ROMANIA

• Explore Saxon towns in Transylvania, including Sibiu and World Heritage-listed Sighișoara and Brașov

• Marvel at the painted monasteries of Bucovina, whose UNESCO-listed exteriors are entirely covered with medieval frescoes

• Discover traditional culture in the villages of Transylvania and Bucovina, a step back in time to traditional European life on the land

• Enjoy Romania’s beautiful and varied landscapes, from verdant rolling hills to the gorges and passes of the Carpathian Mountains

• Understand the complex history of Romania through its three main historical regions, Wallachia, Transylvania and Moldavia

WEDNESDAY 23 APRIL – ARRIVAL (D)

Transfers are available from Bucharest Otopeni airport to the hotel on arrival day. In the late afternoon we meet in the hotel lobby for an orientation tour of central Bucharest. Here you are introduced to Romania’s history and its reflection in the capital’s eclectic architecture, which ranges from traditional Romanian Orthodox architecture, such as at the delightful Church of the Monastery of Stavropoleos, to French-inflected Belle Époque, neo-classicism and the distinctive Neo-Romanian school. We then enjoy dinner together in a local restaurant. Overnight Bucharest.

THURSDAY 24 APRIL – ‘LITTLE PARIS’ (B, L)

According to legend, Bucharest was founded by Bucur, a wealthy shepherd who established a fortified residence on the Dâmbovița River after he rescued his kidnapped daughter from a band of raiding Tartars. Historically, Bucharest had been a political and administrative centre of Wallachia, Romania’s southern province, from the fifteenth century, when Vlad Țepeș (“The Impaler”) established a court here. Traces of the older city can still be found despite the toll of fires, floods, and occupation by the Ottoman, Russian, Austrian and German empires. In the late nineteenth century Carol I, the first King of Romania, inaugurated an extended period of growth and rebuilding, much of which we still enjoy today, and earned Bucharest the monikers “Little Paris” and “Paris of the East”. This morning we tour the city by coach and on foot, exploring monuments such as the Arcul de Triumf, the Atheneum and the Royal Palace. Here we visit the National Museum of Art, whose diverse collections highlight the different historic styles of art and sculpture from Romania’s three distinct regions, as well as the flourishing of a new, French-inspired art at the turn of the twentieth century. After lunch at a restaurant renowned for its traditional cuisine and historic ambience, we visit the Patriarchal Church and the second largest public building in the world, the Palace of Parliament, whose construction saw Ceaușescu demolish an entire historic neighbourhood. Inside the palace, we visit the Museum of Contemporary Art,which, in addition to a program of temporary exhibitions, also contains a sensitive exhibition of art from the Ceaușescu period. Returning to the hotel, the evening is at leisure. Overnight Bucharest.

FRIDAY 25 APRIL – CURTEA DE ARGEȘ AND THE OLT VALLEY (B, L, D)

Romanian cultural identity is closely bound to the country’s diverse landscapes and the traditions of those who worked the land. Today, as we depart Bucharest, we begin to explore this connection to place. Our first stop is an outdoor museum where over 300 traditional buildings from across Romania have been relocated and restored. The museum illuminates traditional Romanian life and highlights the distinctive architectural styles of the regions. Afterwards, we continue into the north-west and the foothills of the Southern Carpathians. After lunch at a country inn, we visit Curtea de Argeș, once a satellite of the medieval court and now principally known for the monastery whose sixteenth-century, Byzantine-inspired cathedral became the Royal Necropolis in the early twentieth century. After touring the historic town and the cathedral, we continue along the Olt River Valley, one of the principal paths across the mountains to Transylvania. Dinner and overnight in Râmnicu Vâlcea.

SATURDAY 26 APRIL – COZIA MONASTERY AND SIBIU (B, L)

Today we enter Transylvania, a region in which German, Hungarian and Romanian cultures have influenced each other across the centuries. Our journey takes us through the forested valleys of the Carpathians, during which we stop at the Monastery of Cozia. This scenic monastery was established by Mircea the Elder in the late fourteenth century, when Byzantine art and architecture held sway; the fortified cloister here is the country’s only surviving example of this architectural moment and is recognised as a National Monument. After admiring the beautifully preserved fourteenth-century frescoes, we continue to Sibiu, a well-preserved fortified Saxon town that was once the capital of Transylvania. Here we see a different side of Romania’s history, that of the Saxons, who were settled at the foot of the Carpathians by the King of Hungary to facilitate trade to the east and to protect the border. After lunch in Sibiu, a European Capital of gastronomy, we enjoy a walking tour of the town’s narrow medieval lanes, Gothic churches and fortifications. Concluding at the National Brukenthal Museum, we survey the collections of art, manuscripts and natural history that originally formed the private collection of Baron Samuel von Brukenthal, Transylvania’s chancellor under the Habsburg empress Maria Theresa. The evening is at leisure. Overnight Sibiu.

SUNDAY 27 APRIL – TRADITIONAL TRANSYLVANIA (B, L)

Today we explore traditional culture in Transylvania, proudly preserved in the Carpathian foothills. We begin by visiting some of the local villages, with their traditions of shepherding, farming, and arts and crafts. As it is Sunday, the villagers of Rășinari, which we visit, will be dressed in traditional black and white garb as they make their way to church. We then continue to Garu Râului where we explore the village’s peasant architecture and cobbled streets, before we have a traditional shepherd’s lunch. In the early afternoon we visit a museum that preserves the country’s largest collection of traditional painted glass icons. These are a form of Romanian Orthodox folk art that continued to be practiced in Transylvania during centuries of Hungarian and Austrian rule. Returning to Sibiu, the later afternoon and evening are at leisure. Overnight Sibiu.

MONDAY 28 APRIL – ALBA IULIA, TURDA AND CLUJ (B, L)

We depart Sibiu this morning for Cluj-Napoca, calling in at Alba Iulia. This town presents the Roman face of Transylvania, founded as the capital of the newly-conquered province of Dacia, following the defeat celebrated on Trajan’s Column in Rome. In the Middle Ages, when the town was the seat of Transylvania’s Catholic diocese, it became a base for military control of the region and was contested by Transylvanian, Hungarian, Ottoman and Moldavian rulers. Its heavy fortifications, the most recent of which are star-shaped and date from the eighteenth century, remain intact. The city holds a special significance for the nation, as it was here that representatives of Transylvania’s Romanian and Saxon populations declared their union with the Kingdom of Romania at the end of the First World War. After our tour and lunch in a local restaurant, we continue north to the historic Turda salt mines, which have been excavated since the pre-Roman period and which have more recently been used for an extraordinary variety of things, including an underground amusement park. In the later afternoon, we continue to Cluj-Napoca, Romania’s second largest city. Overnight Cluj-Napoca.

TUESDAY 29 APRIL – CLUJ-NAPOCA (B)

Cluj-Napoca, or simply Cluj, is known as the “Treasure City” due to the wealth amassed by the Hungarians and Saxons from the Middle Ages and invested in the city’s remarkable architecture. As our morning walking tour reveals, the city has long been the centre of Hungarian culture in Transylvania as can been seen in the gothic St Michael’s Cathedral and in the house museum of Matthias Corvinus, the Hungarian king who famously fought both the Austrian Habsburgs and the Ottomans. Alongside the legacy of Austro-Hungarian rule stands monuments to the ethnically Romanian history of Cluj, including the delightful Orthodox Cathedral, a striking example of the distinctive Brâncovenesc style of architecture. The afternoon is at leisure, with the option to visit the National Museum of Transylvanian History. Overnight Cluj-Napoca.

WEDNESDAY 30 APRIL – BISTRIȚA AND STOKER’S DRACULA (B, D)

We leave Transylvania today for the Eastern Carpathians, the third main region of Romania, together with Bucovina and Moldavia. Our first stop is at Bistrița, a Saxon town that was a gateway to the east through the mountains. Jonathan Hawker, the protagonist of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, sets off here for the Tihuța Pass, a landscape that folk culture holds to be enchanted by faeries and which Stoker graces with a vampire count. After time for a stroll in Bistrița, we continue up the Pass and admire the magnificent alpine scenery and its mythology. Arriving at Gura Humorului, our base for the next two nights, we enjoy dinner. Overnight Gura Humorului.

THURSDAY 01 MAY - THE MONASTERIES OF BUCOVINA (B, L, D)

The northern region of Bucovina is renowned for its UNESCO World Heritage-listed painted monasteries and traditional crafts. These alpine monasteries, often in locations of great scenic beauty, boast exceptionally well-preserved murals that often completely cover the exterior. We begin the day at Voroneț Monastery, a fifteenth-century church dedicated to St George by Moldovia’s Stephen the Great, after a victory over the Ottomans. The brilliant blue of the murals, with their scenes from the life of St George, splendid Last Judgement, and host of mythological beings, is extraordinary. Continuing to Moldovița Monastery, fortified in the 1530s as part of a  defensive line against Ottoman incursions, we admire a fabulous depiction of the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. Sucevița Monastery, our final visit before lunch in a local restaurant, is the largest and grandest of the painted monasteries, and one of the last to be painted in the early seventeenth century. In the afternoon, after lunch at a local restaurant, we call in at the Vama Egg Museum, which is dedicated to the region’s folk art and includes 16,000 traditionally painted Easter eggs. Dinner and overnight Gura Humorului.

FRIDAY 02 MAY – AGAPIA MONASTERY AND IAȘI (B, L)

After a leisurely start this morning, we leave the mountains to make our way back south. Our first stop is the seventeenth-century Agapia Monastery. Agapia is one of the largest functioning monasteries in Romania, with between 200 and 400 nuns accommodated there at any one time. But the monastery is also significant for the frescoes inside its church by Nicolae Grigorescu, the grandparent of modern Romanian painting. Here we see Orthodox icons and religious paintings that are strongly inspired by the Italian Renaissance and by baroque painting; later, Grigorescu would adopt contemporary practices from the Barbizon and Impressionist schools, exemplifying the broader shift of Romania’s national culture in the 1860s, when it also adopted the Latin script and its intellectuals flocked to Paris’s literary scene. At lunchtime we arrive in Iași,the historical and cultural capital of Romania. After lunch at a local restaurant where we taste the regions specialities, we explore Copou Hill and its historic architecture from when it was the residence of aristocrats, boyars and wealthy craftsmen. The evening is at leisure. Overnight Iași.

SATURDAY 03 MAY – IAȘI AND BICAZ GORGE (B, D)

We begin the day with a walking tour of city centre a visit the Grand Metropolitan Cathedral, the largest orthodox church in Romania and the site of south-eastern Europe’s largest pilgrimage, and unique Church of the Three Hierarchs, whose exterior walls are covered with 30 registers of sculpture. The complex imagery and different types of abstraction seen in the sculptures include visual and architectural elements of the Transylvanian Gothic, Russian, Romanian, Armenian, Persian and Georgian traditions. We end our tour with a visit to Iași’s Palace of Culture, formerly the palace of the Princes of Moldavia. The museum’s ethnographic collection contains excellent examples of painted eggs and textiles, and an archaeological collection that illuminates a fascinating prehistoric civilisation extending from the Carpathians to the Dnieper. The latter disappeared almost without a trace 2,700 years ago. After a light lunch, we leave Iași and head west into the Carpathians, stopping to visit Ruginoasa Residence, a nineteenth-century palace that became the residence of the first ruler of a united Romania, and Piatra Neamț, a charming historic town nestled in the mountains. From here we enter the Bicaz Gorge, which was formed by the river of the same name as it carved its meandering path through Jurassic limestone. The spectacular journey reaches its pinnacle at Hell’s Gate, where 200 to 300-metre-high cliffs line the passage, and at Red Lake, an eerie alpine lake formed after a landslide damned the river and flooded a forest. Today, the trunks standing the lake appear to be petrified. Dinner and overnight at Red Lake (Lacu Roșu).

SUNDAY 04 MAY – SIGHIȘOARA (B, L, D)

We continue across the Carpathians today, returning to Transylvania to visit Sighișoara. This beautifully preserved twelfth-century Saxon citadel is now UNESCO World Heritage-listed, and we explore the city on foot. Our visit includes the Clock Tower with its panoramic views and fascinating history museum, Citadel Square, and the house where Vlad the Impaler was born, and the Gothic Church of St Nicholas. In the mid-afternoon we continue to Brașov, where we have an orientation walk of the town centre followed by dinner. Overnight Brașov.

MONDAY 05 MAY – BRAȘOV & SURROUNDS (B, L)

Brașov was the largest of the Saxon colonies and it guards the passes that connect Transylvania most directly to Bucharest and the Ottoman Empire. But Brașov was also a key trading town, and the wealth of its citizens is apparent in its lavish architecture. It is sometimes referred to as Romania’s Salzburg. This morning, we explore the town’s history on a walking tour that includes the fourteenth-century Cathedral or “Black Church”, with its collection of medieval carpets and 4,000-tube organ. We then travel to Poiana Brașov, a mountain resort with exquisite views  across the alpine scenery. After lunch in a traditional restaurant, we visit the UNESCO-listed fortified monastery of Prejmer. The monastery was fortified by the Teutonic knights in the thirteenth century as part of the border defences and, from the sixteenth century onwards, has been home to bands of a Holy Order of Lutheran Knights. Returning to Brașov, the evening is at leisure. Overnight Brașov.

TUESDAY 06 MAY – SINAIA & PELEȘ (B, L, D)

After a leisurely start in Brașov, we cross the Carpathians to the Prahova Valley, a beautiful region long favoured as a summer retreat by Romania’s nobility. Our first stop is Sinaia, where we have time to enjoy the scenic town and visit the German Neo-Renaissance Peleș Castle, built as the summer residence of the Hohenzollern Carol I, the first King of Romania. It boasts an idyllic position, the natural landscape forming a picturesque backdrop. Our tour inside the royal summer residence reveals the tastes of King Carol, with each room designed around a particular theme and the matching décor drawing on a wide range of European styles: Romanian, German, Venetian, Florentine and English. After lunch, we continue through the Prahova Valley to Bucharest, where the later afternoon is at leisure. Overnight Bucharest.

WEDNESDAY 7 MAY – MOGOȘOAIA PALACE & PRIMAVERII HOUSE (B, D)

This morning we visit Mogoșoaia Palace, a monument to the Romanian national style of architecture. Originally built by Constantin Brâncoveanu, the ruler of southern Romania, the palace exemplifies its patron’s unique style of architecture, with elements of tradition alongside the Byzantine, Ottoman and Italianate. After its 1714 sack by the Ottomans, the palace and its gardens were lovingly rebuilt in the 1920s by the aristocrat Martha Bibescu, making them a centre for European high society. After visiting the palace, the original family chapels and gardens, we return to Bucharest to visit Primaverii House, the mansion of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu. Although Ceaușescu, who ruled Romania from 1965 until the 1989 revolution, broke with the Soviet Union and made overtures to the West, he nonetheless imposed one of the most authoritarian (and theatrical) regimes in Eastern Europe. The mansion’s luxurious interiors, vast collection of tapestries and grand reception halls stand in stark contrast to the austere life under the regime. The afternoon is at leisure, with the option to visit the treasury of the National Museum. In the evening, we enjoy a farewell dinner together. Overnight Bucharest.

THURSDAY 8 MAY– DEPARTURE (B)

The tour concludes after breakfast in the hotel. Transfers to Bucharest Otopeni airport are available on request.

Mercure City Centre 4* Bucharest, 4 nights

https://all.accor.com/hotel/9680/index.en.shtml

Grand Hotel Sofianu 4* Ramnicu Valcea 1 night
https://www.hotelsofianu.ro/en/

Hotel Continental Forum 4* Sibiu, 2 nights
https://continental-forum-sibiu.continentalhotels.ro/en

Hampton by Hilton 4* Cluj-Napoca, 2 nights
https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/cljhxhx-hampton-cluj-napoca/

La Conac 4* Gura Humorilui, 2 nights
https://laconacinbucovina.ro/

International Hotel 4* Iasi, 1 night
https://www.hotelinternationaliasi.ro/

Hotel Lacu Rosu 4* Lacu Rosu, 1 night
https://hotellacurosu.ro/

Kolping Hotel 4* Brasov, 2 night
https://hotel.kolping.ro/en/

• 13 nights’ accommodation at 4* hotels and 1 night in 3*+ hotel

• All breakfasts and 18 lunches or dinners

• All ground transport, guided tours and entrance fees to sites as mentioned in the itinerary, and tipping

• Talks by and expertise of an Australian tour leader throughout and the services of an English speaking Romanian guide throughout

A $1,000pp deposit is required at the time of booking to hold your place on tour.

We will invoice you for final payment for the tour, due on 7 February 2025.

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