Working again

Now we are building a warehouse close to the main house, in order to keep firewood during the winter, all kinds of tools and lots of unuseful things we will probably collect through the years! We have also paved the space around the house with stones from the river Suceava, which will also lead to a so-called "summer kitchen", under construction right now as well, a small house that shall be used during the good weather season for cooking and receiving guests for a meal in open-air or under a prolonged roof.

Former borders in Bukovina

Last weekend I was in Cornu Luncii (Suceava), where I visited a tiny museum on the road that links Falticeni to Gura Humorului. Even if you by chance get to observe it and read the indication "muzeu", you would probably not stop. Pity. Its beautiful interior - larger than one can imagine from outside - reproduces a local peasant house, presenting traditional objects, furniture and textiles. But that is not why this museum - inaugurated in November 2008 - is so charged with importance.

Till the end of WWI, this place was the customs office, created in 1809 at the border between Romania and the Austro-Hungarian Duchy of Bukovina. It was through this place that, in November 1918, the first Romanian troops entered Bukovina since it was annexed by the Austrians in 1775.

An "excellent" family

During the weekend of August 8, the current Brazilian Ambassador in Bucharest, H.E. Mr Vitor Gobato and his family (in the picture, holding his grandson in front of our guesthouse), stayed at Fernando's Hideaway in order to visit some of the region's attractions: the former Bukovina capital in today's Ukraine, Chernivtsi, Ancuta's Inn in Tupilati, the cities of Gura Humorului, Suceava and the monastery of Voronetz, after which they left to Maramures through the magnificent Prislop pass. His cousin Roberto de Andrade (right side), for the first time in Romania, had the occasion to enjoy the traditional hospitality and to dive into the local peasant culture.