. We celebrate him on April, 23rd.

Saint Nicholas - the exorcist at Humor Monastery

Another example would be the image to the left here. I only noticed a tiny detail on this icon at Humor Monastery just a couple of years ago... It looks like there is a king and a queen, their child in the middle and Saint Nicholas. Nothing special so far. At a closer look, you can see a little creature coming out of the mouth of king's son. It looks like a monkey, but it's actually the devil: Saint Nicholas is pictured here as an exorcist. This is a wonderful details, yet unique within the painted monasteries of Bucovina.

Sucevita - view from the hill
Erected at a time when Northern Moldavia was threatened by Turkish invaders, the monasteries were surrounded by strong defensive walls.

Suceava was the capital of Moldovia from 1388 to 1566. At that time, it was also an important commercial centre with a great strategic location on the Lwow-Istanbul trading route. 1504 marked the end of Stefan cel Mare reign which left behind a heritage of some 47 churches, built during his reign.

Erected at a time when Northern Moldavia was threatened by Turkish invaders, the monasteries were surrounded by strong defensive walls. People would gather inside the fortifications to defend themselves and to fight. The liturgy was held at that time in an old Slavic language, the peasants could not understand. This one of the reasons why most of the biblical stories are painted on the outside walls of the churches and monasteries.

Voronet Monastery - "Sistine Chapel of the East"

Saint George sawn alive

Remarkably, most of the intense colours from the greens of Sucevita to the blues of Voronet and to the reds of Humor have been preserved despite more than five centuries of rain and wind. The Voroneţ Monastery is also named the "Sistine Chapel of the East". That's a thing that I dare to challenge. Eventually you'll find out why when you get here.

But some of the most cherished memories of the travellers are of the mountain hikes, beer gardens (half a litre of beer might cost you less than 0.5 Euro), quiet villages and chats with the warm and welcoming local people. There is more to expect from the historical cities and much more from the green valleys and farm spread throught the countryside.

Apart from the religious art and the monasteries, southern Bucovina is well worth visiting for its picturesque villages, where people are still keeping the deep traditions, for the bucolic scenery and for the colourful inhabitants.

Guided Tours of the Bucovina Monasteries and more!

Resurrection in Last Judgment of Voronet Winter landscape in Bucovina

	Why taking a guided trip to the painted monasteries of Southern Bucovina, Romania?
	Yeah, you are a traveller deep down to your heart, not a tourist. So why go on *a guided trip* when you can hitch hike, take a bus, take a taxi, walk and you can get there. My answer is simply related to the fact that you might need somebody to tell you some of the stories behind those 500 year old frescoes on the monasteries. During my experience as a tour guide for 6 years now, many of my guests agreed to the fact that *by not having a tour guide, they would have missed a lot of the details*. You could tell me you have Lonely Planet to tell you some of the details in the paintings. My con to that is that 2007 edition of LP Romania and Moldova says that the monasteries were painted to teach the soldiers about the biblical stories in between the battles! Does this sound fair to you? I can tell you it's rubbish! This is not the reason they were painted. I mean, the poor soldiers - they had nothing to do between the battles to the Turks, but sitting around the church and learn about the biblical stories... The truth is that we don't know what exactly drove them to paint frescoes all over the outside of the church... Myself I could put together some 5 reasons and of course that soldiers thing is not one of them.
	Much of Romania seems lost in a time warp. Fir-covered mountains shelter picturesque villages. Women, often in traditional garb, coax wool onto spindels while read tasseled horses pull wagons loaded with hay. Fortresses and palaces span the centuries, as do more than 2,000 monasteries, included the famed painted monasteries of Bucovina. In the east, the Black Sea coastline stretches north to the Danube Delta, home to 300+ species of birds. Transylvanian cities such as Sibiu, Sighisoara and Brasov have intriguing medieval districts, while Bucharest's wide avenues and mansions suggest why it was once hailed as the "Paris of the East."
	THE PAINTED MONASTERIES: Suceava belongs to the Southern Bucovina region. Northern Bucovina belongs to Ukraine today. Suceava is also your best hub for seeing some of the monasteries. The 500-years old painted churches of southern Bucovina are among the great artistic monuments of Europe. Places like Voronet, Humor, Moldovita, Sucevita have also been recognized to be unique in the world since 1975. In 1993 they were collectively designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Visiting these places on your own, you might have the feeling that they are too similar one to another, but having a tour guide by your side, you'll be able to see and understand the difference, the stories behind the colors, the reasons for the painting and you'll get a grasp of the traditions in this area.
	Have a look at the picture to the left here! It's Saint George, the protector of England, Barcelona, Moscow and many other cities. Everybody knows he killed a dragon and saved a princess. But what happened after that? Some think that he married the princess and lived a wonderful life. And he became a saint? How come? Just by marrying a princess?! Not really!... He saved a princess indeed and she was the daughter of Roman Emperor Diocletian. The emperor was very happy and wanted everybody to bring offers to the Roman gods. George was a Christian and he refused to "pray" to other gods than the only (Christian) God. So he was tortured: grilled, boiled alive, speared, on a wheel with hatchets (as the image here is showing) and in the end they decided to kill him by sawing him alive. Saint George is a military saint, because he was a soldier during his lifetime and he is the saint who has suffered the most among all saints. We celebrate him on April, 23rd.
	Another example would be the image to the left here. I only noticed a tiny detail on this icon at Humor Monastery just a couple of years ago... It looks like there is a king and a queen, their child in the middle and Saint Nicholas. Nothing special so far. At a closer look, you can see a little creature coming out of the mouth of king's son. It looks like a monkey, but it's actually the devil: Saint Nicholas is pictured here as an exorcist. This is a wonderful details, yet unique within the painted monasteries of Bucovina.
Erected at a time when Northern Moldavia was threatened by Turkish invaders, the monasteries were surrounded by strong defensive walls.	Suceava was the capital of Moldovia from 1388 to 1566. At that time, it was also an important commercial centre with a great strategic location on the Lwow-Istanbul trading route. 1504 marked the end of Stefan cel Mare reign which left behind a heritage of some 47 churches, built during his reign. Erected at a time when Northern Moldavia was threatened by Turkish invaders, the monasteries were surrounded by strong defensive walls. People would gather inside the fortifications to defend themselves and to fight. The liturgy was held at that time in an old Slavic language, the peasants could not understand. This one of the reasons why most of the biblical stories are painted on the outside walls of the churches and monasteries.
Voronet Monastery - "Sistine Chapel of the East"	Remarkably, most of the intense colours from the greens of Sucevita to the blues of Voronet and to the reds of Humor have been preserved despite more than five centuries of rain and wind. The Voroneţ Monastery is also named the "Sistine Chapel of the East". That's a thing that I dare to challenge. Eventually you'll find out why when you get here. But some of the most cherished memories of the travellers are of the mountain hikes, beer gardens (half a litre of beer might cost you less than 0.5 Euro), quiet villages and chats with the warm and welcoming local people. There is more to expect from the historical cities and much more from the green valleys and farm spread throught the countryside. Apart from the religious art and the monasteries, southern Bucovina is well worth visiting for its picturesque villages, where people are still keeping the deep traditions, for the bucolic scenery and for the colourful inhabitants. Guided Tours of the Bucovina Monasteries and more!