The volunteers of “Casei Providenței” had the possibility to discover the tourist attractions of Moldova, and namely the northern area of the country. We started our long journey early in the morning, a bit sleepy, a bit nervous, a journey rather alarming for us at the beginning, testing our courage. However, everything proved to be rather simple, the good will, games and songs cheered us up for 3 and a half hours of walking. We found our terminal stop in the heart of the woods of Rudi – Arionesti Landscape Reservation. This area was full of surprises, one single day is not enough for discovering all the ruins, for seeing all the monuments and for listening to all the legends.
The first stop-over was at Rudi Monastery, where, after getting “equipped” properly according to the internal rules, we started to discover it, shyly, step by step. Currently, this is a monastery of nuns, its history started in 1777 with the blessing of the bishop Inochentie from Husi. Being built on the estate of brothers Andronachi and Teodor Rudea, the origin of its current name, the monastery had a rather restless life, being closed down several times, first of all, due to the avidity of the new owner of the estate – Mihail Bogus, and then the Soviets forced the closing of it, being re-opened only in 1992. The monastery is covered by peace, the only noise being produced by the rush of leaves or the chitter of birds, but as the time is harsh with us, we must force the pace towards new discoveries.
After a step-over in the woods, where we had the chance to reinforce with various delicious food, we went off to the waterfall, or what was left of it. Unfortunately, the anthropic factor did his job and now the waterfall can be seen only after heavy rains, when the lakes built in the upper part of the river which create the waterfall are saturated with water.
However, the landscape impressed us and the chill coming from the walls of the cliff gave us much more enthusiasm and energy to get to the last touristic stop of the day – The Cave of Dead (Peştera Răposaţilor). Being located right under the cemetery of the settlement, the cave is hard to be found, being masked in a small nook and hidden by abundant vegetation. The inside gloom gives the creeps to the visitors, who at first compete in exclamations of amazement. The cave represents an underground 68 m long corridor, along which are created various rooms of different dimensions and shapes. Flashlights are not enough and this fact made the volunteers be more cooperative, being generous and offering help, support and the most important – light.
Tired, but richer, we get off home, leaving behind us many other undiscovered curiosities, such as The Eolian Harp (Harpa Eoliană), the Wolf Cave (Văgăuna lupilor), the Getic Fortress “The Three Crosses” and many others.