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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

If you are new to this blog and enjoy colorful pictures of beautiful places, here are some more from Romania, and here are some more from around the world.  Want even more? Have the RSS feed or email subscription get posts automatically delivered to you!

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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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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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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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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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Gura Portitei

Posted in Beautiful Romania, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , on 16 August 2010 by Watcher Romano

A number of people had told me about the place where the Danube spills into the Black Sea, Gura Portitei. When the a close friend actually went there we found out that Gura Portitei is the place where the Razelm and Golovita lakes spill into the Black Sea :-)

I had to check for myself so I took the car up to Jurilovca and the speed boat from there, for the last 12 km. What I found was a very very beautiful and quiet place, where one would go if in need for peace while still keeping some confort:

Gura Portitei

Gura Portitei

The beach looks just like in the infamous Hawaii postcards:

Gura Portitei

Gura Portitei

Gura Portitei

Gura Portitei

What’s interesting about Gura Portitei is that is is located on a sand bank between the Black Sea and the Golovita, Razelm and Sinoie lakes. It is impossible to reach it by car. There seems to be at least one road for motorcycles, but that’s as wide as you can go (at least that’s what I saw on Google Earth). However, going there motorized requires one to go through one of the strictly forbidden areas like Chituc, Wolves or Perisorul Sand Banks. In places, you feel you could touch the sea with one hand and the lakes with the other. I think that could be frightful on a stormy day :-)

Sand bank between Golovita Lake and the Black Sea

Sand bank between Golovita Lake and the Black Sea

If you want to go there, I have to warn you about the boat trip from Jurilovca: if  you have enough time, the regular ship takes something like 75 minutes to cross the Golovita lake and costs RON 50 for the return trip. If however you do not feel like wasting 3-4 hours (included in the calculation is the time spent waiting for the ship), a speed boat costs RON 400 for the return trip.

In my opinion, the place is worth at least one trip:

Gura Portitei Panorama

Gura Portitei Panorama

This trip was part of my electrifying seaside holiday. I have seen some very picturesque places in this trip, so stay tuned for more (via RSS or email ).

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Constanta Landmarks – The Lion House

Posted in Beautiful Romania, Travel with tags , , , , , on 13 August 2010 by Watcher Romano

Close to the Casino, in the old city center of Constanta, I found this beautiful more-than-one-hundred-year-old genovese-style house, said to have hosted a Masonic Lounge in the 1930′s. Unfortunately,  the house currently looks like it has an uncertain legal status, with it’s former beauty shining from underneath the deserted look. The house’s placement amidst a very ugly populated neighborhood also does not help. It is a pity to have such a beautiful landmark and leave it like this:

Casa cu Lei, Constanta

Casa cu Lei, Constanta

Casa cu Lei, Constanta

Casa cu Lei, Constanta

These pictures were taken during my electrifying summer seaside holiday. There are a lot more coming, so stay tuned (via RSS or email ).

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Constanta Landmarks – the Casino

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

I have just returned from an electrifying seaside holiday. I chose the Romanian seaside and our friend Dima was the person to help with this. Thank you again!  It’s gonna be impossible to forget this holiday ;-)

Romanians generally go to the seaside for the beach and night life. I did enjoy that also (and got some tan along with it) BUT I thought that if in a foregin country, I would have visited a lot. So I decided to also go and visit Constanta and it’s surroundings. I did reach Histria, Gura Portitei, Traian’s Tropy at Adamclisi, St. Andrew Monastery and the very special Dervent Monastery, so stay tuned for the following posts (via RSS or email ).

Until then however, let’s focus on today’s post: one of the most famous landmarks of Constanta is the seafront Casino. It was built in 1909 and still looks great. Here is some more info about it, but if you search Google for pictures, you will find that they are not doing it justice, so I felt I needed to have a take at this:

Constanta Casino, side view

Constanta Casino, side view

Constanta Casino, full frontal view

Constanta Casino, full frontal view

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Curtea de Arges Cathedral

Posted in Beautiful Romania, Travel with tags , , , , , , , on 10 May 2010 by Watcher Romano

This impressive cathedral with it’s intricate carvings is home to the remains of St. Filofteia, to members the Romanian Royal Family and is the subject of the Mesterul Manole legend. So it’s a MUST SEE. As you can tell, I was lucky enough to get good light :-) . Enjoy:

If you are new to this blog, I invite you to check back frequently or subscribe (RSS or email)  to be sure you’ll never miss a new post with colorful pictures from beautiful places, or adrenalin filled action :-)

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