The country I live in has everything, sea, mountains, hills and fields, rivers and lakes, big cities and small towns, many villages and four seasons!
Most countries have, more or less, all these elements... and more than that, but everyone thinks (I think), that his country is the most beautiful.
Without thinking that my country is the most beautiful, I hope it's worth showing you a bit of mine, the part where I was born and grew up.
I forgot to say that there are many churches and monasteries, and in the region where I grew up all the more. In these circumstances a trip to a monastery is not at all unimportant, it is almost obligatory.
I left my grandparents' house 60 years ago, and my visits have been increasingly infrequent. During this time things have happened, and my childhood world has changed radically.
The most recent trip included a visit to a monastery, a new monastery recently built in the middle of the forest.
The departure to the monastery gives me the opportunity to exemplify with a picture in which we can see that the most imposing building is a church located right in the middle of the town.
It was my first time traveling by car and not driving myself. This gave me the much desired opportunity to be able to photograph from the moving car. In the distance we can see the mountains we are heading towards.
We see another church, in every village there is a church...
In an extremely hot summer there were only a few rainy days. One of them was the one chosen for the trip to the monastery.
The monastery that we want to reach is located in the forests that cover the Eastern Carpathian Mountains but it is not at altitude, it is in a marginal and easily accessible area.
The road is unpaved but practicable and the rain was not heavy enough to cause damage.
The landscape in the foothills of the mountains with the wide valley of a river offers a peaceful and calm view, with this horse who is totally impervious to the rain falling on him. He must really be enjoying this unexpected respite from the very hot summer.
I had the great joy to see the storks which used to be very numerous in these places and now I hadn't seen even one.
And, of course, in the distance you can see another church/monastery.And, of course, in the distance you can see another church/monastery.
The rain is unpredictable, like any summer rain and especially mountain rain.
The journey through the forest takes about 15-20 minutes and although it looks like a safe road, we also saw a car overturned, which probably didn't take into account the rain and drove at an inappropriate speed.
The meadow and the monument at the entrance of the monastery.
The monastery is called Sihastria Sfantul Ion de la Rasca.
What is a monastery? Simply put, it is a group of buildings in which live a certain number of monks who do all the activities so that the place can exist. Moreover, the monks do a permanent religious service and for this reason, the most important building, which is centrally located, is the church.
In northern Romania, in the Bukovina county, there are a large number of monasteries painted on the outside, built in the 14th - 15th centuries, the most important monuments of the medieval period.
The Monastery of St. Ion of Rasca is the first monastery painted on the outside built in the last three hundred years.
A short foray inside the monastery.
The bad and rainy weather prevented a longer stay at the monastery. After only an hour we started back home.
Another church, everywhere you look you see churches.
The first stork in her nest. They will soon be going to countries with a warmer climate to get through the winter.
The crows stay put in winter and now forage for food in the fields where the crop was harvested.
We passed by another church which is next to a farm, called the Prince's Farm, because it was funded by a foundation of Prince Charles of Great Britain, now King Charles.
Back in town. The town is called Falticeni.
Somewhere, in the back is the house, another house built where my grandparents lived. There are few houses left from my childhood. The small neighborhood on the outskirts of the city, once a village, is now modernizing...
The view has remained the same, the old fountain and the hill in front have remained unchanged.
Childhood nostalgia. The eyes, heart and brain no longer perceive this place the same. When I was a child I thought I couldn't live anywhere else, but life proved me wrong.
