Day 4 Touring Romania

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Here is today's tour description: Day 4: Bistrita - Gura Humorului - Radauti We have breakfast and depart to visit the most important monasteries from Bucovina: Moldovita and Sucevita monasteries. Later we will stop for a demonstration of black pottery at Marginea. Overnight in a 4* hotel The Gerald's Hotel in Radauti.

We were up early this morning. Clay didn't sleep well last night. We had the hotel's restaurant breakfast buffet to ourselves! I got ice again this morning with coffee and yogurt so I'm not complaining. Just saying. It was creepy. We sat outside since those tables were set vs. inside. As well, it was much cooler outside than in. Today was much cooler than the past several days. In line with forecast temps and historical averages for once on this trip. Hopefully that will last and not just be because of we are at our Northernmost point of our Romanian visit and at somewhat of an altitude. Of course, we started much further North and hotter, so hopefully it is a break in the heat wave.

We set off a little after 9 am because Clay misplaced his travel wedding ring. Our 1st stop was unscheduled but Vlad wanted us to see it as we'd ended yesterday in the Golden Crown parking lot reading Bram Stoker's description of Jonathan Harker going to meet Count Dracula's carriage at the Borgo Pass. The communists built Castel Dracula Hotel in the Borgo Pass in the 1980s. We just parked and stretched our legs and admired the views. 

Our 2nd stop is listed in tomorrow's description. We stopped at Voronet Monastery. We visited 3 monasteries today and all have been occupied by nuns and not monks. This one has been continuously occupied since it was built in 1488! We had to walk through a long narrow gauntlet of souvenir stalls to get to it but this was our favorite monastery today. Today has been our favorite day too. We've really been liking Romania, the people, the landscapes, the history, the food, the prices... Anyway, we again had to pay the entrance tickets for ourselves (Vlad's tourguide license gets him free admission.) It was 5 lei pp + 10 lei for a photography permit though the inside of the church was prominently posted no photography. 

It was about 1pm when we left Voronet. In the gauntlet of stalls they were selling chimney cakes (we didn't have any) and placintes. We bought 2 ham & cheese and 4 cherry. (Vlad dropped the 1st 2 cherry placintes on the ground as he turned around with them! It was a tragedy. But since we were still standing at the front of the line, we could quickly and easily replace them.) We drove to a nearby market for a yogurt drink for Vlad and a Coke Zero for us. Then we found a shady place to park and a log to sit on and enjoyed a picnic. A horse cart clopped by as we ate! It was a great lunch. Clay & I shared our 2 and still couldn't finish them! We ran off a dog at the site when we arrived, so we left the remains for him to return for when we left.

3rd stop was Moldovita Monastery. This one was built by the bastard son of the King Stephen the Great who built Voronets. It was built about 50 years later. All 3 monasteries were walled fortresses as well. We paid 5 lei pp admission fee. All 3 monasteries were posted no photography inside. The last 2 had no extra photography permits.

4th stop was Sucevita Monastery. It was the newest, built in the late 16th century. We paid 5 leii pp for entry again. All 3 monasteries today are UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Last stop of the day was a place making and selling black pottery in Marginea. It was much like every other pottery/ceramics place we've visited. Always fascinating to watch. 

We arrived at The Gerald's Hotel around 5 pm. We were encouraged to have the hotel restaurant's buffet at 40 lei each but it wouldn't begin before 7 pm, so no. We were encourage to eat a la carte in the same restaurant after 6 pm. We agreed, but didn't. We'd been having complimentary bottles of water in hotels for weeks now, but not here. We also didn't have any water left over today. The water in the room was for sale at 10 lei each, the same bottle chilled in a market would be under 2 lei. That chapped so we went out walking towards the Profi that was 6 minutes away. We checked out food offerings along the way. On the way back, we spoke to a waiter outside Restaurant National and he offered us an English language menu. We went in to eat dinner about 6 pm. It was good and more food than we could eat. It cost 48 lei for the whole meal with drinks. That is about $11.20! I had tochitura (which Clay had a version of for lunch yesterday). It was very different tonight. No stew aspect. A big pile of cheese that looked suspiciously like the sour, inedible stuff I'd had the other night but wasn't and the cheese had a fried egg on top. It was good but it was way too much. Clay picked sarmales again but they were out! He finally chose Ficatei Taranesti which was defined as rustic chicken livers. The waiter said that meant they were cooked with onions and Clay ordered mamaliga on the side. I tried to tell him he could just help eat mine, but no. It was only 2 lei, but still it was wasted food. 

I had asked for ice at the bar when we checked in so I made Clay go get it when we came in after dinner. He got a big glassful of at least as much as I'd gotten in my bottle. We'll hope for more at breakfast tomorrow!

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