Day 2 - Friday 16 August2013
We were up for breakfast bright and early, studying the maps. Florin had a "good" idea. “Let’s go to Lacul Bucura, it’s a glacial lake at 2,000m and not far from here”. “Mmmm” we thought, “not far, how far is not far?” As the cow flies, it was about 40km. That’s not bad. Trouble was there were no roads to it. Not even 4 x 4 roads/tracks, nothing. To get even close to Lacul Bucura by car, it was a 114km drive in an almost complete circle and the road ended about 2 hours' walk/hike/climb from the lake. We decided that after driving 114km, the last thing we needed was a 2 hour walk/hike/climb, especially with an 8, a 5 and a 3 year old, gaggle of kids to carry and bully for 2 hours up there and 2 hours back, then the 114km drive back “home”.
We didn’t go to Lacul Bucura.
Instead we took a gentle drive and a relaxing walk along the banks of the “Valea de Pesti” (The valley of fishes) reservoir and along the ridge of the dam, holding back 4.5 million cubic metres of fresh mountain water.
After a shortish walk, we ventured back to the mining town of Lupeni and found a road which took us up to Straja, a very small ski resort where we had fun driving up the slopes. Florin stuck to the black stuff and I played in the dirt, great fun!
We got up to the top and, (as you do), we came back down, stopping on the way at a cute wooden church high on the hill. It was surrounded by a fence and we noticed a surface “tunnel” leading to it, quite obviously the only way into the church grounds. You can see it off to the left in the first picture.
When we entered the tunnel we had quite a surprise.
Plenty of wood for the winter under the balcony of the Monastery living quarters.
The church is made from wood, all of it, with no nails or screws or any metal brackets at all. It relies on good joints and doweled and wooden pegged fixings.
The belfry was, quite typically in Romania, a separate structure from the church.
A lovely crisp bronze bell.
I liked the antlers in the lighting arrangement!
Lots of wood and lovely carvings
We left the church and headed back to the DN66 towards Hateg. At a place called Banita, we got stuck for 15minutes at some roadworks and I couldn’t resist taking a photo of this horseand cart. Its owner was in the bar and the horse was so bored standing by theside of the road! It kept looking round at the guy at the bar (on the opposite side of the road, and neighing loudly and tossing its head as if to say "come on, let's go!"
Wegot a bit peckish and had lunch at a pension restaurant just outside Hateg.After lunch we appeased my wife Aura, by visiting “Manastirea Prislop”.
Something a bit odd, in Bucharest the Magnolia's were in flower early June, in my garden (at the higher altitude of about 800m) the blooms are later, say late June, here they were out in late August
They wouldn't let me into the church with a camera
so I kicked around outside waiting....
Aura joined the back end of a line of about 500 people and queued for one and a half hours to see the grave of a "modern day" Saint, bless her.
For anyone who may be interested, he was “Arsenius Boca” who was born in 1910 and was relentlessly persecuted throughout his life (like thousands of others) by the communist regime. Worship, although not illegal, had become a dangerous activity, where the State Securitate would treat any worshiper as anti-communist and thus enemies of the Party and the State. Many people would be warned by securitate guys outside the church, not to enter. Many that ignored these threats simply disappeared. Arsenius Boca spent most of his life being beaten, imprisoned and tortured by the Securitate. In the Summer of 1989, he was called by Nicolae Ceausescu to make a prediction (as he had earned a reputation for being able to see into the future). He told Nicolae Ceausescu that he and his notorious wife Elena, would be killed before Christmas. Ceausescu asked smirked and asked him how he thought he would survive after Ceausescu’s death, after making a prediction like that. The priest replied that he wouldn’t. “I will die on 28 November, one month before you” he said. Arsenius Boca died on 28 November 1989 aged 79 (many say after taking a final beating and torture session at the hands of the Securitate) and Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu were both shot on Christmas Day, 25 December 1989.
Anyway, daughter Ana and I got quite bored waiting for her mum
and I ended up chasing her around to keep us both occupied
.
Moving on, we did a bit of traveling in the area and passed a few "castles"
The last being Hunedoara Castle, which is quite an impressive place and rather photogenic
View attachment 8580
We passed an old fortress site high on the hilltop and some very old churches
Then we headed back to the Cabana, had supper and a few more beers before bed.
We were up for breakfast bright and early, studying the maps. Florin had a "good" idea. “Let’s go to Lacul Bucura, it’s a glacial lake at 2,000m and not far from here”. “Mmmm” we thought, “not far, how far is not far?” As the cow flies, it was about 40km. That’s not bad. Trouble was there were no roads to it. Not even 4 x 4 roads/tracks, nothing. To get even close to Lacul Bucura by car, it was a 114km drive in an almost complete circle and the road ended about 2 hours' walk/hike/climb from the lake. We decided that after driving 114km, the last thing we needed was a 2 hour walk/hike/climb, especially with an 8, a 5 and a 3 year old, gaggle of kids to carry and bully for 2 hours up there and 2 hours back, then the 114km drive back “home”.
We didn’t go to Lacul Bucura.
Instead we took a gentle drive and a relaxing walk along the banks of the “Valea de Pesti” (The valley of fishes) reservoir and along the ridge of the dam, holding back 4.5 million cubic metres of fresh mountain water.
After a shortish walk, we ventured back to the mining town of Lupeni and found a road which took us up to Straja, a very small ski resort where we had fun driving up the slopes. Florin stuck to the black stuff and I played in the dirt, great fun!
We got up to the top and, (as you do), we came back down, stopping on the way at a cute wooden church high on the hill. It was surrounded by a fence and we noticed a surface “tunnel” leading to it, quite obviously the only way into the church grounds. You can see it off to the left in the first picture.
When we entered the tunnel we had quite a surprise.
Plenty of wood for the winter under the balcony of the Monastery living quarters.
The church is made from wood, all of it, with no nails or screws or any metal brackets at all. It relies on good joints and doweled and wooden pegged fixings.
The belfry was, quite typically in Romania, a separate structure from the church.
A lovely crisp bronze bell.
I liked the antlers in the lighting arrangement!
Lots of wood and lovely carvings
We left the church and headed back to the DN66 towards Hateg. At a place called Banita, we got stuck for 15minutes at some roadworks and I couldn’t resist taking a photo of this horseand cart. Its owner was in the bar and the horse was so bored standing by theside of the road! It kept looking round at the guy at the bar (on the opposite side of the road, and neighing loudly and tossing its head as if to say "come on, let's go!"
Wegot a bit peckish and had lunch at a pension restaurant just outside Hateg.After lunch we appeased my wife Aura, by visiting “Manastirea Prislop”.
Something a bit odd, in Bucharest the Magnolia's were in flower early June, in my garden (at the higher altitude of about 800m) the blooms are later, say late June, here they were out in late August
They wouldn't let me into the church with a camera
so I kicked around outside waiting....Aura joined the back end of a line of about 500 people and queued for one and a half hours to see the grave of a "modern day" Saint, bless her.
For anyone who may be interested, he was “Arsenius Boca” who was born in 1910 and was relentlessly persecuted throughout his life (like thousands of others) by the communist regime. Worship, although not illegal, had become a dangerous activity, where the State Securitate would treat any worshiper as anti-communist and thus enemies of the Party and the State. Many people would be warned by securitate guys outside the church, not to enter. Many that ignored these threats simply disappeared. Arsenius Boca spent most of his life being beaten, imprisoned and tortured by the Securitate. In the Summer of 1989, he was called by Nicolae Ceausescu to make a prediction (as he had earned a reputation for being able to see into the future). He told Nicolae Ceausescu that he and his notorious wife Elena, would be killed before Christmas. Ceausescu asked smirked and asked him how he thought he would survive after Ceausescu’s death, after making a prediction like that. The priest replied that he wouldn’t. “I will die on 28 November, one month before you” he said. Arsenius Boca died on 28 November 1989 aged 79 (many say after taking a final beating and torture session at the hands of the Securitate) and Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu were both shot on Christmas Day, 25 December 1989.
Anyway, daughter Ana and I got quite bored waiting for her mum
and I ended up chasing her around to keep us both occupied.Moving on, we did a bit of traveling in the area and passed a few "castles"
The last being Hunedoara Castle, which is quite an impressive place and rather photogenic
View attachment 8580
We passed an old fortress site high on the hilltop and some very old churches
Then we headed back to the Cabana, had supper and a few more beers before bed.
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