Romania, Part 2

Just when I was trying to add the video interview in Solca with Bob, the Priest and Victoria the guide, something happened, I am not sure what, but the result is "Romania, Part 2".

The story of Bob's grandfather, as told by his parents goes something like this:  Bob's grandfather, Trifan, was born in Solca, Romania, the son of the Mayor-Ion Rusu.  Trifan had several brothers and sisters.  After his mother died, Trifan's father remarried.  The new wife sent the children of the first wife to sleep in the barn. This motivated Trifan and his brother Petru to leave Solca and journey to America.   The other story is that Trifan told his father that he was leaving for America because the girl he loved, Alexandra, was going to America.  Trifan's father told him not to leave and if he did leave, he would not consider Trifan as his son-he went anyway.  There may also have been some political considerations because World War I started in 1914 and Trifan left for America in 1913.

Anyway, the Romanian Orthodox church in Solca, Saint Peter and Saint Paul, was a fortified church with a stone and brick wall around the grounds.  The wall was not in good condition.   This is a modest / poor church compared to the painted monasteries we saw.  Here is the interview and a few photos of the church.  The priest also took us to the "secret" treasury room behind a low metal door and up about two flights on a narrow spiral staircase.  Only a few things were left in the treasury because the Austrians who took control of the region and their use of the church as a salt warehouse, left the church with few important pieces.

Sorry, I turned the camera to a vertical angle because the priest was so tall.   Trifan sent money to the church in 1923 to help the church acquire a bell.  The "Souvenirie" is the list of contributors.  The list has been hanging there in the church since 1923.

Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul built in the 1700s.  At one point was used as a salt warehouse by the Austrians.

Entry through the wall into the church grounds.

The priest, father Martin, standing next to a burial plaque for a body that is buried in the wall.

The Romanian Orthodox alter with traditional Romanian weavings hanging above the icons.

The treasury room.

We did visit Bran Castle.  It was difficult to get a good outside photo because it was so steep but Dracula, aka Vlad the Impaler, aka Vlad Tepes was thought to have visited this castle - maybe but not historically.   It was a very beautiful castle on a hill.

 Bran Castle.  It was a little cloudy.

 Inside Bran Castle.  Victoria and I are sitting at the window seat.

 Bob and I at the window seat.

 Bran castle, inner courtyard.

 Another inner courtyard.

Bran castle well in the courtyard.

A few more photos of Romania.

Horse wagons were on almost every road.  They have inflated tires.

Can't leave out the hand painted eggs.  Very popular.  They don't use chicken eggs because the shell is too easily broken.

 Soon to be included in the historical museum.

 The trees were huge.

 Loved the storks.  Many nests had 2-3 babies.

 A small town in the Carpathian mountains.

Hope you enjoyed seeing the photos from our adventure.  Romania is an undiscovered tourist destination with few tour groups and many beautiful and interesting sites.  The food is great too.

Beth

Imagine Romania

We traveled with an excellent guide, Victoria.  She drove the car, which was quite something in itself, dodging everything from large trucks on mountain passes, horse wagons of which there were many, large potholes in the roads and passing every slow moving vehicle we could.   There are no expressways, just two lane roads with occasional passing lanes going uphill.   It was just the three of us.

While leaving Chisinau we saw this sign and had to stop to take a photo.


When I imagined Romania, I thought about repression under Ceausescu, world class female gymnasts and orphaned children.  What I learned about Romania today is that Romania has made great progress to modernize while keeping it's historical and cultural heritage.  What a wonderful place.  We spent 6 days driving through the areas called Bucovina and Transylvania areas that were beautiful and full of surprises.  These photos show some of the high points for me.  Bob took about 600 photos.

First stop Cherry Ristras!!  That was a surprise.  We bought a ristra and the cherries were delicious.  Lots of road side stands selling cherries and other things like honey and tourist toys.

Stephan cel Mare (chel mar ay) was an important historical hero and saint in Moldova and Romania.  This is a statue of him in Iasi and his fortress in Bucovina

The photos below are taken at some Unesco sites in Bucovina.  They are painted Romanian Orthodox monasteries.  They were painted inside and out during the 1400s and remain in this condition.  The walls on the north side of the monasteries are almost completely bare because the weather has destroyed the paintings.   The architecture is midevil gothic and the paintings are Byzantine style.  Beautiful.

Each linear section tells a story or paints a scene of religious teachings.  Because the peasants could not read or write, the monks taught them their religion through these paintings.  

There were not many tourists which was wonderful.  This nun was leading a tour of Germans.

The next stop was Solca where Bob's grandmother and grandfather (on his mother's side) was born and immigrated to the US in 1913.   Our first stop in Solca was to ask about the church and any information about the family name.   The information we received from this group was that half the town has his grandmothers maiden name and the other half of the town his grandfathers last name.

We found the church and the priest gave us a tour of the church.  Bob's grandfather  had sent money from the USA to this church, Romanian Orthodox Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, to help purchase a church bell.

Istanbul

While planning our trip to Chisinau, Istanbul was always part of our plans.  Finally we arrived in Istanbul on May 30th.   We stayed at the Hali Hotel which was a small hotel not far from the Blue Mosque in the Sultanamet district.  Our first stop was the Blue Mosque.

When we arrived, a nice young  man showed us the tourist entrance and proceeded to follow us inside the mosque.  He was trying to convince Bob to visit his father's carpet shop.  Bob assured him we would not follow him to the shop.  The young man was mad and said, "You are  not God" and stormed off.   After that, it was hard to trust people who were just trying to help.

There were lots of tourists visiting the Blue Mosque where females cover their heads and all visitors take off their shoes and place them into a plastic bag they give you.  You carry your shoes around with you.   When we came out of the mosque the "Call to prayer" began.  Also, every other mosque started a call to prayer and it gets quite loud.  First call to prayer, 5:30 am daily.

Ate dinner on a rooftop terrace with a view of the Blue Mosque.  The food in Istanbul was delicious.  The eggplant was excellent.

I bought a new purse at the Grand Bazaar.  Enjoying my new purse while waiting for the ultimate Turkish experience, the hookah or some would say, "Giant Bong".

Hookah's are part of the menu in many coffee shops.  They use dried apple with charcoal for the smoke. It had a mild apple taste.  Bob had the Turkish coffee and liked it very much.

The next night we saw a Turkish Whirling Dervish performance.  It was very interesting and I don't have any photos.

Went to Topkapi Palace where this Palace marching band was colorful and exotic.  Fun.

Each musical instrument section had a different costume.

We took a ferry boat trip up the Bosphorus strait where the Black Sea connects to the Mediterranean Sea.  We stopped in a small fishing village, Anadolu Kavagi that seemed to be mainly restaurants and just a few fishing boats.  

Here are some of the restaurants.  It was a very pretty place on the Asian side of the straits.  Now I can say I have been to Asia.

We ate a nice fish lunch at one of these restaurants.

Our last day in Istanbul we visited the "New District" and had coffee at this historic restaurant/coffee shop.  The new district seemed older than the historic district.

Overall we had fun.  Istanbul is a unique and exotic place.  We enjoyed some Turkish experiences and the food was delicious.  There are 13+ million people in Istanbul and I am sure there are some who are not carpet salesmen.  The pressure to spend money is very  high and not only for carpets.  Salesmen (we only saw men) say things to you as you walk down the street, "Let me help you spend your money" or  "It's your turn to help me make some money" and those were pretty amusing.  Most, however, are very eager to help if you show even the slightest interest in their products.   Oh, did I mention I bought two purses?

Next trip, Romania on June 12th.  Bob will visit the place where his grandfather and grandmother were born.

Beth