Trekking in Romania

A trekking tour of the Romanian Monasteries

September 25-October 4, 2009 (Itinerary)

$1690.00 per person

10 currently registered for this program and have begun to purchase airline tickets (6/15/09)

"... why should you go to Romania? The straight answer is because it is one of the most beautiful countries of Southeast Europe." (The Blue Guide)

"Few regions offer a more dazzling display of cultural and artistic treasures than Romania."(Smithsonian Journeys)

"Considered by many the most beautiful country in Eastern-Europe, Romania still claims regions that seem bastions of a medieval past long since lost elsewhere."
(Fodor's Eastern and Central Europe)

"Romania has majestic castles, medieval towns, great hiking and wildlife..."
(The Lonely Planet)

Our trip begins in the ancient city Bucharest and proceeds by train to the Moldovia area of Romania.  The Moldovia region is beautiful, unspoiled nature at it's best.  It's Carpathian mountains create a unique landscape of thick forests and imposing mountain crests ("obcine").  Our trek takes us through panoramic vistas of valleys and hills, past monasteries and farm houses. 

The monasteries of the Moldovia region, close to the town of Suceava, are world famous.  Built in the 15th and 16th centuries during the reigns of Stephen the Great (1457-1504) and his son, Petru Rares (1530-1538; 1541-1546), these painted monasteries are important symbols of European culture. 

Researchers say that Stephen the Great ruled for 47 years, that he fought 47 defense battles, against the Turks, the Tartars, the Cossacks, the Poles and the Magyars. During this time he erected about the same number (44) of churches and monasteries. In his time, monasteries were not decorated with exterior polychromous frescoes, but with colorful enameled ceramics placed around the steeples and below the cornices. It was only by the end of the 15th century, and then throughout the 16th century, that exterior mural paintings flourished in Moldavia. Nevertheless, Stephen the Great's churches, though small in size, were solid and had a special architectural design (octagonal cupolas raised graciously on tall, stellary foundations) out of which sprung up, the so-called Moldavian art style during the next centuries.