Varatec Monastery, Northeast Romania, Romania

5Lawrencecp 5:00 PM Nov 5, 2015

Stay overnight there
Our travel agent arranged an overnight stay for us during our trip in Romania. We found another touring Romanian family also staying overnight in another building there. Varatec is close to Agapia monastery, but bigger and houses 400 nuns. In the old days, Agapia was more famous. So I recommend visiting both monasteries when you are there. While staying in the Varatec monastery, we could watch how the nuns live, listen to their praying and singing in the church or chapel, watch them do their knitting, and catch the distinctive sound of "wood striking with a hammer" to call to worship. As I understood, the wood striking was a tradition passed down to avoid attracting religious enemies if they rang the church bells. It was a very different experience staying as guests for one night.

4Tiberiu_Baranyi 5:00 PM Nov 13, 2021

Serene place ... close to Tirgu Neamt.
Varatec monastery - close to Targu Neamt - not as famous or touristic as the painted monasteries of Bucovina , and not as beautiful as Agapia (at Agapia in the mid 1800 Nicolae Grigorescu - the famous romanian painter did some of the decorations). So , entrance is free of charge - the church itself was in a refurbishment process on the outside- so no pics - but you could enter and take pics - when we were there it was service in progress so we did not want to disturb. Beautiful courtyard - with the bronze statue of Safta Brancoveanu in the garden . As you arrive a generous parking lot is there outside so you can park your car free of charge - make sure you stop by the small bakery shop that is run by the nuns, the products are really good . And since you are there you can take a short walk to visit the tomb of Veronica Micle - 5 min walk from the parking lot - she was the mistress of Mihai Eminescu. Overall a very nice experience - I recommend you visit the place if you are in Tirgu Neamt area.