Howdy all! Well, today I recount more of the adventures from travelling around the world today, more specifically Romania. When last I wrote on this I was in Cluj-Napoca, slowly getting more unwell by the day, but still keeping up the travelling.

Then it was time to move on to a new city for me, Suceava in the north-east of Romania. Here I had four or five nights and then would be going by train and bus to Moldova for my first time in that country, which would be country 99 for me, or would have been if my plans had gone ahead, as planned. But as it would turn out, they didn’t.

The train ride from Cluj Napoca was long, but it was direct. This meant, obviously, no changing of trains on the journey, so I could just relax to some extent and try to rest. It was a standard carriage, there was a stewardess on board, a nice older lady, and it was a pretty attractive journey firstly through Transylvanian mountains, through Bucovina to Moldavia in which Suceava sits.

I still didn’t feel great, I had an apartment booked on Air BnB there though and when I arrived mid-afternoon I took a couple of buses and then walked to get there. The apartment was small but really very nice, with a huge bed and TV, a bath and a Lidl Supermarket just down the road for my self-catering needs.

I set up here and took a day off everything pretty much, opting just to see a movie the next day at the Iulius Mall, which had a smoke stack outside so I guess was on the site of an old factory of some sort or clay works. But even as I sat down for Mission Impossible – Whichever one they were up to in 2025 (it disappointed I really loved the previous one which was the first half of the story) I was doing organising to go and see the Painted Monasteries of Bucovina the next day on a tour.

I wanted another day of rest, but the guide only had a tour going the next day and the other company I tried to contact did not get back to me so I booked myself in for the full day tour the next day, went back after the movie to get a good night’s sleep.

And I did feel better the next day, it was a case of one step forward, two steps back for me though. It felt like a bad cold, a viral infection of some sort but I was now worrying it had turned into a sinus infection which I get from time to time and often require anti-biotics. But I woke up feeling much less congested and with just a cough that appeared from time to time, so I went ahead with this long day of touring – which I will cover in a separate blog.

I came home though and felt a lot worse. And I rested the next day. That left me with one day to explore Suceava before I headed to Moldova and Chisinau. So – I did. I woke up feeling average but not too bad, the weather was hot, 35 degrees or so and sunny and I spent the day exploring the town, mostly by foot. I had bought this travel card that gave me a large number of journeys on the public transport, and although I used it a couple of times, I did not use it much after buying it and it had about 90% of its credit on it.

The day really took it out of me. Like drained me completely, but here is a list of what I saw –

Simion Florea Mariam Memorial House

This historic house of Simion Florea Mariam was actually closed when I was there. I think. I knocked on the door and someone was inside and they let me in, perhaps they thought I was someone else (OK they DEFINITELY did!) and when I started walking around with my camera they realised and saw me out! Parts of the house were being restored I think. Simion Florea Mariam was a 19^th century writer and ethnographer who documented the folklore of the region of Bucovina and Romania.

Hanul Domnesc

This house/museum was a short walk away and despite restoration works here and there was an attractive house. I like these little (well it was three levels) houses that show life from another era, downstairs is a cool cellar too. It was in fact, an Inn and dates from the 16^th century.

National Museum of Bucovina

This decent museum took up a bit of my time in Suceava, and wasn’t too bad. A few historic scenes with waxwork figures may not have ‘wowed’, and I would have liked more information on the 1980s where communism fell at the end but the strange glowing rocks were a highlight.

Central Suceava

Large central square, ‘Suceava’ sign for selfies, a couple of museums (including the Museum of Natural Sciences with a cool take on the  “Millennial Man’ out the front) too and I stepped into a nice catholic cathedral with a statue of John Paul II outside it, it’s a pleasant area although was quite quiet when I was there.

Just next to it is the bus interchange where most if not all the bus lines go through in Suceava, an economical way to get about town.

Bucovina Village Museum

Opposite the main square is a big hill and on top of that, looking over the more modern town is a much older fortress. I headed up the hill – quite challenging they were redoing the main path so I ended up on a secondary path, with steps here and there and water trickling down in places to get to the top of the hill.

Before the fortress though there was the Bucovina Village Museum, an open air museum of houses and buildings (including an adorable little church and a school) from across Bucovina. It’s not a bad village museum and the time periods covered are wide, the school was less than a hundred years old. Many of the buildings at the museum had been taken down and rebuilt or somehow moved to this location.

Suceava Fortress

The final stop of my day was the fortress at the top of the hill. It’s worth exploring for an hour maybe, I wouldn’t categorise it as ‘amazing’ but there are a couple of interesting passages and some good views back across modern day Suceava. It dates back to the 14^th century, was mostly for princes and was still being restored to some point where I was there.

And so that’s what I saw, all in one day. And by the day’s end I was feeling it. I had to pack though, and prepare for moving on. I fell asleep later than I wanted, and woke the next day finishing my packing, and with a fever which had started at some point the previous night. I had done I think 17,000 steps that day of sightseeing, and I had pushed my body as far as I could. I must have been mad.

I knew that I could not contemplate going to Moldova. I decided to reorganise my travel plans and booked into one of the main hotels there as my time at this Air BnB was up, the “My Continental” Hotel, with a plan to rest and recover for four more nights, and then fly to the destination after Moldova, the UK. I was not to get to Moldova on this trip.

I stupidly though thought I should walk to the hotel. After walking with bags in the hot sun for twenty minutes I got an Uber, made it to the hotel where I asked if I could be put in touch with a doctor. They advised few doctors spoke English and hospital was the best way to get medical treatment. But I did not want to go to hospital. I decided to rest (sleep) the rest of the day and see how I was.

The next bit is also for another blog, I’ll write about the last few days in Suceava and then getting to the United Kingdom. That will come after the blog on the Bucovina Monasteries. Thanks for reading today, take care wherever you are in the world and… May the Journey Never End!