Just 25 kilometers after Valcea, in the small village of Francesti, exists a lovely small wooden monastery that is said of being built out of the wood of just one tree! I know what you’re thinking: is it a very small church or was the tree HUGE?
Well, here’s half of the answer:

and this is the other half of the answer:

If you know anything about Romania, I think it’s obvious to you by now that somebody felt the need to also build a brick edifice at the ‘One Wood Monastery’:

What would a monastery be if it did not have a mystic story? This one is as follows: one day somebody (some say it was a monk, others say it was a shepherd) found an icon miraculously appear in a secular tree, so he cut down one of the trees and made the whole church out of it, hence the name.

Whereas fountains and wells are a great idea to have as miracle workers, because people who want to make a wish throw some money therein – simple! Here is the problem with having a miracle working tree:

This is a place I strongly recommend you to visit, because it has a very special charme, it’s quiet and colorful. To get there, take the DN67 from Ramnicu Valcea to Targu Jiu, and very soon, after some 15-20 kilometers you will find an indicator to the left “To the One Wood Monastery” (in Romanian :-p ). From there you have some more 5-7 kilometers on an asphalt road.

You can find more info on Wikipedia (Romanian). If you like this post, check back for more from the same trip (Horezu, Arnota, Polovragi, Pestera Muierilor). Or better yet, subscribe to get email updates or be cool and use the RSS feed to be the first to know when something new is posted!