These are photos I’ve taken during a couple of hikes through the hills near the village of Strugari in Moldova, Romania. Here’s a map of the area.

A map of the region around Strugari, Moldova

It was the middle of March (the 14th and 15th) and spring had just arrived. Most of the grass was dry and leaves hadn’t sprouted yet. As a matter of fact, no buds were even apparent on the branches of the trees in the area. A friendly little mutt that belonged to friends of ours accompanied me on the hikes (you can see him in the photos). A late snowfall introduced an element of adventure to one of the outings. It’s lovely to be in the middle of nowhere and to be suddenly surrounded by myriad falling snowflakes. A magical quiet sets in, sounds are muffled and a feeling of wonder takes over.

Enjoy the photos!

A shepherd tends to his flock of sheep on a distant hilltop.

A crumbling old country house sits unused at the bottom of a hill in a little village in Moldova, Romania.

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A late winter snowfall starts to cover the hills and valleys.

A thick forest of conifers cover the hill in the background while a quiet little stream winds its way through thickets and sparse trees in the valley below.

Puffy white clouds cast shadows on the hills and valleys below on a sunny winter morning.

Snowfall caught me in the middle of a walk in these hills, somewhere in the region of Moldova, Romania.

Atop a large hill, a wide plateau is used for farmland. In winter, it sits unused and barren.

Tall grass, blown every which way by the wind and dried by the same, covers this abrupt hillside somewhere in Moldova, Romania.

Tall grass, dried by the long winter and downed by strong winds, on a hilltop somewhere in Moldova, Romania.

Moldova, Romania