Old-rite new year in Drăguşeni

The folk mask parade of old-rite New Year ended yesterday, in Drăguşeni, the winter holidays cycle and the official Christmas program in Bukovina.  

The parade began at the gateway into the county, through 2 km on the European road E85 and lasted nearly an hour and a half, with the participation of more than 300 masked dancers of all ages and several towns in the neighborhood. 

Suceava county has a large old-rite Orthodox population, who use the Julian calendar for their religious celebrations. This population is estimated in 30,000 believers.

Source: Monitorul de Suceava

Cantemir brought back by the French

On November 29, we had the pleasure to receive a group of French tourists, some of them from the French National Library, who were coming from a visit in Bukovina and heading to Iasi in order to participate, on the same day, at the launch of the Romanian version of the book Les Cantemir: l'aventure européenne d'une famille princière au XVIIIe siècle, written by the historian Stefan Lemny.

They enjoyed their stay during an hour, when they had the occasion to taste some special local sour cherry brandy, cozonac (homemade walnut cake), and have a grasp of traditional Moldavian atmosphere.

Igloo presents

Issue # 107 (November 2010) of the Romanian architecture and design magazine Igloo has published an article signed by Reka Tugui Rozsnyai and photographs by Serban Bonciocat under the title Casa de vacanta la Draguseni, where our guesthouse is beautifully presented as a building and as a concept.

Watch the pictures and read the article online (in Romanian) here.

Polish guests

In October we were pleased to host a Polish group from Gdansk, who chose our guesthouse in order to explore the unique attractions in Bukovina - including the Polish heritage villages - and in the nearby county of Neamt.

They were struck by the beauty of the landscape and monasteries, as well as by the traditional local food, such as pickled vegetables and the speciality "zacusca".

A station between Bucharest and Chisinau

Tatiana and Jaime Serebrenic (Brazil) spent two nights of May at our guesthouse on their way from Bucharest towards Bessarabia. On this occasion, they were able to grasp the beauty of the Romanian countryside and to visit some important historical locations of Bukovina, such as the Voronet monastery and the folk museum in Gura Humorului.

Storage is ready

The building beside the main house got finally ready few days ago. It has 2 spacious rooms which serve to store all things we do not need to see around (nor inside!) the house. Besides, as long as there is enough free space, the first room - to which we have access through this double wooden door - is used as a garage.

Brazilians in the Carpathians

On the last days of September, we were happy to host a group of Brazilians who were traveling by car through the Balkans towards Hungary: Hélia, her husband Pedro (Vitória/ES) and their brother-in-law Emídio (Berlin) - in the living room in the picture. It was Emídio's second time in Romania, and each of them promised they will come back to see what little time did not let them see this time. Using the hideaway as headquarters, they were able to visit the most important Bukovina monasteries as well as enjoy the autumn landscape and the tasty traditional food. Interesting enough, they crossed the Carpathians three times but they swear they did not meet the Count...