Discover the orthodox world by living in it

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About Tour

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We will visit many monasteries, some of them not so well- known, but each of them having something interesting to show. We will see new and old churches/monasteries, we will see that life and tradition didn’t change here since many centuries, that even now the life is almost the same as 1000 years ago. You will overnight in monasteries, you will eat with the nuns and monks, you will talk to them, you can ask any questions you want, and so, by living, hearing, seeing you will understand a little bit of the beauty of the orthodox world, and enjoy living simple, eating well and healthy, and also relaxing your body and soul from the stressful life. It will be NOT an excursion, it will be an EXPERIENCE. May be not so impressive from art and history point of view, but for sure extremely impressive from the experience we will have interacting with local people and people from these monasteries.

Despite the fact that 50 years of hard communism destroyed some of the Romanian churches and monasteries, the fact that Ceausescu in the 80’s had a strong campaign against the church and everything related to it, many of them survived in good or worse conditions and many have been reopened after 1990.

1 ^st Day

Arrival

Included highlights:

Arrival in Iasi
Direct transfer to Neamt area,
Dinner and accommodation either at Varatec convent (nun) or Neamt monastery (monk).

Included meals:

Dinner

2 ^nd Day

Between monasteries

Included highlights:

Neamt area is one of the most important monasteries/orthodox region in Romania, if not THE MOST IMPORTANT. The jewels of the crown are two monasteries. One is Neamt monastery, to which all important leaders of the Romanian ortodox are linked. The next jewel is AGAPIA and VARATEC, two sister monasteries, convents, having together almost 1000 nunes. You will see what they do in their workshops, how they live and learn about their belief.

The Varatec Convent
The Agapia Convent
The Neamt Monastery
The Sihla Monastery
The Sihastria Monastery
The Secu Monastery
Free lunch
Dinner with some of the high ranked people in the monastery

Included meals:

Breakfast
Dinner

3 ^rd Day

Bucovinean Monasteries

Included highlights:

Voronet Monastery, said to be the most impressive of them all, as it displays a special colour, the Voronet blue, which is considered an original one, next to Tiziano’s red and Veronese’s green
Humor Monastery, renowned for the unique, colourful exterior frescoes on the walls
Free lunch
Dinner with the nun abbot of Vorona Monastery
Overnight in a new monastery, Vorona. The experiences you will have, and the interesting discusions with the nun abbot in Vorona will be one of the highlights of the trip.

Included meals:

Breakfast
Dinner

4 ^th Day

Discover the monasteries in Iasi region

Included highlights:

Visit Probota Church
Visit Miclauseni Monastery
Lunch at the Micleuseni Monastery with the nun abbot
Visit Vladiceni monastery
Discover a small Neo-Gothic castle, built by one of the most important noble families in Eastern Romania, Strudza. The Castle was the summer residence of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, famous for unifying two Romanian provinces: Wallachia and Moldavia under the name of Romania.
Dinner and accommodation.

Included meals:

Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner

5 ^th Day

Exploring Iasi

Included highlights:

City Tour of Iasi, the most important historical, economic,and cultural center in Northeast Romania
The Metropolitan Cathedral,
Culture Palace,
The Three Holy Hierarchs Monastery, unique architectural masterpiece
Same accommodation
Enjoy blessed meal at farewell dinner with the abbot in the monastery of Vladiceni
Surprise!! We will have the opportunity to hear Byzantine Church music sang by a student’s choir from the Theological University of Iasi.

Optional highlights:

Visit of a monastery next to Iasi.

Included meals:

Breakfast
Dinner

6 ^th Day

Departure home

Included highlights:

Departure home

Included meals:

Breakfast

What People Say

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What a wonderful holiday. Everything was well organised and went well.

The guide, Cristina, was excellent, good English and very knowledgeable and keen that we should see every cultural and characteristic aspect of Moldova.

The visit to the Roma "family" was fascinating-not a "family" visit but a meeting with the Roma head of family in his huge house ornate and wealthy and we had a delicious home make cherry juice and had a question and answer session with him. He,Robert, is a relative of the Roma king; This was very informative as I am very interested in everyone and everything but tourists need to be interested in the Roma people and way of life otherwise input wouldn't be so fascinating!!

The visit to the "old believers" village was just great-tea from a samovar and cakes and a very pleasant woman the librarian and museum custodian.

In Gaugazia we met the Museum curator and again a fascinating insight into Gaugazian history.

Much of our enjoyment and insights was enhances by Cristina who translated everything so well.

The visits to the wineries were an eye opener and the wine tasting too. I recommend tourists who go to the Cricova winery to to wear warm clothes and a scarf as we go deep down into the underground "city" to see the stored wine.

We loved the food (and all the wine).

Dear Victoria, thank you so much for making my trip to Moldova memorable. Your knowledge, charm and beauty are incomparable. How lucky of me to get the best guide in Moldova for my visit.

Dear Razvan,

Thank you so much for this fantastic educational trip. Your organisation was perfect, your company / guidance most appreciated.

And i can say that this trip immediately comes in my top 5 trips ever in my 27 year career. Thanks a lot: fantastic discoveries, fantastic explanations, very good and nice hotels, excellent food everywhere, and so on...

Also specal thanks to Natasha. With her enthusiasm she made us discover Moldova and Transnistria in a fantastic way.