The Suceava Castle

The Castle of Suceava (Cetatea de Scaun a Sucevei) was the ruling place of a Romanian historical figure who has become the stuff of legend, namely Ștefan cel Mare, also known as Stephen III of Moldavia. He was “voivode” (ruler) of Moldavia from 1457 until his death in 1504. I’ll let you read more about him here.

Stefan cel Mare

The castle was built and extended in multiple stages. The initial medieval keep was completed in the 14th century and was called Fort Mușatin. The exterior wall around the keep was built during the reign of Stefan cel Mare, between 1476-1478. The moat was dug at the end of the 15 century. The counterattack wall around the moat was built in the second half of the 15th century. The castle’s architecture allows for the walls at the main points of cannon attack to be as thick as 3.5 meters. It’s an impressive structure and once inside its walls, there’s a certain air of history that will take hold of you, provided you’re not surrounded by crowds of tourists.

Enjoy the photos!

Cetatea de Scaun, Suceava, Bucovina, Romania.

I shot these photos with my Canon EOS 5D and the EF 24-105mm f/4L lens.

Canon EOS 5D

Canon EF 24-105mm f4L IS USM Lens

Places

Images from historic churches and monasteries in Bucovina and Moldova

In August of 2*** (regular readers will know the year 😁), we took a tour of the historic churches and monasteries in the provinces of Moldova and Bucovina (within the territory of Romania).

A clarification is in order here. When people hear Moldova they automatically think about the Republic of Moldova, which used to be part of the Romanian province of Moldova but was taken by the Russians in 1940. That whole region has a fairly tumultuous history which you can read here. Just keep in mind these photographs were taken within the current-day borders of Romania and yes, there are two provinces called Bucovina and Moldova in Romania. I’ve lost track of how many times people have tried to correct me on this, all of them foreigners…

I could have published individual posts of each place but that would have been tedious for me (and for you too). I know it was tedious for me when we visited these places, one after another, day after day, dealing with heat, huge crowds and the hospitality industry (you know, the three Hs of travel; they add together to form a fourth H which is a four-letter word)… but we had made a plan and we stuck to it. Romanians in general tend to make trips to these places yearly for religious reasons. We visited these places because of their historical and architectural value, so while we were there we saw as many as we could in the time we had allotted ourselves.

In this gallery of photographs (there are 134 of them), you will see images from the following places:

The wooden church in Șurdești (Maramureș), a UNESCO monument and also the highest wooden church in the world
Moldovița Monastery
Sucevița Monastery
Chilia lui Daniil Sihastrul
Putna Monastery
“Dragoș Vodă” wooden church
Voroneț Monastery, famous for the blue used in its exterior murals, called Voroneț Blue
Humorul Monastery
Arbore Church
Dragomirna Monastery
Agapia Monastery
Văratec Monastery
Neamț Monastery
Secu Monastery
Sihăstria Monastery

Since I arranged the photos in chronological order, you’ll see them just as they’re listed above. You’ll probably want to know which was my favorite place. Dragomirna Monastery, definitely! Enjoy the gallery and thanks for being a subscriber!

Biserica de Lemn “Sfintii Arhangheli Mihail si Gavriil”, Surdesti, Romania, a UNESCO monument

Biserica de Lemn “Sfintii Arhangheli Mihail si Gavriil”, Surdesti, Romania — the tallest wooden church in the world.

Biserica de Lemn “Sfintii Arhangheli Mihail si Gavriil”, Surdesti, Romania — the tallest wooden church in the world.

Crossing the Carpathian Mountains in the province of Maramures, Romania

Main gate, Manastirea Moldovita, Bucovina, Romania.

Interior courtyard, Manastirea Moldovita, Bucovina, Romania.

Church, Manastirea Moldovita, Bucovina, Romania.

Interior courtyard, Manastirea Moldovita, Bucovina, Romania.

Church, Manastirea Moldovita, Bucovina, Romania.

Interior courtyard, Manastirea Moldovita, Bucovina, Romania.

Lovely stone architecture, Manastirea Moldovita, Bucovina, Romania.

Interior courtyard, Manastirea Moldovita, Bucovina, Romania.

Cloisters, Manastirea Moldovita, Bucovina, Romania.

Church, Manastirea Moldovita, Bucovina, Romania.

Manastirea Moldovita, Bucovina, Romania.

Interior courtyard, Manastirea Moldovita, Bucovina, Romania.

Flowers at the cloisters, Manastirea Moldovita, Bucovina, Romania.

Church, Manastirea Moldovita, Bucovina, Romania.

Interior courtyard, Manastirea Moldovita, Bucovina, Romania.

Church, Manastirea Moldovita, Bucovina, Romania.

Main gate, interior courtyard, Manastirea Moldovita, Bucovina, Romania.

Entrance to Manastirea Sucevita, Bucovina, Romania.

Stairway to cloisters, Manastirea Sucevita, Bucovina, Romania.

Interior courtyard, church, Manastirea Sucevita, Bucovina, Romania.

Interior courtyard, garden, Manastirea Sucevita, Bucovina, Romania.

Interior courtyard, Manastirea Sucevita, Bucovina, Romania.

Defense wall, cloisters, Manastirea Sucevita, Bucovina, Romania.

Interior courtyard, defense walls, cloisters and church, Manastirea Sucevita, Bucovina, Romania.

Defense wall and cloisters, Manastirea Sucevita, Bucovina, Romania.

Church and interior courtyard, Manastirea Sucevita, Bucovina, Romania.

Church, Manastirea Sucevita, Bucovina, Romania.

Church and interior courtyard, Manastirea Sucevita, Bucovina, Romania.

Interior courtyard, Manastirea Sucevita, Bucovina, Romania.

Cloisters, Manastirea Sucevita, Bucovina, Romania.

Interior courtyard, Manastirea Sucevita, Bucovina, Romania.

Church exterior, Manastirea Sucevita, Bucovina, Romania.

Langa Chilia lui Daniil Sihastrul, Bucovina, Romania

Bucovina, Romania

Manastirea Putna, Bucovina, Romania.

Manastirea Putna, Bucovina, Romania

Manastirea Putna, Bucovina, Romania.

Manastirea Putna, Bucovina, Romania

Cloisters, Manastirea Putna, Bucovina, Romania.

Manastirea Putna, Bucovina, Romania.

Biserica de Lemn “Dragos Voda”, Bucovina, Romania.

Manastirea Voronet, Bucovina, Romania.

Interior courtyard, Manastirea Humorul, Bucovina, Romania.

Late afternoon, Manastirea Humorul, Bucovina, Romania.

Manastirea Humorul, Bucovina, Romania.

Manastirea Humorul, Bucovina, Romania

Manastirea Humorul, Bucovina, Romania.

Manastirea Humorul, Bucovina, Romania

Historic district, Mediaș, Romania

Manastirea Humorul, Bucovina, Romania.

Biserica Arbore, Bucovina, Romania.

Manastirea Arbore, Bucovina, Romania.

Manastirea Arbore, Bucovina, Romania

Manastirea Arbore, Bucovina, Romania.

Manastirea Dragomirna, Bucovina, Romania.

Manastirea Dragomirna, Bucovina, Romania

Manastirea Dragomirna, Bucovina, Romania.

Manastirea Dragomirna, Bucovina, Romania

Manastirea Dragomirna, Bucovina, Romania. Ligia enters the fortified walls by one of the doorways.

Manastirea Dragomirna, Bucovina, Romania.

Manastirea Dragomirna, Bucovina, Romania

Outside the fortified walls, Manastirea Dragomirna, Bucovina, Romania.

Manastirea Dragomirna, Bucovina, Romania

Manastirea Dragomirna, Bucovina, Romania.

Manastirea Dragomirna, Bucovina, Romania

Manastirea Dragomirna, Bucovina, Romania.

Manastirea Agapia, Romania.

Cloisters, Manastirea Agapia, Romania

Manastirea Agapia, Romania

Manastirea Varatec, Romania.

Ceiling murals, Manastirea Varatec, Romania.

Manastirea Neamt, Romania

Inside the cloisters, Manastirea Neamt, Moldova, Romania.

Interior courtyard, Manastirea Neamt, Bucovina, Romania

Manastirea Neamt, Romania

Inside the ossuary, Manastirea Neamt, Moldova, Romania.

Manastirea Secu, Moldova, Romania.

Interior courtyard, Manastirea Secu, Moldova, Romania.

Manastirea Sihastria, Moldova, Romania

Cloisters, Manastirea Sihastria, Moldova, Romania.

Manastirea Sihastria, Moldova, Romania

Manastirea Sihastria, Moldova, Romania.

Manastirea Sihastria, Moldova, Romania

I kept things simple in terms of photo gear for this trip, because there were four of us in the car and I knew I’d have to deal with the 3Hs of travel I mentioned above. I shot mainly with my Canon EOS 5D and the EF 24-105mm f/4L lens. My backup camera was the Canon PowerShot G10.

Canon EOS 5D

Canon EF 24-105mm f4L IS USM Lens

Canon PowerShot G10

Places

A walk through Sibiu’s historical center

These are a few photographs (only 13 this time 😁) taken during a walk through Sibiu’s historical center nine years ago (yes, 2009). If you’re wondering why I keep publishing photos from that year, it’s because I’m finally taking care of my editing backlog. Wait, Raoul, are you saying you’re nine years behind on editing your photos? Ahem… most of my photos, yes. When you take lots of photos, that’s what happens 🤷‍♂️.

Anyway, these photos were taken with my cellphone at the time, the now-venerable Nokia N95 which had a 5 megapixel camera. It was pretty good by the standards of its time and is woefully behind the times now, not necessarily in megapixels but in dynamic range and image quality. Still, it did okay in daylight.

Enjoy the photos!

Sibiu, Romania

Historic district, Sibiu, Romania

Historic district, Sibiu, Romania

Sibiu, Romania

Sibiu, Romania

And here is the grandfather of many of today’s cellphone cameras:

Places

Around the town in 2009

This is a gallery of photographs taken in and around Medias in the summer of 2009 (68 photos in total). As I look back on these photos, it’s interesting to see how the town has changed and stayed the same during this time. It’s definitely changed since 2006, when I took these other photos. Enjoy!

A distant hillside visible from inside the historic city center in Medias, Romania. The rooftop of one of the old German houses is visible in the foreground.

The towers of the medieval city of Medias, Romania are visible in the distance on a bright summer day. Houses and villas from downtown can also be seen.

Medias, Romania

One of the towers marking an old medieval entrance to the fortified part of the city of Medias, Romania.

Medias Medieval Festival

Historic district, Medias, Romania

Medias, Romania

Inside the medieval city walls, Medias, Romania

Medias, Romania

Historic district, Medias, Romania

Medias, Romania

Walking in the city of Medias, Romania, on a clear summer evening. The city’s main clock tower is visible above the rooflines of the buildings in the foreground.

Historic district, Medias, Romania

Medias, Romania

Margarethenkirche, Medias, Romania

Medias, Romania

Medias, Romania

Margarethenkirche, Medias, Romania

A cityscape of the city of Medias, Romania, showing the older, medieval buildings of the city. The clocktower is indeed leaning.

Houses and villas from the city of Medias, Romania, on a bright summer day.

Historic district, Medias, Romania

Walking in the city of Medias, Romania, on a clear summer night. The city’s main clock tower is visible above the rooflines of the buildings in the foreground.

Historic district, Medias, Romania

Historic district, Medias, Romania

Historic district, Medias, Romania

Medias, Romania

Historic district, Medias, Romania

Houses and villas from the city of Medias, Romania, on a bright summer day.

Historic district, Medias, Romania

Historic district, Medias, Romania

A man walks down a street in the historic city center, Medias, Romania.

Relics from communist times, Medias, Romania

Historic district, Medias, Romania

Doesn’t this fellow look like the mutt from “Lady and the Tramp”?

Medias Medieval Festival

A cityscape of the city of Medias, Romania, showing some of the city’s apartment buildings.

Dusk, a watch tower at the Roth school, Medias, Romania.

Old brick chimneys on the roof of one of the old houses in the historic city center, Medias, Romania.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Inside Margarethenkirche, Medias, Romania

An older apartment building on a bright summer day, Medias, Romania.

Medias, Romania

Historic district, Medias, Romania

Medias, Romania

Margarethenkirche, Medias, Romania

I used the following cameras and lenses to take these photographs: an Olympus C770 UZ, a Nokia N95 (my mobile phone at the time), a Canon EOS 5D, a Canon EOS Rebel XTi, a Canon PowerShot G10, a Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS lens and a Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 lens.

Olympus Camedia C-770 UltraZoom

Nokia N95

Canon EOS 5D

Canon EOS Rebel XTi

Canon PowerShot G10

Canon EF 24-105mm f4L IS USM Lens

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM Lens

Places

Blue hour and snowfall!

This past Sunday morning, I woke up to a beautiful snowfall and luckily for me, about 10 minutes before the blue hour (which actually lasts less than an hour). I tiptoed down the stairs so I wouldn’t wake up my wife and child, put some clothes and shoes on, and because it was snowing heavily, I took my Canon 7D (my only weather-sealed camera), along with the 10-22mm EF-S lens (which is also weather-sealed). I wanted an ultra-wide perspective to the photos and also the ability to shoot without a tripod at low shutter speeds. An ultra-wide lens lets you do that because of the “reciprocal rule”: as long as the shutter speed matches the focal length, you should get a good photo (provided you have steady hands). A 10-22mm lens would let me use shutter speeds as low as 1/10th of a second, which is just what I did on some of the photos. Enjoy the gallery!