August 15: Pleasant sleep--the room stays cool. We had a proper breakfast with rice pilaf, tomatoes, cheese and fruit-- more than we could eat! Ion made our morning coffee--nice and rich--and they offer a small cookie or chocolate for me (being gluten-intolerant) right away in the morning. Dorina, George, and I set off for the city where we finally found an ATM that would accept the card (the first three didn't accept the card at all--the first time we had any problems with getting money.) We carried water with us--took the Mini-bus into the down town area and toured the train station (very beautiful!), Dorina's grade school, and along some of the same boulevards we went last evening. We went to the open market--very impressive array of many goods--- separate areas for produce, meat, shoes, clothes, etc. The booths are very tall, filled with the item, and are all under a large roof. Many choices and very good prices. These are the goods everyone would buy--the brand names and fancy item are at the Mall. There were craft booths set up in the park, similar to Pike Street Market. One man was selling Ocarinas-- very
friendly and a good salesman! He took our picture and will post it on the internet this evening--he gave us a paper with the URL on it--this is the age of technology! We made our way home via the bus. Freshened up a bit and we all took a larger taxi to Michael and Natasha's home, Ion's brother. He built his house himself and is a Contractor. We could not have had a warmer welcome. His house is wonderful--three stories and a basement, built on the very top of a hill. He h
as a wonderful view of the city in all directions from the top story. Olivia, their daughter, is about 14. She has been studying English for 6 years already and is very proficient. She translated for her folks and narrated the tour of their house. The kitchen and dining area and some bedroom space is on the first floor, bedrooms and living room on the second floor, and another sleeping area with a balcony--which has a great view of the city, as the house is located on the very top of the hill! The day has been hot and the air is hazy, but we could see the city and surrounding houses. The dinner was (as usual) incredible! Natasha made her specialty; a cabbage dish. We had great conversation---two translators and Natasha was saying some phrases in English, becoming more comfortable with us as the evening went on. After dinner we toured the extensive vegetable and fruit garden around the house--apple trees, many tomato plants, cucumbers, peppers, and flowers--no grass and it's all very productive! Then we all went into the basement where the ping-pong table is and played for a couple of hours! Ion and Michael are fun to watch and Olivia is quite an expert. I really enjoyed playing--haven't played for a number of years. We enjoyed wine and an applesauce dish. Michael and Ion showed us some handwork done by their mother--cross-stitching on a black background. Normally the designs are done on white, but the black background demonstrated her grief over the death of a child. In the back of the picture there were some newspapers dated 1954 which they were reading. The frame was made by their father with ordinary tools and was perfectly fitted together. Michael is going to frame the whole piece to display. We visited into the night and felt very much a part of the family. They made toasts to welcome us and our good relationship with Dorina. I was overwhelmed by their generosity when they made a gift to us of two hand-made pieces from their mother's dowery---she wove the cloth and did the decorative stitchery and crocheting. This is so special and we will treasure them forever. Just before we left the house they introduced us to another custom called "the mouth of the horse" which is one more glass of wine and a toast before you leave! In the old times when you actually had a horse, apparently the horse got a taste of the wine for a good journey. 
Micheal, Olivia, and the rest of us walked to a war memorial, which was beautiful at night. It was a stylized depiction of five rifles leaning up against each other in a huge tripod, representing five years in WWII. We spent time admiring the artwork at this moving memorial to those who were lost in the war. We had bad luck finding a taxi home, but managed to get a small car and crammed four people in the back--Dorina on her dad's lap. August 16: Each morning we are greeted with coffee and a generous breakfast of tomatoes, brinza, eggplant, and some meat, usually pork or chicken. We enjoy each other's company leisurely, then leave for the day! 
Today, Dorina, George and I headed downtown and viewed the building and statues again, then met Ion and Larisa for a glass of wine. Then we toured the Museum of Anthropology and History together. What a wonderful gathering of ancient tools from the Dacia era, examples of dress in various times, and a very moving diorama of World War II. Very realistic artwork for the background and a great collection of real materials from that period in the foreground. Tried to take the old trolley to the restaurant, but that particular trolley didn't come by for a long time, so we split up and took separate taxies and met Teodor and Iulea at restaurant that really was another museum!! We met the owner who had spent three years collecting items from surrounding villages to display in various rooms which depicted a typical village home--a cellar for storing canned and dried food (and wine!), kitchen and working area with a loom and a sewing machine, living area, --great examples of rugs and skins and heavy furniture made from rough-hewn wood. The meal was all authenic food; Samale (grape leaves stuffed with rice and carrots, duck with plums, pork dishes---we ate to our fill and were all sleepy and satisfied when we all said our goodbyes for the evening.August 17: Good breakfast with the family and Pavel picked us up and picked up Olga (who is the owner of the car) and we drove north out of the city to visit the Saharna Monastery of the Holy Trinity. Pavel made fun of Moldovan roads -- taught us "Borta"-- which means "hole" and a host of other meanings--all derogatory! Their was a long stretch of road construction and examples of asphalt deterioration, but we certainly managed to get where we needed to go! We passed through villages of red tile roofs and gardens-- carts pulled by horses with families and businesses. There are vendors selling melons and other farm produce along the road. The villages have wells scattered around the village which are open to all. We stopped at one to refresh ourselves. The monastery in Saharna was a special place. First we hiked up to a large cross on the hill and a small structure housing the footprint of Mary in the limestone. As in Bulgara, the rock contains shells and small snails from the Devonian Era--and is very crumbly. Hiked to the top of the rim of the canyon for a great view of the river and fields below. Next we visited the Monastery grounds and the church. Women must have their heads covered in the church--I had my bandana on, although there are scarves available for women to use. We passed through the Monastery grounds to a spring-fed pool in which people would say a prayer and immerse themselves in the cold water! The water came directly from the limestone. Nice to cool off and rest a bit. We then hiked up a ravine following Saharna creek which is a series of 22 falls, culminating in a 4 meter high falls into a whirlpool which is 10 meters deep. We were able to walk in the back of the falls and cool off! We hiked to the rim again to find a monument to the Great Site of Ancient Settlement. A battle between the Romans and Dacian peoples took place here. After hiking back through the Monastery grounds, we drove to Villa Rosa, where we stayed the night. We had intended to visit another place, but we were running low on gas and a thunderstorm hit--great to cool everything down, but we had to pull off the road as the windshield wipers couldn't keep up with the pounding rain! We found gas after stopping at one gas station that had no electricity due to a lightening strike and another that didn't have the kind of fuel we needed. As we came into the village, we drove through a herd of cows coming in from the fields. Our hostess, Tanta Luba, welcomed us as the first guests to stay in her enterprise. She remodeled her mother's home to rent as a villa for people to experience village life with authentic food from her extensive garden. Her dog had four puppies we played with! We had dinner outside under the grape arbor--mamaliga, pork, tomatoes, and local wine. We slept well with cool breezes.
August 18: It rained a bit in the morning, so we ate inside --we moved the food just in time ---the down pour hit minutes after the last plate was moved! Tanta Luba's daughter cam from Chisineau to act as our tour guide for the day! The rain slowed to a sprinkle and we hiked up to some old caves left by both priests living areas and mining for limestone to build houses and walls. Great views from the caves! Then we drove to the Orhei Vechi--a Museum Complex which includes a small museum with artifacts, a walk up to a cross and stone caves from the 15th century used by priests. The caves are accessed by a tunnel through the hillside to twelve small rooms used for meditation and prayer and a larger santuary (I used a wonderful shawl to cover my shoulders and head while I visited).
The sanctuary opened up on a ledge with a wonderful view of the valley and river below. Coins are pressed into the limestone cracks. We walked down into the village and viewed a house as it would have been structured in old times--a summer house, wine cellar, garden, and main house.
At the edge of the village we stopped at a rennovation project-- a US government grant team was working with local craftsmen to restore ancient Roman baths--mostly in ruins, but it is slowly coming back to life. It is intended to be an economic stimulation for the village and the country. George and I were talking when a woman suddenly came out of the group and came over to us, saying, "You speak English!!!" She is heading up the grant project and is here for three years to see it through. She is learning Romanian and says it's a tough language to learn. Turns out that she is the same person who approved Dorina's grant--Valerie Colby. Dorina recognized her name and we all had a good visit with her and I intend to contact her when I get home. (PS-- we have corresponded in Fall 2010 and am exploring ways to tap into similar grants--more later!)
We returned to Villa Rosa for a great lunch outside and signed her guestbook as her first visitors! I hope this investment works well for her. We really enjoyed the puppies and the great view from her house of the limestone cliffs.
While we were looking for the Winery, we parked in front of this great wall of "want ads" taped all over for passersby to take phone numbers to contact the person!
We drove to the Vartely Winery where Teodor and Iulea had some of their wedding pictures taken--and were very pleasantly surprised to see Larisa and Ion greet us at the front terrace!! A friend of Dorina's, Octavian, drove them up and accompanied us. We toured the beautiful houses to rent there and the grounds, then spent an enjoyable couple of hours sampling wine, pasteries, and laughing!
George and I rode back with Octavian, Ion, and Larisa. We stopped at "Doi Haduci"--a resort area which also depicts life in the villages. There were carts (carutas) of all kinds, rugs, handiwork, and furniture. Fences were made of bent branches. The roof material was bundled reeds piled thickly on wooden trusses. 
We returned to Chisinau to dinner and sleep.
August 19: Slept in and spent the day shopping for gifts to bring home-- wonderful items and we were able to find what we wanted. We met Dorina's work family and had coffee in their courtyard while she took care of some business. We walked by the US embassy and they wouldn't let us photograph anything there! Rested in a small gazebo where photos of couples are taken after they get their marriage documents in oder in the nearby office buildings. Dorina left to be with Pavel for his birthday, We shared the results of our shopping with Ion and Larisa. We had a wonderful pork meal cooked in a roman clay casserole dish-- Larisa soaks this unglazed dish in water for 20 minutes prior to placing it in the oven with a lid on, steaming the contents and making a great meal. We had a great meal-- mamsliga (similar to polenta) and russian cognac and great conversation rounded out the evening nicely. 
Ion's English is good and we managed to understand one another most of the time. We saw the pictures and videos from Teodor and Iulea's wedding--what a rich ceremony--everyone looked like they were having so much fun! Fell into bed late after many toasts of Amaretto--!!
August 20: Leisurely morning, then Pavel and Dorina came and we met Ion's sister, Aurica, her daughter, Gabby, grand-daughter, Paula, and Olga and went to the winery in the caverns called the Milestii Mici -- Oras Vinicol Subteran. What an experience!! We all waited outside for a guide and for the electricity to be restored!! There were two fountains in front--one for red wine and one for white wine--very clever design! We were fortunate to have an English-speaking guide who spoke well and rapidly! There are 120 miles of roads underground and barrels of oak and stainless steel--and many bottles. 
All the bottles are stored in small openings built like deep closets from limestone. Each closet is labeled with the harvest date and the bottleing date, the vineyard and kind of wine. The bottles are left to gather dust and molds--which are prized by the collectors. When a bottle is sold, it is wrapped with a label, sealed and placed in a plastic bag, dust and all! The temperature is consistently about 56 degrees F--and felt very good after all the heat we have been experiencing! We ended the tour with a wine-tasting session in lovely rooms, all hewn out of the limestone. They were furnished with dark wood furniture, artwork, and wood carvings. The doors into the tasting room were designed to look like barrels--very clever! We tried a Cabernet, a white wine, and a dessert wine with dried fruits, peanuts, and pretzels. We also listened at the door of a huge banquet room filled with people celebrating to musicians playing traditional Romanian music--we even danced the waltz a bit in the foyer! We came out into the light and said our goodbyes.
Our bedroom at the Linga's home.
Teodor came and we visited his Flower Shop--Iulea was there, managing the business. 
We picked up Pavel and drove to Aurica and Nick's (Ion's sister and brother-in-law) house in Truseni, where we joined Olivia, Paula, Gabby, and another son with his wife. The lunch was mostly from their extensive garden and was wonderful-- the main dish was a huge deep dish of beef and vegetables--steaming hot and so tender! Ion's sister brought out a world map and we traced Dorina's travels to Washington and we all marveled at the long distances between our homes. I enjoyed seeing all the handmade creative goods-- cross stitching and crocheting-- beautifully detailed work. There is a big cross stitch work done as a collaboration between Ion, his sister and mother of a village scene--good stories about how various parts of it were designed and completed--what a treaure for the family--both in the creation of it and the years of enjoyment of the memories and the artwork itself. We toasted with Nick's homemade wine--they, as usual, were so gracious to us and expressed how grateful they were that we took good care of Dorina. We tried to express our feelings that having Dorina with us has left our lives so much richer in so many ways--getting to know Dorina and having her with us for the year was wonderful--such a joy, and now this unexpected pleasure of having an extended family in Moldova and Romania is life-changing for us. Teodor drove us to the bus station where we said our sad goodbyes to Ion, Pavel, and Teodor. We are taking a mini-bus to Brasov overnight--will arrive at about 3:00 am.
Olivia and Paula with the US T-shirts we brought them!
No comments:
Post a Comment