Archive for the Beautiful Romania Category

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Serenity

Posted in Beautiful Romania with tags , , , , , , on 1 December 2011 by Watcher Romano

Just what I needed. This has been an incredible difficult year until now, and with winter coming, there’s no way  I can imagine it getting any better :) . That is why I dug out this photo, taken just after the Cupa T44 offroad event, organized by our club. That was an incredibly taxing period, and once it was over and everybody had gone home, I got the first moment of rest and calmness after some months.

The water running into the pool was just a perfect add-on to the quietness and solitude of the shot…

Relaxation after Cupa T44

Relaxation after Cupa T44

If you appreciate colorful photos from beautiful places around Romania or the world, I suggest you take a deeper look around here.

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Bran – Moeciu Winter Day

Posted in Beautiful Romania, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on 7 March 2011 by Watcher Romano

I have just returned from a very relaxing weekend spent with my family in the Bran – Moeciu area, in Brasov county. This area is very well known and publicized so I always try hard to go to places and do things that most other tourists won’t do. This time, I think what saved me was Schitul Bran, in the small village of Simon.

At the time it was unfortunately closed, but were it open, I still could not have shown you photos of it’s inside, since photography was forbidden. On the other hand, I think the beauty of the day and of the surroundings still comes out pretty strongly from these photos:

Schitul Bran, Simon, Brasov

Schitul Bran, Simon, Brasov

Schitul Bran, Simon, Brasov

Schitul Bran, Simon, Brasov

Schitul Bran, Simon, Brasov

Schitul Bran, Simon, Brasov

The surroundings also provided some good photo opportunities :

Forest Winterscape, HD

Forest Winterscape, HD

Forest Winterscape, HD

Forest Winterscape, HD

I will conclude this post with some practical advice: In Moeciu there is a famous ‘resort’ – Cheile Gradistei which has recently opened a second, more remote version, the “Fundata”. I have tried to identify the road that appears on the map from Cheile Gradistei to Fundata (which is a village in the area), road  which appears to be closed by some guy planting a door across it (the same like on Strategica) . So after trying to find the passage, we gave up and stopped for lunch in the new resort, which was fatal for our day. I felt like at the seaside, in the proverbial times: everybody literally competing for the distinction of “worst services”. Keep away from this place:

Don't Go There

Don't Go There

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Pestera si Manastirea Sf Ioan Casian – Monastery and Cave

Posted in Beautiful Romania with tags , , , , , , , , , , on 17 February 2011 by Watcher Romano

Saturday February 12th I was inspired enough to take part in JCI Constanta’s JCI Play 4×4 event. It was announced as a softroad expedition combined with outdoor activities and networking. It turned out everything we had hoped for and then some.  I will not post photos from the offroad part, because we just put on a bit of a show to entertain the audience, and there were enough photographers concentrating on that. What I will show you are some photos I managed to grab at the final point of our trip, the Sf Ioan Casian Monastery.

The monastery is still under construction (being quite a young monastery) but it features a cave, the original cave where St Ioan Casian used to live. In order to get from the monastery yard to the actual cave, we did need to put our navigation skills to test, because the signs are confusing, to say the least and an autumn rain was starting to pour over us:

Descent on the hill to the entrance into the cave

Descent on the hill to the entrance into the cave

when we finished the descent we found out that we then needed to climb back a part of our descent, but this time on a much steeper approach:

St Casian Cave Entrance

St Casian Cave Entrance

On the “inside” there is a small praying area and a claustrophobic “room” that can only be accessed with a bit of crawling …

St Casian Cave - Inside

St Casian Cave - Inside

As it happens, by the time we got back down on the fragile-equilibrium cast-iron ladder and the back up on the improvised stairway, everybody else was already finishing their lunch. We thanked the organizers, shook some hands and took back to Constanta with this warm image making it’s way into the memories vault:

Sunset at Casian Monastery - HD

Sunset at Casian Monastery - HD

As you will find out by taking a look around, there are numerous posts on this blog about beautiful things to see in Romania and around the world. Check back frequently or use the RSS feed  or the  email digest options in order to get informed automatically whenever I post new stuff.

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Adormirea Maicii Domnului Cathedral in Iasi

Posted in Beautiful Romania, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , on 10 January 2011 by Watcher Romano

Back in November 2010, during the Iasi CNOR stage, Ioana had some time to wander around in Iasi, and managed to get some interesting photos at the Romano-Catholic Cathedral, despite the dreadful fog and it’s subsequent horrible light :) . Here goes:

This post is part of a series depicting beautiful and interesting places in Romania. I also have a series depicting beautiful and interesting places around the world. Take a look around! If you like what you find, I suggest you come back regularly, or subscribe for free (via RSS or email )

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Playful Times

Posted in Beautiful Romania, Street photography with tags , , , , , , , , , , on 6 January 2011 by Watcher Romano

When I was young I used to always say “I can’t wait to grow up”, and my father used to tell me “When you’ll be grown up you’ll want to be a small child again” . Of course, at that time I did not believe it, but now, I understand. Just take a look at this genuine joy:

 

Child chases after pigeons in Iasi, Romania

Child chases after pigeons in Iasi, Romania

Child chases after pigeons in Iasi, Romania

Child chases after pigeons in Iasi, Romania

This is a photo blog showing beautiful and interesting places around the world. Check back often for more photos like these! Or use the RSS feed or email subscription to get posts automatically delivered to you.

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Culele de la Maldaresti – The Fortified Mansions at Maldaresti

Posted in Beautiful Romania, Travel with tags , , , , , , on 11 October 2010 by Watcher Romano

Among the famous churches, caves, saltworks, mountain lakes, thermal water springs and the Capatanii Mountains, there are several other quite unique attractions in Valcea county. In the close vicinity of Horezu lies an unknown history lesson:  the fortified mansions in Maldaresti. I personally have visited Horezu something like 5 times before I got to this place, and it’s a shame, because there are things to be learned from this visit.

I never knew we had fortified homes in the first place. Mind you, these are not ‘castles’, but ‘mansions’ or ‘villas’. Homes of local landlords, or summer houses for the era’s rich and famous. And they felt they were at danger of being attacked, but not necessarily by foreign invaders…

I find the idea of painting one’s portrait directly on the wall very unpractical, but also being proof of determination: the owner just KNEW he would not ever change the wall color :-) )

Please visit the official site of the Museum, with historical data (Romanian language).

These photos belong to the beautiful Romania category. I should also warn you that I post photos from travels around the country (and the world)  quite often, so it’s a good idea to subscribe (via RSS or email ) .

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Sarmizegetusa Regia – Ancient Dacian Capital

Posted in "Art" ??, Beautiful Romania, Travel with tags , , , , , , on 27 September 2010 by Watcher Romano

Romania’s former president, Ion Iliescu is infamous for opening his address to the US Congress with the line “the ducks come from the trucks”, actually meaning that the Dacian people stems from the Thracian people :-)

Why I bring this anecdote up on a travel photography blog you ask? Because this post is about the ancient  Dacian capital of Sarmizegetusa Regia, that was conquered by the Romans in 105 A.D., after an unsuccessful attempt some 4 years earlier. I can easily understand why this fortified city was so difficult to conquer: hidden high up in the mountains, in the middle of a thick forest, protected by some other five fortified settlements (Blidaru, Piatra Roşie, Costeşti, Căpâlna and Băniţa), this place is difficult to access by car in modern days !

On the other hand, as I stood in the middle of the sanctuaries, and listened to the storm closing in, I asked myself: why on earth would anyone to conquer this fortress? Were I ‘the Romans’, I would have gladly left the crazy guys hide in the middle of the forrest, 60 kilometers from the nearest place of interest, and would have gone on conquering the rest of the country :-)

When I got there, a storm was coming fast. The place was deadly quiet, my shutter made an echo (!), my breath was all steam (although it was July), the whole place was numbing. It simply made one shut up and relax, calm down, breathe deeply and want to stay there for an indeterminate period of time.

Enough talking already, it’s not literature that you’re here after, is it ?

If you intend to visit, take your time. The road starts  from Orastie and is 30 kilometers long after the end of the asphalt. It’s not that well maintained either. But I think that autumn should be a great time to travel to such a location.

There are numerous other posts about beautiful places in Romania on this blog. I suggest you come back regularly, or subscribe for free (via RSS or email ).

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Trophaeum Traiani in Adam Clisi

Posted in Beautiful Romania, Travel with tags , , , , , , , on 8 September 2010 by Watcher Romano

In 102 A.D, the Roman Emperor Traian defeated the dacs in Tapae. In order to commemorate this victory, he ordered a monument to be erected on the hill overseeing the citadel. I jokingly call this monument Fallus Traiani :-)

Fallus Traiani in AdamClisi

Fallus Traiani in AdamClisi

As you can see for yourself this picture has nothing special. I tried and tried to figure out something but was unable to do so. I searched the internet for ideas but with no success, all of the pictures are as boring as the one above. This is my idea to make this stand out as I feel it should:

Fallus Traiani in AdamClisi (B&W)

Fallus Traiani in AdamClisi (B&W)

What do you think?

This photo was also taken during the electrifying summer holiday I had in 2010. Also, be sure to check back regularly (via RSS or email ) because there are always more pictures to come showing beautiful places in Romania and around the world.

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St Andrew’s Cave Monastery – Manastirea Pestera Sf. Andrei

Posted in Beautiful Romania, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , on 6 September 2010 by Watcher Romano

Near Ion Corvin, a village in Constanta, south of the Danube, one can find a monastery raised in honor of the Saint Apostle Andrew. He is said to have chosen to spread the word of Christ in the area around the Black Sea. Coming to Tomis, he needed a hiding place, and if you will visit this monastery you will find that it is is even now very well hidden in the forest. In St. Andrew’s time, there was only a cave there, used as a hideout. Over the years, the monastery had benefited from several important donors and was as such able to build the current compound, with 3 different churches:

I find the paintings inside the smaller church very interesting. I also think the entrance warning deserves a whole discussion. What it says is “let’s at least act decent” . I think this is a very pessimistic view of the people sent by the Church. Seems like the subjects are uneducated, badly intended and generally a bunch of pigs, and the most they could do is pretend to be civilized :-( That does not sound very orthodox to me …

Getting over the Church’s messages and chosen way to implement religion and the ‘christian understanding of peers’ , I would like to point out that this is a very good place to find colorful pictures from beautiful places in Romania and all over the world. These photos in particular were taken during an electrifying summer holiday. Check back for more, or use the via RSS or email to get automatically notified when something new is posted.

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Dervent Monastery

Posted in Beautiful Romania, Travel with tags , , , , , , on 30 August 2010 by Watcher Romano

The grand finale of my electrifying summer seaside holiday was the road back home, on the south side of the Danube. I chose this road because I really wanted to take pictures in two places I had visited before but did not have the camera with me. The Dervent Monastery is one of those two places. Why I find this monastery so special is it’s landscape. It is nothing like any other monastery in Romania. See for yourself:

I strongly suggest you visit this place, because everything about it is out of the ordinary: the landscape, the compound, the actual setting of the monastery is in one of the deserted places in Romania, although one would not imagine.

These pictures were taken in the very last part of an electrifying summer holiday I had this year. Here are more posts from this holiday. If you like colorful photos of  beautiful places, you’ve come to the right blog. Stick around, get a free notice every time new photos are posted (via RSS or email ).

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