Itinerary

Day 1

ROUTING: BUCHAREST
- Your English-speaking specialist guide will pick you up from your location in
Bucharest (Hotel, Airport, etc...)
- Depending of your arrival time we can arrange a short tour of Bucharest : the
Capital of Romania. Main highlights: House of Free Press, Government Palace,
Revolution Square, Royal Palace, Atheneum, Parliament Palace or House of the
People : the second largest building from the world after Pentagon.
- Overnight in Bucharest
ACCOMMODATION:
OPTION A: Crystal Palace Hotel ****
OPTION B: Casa Gabriela ***

Day 2

ROUTING: BUCHAREST - TULCEA
- Breakfast
- Depart to Tulcea the start point for an amazing visit to the Danube Delta -
declared the Natural Biosphere of the Danube Delta by UNESCO!
- Lunch enroute
- Arrival to Tulcea; the capital and gate way to the Danube Delta
- Dinner at accommodation
- Overnight in Tulcea
ACCOMMODATION:
OPTION A & B: Traditional Guesthouse

Day 3

ROUTING: TULCEA - SULINA - IULIA CANAL - SONTEA - MILA 23
- Breakfast
- Prepare your eyes for a huge day of bird, watching crossing great lakes, and
breathtaking canals
- Starting Tulcea by Sulina canal.Crossing Sulina canal, Iulia canal, Sontea
canal arriving in Mila 23 village.
- Visit in the village, sun set on Ligheanca lake
- Mila 23 is a small fishermen village situated in the heart of the Danube
Delta.
- A nice day for exploring, we could see some villages further along the
Danube river, nice
canals and lakes. Birds we can see today are herons, storks, king fishers,
pelicans, rollers, among others
- Lunch on boat, dinner and accommodation
- Overnight in Mila 23
ACCOMMODATION:
OPTION A & B: Traditional Guesthouse

Day 4

ROUTING: MILA 23 - SONTEA - OLGUTZA - SIREASA - MILA 35 CANALS - TULCEA
- After the breakfast at the guest house, starting another nice day, return
to Tulcea town through Sontea, Olgutza, Sireasa, Mila 35 canals.
- A short break for coffee on Fortuna lake will be great.
- As for birds...full day for herons, swans, pelicans, egrets, white tailed
eagle and many others..
- Lunch on boat, dinner and accommodation
- Overnight in Tulcea
ACCOMMODATION:
OPTION A & B: Traditional Guesthouse

Day 5

ROUTING: TULCEA - IASI
- Breakfast
- Drive to Iasi
- Lunch enroute
- Drop off at hotel
- Evening at your leisure
- Overnight in Iasi
ACCOMMODATION:
OPTION A: Hotel Unirea****
OPTION B: Hotel***

Day 6

ROUTING: IASI : SUCEAVA : PUTNA : ARBORE : VORONET/HUMOR
- Breakfast
- Start the day exploring the city of Iasi, with the main attraction of the City
(Culture Palace, Cathedral, etc..)
- Depart on the route to Suceava, former capital of Moldavia in the medieval
ages. Here we visit Suceava Citadel, which was built during the rule of the
Prince Petru I Musat (1375-1391), having 10 m high and 2 m thick defense walls
and a defense tower in every corner, the entrance into the citadel being
realized by crossing a bridge with piers. Here died Stephen the Great.
- Continue our route to the region of outside painted monasteries from Bucovina.
First two who will be visited are Putna Monastery and Arbore Monastery.
- Putna : The beginnings of Putna Monastery, the most important religious,
cultural and artistic centre in mediaeval Moldavia, take us back to the year
1466 when, upon the initiative of Prince Stephen the Great , a church of
impressive dimensions was built on a patch of forest cleared for the purpose.
The edifice was erected among 1466 and 1469 and consecrated in 1470; to it was
added a few more buildings: a princely home standing on the southern side, outer
walls and defense towers; all of them completed in 1481. Miniature painters,
many embroiderers, icon makers, weavers, silversmiths, sculptors in wood and
book-binders toiled on in the quiet atmosphere of the monks' cells at Putna.
They continued valuable Romanian patterns and achieved works of great artistic
value which today are the pride of all museums and libraries housing them.
- Special mention should be made of the sumptuous and elegant Four Gospels
created here, adorned with miniatures in which perfect drawing combines with a
motley color scheme in which gold prevails, as well as the fine embroideries
(epitaphs, iconostasis curtains, coverings of tetrapods and of graves, stoles,
etc.), many of them on show in the museum of the monastery.
- Arbore Monastery, built between the 2nd of April and the 29th of August 1503,
by Luca Arbore, one of Stephen the Great's generals, in the village of Soloca,
that he owned. The monument has been consecrated to the Beheading of Saint John
the Baptist. Having a rectangular plan, the church has walls made of raw stone
and vaults made of brick. Smaller than other painted churches, Arbore has a
gloomy narthex and a nave with large windows. There is no steeple, as it was
built by a landowner, and not by a ruling prince.It has remarkable fresco
exterior and interior paintings against a predominant green background, unlike
Voronet, where blue predominates. The green is in five shadows and 47 hues
combined with red, blue, yellow, pink and ochre. The secret of combining colours
was kept by Moldavian master painters to their grave, and is now lost in the
mist of time. However, scientists were able to identify thirty substances,
including animal size, vinegar, egg, gall and honey. Restorers cannot hope to
duplicate the paint: they can only stabilize what has been left of the frescoes.
- End the day in the area of Humor and Voronet.
- Overnight
ACCOMMODATION:
OPTION A: Hilde's Residence****
OPTION B: Doina Guesthouse***

Day 7

ROUTING: VORONET/HUMOR : SUCEVITA : MOLDOVITA : VORONET/HUMOR
- Breakfast
- Today we'll visit another four monasteries from Bucovina region three of them
(Voronet, Moldovita, Humor) are included in the Unesco Heritages List.
- Voronet : founded in 1488 by Stephen the Great . It is the most accomplished
sample of artistic achievement in Moldavian architecture and painting . The
doors of the porch have a Renaissance framing, whereas the stone carvings of the
broken arches at the doors and
windows belong to the Gothic style. Voronet Monastery had been dubbed the
oriental Sixtine Chapel , whereas Voronet Blue , a color obtained from lapis
lazuli, entered in the lexicon of art alongside Titian red and Veronese green,
and to this day has yet to be reproduced by natural means
- Humor Monastery : dates from 1530, this monastery was among the first churches
to be painted , the frescoes were painted in 1535. Humor is painted in reddish
brown ( from oriental madder pigment), colors are brilliant and truthful to
nature
- Moldovita Monastery: dates back from 1532 and is due to the ruling prince
Petru Rares
It has the aspect of a fortress, with imposing towers and high, thick walls. The
church has a three-cusped plan, as well as an open porch. It Is decorated with
scenes from the 16th c Moldavian life. You can see here the best preserved
frescoes, with fresh and vivid colors.
Optional: take s short trip with “Mocanita” the old and famous train. Nowdays a
touristic train.
- Sucevita Monastery: the last and the most magnificent monastic achievement
among the painted monasteries in Bucovina , looks as a real fortress, with
towers, buttresses and watch roads. Built in 1581, by one bishop, it was
dedicated to the Assumption in 1584. Paintings of the Sucevita monastery were
best preserved both on the outside and on the inside( Ladder of Virtue, the last
Judgment, the tree of Jesse,)
- Overnight
ACCOMMODATION:
OPTION A: Hilde's Residence****
OPTION B: Doina Guesthouse***

Day 8

ROUTING: VORONET/HUMOR : BUCHAREST
- Breakfast
- Start the journey back to Bucharest
- Drop off at hotel
- Evening at your leisure
- Overnight in Bucharest
ACCOMMODATION:
OPTION A: Crystal Palace Hotel ****
OPTION B: Casa Gabriela ***

Day 9

ROUTING: BUCHAREST
- Breakfast
- Transfer to Bucharest Airport and final good-bye from your Romanian Specialist
Tour Guide or continue this tour to Bulgaria with our partners

Extra Information

Inclusions -

Local taxes

Exclusions -

Not Included: - Airfare - Alcoholic drinks - Gratuities- Entrance fees for the Castles and Monastery - Extra charges of hotel, eg. Laundry, telephone or fax charges, room service, etc.. - Insurance

Extras -

This tour represents 2 diverse and unique regions in Romania. The Danube
Delta, declared a Biosphere reservation by UNESCO, is one of a kind in this
world where the only means by transportation is on the water. Then onto Northern
Romania to visit the famous Painted Monasteries, also included in the UNESCO
heritage list.

After a night in Bucharest we start our journey to the Danube Delta. Arriving in
the town of Tulcea for the first night stay in a Traditional guest house. The
next few days we will discover the area with a private local guide specializing.
Network of channels, lakes, lushly vegetated forests â€' and a huge diversity of
birds, presided over by the greatest of them all, the pelican..

In the second part we visit and experience the Bucovina region with its
beautiful monasteries (many of them include in the Unesco Heritages List),
wonderful traditions and excellent food and drink.