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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Dear Victoria,

Please accept the endosed as a token of my thanks and appreciation. I have been lucky enough, over the years, to have traveled to many destinations, and to have experienced every sort of guide. In my opinion you are right at the top, one of the select very few who manage to “get it just right”.

Like any skilled job, guiding is something that, when done well, it looks easy! You and I know that is not the case; it’s a tough, demanding profession that few individuals do adequately, and even fewer, well. Hardly any do such a great job that their clients feel cared for, safe, valued and special. You, in my view, are one of those rare tour leaders.

Please, accept my small token of gratitude. You have been kind, lightful, knowlageble (extremly), considerate, tolerant, efficient, reliable… I could go on, but to spare your blushes I will end by saying I cannot find a single criticism (this is a rare thing for me – I have very high standards!).

Your company depends for its success on your delivering what they promised. You have done professionaly this with a smile, a sense of humor, and grate dignity.

I wish you all the luck in the world for the future & thank you for leaving me with not only happy memories but with a positive impression of Moldova.

With very best wishes, Veronica.

Victoria, Just a short note to say thank you very much for everything on Sunday. Despite the long and tiring journey caused by the road closure in Ukraine, we thoroughly enjoyed our day, and learned so much about Moldova, Transnistria and Ukraine. We particularly enjoyed discovering Tiraspol, as it's such an unusual place and gave us a glimpse of how life was under the former Soviet regime. Because British history is relatively simple, with few invasions and no changes of borders, we struggle to understand the complexities of European history.

We were very impressed with your understanding - and with your excellent English language skills in explaining it all to us. It certainly brought to life our visit to your country. I hope your journey back home was a little easier than the one to Odessa. Please give our thanks to our driver on the day - I'm afraid we do not recall his name but we appreciated all he did to negotiate the way through the border crossings for us and to get us to Odessa as quickly as he did despite the obstacles. Good luck for future success in your career. If you are ever in England and are able to visit our area, do not hesitate to give us a call. We could show you the historic city of Winchester and the busy port and waterside areas of Portsmouth, which I'm sure you would find interesting. Thanks again for everything.

This trip has exceeded my expectations due mostly to your thoughtful guidance and warmth.

Thank you for sharing yout knowledge and passion about your wonderful country and for treating us like family.