Category: Romania

The Danube Delta is one of Europe’s largest wildlife refuges, a vast, confusing watery expanse of at least four navigable river channels, a number of lakes, a few small towns and villages. In the Black Sea, hovering near the entrance to the Danube, were scores of freighters no longer able to dock in Ukraine. As…

Even though Romania is largely Orthodox Christian, it is a complicated religious landscape. In the heart of Saxon Transylvania clustered around Brasov and Sighisoara are large fortress churches (mostly Protestant), designed to offer shelter to entire villages during the periodic raids the people suffered. A few of these fortress churches are on hills, but most…

The small village of Viscri is typical of countless small villages and cities across Romania: picturesque with an air of “almost unchanged.” Viscri is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site that benefits from its proximity to Bucharest. Many of the village houses have become vacation homes; perhaps the most distinguished is a blue stuccoed house…

At the top of the list of places I wanted to see in Romania were the painted monasteries of the Bukovina. These stone buildings are painted with images of saints, last judgments and biblical scenes both inside and outside. Most of these monasteries date from the 16th century, although most are built upon much earlier…

Icons are everywhere in Romania, especially in the Orthodox and Uniate churches. Many are of what might be called a naïve, primitive style, but closer inspection reveals considerable sophistication. Unique to Romania are icons painted in reverse on glass (églomise), a process that produces particularly luminous icons. A museum in the village of Sibiel exhibits…

Among my more vivid memories of Romania are the mountains. I hiked in the Carpathian Alps, and marveled at the Transylvanian countryside. My heart, however, was claimed by the beautiful rolling hills of the Bukovina, or Moldavia, in the northeast of the country. Life was slower, absolutely focused on farming in the Bukovina. A hike…

We spent almost a week on our own at the beginning of the trip in Bucharest. The city, in spite of being a bit ragged and rough at the edges after years of Soviet domination, is a city of wonders and beauty. Small Orthodox churches, never empty, are scattered around the city, even in the…