land of a thousand wells

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This post is about a 24km walk from Mușetești to Novaci. I see wells everywhere, and I walk to the start point of the Via Transalpina.

The people from the adventure park had turned out to be quite wonderful. Not only did they allow me to camp wherever I wanted to on their premises, but I could use the restrooms as well. And in the morning they let me fill up my water containers and gave me breakfast, and there was a nice, friendly cat.

Carpathian water

I played with the cat for a while, then I got going. The road went up and down as always, through the fields and the villages, and I finally put into words something that I had been noticing over the last few weeks: Romania was the land of a thousand wells. Whereas Bulgaria and Turkey had drinking fountains on their roads, Romania had wells.

They were everywhere, and they came in all kinds of different manifestations. Sometimes they had little buildings on top of them. Sometimes large pavilions. Other wells were covered by little wooden structures that reminded me of birdhouses. All of them were designed to protect the wells from contamination.

Jesus from the water

I took some pictures in a well that looked as if it hadn’t been used for a long time. There were religious paintings all around on its walls and on its ceiling. It reminded me of a tiny village mausoleum I had seen in Iran once. When I looked down into the well, Jesus looked back at me. His likeness was on the ceiling.

When the sun stood high and I wanted to take a break for lunch, I found some shelter next to the gate of the Icoana Monastery. People kept going in and out. I ate my food and drank my tea, and I felt very tired. Maybe I would let this one go.

the dragon

It was with a sense of apprehension that I approached Novaci. The town was the endpoint of my walk along the foot of the Carpathian mountains, and it was the start of the Transalpina, the road that I wanted to take across the mountains.

People had been telling me that shit would get serious from there on. The Transalpina was the highest road in all of Romania, they said. The inclines were terrible, they said. There were bears, they said.

One guy whom I talked to in front of his yard told me that the only way to cross it would be to load the Caboose onto a truck and have her delivered up the mountain.

I started thinking of the mountain road as a dragon.

I had to go and slay it.

pictures

the walk from Mușetești to Novaci:

camp in the Aventerra Park

dragon

breakfast cat

Aventerra Park team

first well

second well

abandoned well

religious paintings

Jesus from the water

modern well with pavilion

and another well

the road to walk from Mușetești to Novaci

Icoana Monastery

courtyard of the Icoana Monastery

found some cherries

well

disco amiso & coca-cola

why the death candles?

lots of dogs are very excited to see me

patch of forest

enter Novaci

Novaci church

the Caboose made a friend

full moon over Novaci