A sudden and unexpected decision made the habit of Wednesday walks change. Several past and present events made me want to visit again the place of my childhood, a small town in northern Romania called Falticeni. The town has 25,000 inhabitants and appears in historical documents from 1490. It was formed from the union of several villages, one of which was called Opriseni, which is now a suburb and is where I grew up.
The town is a typical provincial one and has nothing special, apart from the fact that it occupies an honorable fourth place among the towns in Romania after the number of people of culture and art who were born or lived there! Unfortunately, I have no contribution to this list of personalities...
My wife came up with the idea for this short trip quite far away, over 400 km of driving. It was also a test of my ability to still drive a car, after the recent heart problems I've had.
My visit to the city of my childhood consisted of many walks to places I have loved since childhood, and I would like to tell you a little about one of them. The walk started near the village church, now the neighborhood. In the north of Romania, in this historical province called Moldova, churches are numerous, with every village or neighborhood in the cities having at least one.
The church I'm talking about is built in 1855 and is located on the highest part of the village, as these churches are usually built to be visible from all sides.
The church steeple can be seen on the right side of the picture, next to the mobile phone antenna. Old and new next to each other...
This church is important to me because it marked my childhood. Every Sunday my grandmother took me to church with her. I can't say that I enjoyed it, but now, when I think back to those old times, I feel the joy of being with my grandmother. This is where both my grandmother and my mother are buried and these trips allow me to take time to visit their graves.
Also buried here is one of the important men of the city and the country, the sculptor Ion Irimescu, probably the second most important Romanian sculptor, after Constantin Brancusi. In his youth, Ion Irimescu participated in the painting of the church, in the renovation of 1926.
The place where the church is located is an important place in a village, there is also a monument to the heroes of the village, i.e. those who died in the wars and the school.
The building on the left is the former school. Another cause of excitement for me, as this is where I attended my first two years of school, starting in 1961. Now the building is abandoned and damaged.
In front of the school is the monument to the heroes.
Names of those who died in the war of independence against the Ottoman Empire in 1877.
As I said, this church is located on top of a hill and from here the streets "flow" to the city. The relief of the city is uneven, the relief of this region is hilly, where there are hills there are hills and valleys and I like the streets that go down more than the ones that go up.
The streets are nothing special but I like the view of the surroundings of the city, the hills and the lake.
Most of the houses I see now are newly built. Most of the residents, especially the younger ones, went to work abroad, especially in Italy, France and the U.K., and with the money they earned there they built houses that nobody lives in now. But they changed the image of the city.
I prefer old houses, houses that have a specific architecture of this region. Now there aren't many, most of them are uninhabited and in need of repair. These houses were the majority in my childhood and I get emotional whenever I see them.
The streets go down to the city center, now I'm in the marginal neighbourhood which still has a village feel. Still a church at an intersection near town.
An orchard separates me from where the town looks like a town.
It sounds strange but it's not. In this hilly part of the country there are many orchards, growing fruit trees is an old tradition. The orchard above belongs to the Forestry High School, a place where those who will work in this field are trained. The school will be one hundred years old in two years. Beyond the high school begins the city-town.
My walk beyond high school remains for next time. As I said, my visit to this childhood town is made up of several walks. All done with the aim of revisiting places so dear in the past, so modified now.
It's spring now, a late spring here, with a gap of at least two weeks from Bucharest, the southern city where I live now. My nephew Iustin offers us a flower he picked on the hill near the house...
More walks in this small town will follow. Hard to believe they may be of interest to readers but very important to me. A stirring of memories...
For #WednesdayWalk by @tattoodjay
